Google Doodle Today: Celebrating Hamida Banu, India's First Woman Wrestler AKA Amazon Of Aligarh On May 4
Google Doodle Celebrates Hamida Banu: On May 5, Google Doodle celebrates Hamida Banu who is widely considered to be?India's first female wrestler,?who wasn't afraid to challenge men to fight. On this day in 1954, Banu gained international recognition and praise for her wrestling match. She defeated the renowned wrestler Baba Pahalwan in just 1 minute and 34 seconds. After this match, Baba Pahalwan retired from professional wrestling. She made a name for herself in the wrestling world, winning more than 320 matches during her career.
Indian woman wrestler Hamida Banu became very famous in the 1940s and 50s, a time when wrestling was mostly for men. ?Her amazing skills and big personality made her well-known worldwide. But then, she disappeared.?
In February 1954, when Banu was around 30 years old, she made a unique challenge. She said she would marry any man who could beat her in a wrestling match.?"Beat me in a bout and I'll marry you."?News from that time tells us that she defeated two male wrestling champions, one from Patiala in the north of Punjab and the other from Kolkata (then called Calcutta) in West Bengal.
Amazon of Aligarh
Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Banu grew up wrestling and won over 300 competitions during her career in the 1940s and 1950s. Despite strong social norms against women participating in sports at the time, Banu was determined and competed against men, challenging them openly and even betting her hand in marriage to anyone who could defeat her. She also competed internationally, defeating a Russian wrestler named Vera Chistilin in less than two minutes.
Banu's name made headlines for years, earning her the nickname "Amazon of Aligarh"?because she was really strong and lived in a town called Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Newspapers covered her victories, her diet, and her training routine extensively.
According to a BBC report, Banu's weight, height, and what she ate became big news. They said she weighed 17 stone (which is 108kg) and was 5ft 3in (which is 1.6m) tall. Every day, she drank 5.6 litres of milk, 2.8 litres of soup, 1.8 litres of fruit juice, ate a whole chicken, almost 1kg of mutton and almonds, half a kilo of butter, 6 eggs, two big loaves of bread, and two plates of biryani.
Artist behind today's Google Doodle
This Doodle tribute to Hamida Banu, an Indian wrestler considered India's first professional female wrestler. Illustrated by guest?artist Divya Negi?from Bangalore, today's Doodle shows Hamida surrounded by local plants and animals.
About Google Doodle
The very first Doodle was published way back in 1998 and was a bit of a joke from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to remind Googlers they would be out of the office for Burning Man.
The first animated doodle premiered on Halloween 2000. In 2009, Google created the first same-day Doodle when water was discovered on the moon.
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