Citation Needed - The Great Gama

Episode Date: September 21, 2022

Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt[1] (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known as Rustam-e-Hind (Hindi-Urdu for Rostam of Hindostan) and by the ring name The Great Gama,[7] was a pehlwani wrestler and strongman in British Raj. In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of subcontinent. Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here.  Be sure to check our website for more details.

And then he's just like, oh, no worries. It turns out there's a mountain with those spells carved onto it, so yeah, you can still do it. But it's Dumber because it's apparently also a prediction of her. Thank you! We have never agreed more! Best friends! See, you blew it. You just blew it.

Yep, nope, I felt that. I felt the moment. Round 31! Tom win! Who? Dude, what is that? Is that a bean bag full of bones? Ha ha, yeah, like you don't know.

Know what? This week's essay, it's about the great gamma, a wrestler who ate whatever he wanted, whatever he wanted, he won all the winning. I mean, he's got us there, that's basically what this week's essay is about. Yeah, right? See, I saw no one I we were just celebrating, you know, just like a quick rassle among friends. Really? That seems so unlike him. Where where is he? Right here. Oh, yikes. I will go get the cloning machine. Err... Please. We all just die so much. So much, it's a lot.

So much. Hello and welcome to Citation Needed, the podcast where we choose a subject to read a single article about it on Wikipedia and pretend we're experts because this is the internet, and that's how it works now. I know it's most recent clone and I'm going to be a referee in this match, but I won't be in the ring alone in this corner to men who luchadors asked to wear masks when they attend Tom and Eela. Yeah, you know, over the past few years, I have never felt more at peace with my looks than when the masks were mandated for beautiful people too. Yeah.

And I look like I'm being kidnapped all the time. So the masks were sort of a come seat. And in this corner, a guy who's just too damn pretty to be included in that last joke, Cecil. Oh yeah, brother! Yeah! Yeah! All right, so before we get going, I want to take a second to thank all the patrons

that make all of this possible, because what am I, Heath? Anyway, if you'd like to learn. If you'd like to learn how to join their ranks, be sure to stick around to the end of the show. And with that out of the way, tell us, Tom, what person placed think concept phenomena on our event will be talking about today?

Today, we will be talking about the great gamma gamma gamma. I thought it was gamma, but I have no idea. And Eli, you did whatever it is that you do in preparation for these assays. Are you ready to exhaust our fact checkers? I sure am. No. So tell us, Eli, who was the great gamma? Who do in preparation for these assays? Are you ready to exhaust our fact checkers? I sure am, Noah. So tell us, Eli, who was the great gamma? He was the greatest wrestler in world history, and perhaps the greatest unarmed combatant.

A real world superhero whose escapades were so stupendence and unbelievable that only one member of our cast could tell his story. Is it the one who doesn't care whether the stories are true or not? Is that the one? Yeah, yeah, it is. Cecil, yeah, it is. Gula Muhammad Bakash was born on the 22nd of May in 1878 in the Jabalwal village in the Amristar district in the Poonjob province of what was then British India.

His family were Kashmiri Muslims who you may have guessed were not having an awesome time in India at that period in history. So they made their living wrestling Pawani. I love the idea that a whole family wrestles together like they like one family wrestles another family you get the grandparents involved. Everybody has to line up with the, you know, their character. I'm just picturing an 1878 Indian version of mean gene

interviewing a wrestling baby now and I'm so happy. Okay, a brief side note on how wonny wrestling put from your mind, the bettided choreographed spectacle that is professional wrestling. Way ahead. Manish the thought of young men in onesies grappling for college glory. Is she even the violent kick punching and arm bendery of modern A MMA?

