Gatka Video - SIkh Martial Art

**Khalsa** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 2:16am

Hi, i am part of the sikh religion, the youngest major religion in the world. It was originated about 500 years ago. The sikhs have 10 gurus, teachers who taught the ways of life. The sixth guru was the first to engage in warfare. He created the defence art of Gatka. Every sikh was to abide in this art to defend the religion and others against injustice.

Today Gatka still runs in the sikh community....in Vancouver Bc we have a Gatka team and i thought that you guys should check it out, a mixtape of our team was made recently and you can watch it by clicking the following

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...481787&q=gatka

In the start of the video, as demonstrated is the footwork to prepare you to start doing gatka...it isnt a kind of dance or anything it is a way we pay our respects to the weapons,

Many weapons are used, sticks, staffs, swords axes, knives, many more

This is a freestyle martial art, basically anything goes....it is a type of martial art that lets you move alot, it is this way because in the battles, the sikhs were outnumbered so they had to move to many locations...post your thoughts i have more videos if you want, you can ask me to postt. This art was designed to take on multiple opponents.

thankss

Feel free to ask any questions,

I will post up more videos soon

**BackFistMonkey** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 2:36am

Link broken ...

and I am pretty sure this thread is in the right section .... but I am not so sure you meant it to be here .

You wouldn't happen to have a website handy would you ?

**Khalsa** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 2:39am

oh sorry yeah this is where i wanted to start this thread

this link should work

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...481787&q=gatka

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 2:55am

Looks like what would happen if Silat and Capoeira had a baby.

Interesting vids.

**MEGA JESUS-SAMA** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 3:00am

it's an okay dancing video i guess. nothing too spectacular.

**Dagon Akujin** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 3:05am

Looks like a cross between XMA and mating emus. Are those men wearing tutus? When the **** did a steering wheel become a weapon?

What is the grading scale? White turban, orange turban, purple turban, black turban, black turban with a yellow stripe?

Dagon

P.S. Dhaler Mhendi would kick all their asses.... with his fireballs!!!

P.P.S. You guys all jumped on the XMA bandwagon before my post went through! So I'll instead say it looks like a cross between emus and mating emus.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 3:06am

Originally Posted by Khalsa

First of all....were not arabs, were not muslims, were sikhs....and second of all whats with the criticism...why attack other people i didnt even say anything wrong about you all i am here for is to discuss martial arts and i dont like when people start being racist

Got to Kung fu forums online or MAP.

This website doesn't tolerate compliant (choreographed) routines. Now, if you have some real sparring please link those videos.

**Khalsa** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 3:08am

ok thanks but if i said anything wrong i take it back

**porch** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 3:22am

Originally Posted by War Phalange

Please, just stick to ramming planes into buildings.

If that was more wide spread among the Arab community, we wouldn't need to be over in Iraq in the first place.

Quoted for stupidity and ignorance. You can't even hate right.

**Locu5** · Posted On: 6/22/2006 5:12am

Please ignore the riff-raff, they can be a bit pissy. I personally loved you in Jonny Quest ;-).

Seriously, I thought the dancing was very hip-hop and fairly cool (in fact I wouldn't be surprised if your younger members practice to Jay-Z when their teachers are not watching). I think the overall impression from a martial standpoint is that there is obviously a lot of time spent on katas and 2-man sets. As this is obviously a "way of life thing" for a number of people (and thus a large time sink) I can see how that might be more probable than we are used to. If I may, I have a few questions.

Do you, internally, separate the members who do primarily the performance/celebration from those who do the fighting?

What is the name of the weapon catcher net thing that is being twirled?

When was the last time Sikhs had to do melee battle?

Here we see a lot of previously "martial" arts go the route of "display" arts, losing the martial (i.e. fighting) aspect. Do you find your art is developing the same way?

Is there any schism internally from members who feel the art is getting too soft or getting away from its more war-like roots?

What material is used for the sparring weapons? At times it looked like rattan and others it looked like thin plastic. Do you think it gives a realistic feedback when being hit with it?

I liked how the sword/shield sparring looked fairly similar to the 2-man sets that were demonstrated. How long do you normally make students (disciples??) wait before progressing to the sparring part?

How do you handle safety while sparring? I would assume it is by using less than damaging weapons, from the vid, but I am curious (it is always an isssue with weapon sparring).

Do you allow women to participate, or is it against your precepts?

How young are most members when they start? Does training simply start at "conversion" to Sikh?

Have you considered releasing a more americanized version with say a solid breakbeat, drum n bass, hip-hop music?

Do you guys ever participate in any of the "forms competitions"? If so, how do you do?