By Dhanur Veda
Chackra is a strategic weapon which allows the military phalanx to break into the inner section of the enemy’s army where the King or prince of the opposing army would be located. These wheels or chackras were protecting the marks men (precision archers) from the arrows of opposing army.
When the marks-man got in the range of 100 meters from the King or prince, he was in the proper distance to shoot.
The chackras were all around the marks-man to deflect the arrows aimed at marks-man while he was approaching the King or the main general.
Thousands of years ago in Vedic India the Kings and princes were powerful warriors called maha-rathis and if during the war they got killed by the opposing army, the war was over.
Many many historical wars were won by the tactic in which the chackra weapon played an important role.
Dina Dayal (born in Estonia) is a ten year veteran in the field of performing arts. After finishing his studies as a product designer in the “Estonian Academy of Arts”, Dina joined the “Vivaculture” festival team to apply his skills in various creative projects. Besides playing in different dramas as well as directing theatrical productions, Dina has been traveling constantly over the past decade, thrilling the audiences in more than 20 countries worldwide with his Vedic martial arts performances.
Padma Locan is from Sweden and his first stage performance took place in Poland on our 2004 Festival tour. At that time Padma was only 8 years old and he was demonstrating traditional Indian martial arts together with his father and younger brother.
Padma wasn’t able to join the festival tour for the next 10 years. However, mean while he walked into his first Karate training class at the age of nine and later on at the age of sixteen he began training of Thai boxing in Stockholm, Sweden.
Last year when Padma Locan joined our tour again, he became attracted to the unique weapon of ancient India called “The Chackra” and started to train tirelessly under our tour veteran Dina Dayal. Now Dina Dayal and Padma Locan are presenting us the performance called the “Double Chackra”.
Gatka is an ancient martial art which has been thoroughly battle-tested. At present day it is practiced in North of India by the Sikhs. Gatka is intended to harmonize mind, body and spirit. It is based on the Indian martial art Shastar Vidyaa (Shastar = weapon, Vidyaa = essence/art). The origins can be traced back as far as 7000 years. Shastar Vidyaa stems from old Indian traditions like ayurveda and yoga. Gatka is one of the 64 arts of the old vedic philosophical tradition where the fighting system was combined with spiritual practices. Gatka aims at the coordination of mind & body through the meditation of spiritual verses, a holistic system by which the character and moral attitude of a student is shaped. In addition to giving the student defensive skills, it also helps the individual with other aspects of their life: makes the mind alert and responsive, maintains the body in a near perfect condition and makes soul fearless, compassionate and tranquil.
Although Gatka warriors use the sword as its primary weapon, many other weapons are available to the Gatka master. One of such weapons is “Chackra”, which looks like a wagon wheel with weights at the end of each spoke. In a real battle the ends of the spokes also carry sharp cutting blades. The wheel when in full motion presents a very dangerous weapon to approach, causing damage upon anyone who comes too close to the spinning weights or blades. The operator is also able to throw this into the enemy causing widespread damage.
Of course, on our festival stage I’m not using the real weapon but a very safe replica version which doesn’t have neither weights nor blades, but which is still visually spectacular.
P.S. We are extremely grateful to Vikram for kindly filming our performances!!!
Thanks to Dhanur Veda for Sharing
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