Gatka (Punjabi: ਗਤਕਾ gatkā) is the name of an Indian martial art associated with the Sikhs of the Punjab region. It is a style of stick fighting, with wooden sticks intended to simulate swords. The Punjabi name gatka properly refers to the wooden stick used. The word originates as a diminutive of Sanskrit gada "mace".[1] [2] The style originated in later 19th century, out of sword practice in the British Indian Army, divided in two sub-style, called rasmi (ritualistic) and khel (sport) from the 1880s. There has been a revival during the later 20th century, with an International Gatka Federation was founded in 1982 and formalized in 1987, and gatka is now popular as a sport or sword dance performance art and is often shown during Sikh festivals.[2]
Since this revival, the term gatka has sometimes come to be extended to "Sikh martial arts" more generally, including the use of various weapons, more properly called Shastar Vidiya (Punjabi ਸ਼ਸਤਰ ਵਿਦਿਆ shastar vidiyā, from Sanskrit śastra-vidyā "martial arts"). Used in this sense, the term denotes historical martial arts reconstruction of 16th to 18th century Sikh fighting styles.