27 February,2011 08:25 AM IST | | Shrikant Khuperkar
A 5 year-old from Dombivli is taking the Marathi martial art tradition forward with his sword and lathi kathi more than three centuries after Chhatrapati Shivaji wielded his weapons
As the state celebrated Marathi Divas on February 26, a five year-old of Tamilian descent did his bit to keep the Marathi martial arts tradition alive. Soham Gunesh Adval, the son of a Ganesha idol maker, picked up the art of wielding the Dandpatta, Kathi and sword from age three, and his father Gunesh Adval insists he did not teach his son a single move. "My son does not watch TV or play cricket. And we haven't put him through any classes either," said the 32 year-old.
The Advals, whose ancestors moved to Maharashtra from Tamil Nadu five generations ago, hail from Solapur. They shifted to Mumbai four years ago and stay in Dombivli, where Adval, who is a sculptor, makes clay idols during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Back in their ancestral home, the Advals own several traditional weapons, including the lejhim, lathi-kathi, dandpatta and swords. "We own a 350 year-old Winston sword in our ancestral house, which Babasaheb Purandre has come home to examine several times," says Adval.
Purandare is a historian and the author of Jaanata Raja, an immensely popular Marathi play on Chhatrapati Shivaji. Talking of how his son got interested in martial arts, Adval said, "Every year, we would bring Lord Ganesha home in a palki during Ganesh Chaturthi. During the procession, the weapons would be brought out and Soham would watch the performances wide eyed."
Adval's own father, Gajanan Adval could wield a Kathya, sword and Khanjir and even operate two Danpattas at a timeu00a0-- a technique used by Bajiprabhu Deshpande, Chhatrapati Shivaji's trusted lieutenant who helped the Maratha ruler escape from Panhalgad Fort.
"Soham began to take interest in martial arts from the time he was three. Within no time he has became an expert," said the proud father.
