Akhara are the main physical training centre of indian martial arts into modern day and most still teach wrestling, with very few still teaching any type of swordsmanship.

2 Main Exercises practiced with external implement are the inward and outward mace swing for 100s of reps a day, we believe they are directly applicable to Hindustani swordsmanship:

• The Meel is a persian weighted implement for developing the strength for pulling over the shoulder for weapons and wrestling (per Razmafzar and Bayt-Al-Asad). It requires a small “step” to shift the weight and remain balanced for the inward swing.
• The Jori is an Indian type of meel that requires you to keep the implement close to the neck and shift the shoulders and hips with feet in place for the inward swing.
• The Gada is uniquely indian training implement that can be used 1 or 2 handed, it requires a strong pull over the shoulder and can be used for both in inward and outward swing.

We believe wrestling physical culture is a better model and lens of Hindustani swordsmanship because of the historic ubiquity of Akhara/Gurkul/Rustam Khani (physical culture and educational training schools) teaching swordplay and wrestling in tandem as well as the Wrestling Akhara still present in much of South Asia and wrestling’s prominence in historic tradition (the Mahabharata, the Shahnameh, the Deccan courts and within folk culture of many regions).