ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the history of such cultures in colonial Bengal, with particular reference to the figure of the wrestler Gobor Guha, who still remains the only Indian to a world heavyweight title in wrestling. The gymnasium of the family was founded in as early as 1857, in the year of the Sepoy Uprising by Ambu-babu or Ambika Charan Guha. After suffering a grievous injury at the age of eight or nine, Ambika Charan was prescribed a regimen of physical exercise, horse-riding and studies at home. The idea of physical cultures as a necessary part of the curriculum of incipient nationalism found ready acceptance in colonial Bengal, among others. Along with the traditional akhada, new spaces for the practice and display of physical cultures began to open up. While the akhada was often governed by strict codes of conduct and regimen, these new spaces made physical cultures more accessible to the general public.
