Google Doodle features The Great Gama on his 144th birthday

The latest Google doodle, which is currently up on the search engine’s homepage, showcases the great wrestler Ghulam Mohammad Baksh, more famously known as Gama Pehelwan. The Google doodle, in honour of the great wrestler, celebrates the wrestler's 144th birthday.

The doodle, created by a San Francisco based Indian artist Vrinda Zaveri, shows Gama Pehelwan in his youth standing tall in a posture which symbolises how the great Gama was always ready for a fight. The doodle also shows Gama posing with a silver mace which is said to have been gifted to him by the Prince of Wales to recognise his great talents.

Born in Amritsar in 1878, Gama Pehlwan fought a total of 5000 bouts in his entire career. The wrestler fought undefeated for 22 years which earned him the title of “undefeated champion”.

According to the description of the recent Google Doodle, the wrestler lived a disciplined and dedicated life. His workout routine included 500 lunges and 500 push-ups at only 10- years- old.  At the young age of 15, Gama Pehelwan officially picked up wrestling as a career and became famous across the subcontinent for his indistinguishable talent.

The Google Doodle blog reads “By 1910, people were reading Indian newspapers with headlines praising Gama as a national hero and world champion,"

After the partition of the subcontinent, Gama migrated to Pakistan and lived the rest of his life in the historic city of Lahore. Here, the great Gama not only continued to build upon his wrestling legacy but also stood firm in the face of partition instigated violence and oppression.

Legend has it that when a gang of rioters approached his town in Lahore, Gama Pehelwan and his group of wrestlers not only stood in opposition to them but also played a huge part in protecting the town from looters and mob violence. It is said that Gama slapped the mob leader across the face which caused the man to fall dramatically to the ground. This created a scene which scared off the rest of the mob.

The blog on Today’s Google Doodle reads “Gama’s legacy continues to inspire modern-day fighters. Even Bruce Lee is a known admirer and incorporates aspects of Gama's conditioning into his own training routine!”

Gama passed away in 1969 in the city of Lahore.