Gama Pehlwan Wrestling, Son, Family, Death, Height, Weight, Biography and more

Table of Contents

Who is Gama Pehlwan

Gama Pehlwan’s real/full name is Gama Mohammad Baksh., born on May 22, 1878, at Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India and died at the age of 82 on 23 May 1960. He was also known as Rustam – E – Hind and also by the ring name, The Great Gama, was an undefeated wrestler and strongman in British India. By the early 20th century he became an undefeated wrestling champion of India. Gama Pehlwan’s birthplace is Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India.

Gama pehelwan is a source of many wrestlers and he was titled Rustam – E – Zamana( champion of the universe). Almost after 5 decades, he is still referred to as The undefeated. He is an unbeatable, champion and legendary of the universe.

Gama Pehlwan Biography

Full Name	Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt
Date of Birth	22 May, 1878
Death Date	23 May, 1960
Zodiac Sign	Gemini
Profession	Wrestler
Gama Pehlwan Age	82 years (when he died)
Birthplace	Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India
Religion	Islam
Favorite dairy product	Milk
Favorite food	Dry fruits, chicken
Hobby	Doing workouts
Ethnicity	Kashmiri
Marital status	Married
Spouse	Wazeer begum
Children	Sons – 4 Daughter – 5 Granddaughter – Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif ( wife of Nawaz Sharif )
Gama Pehlwan Height	Centimeter – 175 cm Meter – 1.75 m Feet inches – 5’9”
Gama Pehlwan Weight	Kilograms – 110 kg Pounds – 250 lbs

Gama Pehlwan Birth Date

Gama Pehlwan Birthday is on May 22, 1878. He lived a very good and healthy life and got fame and names both in his expertise.

Gama Pehlwan Age

He died at the age of 82 years old (1878-1960.)

Gama Pehlwan History

Gama Pehlwan was born on May 22, 1878, in Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab to a Kashmiri Muslim Family of wrestlers.

He was first seen at the age of 10 when he first entered a strongman competition that was held in Jodhpur, which included many exhausting exercises such as squats. With him, other 400 wrestlers also participated in this and the game was in the last 15 he was declared the winner due to his young age Maharaja of Jodhpur.

Gama Pehlwan Family

Gama Pehlwan was born into a traditional Kashmiri Muslim Family of wrestlers in the village of Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab. His family was really into producing top-notch and finest wrestlers in the family. For a lifetime he was claimed for challenging various national and even international wrestlers to defeat him. How great this legendary wrestler is, that he defeated opponents in just a couple of minutes.

Gama Pehlwan was born to her father, Muhammad Aziz Baksh, who was a Muslim wrestler, having one brother- Iman Baksh Pehlwan.

Gama Pehlwan’s wife

He married twice, Gama Pehlwan’s wife first was married to Wazeer Begum and another lady. He has 5 sons and 4 daughters. His granddaughter Kalsoom Nawaz, wife of Nawaz Sharif. Kalsoom’s sister Saira Bano, also Granddaughter and wife of Jhara Pehalwan.

Gama Pehlwan son

Gama Pehlwan’s son’s name is Aslam Pehlwan, was a Pakistani professional wrestler and World Heavy weight Championship in professional wrestling he was ranked 9th in the world by Wrestling Official Review’s Official Wrestling Rating in 1998.

Gama Pehlwan Ethnicity

Gama Pehlwan was born to an Indian Punjabi family of Kashmiri descent Gama

Gama Pehlwan Height

Gama Pehlwan Height in Centimeter	Centimeter – 175 cm
Height in Meter	Meter – 1.75 m
Height in Feet	Feet inches – 5’9”

Gama Pehlwan Weight

Kilograms – 110 kg

Pounds – 250 lbs

Gama Pehlwan Measurement

Measurement

Chest – 42 inches

Waist – 34 inches

Biceps – 14.5 inches

Gama Phlewan Diet

It is believed that his diet includes 7.5 liters of milk, six desi chicken, and more than half a pound of almond paste which is made into a tonic drink.

His day-to-day activity and exercise are not a cake walk but he used to do with 40 other wrestlers on the court, with this, 5000 squats and 3000 pushups a day.

Something interesting is that he used to squat with a 95kg doughnut-shaped exercise disc, and now that disc is placed in the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Museum of Patiala.

