Gar Nals

Gar nals (circular stone rings) are used to weigh down a wrestler as he does dands or bethaks. As the term gar (neck) would indicate, gar nals are hung around a wrestler’s neck in the fashion of a giant necklace. Many akharas still have one or two gar nals on the premises, but very few wrestlers use them. It is said that Gama used to do dands while wearing such a large gar nal that a trench had to be dug between his hands so that the stone would not drag along the ground.