Summary of the Akhara: Where Earth Is Turned Into Gold
Akhara is a place where; youth recreation, men and boy relaxation, healing, as well as religious activities take place and it is located in an open place, close to a water source and surrounded by tress with thick leaves. Examples of religious activities that takes place in Akharas include, prayer and sacrifice offerings as well as meditation sessions while on the other hand, the major recreation activity taking place here is wrestling; besides people also visit this place to be healed from various diseases such as skin diseases. The daily routine in akharas differ from one to another but, generally there is no specific regulations that must be adhered to strictly to the letter; one has freedom to do what he wants to do so long as he does it according to the way it is supposed to be done. There is no defined daily routine for all the akharas but, the typical schedule of a wrestler includes: waking very in the morning, teeth brushing, training, relaxing, bathing, relaxing throughout the day, followed again by evening training. There is free membership in Akharas but, initiations must take place for one to be allowed to join akhara; moreover, members are usually from the age of thirteen to twenty five, (Joseph, 1992 pp. 26-34).
Work Cited
Joseph, S. A. The Wrestler’s Body: Identity and Ideology in North India. California: University
of California, 1992. Retrieved on 9th May 2011 from http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft6n39p104&chunk.id=ch02&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ch02&brand=ucpress