Po-Wani is one of the oldest and most brutal combat sports in the world. Okay, yeah, rugby. So the rules are simple. The fighting area is either a circular or square shape, measuring at least 14 feet across, rather than using modern mats, Pawani fighters did and still do train and compete on dirt floors. Before a match, the floor is cleared of any pebbles or stones, and then buttermilk oil and red ochre is sprinkled on the ground, giving the dirt its red

hue. Not coincidentally, this color also hides any blood that lands on it. Water is added to this surface every few days to keep it at the right consistency, soft enough to avoid injury, but hard enough so as not to impede the rest of the movements. The buttermilk makes the fight a really really nice fluffy texture and then it gives it a touch of sourness. It's really just perfect. So, I'm sorry, water has had an every few days. How the fuck longer these matches? You know, Eli, this is a really long intro to I want to talk about mud wrestling again. Now, interestingly, despite the mark boundaries of the arena, competitors are allowed to go outside the ring during a match with no penalty. And at least one article

I read, the fighting area is only designated to keep fighters from running away. Oh, interesting. So again, I mean, obviously they'd be able to leave the ring though, because like where the hell else would they find a folding chair? Exactly. There are no rounds in Pellwani, but the length of every bout is specified beforehand. Usually it's about 25 to 30 minutes. If both competitors agree, the length of the match may be extended and match extensions

are usually around 10 to 15 minutes each. Unlike mat based wrestling, there's no point scoring system. A win is achieved by pinning the opponent's shoulders and hips to the ground simultaneously. Although, victory by knockout, stoppage or submission is also possible. And, at least as far as I could find, that's it for the rules. When I googled like, Pawani, I gouging, groin strikes, I found a couple new kinks, but nothing to suggest that those things

are forbidden in the sport. In short, Pawani wrestling consists of beating your opponent into submission, unconsciousness, or sometimes mercifully, just the ground. It sounds like the type of fights my dad always lost to alcohol. Oh, gee. This seems like a really hard sport to train for.

Oh, well, I lost two practice matches, my fertility, and an eyeball. And we had to run suicide to coaches of dance. Just wear a big buttermilk, hefty bag around your walking. But we're not to the wrestling yet. Just wearing a big buttermilk half the bag around your walking around. But we're not to the wrestling yet. See, Gama first attracted national attention at the age of 10 in 1888 when he entered a strong man competition held in Judd Boer. The contest was attended by more than 400 wrestlers, many of whom were, you know, fucking

adults. But Gama was among the last 15 standing after rounds that included hundreds of squats, thousands of push-ups, and other feats of strength. And as a result, he was named the winner by the Maharaja of Judd Poor, who was impressed both by his skills and his young age. Okay, I'm not saying I'm unimpressed,

but hundreds of squats is just like the standard aftermath of the meal at Olive Garden. I did that last Tuesday. Yeah, if the feats of strength are bodyweight exercises, I got my money on just about any hyperactive fourth and fourth period. So by the age of 15, Gama was a professional wrestler dominating the Pellwani circuit. How dominant was he, you ask? In the two years and perhaps hundreds of bouts that made up the beginning of his career, he did not lose or draw a single match.

Until the Kuma Tay we went up against Frank. Dude. So then in 1895, at the age of just 17, he challenged the then Indian wrestling champion Rahim Bach Sultani Wala, or as he was known for editorial purposes, Rahim the Giant. Rahim was seven feet tall and was expected to, and was expected to defeat the five foot 17-ager easel. Jesus. But instead, the match lasted for hours, eventually ending in a draw. Wahim, the match, promptly retired before the fucking Oombaloopa got hair on his balls,

and Kamat continues to dominate India for the next 15 years. Once again, never losing a single match. Yeah, I'm England dominated India for those 15 years, but yes, I would. Oh, shit. By 1910, Gama has literally defeated every wrestler in the subcontinent. There are stories, probably not true, of wrestlers at local villages hiding themselves or dressing up as their wives when Gama and his posse came to town. So he wouldn't challenge them.

So Gama sells to London in hopes of competing with some Western wrestlers and finding a challenge because hiding under your beds, you know, that the fight of guys like a real reputation saver. I don't get it. Well, it's a ball saver. I guess that's true. And I ball saver. Yeah.

