Wrestling games
پہلوانی
Traditional wrestling in Pakistan runs on two parallel tracks: kushti in the akhara tradition of Punjab, and malakhra in Sindh, where wrestlers grip a twisted cloth belt at the waist and try to throw each other in a sand ring. Both are tied to fairs, shrine festivals and patronage rather than to stadium seasons, and both are contests with defined grips, permitted throws and a clear condition for a win. This category documents them as games with rules, not as folklore. Each entry records the number of participants, the ring or ground, the equipment used, the season in which bouts are held, and the fouls that end a bout. Regional names and local variants are attributed to place. Malakhra is very poorly covered in English-language sources, so its page will remain in research until the rules and at least two citable references are confirmed; a first-hand field note from a named contributor at a named fair counts toward that.
