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Wrestling in India has long existed beyond the ring, in mythology, sculpture, photographs and the akharas, where generations of wrestlers have trained. But the sport has also been shaped by questions of caste, gender, power and survival.
At Bengaluru's Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), a new exhibition brings these different histories together. Grip, Hold, Pin, which opened on August 15, traces Indian wrestling through photographs and artworks spanning decades, from archival images by Raghu Rai, TS Satyan and Jyoti Bhatt to contemporary work by Indrajit Khambe and Prarthna Singh.
Curated by Aayati Sengupta, the exhibition looks at what happens around wrestling as much as the sport itself — the bodies, spaces, rituals and communities that sustain it. It also arrives at a time when Indian wrestling is faced with renewed scrutiny over questions of power and gender.
The exhibition grew out of an unexpected discovery in MAP's own collection. At the preview on August 14, MAP director Arnika Ahldag said the museum came across their substantial body of material on wrestling, prompting them to look more closely at the relationship between the sport and visual culture.
Some of the material, she said, may have originated from the interests of collector Abhishek Poddar, whose donated works form the foundation of MAP's collection.
But the existing archive did not tell the whole story. To fill those gaps, the curatorial team commissioned photographers Indrajit Khambe and Prarthna Singh to create new work for the exhibition.
Rather than treating wrestling as a sport with a fixed history, Grip, Hold, Pin places it within a much longer tradition of physical struggle. The exhibition draws connections between Bhima's battle with Jarasandha in the Mahabharata, Enkidu's fight with Gilgamesh in the Sumerian epic, Jacob wrestling with an angel in the Bible and Gandhara reliefs depicting the Buddha in combat.
Its curatorial text describes Indian wrestling today as "under threat", weighed down by questions of gender, power, and social inequity even as it faces competition from newer forms of spectacle.
That line lands against a recent and specific backdrop.
In January 2023, some of India's most decorated wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia, held a months-long sit-in in Delhi, accusing the then-Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing female wrestlers over several years.
Sakshi retired from the sport after an associate of Singh's was elected to lead the federation, regardless, and the Sports Ministry later suspended the newly elected body.
Grip, Hold, Pin does not directly reference the protests. But its focus on gender, power and inequality inevitably echoes the questions that have come to define the public conversation around Indian wrestling.
For Khambe, the story lies not necessarily in the dramatic moments of a bout. He said he deliberately avoided the familiar images associated with wrestling — a wrestler pinning an opponent or raising their arms after a victory — and instead photographed quieter moments inside the akhara.
That approach is reflected in the exhibition's larger attempt to move beyond wrestling as spectacle. The photographs look at the spaces, rituals, bodies and relationships that make up the world around the sport.
Aayati led the preview walkthrough, with Indrajit and Prarthna also scheduled to speak about their work during the exhibition's accompanying programmes. MAP has organised guided tours, a workshop and a photo talk with the two photographers.
The exhibition is also part of MAP's continuing effort to make its programming more accessible in Kannada. MAP's Bloomberg Connects digital guide, developed with Bloomberg Philanthropies, has also been fully translated into Hindi and Kannada. MAP says this makes it the first Indian museum to develop such a guide with the organisation.
A wheelchair-using visitor told Tatler Asia that his preference for Kannada over English often limited what he could access in public spaces and pointed to MAP's bilingual approach as making the museum easier to navigate.
The exhibition is on view at MAP's Infosys Gallery until November 1. Entry is free.
This story was written by a student interning with TNM.
