Bandesh is one of the ancient Indian Martial Arts form. It is basically a collection or martial techniques mainly used to disarm and defeat an armed opponent without taking his life. Bandesh can also be regarded as an empty-handed combat technique. Different types of lock holds are utilised against different kinds of weapons like daggers, swords, long staff etc. In the competition of this ancient martial art, the conqueror is the one who takes the weapon from the other. During the ancient era, law enforcing authorities practiced the various techniques of Bandesh to effectively suppress and control offenders with minimal injury.

History of Bandesh
Bandesh is considered to have originated several hundred years ago. It was developed as a technique which utilised grappling, locking, choking, disarming and forced-submission moves to counter an armed attack. Bandesh has evolved and branched out of Malla Yuddha, another ancient Indian Martial art technique.

Techniques of Bandesh
Bandesh encompasses a series of techniques for locking limbs and holding down an adversary and compelling him to submission. There are six different stages namely, Pavithra (footwork), Rokh (blocking), Lapet (Twisting), Fekan (Throw), Cheen (Snatching) and Bandesh (Lock hold). Although the main principle of Bandesh is to use unarmed techniques to defeat the adversary, but it is also practiced with weapons, maintaining the same principle of not wounding the enemy fatally. Several matches are fought with weapons and the winner has to neutralize and disarm the opponent and take his weapon.

Philosophy of Bandesh
The philosophy of this ancient martial art is interesting and notable. According to the Hindu belief in the sanctity of human life, Bandesh techniques make the use of weapons without killing. The practitioners of Bandesh are stressed on non-lethal use of force and reduce the risk of injury to the enemy. The fights usually consist of hand-to-hand combats, but use of weapons is also common in Bandesh fights.

The different types of lock holds and moves are aimed either on different parts of the challenger`s body or weapon.

This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to it. Send your Write Up to content@indianetzone.com