Gama Pehlwan Death

Gama Pehlwan had breathing problems and heart disease after retiring from Wrestling. He faced many difficulties for financial constraints in the final moments of his life. And his financial situation deteriorated when he have to sell his medals. To him G. D. Birla who is a wrestling fan donated Rs. 2000 with a monthly pension of Rs. 300. The Govt. Pakistan also supported his medical expenses until his death on May 23, 1960.

Gama Pehlwan Goggle Doddle

In his memory, Google made a doddle artwork on May 22, 2022, and celebrated the success of his game. The artwork was made by the artist, Vrinda Zaveri who celebrates Gama Pehlwan’s accomplishment in the ring but is also a true representative he bought into the Indian Culture.

Gama Pehlwan Images

Gama Pehlwan Fight/Career

First Encounter with Raheem Baksh Sultani Wala: His fight with Raheem led to a remarkable win-loss record. He lost to a 2.1m tall guy, and due to his height Gama couldn’t win this fight, and his career was about to end after this. But luck was in Gama’s hand and after hours of action, the fight was a draw. He first chose to defend but the second time he opposed. And his career turned again after defeating Raheem. All this remarkable moment in the match, considered him as the next candidate for Indian Wrestling Champing or we can say Rustam – E – Hind.

He defeated every notable wrestler in India until 1910. Now his main attention was on the world so due to his brother, he traveled to England to compete against Western Wrestlers but due to his short stature, he was denied to play that fight.

Gama Pehlwan’s first encounter with Bruce Lee when Gama inspired Lee to be a human being, Lee being a fan of Gama has taken his technique and exercise planning such as squats and cat stretch into his day-to-day routine, and choose to build his career as Gama did.

Wrestling Gama Pehlwan

London Tournament: During his London Tournament, he challenged that he could throw away 3 wrestlers in just 30 minutes of any weight class. But this was seen as a bluff to all other wrestlers who participated in that tournament, and also Wrestling promoter R.B. Benjamin. But no one came in front and accepted the challenge so he put in another challenge Instead of any heavy-weight wrestlers he put in specific heavy-weight wrestlers, so he challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch, either he would beat them or pay the prize money and ( prize money was Rs. 22000 ) The first professional English Wrestler Benjamin Roller to accept his challenge, but in Bout he pinned Roller in 1 min 40 sec in the first time and in the second time it was 9 min 10 sec. On the second day, he defeated 12 wrestlers, and thus he gained entry to the official tournament.

Match with Stanislaus Zbyszko: The bout was set on 10 Sept 1910 against world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko. At that time Stanislaus was regarded as among the premier wrestler in the world, he would take on the mammoth challenge of India’s feared wrestler Gama Pehlwan, who was an undefeated champion who had been unsuccessful in his attempt to lure Frank Gotch, into a match. And as per the date, on 10 September 1910 Zbyszko was ready to set against Gama in the Bull world championship in London. The worth of the match was Rs. 22000 in prize money and with this John Bull Belt. Within a minute, Zbyszko was taken down for straight 2 hrs 35 min of the match. There were a few moments when he would give up but he remained to be in that position. Through this defensive strategy of hugging the mat to nullify Great Gama’s strength, he wrestled the Indian Legend to a draw after nearly 3 hrs of Grappling though Zbyszko’s lack of tenacity angered many of the fans in the lines.

Zbyszko still becomes one of the few wrestlers to ever met Great Gama without going down to defeat. And again, the two were ready to set with each other on 17 Sept 1910 but on that date, Zbyszko didn’t show up, and clearly, that match was won by Gama with the prize money and John Bull Belt. Receiving John Bull Belt entitled him a Rustam – E – Zamana or world championship but not the lineal championship of the world as he didn’t defeat Zbyszko in the ring in the London Tournament.