Yeah, man, because I feel like it's a weird culture shock moment. Like when Gama standing there with some fucking English dudes bloody ripped off coin person his hands and he's just like, uh, what? We don't do nut stuff here. Oh, this is awkward. This is very awkward. Hey, buddy. So when Gama arrives in Jolly, Old England, he attempts to enter the John Bull heavyweight tournament, but he's the night entry because he doesn't way enough to be a European heavyweight. So Dama is just a challenge that he can throw any three wrestlers in 30 minutes of any weight class, a claim that's so insane. Everyone assumes he's just some whack-dob amateur looking to get himself hurt and so nobody takes him up on it.

Well, yeah, look, because the Brits at the time were notorious for their hesitancy to hurt Indians. So, Gama presents another challenge, specifically to the heavyweight wrestlers. He challenged two famous champs, Stanislaus Zobisco and Frank Gotch. Okay, if his catchphrase when he grabs you isn't Gachah, I am quitting the show. Right there. That's right. He challenges those two guys that either he would beat them or personally pay them their prize money and go home.

Now neither of those two guys took him up on his offer, but the American Benjamin Roller did. Gama Pind Roller in one minute and forty seconds Roller was so surprised he instantly demanded a rematch this time the match lasted nine minutes and ten seconds By the second day the tournament were to gotten around both of Gamma and his challenge and he defeated Twelve wrestlers in a row gaining himself official entry despite his weight official and read despite his way it's like Eli talking himself onto an overloaded elevator. And so on the 10th of September of 1910, the great gamma got to face Santa Slazo Biscoe

considered by many at the time to be the greatest wrestler in the world in the finals of the John Bull World Championship in London. The match was worth 250 pounds in prize money and the John Bull belt. The match began and Gama takes the Bisco down for the first minute and the Biscoe remained down for the remaining two hours and 35 minutes of the match. Did they agree on that timeline further? So what happened during that two hours and thirty five minutes depends on your perspective. If you're Zobisco, you might say that he valiantly held off the Indian champion, awarding his every

trick and attempting to best him. And at long last, the two valiant competitors agreed to call it a draw. However, far more contemporary accounts including the press covering the event insisted that Zobisco just curled into a ball while Gamma beat the ever loving shit out of him for two and a half hours. Further credence is lent to this latter claim by the fact that when a rematch was scheduled for a week later, Zabisco just didn't fucking show up. And Gama was declared the winner by default. I had two and a half hour wrestling matches. How fucking star for entertainment do you have to be to keep watching this before checking

your phone was even in a suit? After that, Gama traveled around Europe kicking asses. Again, never losing a match. He and Benjamin Roller had a rematch where Gama threw Roller 13 times in 15 minutes before he won. He faced the wrestling champions of Sweden, the Netherlands and France. He had a re-rematch with Zibisco, which he won in 39 seconds. And at long last Rahim, the giant, came out of retirement to face

him. Gamma won handily, but for the rest of his life, when he was asked to the toughest wrestler he ever faced was, he said Rahim the giant. Uh, yeah, that guy said he was Rahim the giant, but it was really Benjamin Roller on someone's shoulders in a big trench cup. Yeah, that's really nice. So after beating Rahim, Gamma cannot find other challengers. He offered to wrestle 20 guys in a row.

Nobody took him up on it. Yeah, I feel like that's become a pretty typical end of niche career desperation. He offered to pay his opponents prize money, whether they won or lost. Nobody took him up on it. The final official match of his career was against Jesse Peterson of Sweden in February of 1929. The bout lasted one and a half minutes. Gama had gone his entire career without a loss and to celebrate Prince of Wales presented him with a giant silver miss. All right, ball. Well, Eli, you appear to have written half an essay. Um, is there more to this story

or should we see if Tom has a monologue or two about the fall of nations? Oh, there's more Noah, but that's because in the later half of his life, Gama fought not just for fame, but for justice. All right. Well, while we work out just what Gama Bat signal would look like, we're gonna have to quick break for a little apropos of nothing. Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the John Bull Wrestling Tournament of the World. And what a tournament it's been Mick. Wrestler after wrestler has fallen under the mighty hand of the great Gama.

