Heading somewhere more familiar to some of us. We arrive in the country of Bangladesh. A young and small Muslim nation just north of the bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has somewhat kept itself under the radar for majority of its existence. However we are here for martial arts and it seems to be Bangladesh has pioneered a new modern style to revive the heritage of South Asian Martial arts called Butthan.
Martial Art: Butthan
Style: Hybrid
Country: Bangladesh
Origin: Modern Bangladesh
History: Unlike many other South Asian styles. Bangladeshi Butthan is a modern hybrid style that was founded by Yuree Alam. The style is intended to revive the lost heritage of South Asia's historical martial arts. Yuree Alam was born in Bangladesh to a Muslim family and attended a military school where he would train in Bangladeshi stick fighting called Lathi Khela, along with Indian Kalaripayattu and Burmese Bando. Yuree would start up his schools first ever martial arts clubs before eventually traveling Asia to rediscover what martial arts had been influenced by South Asia and in turn influenced South Asian martial arts back. Essentially he went on his Musha Shugyo (Warriors Pilgrimage). Having gained experience in several martial arts over the years and studied some of the ancient history (most notably Bodhidharma's influence on China), Yuree was renamed Grand Master Mak Yuree and began to pioneer Butthan. In a simpler term Bangladeshi Butthan is very similar to Indian Kalaripayattu in the same way Korean Taekwondo sometimes get compared to Japanese Karate. The founder of Taekwondo Choi Hong-Hi had trained in Korean Taekkyeon and Japanese Karate before he founded Taekwondo. Yuree having practiced Bangladeshi Lathi Khela and Indian Kalaripayattu plays similar comparison to Butthan and Taekwondo.
Culture: Butthan in Sanskrit means "Defense with Distinction" or "Spiritual Defense" Butthan has five branches of training. The first one is Butthan Dhyana which focuses on the mental and spiritual aspects through meditation and min zin. Butthan Atmarakshma is the combat aspect where unarmed techniques specialise in kicks, punches, knees, elbows, shin kicks as well as self defense technique for disarming, joint locks or exploiting pressure points (combat Varma Kalai). Atmarakshma also include three main weapons styles. Traditional Lathi Khela for Stick fighting, Osey Khela for bladed weapons and swords and Rassi Khela which uses flexible weapons like nunchucks, rope, chords or even clothes. Butthan Sastry is the teaching of siddha medicine, use of marmas or varma kalai to treat injuries and find vital points. Butthan Sarir Charchar this practice is focuses on stretches, flexiblilty and strength training much like Hatha Yoga techniques in Indian Kalaripayattu. Some Younger practitioners tend to show off more acrobatic techniques. Butthan Kawshol Biddya is all about Butthanchari ability to set goal and achieve the right mindset to focus.
Warrior: A practitioner of Butthan is called a Butthanchari or Butthanchariya. Their uniforms can be either white like a traditional karate gi mostly for sport and competition or black and red similar to some shaolin kung fu uniforms, these are typically for combat and self defense. Due to the grandmaster's record break shin kick and his fame from being featured on the superhuman discovery channel show. Many practitioners of Butthan favour bone conditioning especially on the Tibia/shin bone to strengthen the shin kicks. Shin bone conditioning is usually practiced onto pads, roped poles and Banana trees. Many leg exercises for Butthan involve frog jumps, leg extensions, legs presses, squats, lunges and core exercises.
Media/Potential: In 2013, the martial art Butthan first became known to the media after the founder Grandmaster Mak Yuree was featured on the USA's Discovery Channel to demonstrate Superhuman leg strength. Prior to this the grand master was dubbed the Thundershin man or VajraMunee when he broke the world record of breaking three baseball bats in a single shin kick. Interest in the martial art has grown in recent years with some Butthanchari sharing short videos or demonstration of their training and skill in Butthan on YouTube. Who knows maybe Street Fighter could give us an electric kicking Butthan warrior in the future if they see the potential in creating a Bangladeshi Butthanchari. Check out Yuree episode on the Superhuman Discovery Channel on the first video below. Finally below that is his world record shin kick breaking 3 baseball bats in one kick.
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