Bouts against American and European Champions: During his European and American tour, he defeated many wrestlers grapples of the world including, “ Doc” Benjamin Roller of the United States, Maurice Deriaz of Switzerland, Johann Lemm ( European Champion ) of Switzerland, and Jesse Peterson ( world Champion ) from Sweden. In the match against Roller, Gama threw “ Doc “ 13 times in the total 15 mins of the match. Now Gama reissued a new challenge to the whole world who laid claim to the Championship title, including Japanese Judo Taro Miyake, (a type of competition ), George Hackenschdmidt of Russia, and Frank Gotch of the United States, each of those declined his invitation to enter the ring to face him. But to face some competition he wanted some wrestlers or his competitors so Gama offered to fight 28 wrestlers, one after the other and he announced that he would defeat all of the wrestlers or he would pay out the prize money but still no one showed up and took his challenge.

Rematch with Stanislaus Zbyszko: After beating Raheem Baksh Sultan Wala, Pandit faced Bidu who was one of the best wrestlers in India In 1916, Gama defeated him. While in 1922, the Prince of Wales during his India tour, gave him a silver mace.

Gama did not have any opponent till 1927, but again it was announced that Gama and Zbyszko would face each other again. In Jan, 1928 he faced Zybszko in Patiala. Entering the bout, Zbyszko showed his muscle and body while Gama looked much thinner than usual. But he managed to overpower the former easily and won the match within a minute, winning the lineal version of the World Wrestling Championship. Following his bout, Zbyszko praised him and also referred to him as Tiger. By the age of 48, he was now referred to as The Great wrestler of India.

After defeating Zbyszko, he also defeated Jesse Peterson in Feb 1929. And interestingly, it lasted only one and a half minutes. And by this match, we can conclude that it was the last match of his career.

During his Final Year, he was now shifted to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. During the breakouts of the riots of Hindu – Muslims in Partition Gama ( a Muslim ) saved hundreds of Hindus from mobs in Lahore. But Gama didn’t retire until 1955. But after his retirement, he trained his nephew, Bholu Pehlwan, who held the Pakistani Wrestling Championship for almost straight 20 years.

His final days were tough he had 5 sons and 4 daughters and all of his sons died at a young age. When his youngest son, Jalaluddin died at the age of 13 in 1945. At that time, Gama was heartbroken and also lost the power of speech for some days. He migrated to Pakistan right after the Partition of India, in 1947 he tried his hand at different work such as bus collector.

Gama Pehlwan vs Dara Singh

Gama Pehlwan and Dara Singh, both came from Punjab. Gama was fortunate to find a sponsor from Maharaja of Patiala but Dara had gained from the film industry. Gama was Muslim and Dara was Sikh and they both were members of Martial Clans.

Gama was crowned as world champion and was also given the title Rustom – E – Zamana, when he defeated Stanley Zbyszko. And the same Dara also had his fair share of victories of as well.

Dara is mainly known for being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and Gama wrestled at a time when sports were less prominent. Their main belief was in Khushi and energy as they came from different two eras.

Gama and Dara Singh’s Comparison

Gama and Dara Singh’s Comparison is too difficult. In his wrestling career, Gama was the only Indian Version of the World Heavyweight Championship in 1910.

World Wrestling Championship in 1927

After winning WWC in 1927 he was named Tiger of the Tournament

He also received the silver medal from the Prince of Wales.

