Dinesh Dungarabhil invited for second time to Mussoorie to train the young future officers

Will conduct archery training session in the administrative training institute for the young officers under All India and Central Services training

Archery is the war art of ancient India and it does not go unnoticed as interesting incidents related to the likes of Eklavya, Karna, Lord Rama and Arjuna came to our minds instantly.

 Once the kings learn the art and showed their prowess on the battle field. However after that its glorious heritage has since been largely preserved by tribal communities. Today it is an important Olympic game.

Dineshbhai Dungarabhil, a native of an interior tribal village in Naswadi taluka, became so famous in archery that he is known today as Dinesh Tirandaaj.

Dineshbhai made a square space in the ground of Bodeli College between two wooden pillars, in which he started learning archery on his own, like Eklavya with his friends, from a target made by filling of clothes. His passion led him to pursue a diploma in archery training at the National Institute of Sports in Calcutta.

This is the second consecutive year that the Archery Guru has been invited by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, Uttarakhand to conduct an archery training session for young training officers of All India Services and Central Services as part of extracurricular activities.

 He will introduce archery skills to future district collectors, superintendents of police and income tax commissioners. So in a real sense this invitation is a target-like event for Dinesh.

Last year, he held a four-day session at the academy to introduce archery skills to officials who have been a pillar of the country.  This year he have been called from 12th to 30th October.  Dinesh is very excited about this second opportunity because he feels that the sport and war art associated with Ramayana and Mahabharata have not yet gained due importance. Officers from various services including the Police Service, will then try to mainstream archery by remembering the identity of the archery they received at the academy during their tenure.

Dinesh is an archery coach and has been running the Eklavya Archery Academy near Naswadi since 2005. He seems to have dedicated his life to archery in a way that is as glorious as it was in ancient times.

He is second archer from Gujarat after Pratap Pasaya to do the diploma of archery from NIS. After Calcutta, he trained with Olympian Limbaram at Sai Hostel in New Delhi.

Dinesh says that at one time there was no recognition of archery as a sport in Gujarat. After the commencement of training by Eklavya Academy, 4 players trained here have done diploma from Kolkata.

Now NIS Diploma is done by Swarnim Gujarat Sports Academy in Gujarat. Fifteen students from his academy have earned this diploma. Today, Gujarat players are interested in this game. He is happy that now there are about 10 thousand competitors in Khel Mahakumbh’s archery competitions.

Today, he is proud to have trained archery coaches under his guidance in his academy across Gujarat.

Responding to a curiosity as to why archery training was given to trainees of the National Charter and Police Services, he said that the sport is a game of agility and concentration. 

Aiming at arrows between the waves of the wind requires skill. He is of the opinion that an archery session may have been held to inculcate these qualities in the future officers and to acquaint them with the pride of ancient India.

Informing that there is an archery gurukul in Meerut and has prepared famous archers of the present time who communicate in Sanskrit. Dineshbhai says that while archery is mentioned in the ancient scriptures, it is desirable that the institutions currently teaching according to the Gurukul tradition, by incorporating its training in their education, re-awaken its identity.

At present 40 students are learning archery in Eklavya Academy of Naswadi. These archers have continued their practice by following the rules including masks in the time of Corona pandemic.