Srinagar: Kashmir is known for its beauty in the whole world for its mountains, springs, gardens, tourist places and for its rich culture, craft, heritage, and so on and so on that is why Kashmir is called as Paradise on earth. Simultaneously Kashmir is considered the hub of so many skills in which one is Sqay Martial Art. The history of Sqay can be traced in early days of Kashmir history and this history is limited to mythology.
“As per local folklores, the history goes back to several thousand years ago, as far back as the Kashmiri flood myth. It is believed that the Shaivite snake-worshipping Naga people have created the art prior to the Indo-Aryan invasions, and it was later patronized by Kings. The first written evidence of Sqay dates to the Muslim period when writings told of Sabre-Fighting in Kashmir. It is said that the word Sqay itself is first recorded in this period which means “Knowledge of War” in Persian,” said J&K Sqay Association in a statement.
It said that before 4012 BC, Sqay martial art was used by Kashmiris to protect themselves and used this art to kill animals for their food purposes. “But after 3905 BC the king (Diya Dev) give the training of this art to the soldiers for protection of Kashmir from enemies and give strict orders to follow up these rules to soldiers. In 3889 BC, a storm known as Tophani Nuh (AS) had destroyed whole nation including Kashmir. The few people were alive in (Kohistans) forests of Kashmir and used this art for their protection and killing animals for food purposes individually or collectively. After the storm of Nuh (AS) when the Kashmir was rebuilt in the period of Kashap Reshi then there was the democratic government,” it said.
The king of Kashmir “Puran Karan” started the training of Sqay Martial Art for their soldiers and made it compulsory. The rule in Kashmir was followed by many wars by many rulers and they defended the valley with armies skilled in Sqay. In 3121 B.C king “Oukhand” was the king of Kashmir .In this period; a big war destroyed some parts of Kashmir. After 3121 B.C Kashmir was safe from invaders up to 1324 A.D. During the period from 1325 A.D to 1819 A.D, the Sqay Martial art training was compulsory for Kashmiri soldiers .Those days martial art was known locally by Kashmiris as ‘Shamsherizen’ which was displayed on certain festive occasions like marriage functions and fairs as well.
“After the 1819 AD due to the poor intention of government, the ancient traditional war art of Kashmir was not developed and popularity thus vanishing this art of defense from Kashmir. Now from more than three decades the modern form of Sqay was reintroduced by Mr. Nazir Ahmad Mir. He worked very hard and tirelessly at a very early age to develop and promote this ancient traditional cultural martial art into modern Sqay Martial Art with modified techniques and conducting sports competitions of this art in the world arena, and is still working day and night for the upliftment of Sqay Martial Art,” the association said.
“Grandmaster Nazir started to popularize this sport in other parts of the country and the world. He has won many National and International awards not only in Sqay but in many other martial arts. His morale was boosted when Maharashtra state adopted the sport after a demonstration by him. Thailand was the first country to accept Sqay. However, the major leap came in 2006 when around 20 countries accepted this sport after a demonstration by the Grandmaster in Bangladesh,” the statement said.
Presently, more than 62 countries including India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Cyprus, Russia, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka, have accepted and are playing with interest and enthusiasm. He switched to coaching youngsters in different styles of martial arts which were mastered by him. The curiosity to trace Kashmir’s indigenous martial art took him too many texts and chronicles concerning Kashmir. Ultimately, he came across Sqay which was prevalent in ancient Kashmir as war art. The language used in this attack and defense game is Kashmiri, commands like play; come, stop and counting of points are all in Kashmiri with its translation available to non-natives.
Sqay employs weapons such as single sword, double sword, free hand and shields. “Tura”, the Sqay sword is made of bamboo with leather cover. Bargula, the shield is made of leather. Sqay as two events – combat event: Loba (fighting) and Artistic event. In artistic, there are two events one without music (khawanky) and the other with music (Aerosqay ). In addition, Sqay Martial Art is included in the upcoming 37th edition of the National Games scheduled to be held in Goa which is a major boost for the athletes of J&K.
“The inclusion of the martial art discipline of Sqay in the games is big news for the martial art fraternity of J&K and the overall sports fraternity. With the inclusion of this discipline, the medal tally and position of J&K in the National Games is going to witness a dramatic increase and get a major boost in Goa. This will provide extra motivation to athletes to do better and work hard. Moreover Sqay is included in All India Police Sports Control Board Calendar,” the association said.

KR Desk