Gama Pehlwan Facts

He was a non-smoker and did not drink alcohol at all.
Gama Pehlwan full name is Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt.
Google released their doddle in honor of Gama Pehlwan on his 144th Birthday.
Gama Pehlwan was born to an Indian Punjabi family of Kashmiri descent
Gama Pehlwan started wrestling matches at the very young age of 10.
The most well-known tale of Gama Pehlwan involves his lifting a stone weighing 1200 kg and carrying it for a long distance.
Gama Pehlwan is credited for inspiring Bruce Lee. He had a strong affection for the Indian –. Wrestler. He even adapted Gama’s workout techniques into his own.
He was also got trained by Maharaja of Datia.
He visited Baroda to attend a wrestling competition where he lifted a stone of 1200 kg and now that stone is in the Baroda Museum.
At the age of 17, he challenged Raheem Baksh Baksh Sultani Wala ( Indian Wrestling Champion ), another ethnic Kashmiri wrestler from Gujranwala, now in Punjab, Raheem Baksh Sultani Wala was a middle-aged guy with almost 7 – feet height and also had an impressive record. The bout went for an hour and ended in an hour.
The fight with Raheem was a turning point in Gama’s career.
Benjamin Roller, American Wrestler was the first one to take Gama’s challenge and gama pinned him in 1 min 40 sec. The very next day, Gama gained entry to the official tournament after defeating 12 wrestlers.
On 10 Sept 1910, in the finals of John Bull World Champions in London, Gama faced world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko. But after 3 hours of grappling the match was drawn between Gama and Zbyszko.
Gama and Stanislaus were ready to see each other one other, but this time Zbyszko didn’t show up and Gama was declared the winner of this match.
There is one more fact, Gama during his western Tour he defeated some of the most respected grapplers in the World which includes Maurice Deriaz of France, “ Doc “ Benjamin Roller of the United States, Jese Peterson ( World Champion ) from Sweden, and Johann Lemm ( The European Champion ) of Switzerland.
And Gama Pehlwan Fight with Roller Benjamin, he threw him- 13 times in a total of 15 minutes of the match
At one time, he was challenged to fight with 20 wrestlers back to back but no one accepted his challenge.
When Gama returned to India from England, After a long struggle between Gama and Raheem, he was again ready to set a fighting match with Raheem Baksh Sultani Wala, in Allahabad. Gama won the match and he was titled “ Rustam – E – Hind “.
In an interview, he was asked about his strongest opponent, his reply was “ Raheem Baksh Sultani Wala “.
In 1922, when the Prince of Wales was on a tour of India, he gifted silver mace to Gama Pehlwan.
After the partition in 1947, Gama moved to Pakistan and until his retirement in 1952, Gama failed to find any other opponent.
After his retirement, he trained his nephew, Bholu Pahalwan who held the Pakistani Wrestler championship for almost 20 years.

Gama Pehlwan Films

Salman Khan is all ready to set a screen on the next film based on Wrestler Gama Pehlwan Life, released in 2019, April. This film is directed and written by Puneet Issar. His brother, Sohail Khan plays the brother role of Imam Baksh on the screen. This was shot in Punjab and London.

But it has gone through many changes over time when it was being shot.

Gama Pehlwan Cast

Sohail Khan as Gama Pehlwan

Aarav Choudhary as young Gama’s father

Priya Bathija as young Gama’s Mother

Mohammad Nazim

Harun Kazi

Gama Pehlwan Net Worth

Gama Pehlwan’s total income is 1 – 5 million and his net worth was Rs. 64 Crore.

Gama Pehlwan Reddit

As per Reddit, the news says that Gama didn’t participate in Olympics due to the following reason :

Olympics was not much famous at that time.
Olympics wasn’t held due to World War 1 and World War 2.
Divination of India Pakistan.
He was in the final days of his wrestling career.

Gama Pehlwan Twitter

this picture is twitted by Shiraz Hassan and he is saying in this tweet that: In this chapter, Gama Pehlwan tells that what are the things you have to do to become a successful wrestler – and also here he explains the things a mother should do during pregnancy – Pehlwani starts from the Mother’s womb!

Gama Pehlwan Wikipedia

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Frequently Asked Question

Q1- Who was Gama Pehlwan?

Gama Mohammad Baksh., born on May 22, 1878, at Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India and died at the age of 82 on 23 May 1960. He was also known as Rustam – E – Hind and also by the ring name, The Great Gama, was an undefeated wrestler and strongman in British India.

Q2- What was the reason for Gama’s death?

Gama developed asthma and heart disease after retiring from wrestling. Gama faced numerous financial constraints in the final moments of his life. His financial situation deteriorated to the point where he had to sell his medals. Gama passed away on May 23, 1960, at the age of 82.

Q3- Who is Gama Pehlwan ‘s son?

His son name is Aslam Pehlwan.

Q4- Was Gama a vegetarian?

No, He is not a Vegetarian.

Q5- How old was Gama pehlwan when he died?

When he died he was 82 years old and died on 23 May 1960.

Q6- Was The Great Gama married?

Yes, He was married to Begum Wareez and has 9 childrens ( 4 – sons, 5 – daughters )

Q7- How did Gama Pehalwan died?

Gama developed asthma and heart disease after retiring from wrestling.

Q8- What was the diet of Gama pehlwan?

Gama Pahalwan used to eat 6 desi chicken, 10 liters of milk, half a liter of ghee, one and a half liters of butter, almond syrup, and 100 rotis every day.

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