But perhaps our boy can hold out hope. I certainly hope so, Steve. And here come the two combatants now. On the left, the aforementioned Gama undefeated champion of the far off land of India, and on the right is just some guy. That's right, Micah. It is vital to remember that at this point in history, the finest athletes Europe has to offer are just fucking guys you'd see at Buffalo Wild Wing.

Exactly. No training for these boys just slightly beneficial genetics and eating a bunch of eggs for lunch or something. And the match has begun. The gamma approaches his opponent. And yes, he's throwing him on the ground and he has pinned him. He has indeed and I can't emphasize enough that he did that because he's an undefeated wrestler, and his opponent is just some fucking dude. White people aren't gonna play sports for very much longer.

Are we sure aren't, Steve? We sure aren't. Alright, so when we last laughed off Gamma had kicked all of the asses there were to kick, so what happens next? Okay, so before we get to what happens next, I have to explain that Gamma wasn't just a good wrestler, He was freakously strong. He once lifted a 12 hundred kilogram stone. In a feet so famous, the stone is still in a museum. No, he's fucking did not. You can juice yourself like a fucking Valencia orange and you are

not lifting anything close to that. As much as I love calling out Eli's SS, the Olympic record lift is over 2800 kilos. No, it's not. Yeah, too. You gotta see the picture. It's hilarious, dude. It's such an insane amount of weight. All right, so his training regime and diet were insane.

Gama used to do 5,000 squats and 3,000 pushups every day. That part of his training regimen was later adopted by Bruce Lee, who was a huge fan and read everything he could get his hands on about Gama. Gama, apparently eight ten liters of milk, six desi chickens, and a pound and a half of crushed almond paste made into a tonic drink every single day. Okay, I know you're a vegan at all, but I shouldn't have to tell you that milk isn't to think one eats. Or, or tonic drinks, honestly. Weird phrasing. That is five thousand swats of three thousand pleasure every day. You know what they say? No irreversible joint

damage. No kidding. So, no game. Right. So with, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, train with his bare hands if they'd make no travel free on the 11 kilometer stretch near his village. The government did some research and then refused his challenge. Oh, hey boss, it's a big guy out there says we can squish him with a train. Yeah. Yeah, but we'd have to lose a bunch of money given away free train rides. Pass? Oh man, I really thought that'd do it. Ha, ha, ha. What? Then, in 1947, the British leave and partition happens. Quick, historical aside about partition.

You know how your uncle Frank doesn't understand why you can't just leave Afghanistan and let them figure it out for themselves? Well, the reason for that is partition. These once occupied territories are abandoned completely over the course of years, but months. And the British pretty much just say to themselves, Hey, it's the Hindus and the Muslims and some Christians in some of the poorest, most oppressed places in the world. I'm sure they'll figure it out fine if we just leave a giant power vacuum and they fuck off. Spoiler alert, they did not figure it out.

Fine. Well, right. And on top of all that, the whole process is booby trapped by the Brits as well. Right. So it's like, it's like handing over yard work to a guy, but you take all the equipment with you and then you bury a couple landmines into grass. Right. And then you pat yourself on the back about how much better the lawn looked when you were injured. So with the myriad of other bad stuff that comes with partition, come religious riots and literal murder mobs that would descend on small towns and villages of minority religions and murder everybody. Gama, who I'll remind you is a Muslim, is living in Pakistan at the time. And he hears about this happening, so he vows to protect the Hindu village that he lives nearby.

They come to start trouble and Gama is just standing against a wall and he drinks a whole cow and then just cracks his knuckles. Oh, you're so close, Cecil, you're so actually literally close. You know what, gets you in a minute minute I have five hours to push up So sure enough rumors reach him that there's a heavily armed murder mob headed right for his village So he closes down his wrestling school takes a couple students with him and stands at the city's front gates The mob arrives at the city only to find the let me remind you 69-year-old champion of fuck you up, blocking their way. wielding a giant silver mace that the Prince of Wales had given him.

