Last master standing

BENGALURU: When you see Nidar Singh Nihang move, you wonder twice if his movement was real or an illusion. On a chilly Tuesday morning, he’s surrounded by a group of seven to eight eager students who’ve gathered to learn the technique of a traditional Indian martial art: Shastar Vidiya. At first glance, it might seem like Singh is performing the Shiva Tandav but when he makes you observe closely, you notice how the fluid movements are actually meant to attack: A propped up knee, which, if swung right, can bring an opponent flat on the ground or a raised palm, if used with enough force, can break the neck of an attacker. 

Singh, in his own words, is the last standing Indian teacher of the ancient warrior art form and belongs to the Nihang community. The 51-year-old grew up in the UK and chanced upon the art form in 1984, in Punjab. “I came across an old man near a tree with a stick in his hand. When he saw me, he said if I really was my father’s son, I should hit him with the stick. Now this was meant to be an insult and he incited me to give it a shot. Everything happened in a split second - I had raised my arm, stick in hand, when the next thing I know, a 60-year-old man had managed to throw a 17-year-old well-built boy on the ground,” Singh recalls. 

There was no looking back since then and he trained for 11 years under the man and learned all about the form’s technique, history and tradition. He explains that the art form was prominent in India and kept going strong till the British invaded India. Shastar Vidiya involves the use of weapons to defend oneself and instead of banning the art form itself, the the Indian Arms Act, which stated that Indians couldn’t have any weapons on them, was introduced to dissuade the practice. Once Singh completed his training, he decided to further spread word about the art, and headed back to the UK to teach globally. “My guru told me to focus on teaching the world first. He said Indians wouldn’t accept anything until it got the world’s stamp of approval,” he says. 

Over the next couple of years, Singh travelled from UK and Germany to Canada, eventually setting up an akhada in Italy last year. The teacher is currently in Bengaluru and explains that in India, people in Delhi and Mumbai have responded well to the art form, and that awareness is slowly trickling down South. He also has plans to start an akhada in India, at the foothills of Mount Himalayas, soon. 

Given the highly combative nature of Shastra Vidiya, Singh is selective about who he trains. When he first started out teaching in UK, he was approached by various groups from the Khalistan movement, who wanted him to be the “poster boy” for their propaganda. “They knew youngsters would get attracted to me and my fighting skills. Thus, they could use me to send out hate messages. I will never teach these skills to anyone who is a criminal, a religious fanatic or a fundamentalist. I’m an apolitical person and I find this to be pure evil,” he says. 

One might even rarely find Singh in attire that is not the traditional Nihang outfit: A blue kurta with kaliyan at the bottom (for greater flexibility), a blue belt around his waist, a lose pant that cuts off on his knees and a turban, again in blue. “In the olden days, if someone got cut while fighting, an opponent could never tell if he was bleeding. The blue masked the blood as sweat,” he explains. His hands are bare of accessories when he is in the middle of a class, but upon closer observance, a hint of silver at the centre of his belt reveals that his kadha is tucked snugly there, so that no student gets hurt in the process of learning the combat. 

Since Shastra Vidiya involves the use of weapons, a charcoal-silvered tinted sword seems to be Singh’s constant accomplice, so much so that he even refers to it as ‘her’ while talking about how we acquired it. “We consider it bad luck to keep a weapon at home if one isn’t worshipping it by using it. So, a family donated this sword to me in the UK and it’s been by my side ever since,” he says. 

Despite being the last Indian teacher, he isn’t too worried about the fate of Shastra Vidiya. “A few international students have started teaching it. My 14-year-old son started learning when he was three. So, I know it’s in safe hands. But what I would truly like is for us to live in a society where everyone is safe and no one fears anyone,” he says.