Zorkhana elements
Strength games with heavy tools and wrestling, performed by pehlevans.
About
The zorkhana is a tradition of the pehlevans that consists of strength games, individual performances and wrestling. The performances are accompanied by music or fast-beating drums, and the competitions are overseen by referees.
The pehlevans work with tools that resemble medieval weapons: swords, shields and bows. These tools are heavier than real weapons, because their purpose was to prepare the pehlevan to handle a real weapon with ease. The elements of the Azerbaijani zorkhana are: sina oyunu, mil oyunu, yekba, sangqaldirma, kabbada, yepka, charkhi and zanjirqirma.
In the eyes of the people the pehlevan is a symbol of determination. Zorkhana games are an integral part of folk events and outdoor celebrations. In 2022 UNESCO inscribed the element, for Azerbaijan, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the name "Pehlevanliq culture: traditional zorkhana games, sports and wrestling".
History
In the word zorkhana, zor means strength and khana means place: at first it was the name of the place where warriors and pehlevans did their physical training. By tradition the rules of the zorkhana were reorganised about 700 years ago by Puryayi Vali (Mahmud ibn Valiyuddin).
The oldest zorkhanas in Azerbaijan are the 15th-century Icherisheher zorkhana in Baku and the 17th-century Qeysariyya building in Ordubad. In the 19th century zorkhanas were also built in Ganja, Shusha, Shaki, Nakhchivan and Shirvan.
A zorkhana has a domed roof, a floor below ground level and a low door: whoever enters has to bow. In the middle there is a six- or eight-sided pit about a metre deep. The murshid sits on a high wooden platform called the sardam.
The Safavid shah Ismail I was a patron of the martial arts and promoted the zorkhana. Artemi Araratski, who was in Baku in the 18th century, described the contests, the pehlevans and the acrobats of the city's zorkhanas. In the Soviet period the zorkhana was banned; since 1992 the national games, zorkhana among them, have been part of the physical education programme. Vasif Namazov's table of the ancient Turkic martial arts (2020) also lists the Anatolian zorkhana.
Rules in brief
A performance follows a set order: sina oyunu, mil oyunu, yekba, sang (stone lifting), kabbada, yepka (footwork), charkhi (spinning), zanjirqirma (chain breaking) and, last, wrestling.
In sina oyunu the pehlevan rests on his hands and moves forwards and backwards without touching the floor with his chest. In mil oyunu heavy wooden clubs are swung above the head. The kabbada is a bow-shaped tool with a chain that is passed over the head. Yepka is footwork for catching one's breath between the heavy exercises, and charkhi is spinning.
The exercises are accompanied by jangi tunes played by a group of zurna players: Koroghlu qaytarmasi, Misri, Pehlevani.
The zorkhana club (mil) is made of boxwood or oak and weighs 12–30 kilograms. In yekba the pehlevan lifts heavy stones with handles, throws them up and catches them. The two ends of the kabbada are joined by a chain one metre long: the part called the bow is held in the left hand and the part called the string in the right. The pit is called the sufra and the one who directs the games the murshid; the games begin at a sign from the miyandar.
Federations and competitions
Zorkhana was included as a national sport in the National Sports Association founded in 1990. Since 2007 Azerbaijan has been a member of the International Zurkhaneh Sports Federation. In 2009, at the first World Cup in zorkhana and pehlevan wrestling, Vugar Gurbanov took first place in the heavyweight class and received the title "Pehlevan of the World". In 2017, at the zorkhana competitions of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, athletes of Azerbaijan won 1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals. In 2022 UNESCO inscribed "Pehlevanliq culture: traditional zorkhana games, sports and wrestling" on the Representative List.
Peoples
Research: Vasif Namazov, Turan Games Concept
