Rooted in the earth, India's traditional mud wrestling thrives

In this photograph taken on April 30, 2025, junior wrestlers train at the Shree Shahu Vijayi Gangavesh Talim, a residential gymnasium in Kolhapur, in India's Maharashtra state. [AFP]

Crowds cheer as muscular men in tight loincloths slap sacred scented soil on their bulging thighs and arms for a mud wrestling bout in India.

"When we fight, we sweat," said 33-year-old Mauli Jamdade, a wrestling star in Maharashtra state, rubbing red-brown earth onto his body for each clash.