Yes he is absolutely. This mace, by the way, is worth a Google. It's not what you're picturing. It looks like a giant baby rattle and it's like the size of his torso. It's fucking crazy. Yeah, so for the webinars, it's a gala, but done up British royalty style, meaning like ridiculously huge and big and strong. It's like, it looks like to even lift it,

the Norse gods would have to deem you worthy. Yeah. So the mob asked Gama to move. Gama asked them to move. The leader of the mob asks Gama if he thinks he can fight all of them. Gama has Sim if he thinks that they can all fight him. The leader of the mob then attacks Gama with an axe and Gama slaps him with his hand so hard that he fucking died. Slaps him with his hand so hard that he fucking dot what?

Let me say that again. He slapped a dude to the hand. Yeah, but he was holding a 1200 kilogram rock in one hand. Yeah. And turns to the mob and says, who's next? Needless to say, the mob all fled. Yeah, also this dude absolutely dominated hand slapping

right? Yeah, fucking top and a slaps your hand right off. Or that way the fucking the fucking slap game where they stand up and they slap each other trying to knock each other out. That's what it played. Fucking hit the guy that's head of a mountain. But Kamenui couldn't stand at the gates of the city slapping guys to death forever. So, using money from his own pocket, he bought the entire town a week's worth of rations and personally escorted them over the border to save himself. It's a little different. He just hit the mountain with his mace and they just walk right through the new PASCII

man. He punches the ground behind him when they cross in a great chasm opens between Pakistan and India. So Gama accepted the occasional challenge until he retired in 1955 at the age of 77. Over the 50 plus years of his career, he wrestled more than 5,000 recorded matches and he never, ever lost. Kamu was given land and a monthly pension by the government and they supported his medical expenses until his death on the 23rd of May of 1960. All right, so if you had to summarize what you learned in one sentence, what would it be? He slapped a guy to death to take it away. That's certainly the same way. All right, so you ready for the quiz?

I'm ready. All right, I got a question for you. If the great gamma opened a six chickens and two cows worth of milk themed restaurant in his old age, what would it slogan have been? Hey, because you gotta eat somewhere. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, be putting thein undefeated. Eat a call cut above the rest. Eat here or

I'll slap you to death. Yes. That's the winner. Oh, see, it was good, but I got to go with the eight here. I'll slap you to death. It was the in fact. Yeah. Thank you. All right, you like, what's the movie about this guy lifting a big rock called a lifter nice guy. Nice to spell the G and all you geology nerds are like, yes, B things to do in Denver when you're dead lifting, see, bromancing the stone or D, the slate graspie. Slate graspie. Slate graspie.

I'm gonna go with bromancing the stone. That one was definitely the smitten. That is exactly it, bromancing the stone. All right, Eli, I admit that I am fascinated by what the human body can be molded to do and then how we test it. Which of the below is the most impressive feat of real strength? A. The wife carrying championships.

An obstacle course where the husband carries his wife around like a sack. B. The man versus horse marathon. A 22 mile race of men racing against a guy on horseback. See, the Cannonball catch. What? Which is where a guy catches a cannonball that was shot at him and sometimes doesn't die. Or D, one time Noah saw someone was wrong on the internet and didn't correct them. Okay, well I know that last one is it real. So secret answer E and B and C?

Yeah. B and C and E. Saw through my clever ruse. All right, it looks like Eli is this week's winner. All right, well, I have been sad on the end of a doc and mused on the fragility of man in a while. So let's get an essay from Tom next week. All right, well, for Cecil Eli and Tom, I know what, thank you for hanging out with us today. We're gonna be back next week. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha or leave a five star review everywhere you can. And if you'd like to get in touch with us, check out past episodes, connect with us on social media or check the show notes.

Be sure to check out citationpod.com. I forgot to write a post beep, so I could tell you guys my favorite fact that didn't make it into the essay. When you slap that guy to death, that guy's family went to the cops, and they were like, hey, this guy slapped our son to death.

And they were like, wasn't your son trying to murder him at the time? And they were like, yeah, he was. But still, murder's murder, go get him. And they were like, who do you suggest we should arrest him? And they were like fair point. And they left and that was it. That guy was just dead. Ha ha!