It is well-known that various genres of physical cultures received an unprecedented impetus during the nationalist phase in Indian history, dating from roughly the end of the 19th century till the third decade of the 20th. During this time, a kind of muscular nationalism gained ground in Bengal. Fed up of being stigmatized as a ‘frail and effeminate’ race, Bengalis—both men and women—began to participate in various kinds of physical cultures, ranging from martial arts to gymnastics, trapeze acts to hot-air ballooning, wresting to body-building. While there were plenty of accounts in the contemporary periodical press about the new forms of bodily activity, there is no reliable body of data from which one might construct a history of the same. The aim of the project is threefold: first, to bring to in one electronic platform all the sources that are available on the subject. This would include books, articles, and most importantly, papers of the institutions (such as clubs, akhadas, circuses) which were associated with physical cultures. Second, to create a biographical database of all the practitioners of the genre; and third, to write a history based on the data made available from the first two strands of investigation. The following physical cultures will be covered under the project:
• Wrestling
• Bodybuilding and feats of strength
• Stick and knife-play
• Judo and jui-jutsu
• Circus acts
• Yoga
• Raibenshe
