When referring to the weapon
itself, a lathi could be considered the world’s oldest weapon.Although
Lathi shares many principles with other martial arts, it is totally unique
in a way. Most armed martial arts of Asia have one thing in common – they
use the dan-tien as their energy center. The dan-tien is two fingers below
the navel and corresponds to the solar plexus. This relatively low center of
gravity causes these martial arts to be mostly performed out of a knees-bent
crouch, which is called horse stance.
The energy center of Lathi is the heart chakra. This higher center of gravity allows
the Lathial (practitioner of Lathi) to practice from a higher, longer, more
extended posture. Practitioners feel this provides a natural alignment with
gravity that balances, orders and aligns the body with the earth’s gravity
field, and believe this means that Lathi can be used as a powerful
therapeutic tool to heal the human body of all kinds of chronic and acute
structural troubles.
It is worth noting that in dan-tien-centered martial arts, belly breathing is the
predominant pattern. In Lathi, the higher heart center allows for the breath
to flow into the high chest. The high chest breath moves energy, nourishes
the heart and lifts the body structure into a natural and therapeutic
alignment with gravity.
Wielding the lathi involves giving quick lethal blows to the opponent and defending
opponent attacks by using the lathi as a shield. A lathial needs to be quick
and precise. Lathi blows are powerful and sometimes even fatal. A good
lathial must be able to fight with lathis of different lengths and
thicknesses.
Lathi became popular among villages of India, especially eastern and
southern India. Other than fighting lathi was often used to control domestic
animals. A common Hindi saying goes "Jiski lathi, uski bhains"
meaning, "he who wields the lathi gets to keep the buffalo" ("bhains" in
Hindi).
Local warlords and landlords often raised armies of lathials for settling
disputes and for security purposes. Lathial armies were also used to oppress
and punish common people. The size of the army was also an indication of the
power of a warlord or landlord. At the same time lathi had also evolved as a
sport. Tournaments involving lathi duels often took place in Indian
villages.
The Zamindari System was introduced by the Mughals in India and continued
during British rule of India. The Zamindar raised lathial armies to
forcefully collect taxes from people. The British introduced lathi as a
weapon for the Indian Police. This gave birth to the lathi charge, a
military-style rush (or charge) that uses lathis to disperse crowds. Lathis
were now often used by Indian Police to control riots and also as a
secondary weapon. Lathi charges were a common way to suppress marches and
protests for independence by freedom fighters and common people.
