Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

VIDEO: Meet Nidar Singh Nihang, The Only Living Master Of A Centuries-Old Sikh Battlefield Art Of 'SHASTAR VIDYA'

Darpan News Desk, 13 Mar, 2019 06:04 PM

    Through twenty-five years of intense study and demanding physical training, Nidar Singh has managed to preserve this closely guarded art that has teetered on the brink of extinction for the last 150 years.

     

    He is the sole-surviving master and ninth teacher of a classical school of learning established in 1661, called the Baba Darbara Singh Shastar Vidya Akhara, which is the last remnant of this ancient tradition.


    Born and brought up in the UK, Nidar Singh was a teenager who knew virtually nothing about the religion he was born into when, in 1984 , left his home in the backstreets of Wolverhampton to live with relatives in a sleepy Punjabi village. It was there that his mundane life was changed forever following a chance meeting with an enigmatic septuagenarian Akali-Nihang warrior.


    “I was fascinated by the old man’s claim that he was the last in a lineage of Sikh warriors who had secretly guarded the Guru’s art of war. I was immediately drawn on a journey of discovery into a world that has now all but vanished.”

     


    Nidar Singh lives and breathes the technical aspects of the physical art, but reflecting the Indian tradition of all-encompassing learning, he is constantly striving to discover more of the art’s history, traditions, and martial philosophy, as passed on by a lineage of masters stretching back to the dawn of Indian civilisation.

     

    Nidar Singh Nihang gives a fascinating account of how Shastra Vidya flourished across India till the arrival of the British, who not only banned possession of weapons but subdued and suppressed all native martial traditions and systematically laid them to waste. Improvising ways to hoodwink the British to keep their weapons, the brave Nihangs strove against all odds to preserve their closely guarded art which was teetering on the brink of extinction.


    In the video, Nidar Singh demonstrates the technical and metaphysical aspects of Shastra Vidya encompassing martial yoga, body mechanics and other sophisticated, highly swift and efficient techniques and makes a case for the revival of this forgotten science.


    His journey to reconnect people with their martial traditions continues and he has dedicated his life to preserving and sharing this precious heritage for the benefit of current and future generations.


    Further Reading:

     

    British Sikhs revive deadly art banned by the Raj

     

    The only living master of a centuries-old Sikh battlefield art of shastar vidya


    Meet the last surviving master of the Sikh warrior art: He lives in Wolverhampton and he is on the lookout for an apprentice


    Ancient but deadly: the return of shastar vidiya


    Un art martial sauvé de l’oubli. Briser les deux bras d’un homme


    UK factory ex-worker is last Sikh martial art master


    Photos: http://nidarsingh.com/

    MORE Interesting ARTICLES

    PICS: Chinese Family Documents Incredible 6-month Weight Loss Journey In Pics

    PICS: Chinese Family Documents Incredible 6-month Weight Loss Journey In Pics
    Chinese photographer and videographer Ding Guo Liang roped in his family -- wife and parents -- on a six-month weight-loss programme and documented their journey on the social media. Here’s why the 32-year-old from Xiamen is an unlikely internet hero.

    PICS: Chinese Family Documents Incredible 6-month Weight Loss Journey In Pics

    Father Charged With Second-Degree Murder In Deaths Of Daughters Appears In Court

    Father Charged With Second-Degree Murder In Deaths Of Daughters Appears In Court
    Andrew Berry's case has been adjourned until Feb. 1 after British Columbia provincial court heard he needs four weeks to retain legal counsel.

    Father Charged With Second-Degree Murder In Deaths Of Daughters Appears In Court

    Vancouver Musician Daniel Whitmore, A.K.A. Dan Scum, Charged With Smuggling Drugs Into Japan

    Vancouver Musician Daniel Whitmore, A.K.A. Dan Scum, Charged With Smuggling Drugs Into Japan
    A statement from Tokyo Customs says Daniel Whitmore was arrested at Narita Airport on Dec. 11 after arriving on a flight from Vancouver.

    Vancouver Musician Daniel Whitmore, A.K.A. Dan Scum, Charged With Smuggling Drugs Into Japan

    Two B.C. Cities Soldier On With Decades-old Ban On Self-Serve Gas Pumps

    Two B.C. Cities Soldier On With Decades-old Ban On Self-Serve Gas Pumps
    Two western Canadian cities that mandate gas stations employ attendants to pump fuel are outliers in a nation where most citizens are accustomed to do-it-yourself fill ups.

    Two B.C. Cities Soldier On With Decades-old Ban On Self-Serve Gas Pumps

    Woman Gets Entire Flight To Herself Thanks To A Goof Up. Jealous Much?

    Woman Gets Entire Flight To Herself Thanks To A Goof Up. Jealous Much?
    On a flight from Rochester, New York to Washington, D.C., Redditor shadybaby22 magically found herself on a completely empty plane thanks to a clerical error. 

    Woman Gets Entire Flight To Herself Thanks To A Goof Up. Jealous Much?

    ‘BOM-DEL’ Flight Misunderstood As ‘Bomb Fata Hai’; Indian-Origin CEO Of US Firm Held

    ‘BOM-DEL’ Flight Misunderstood As ‘Bomb Fata Hai’; Indian-Origin CEO Of US Firm Held
    Vinod Moorjani, the 45-year-old Indian-origin CEO of a US-based company, was arrested on Sunday for allegedly making a hoax bomb call at the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL).

    ‘BOM-DEL’ Flight Misunderstood As ‘Bomb Fata Hai’; Indian-Origin CEO Of US Firm Held