The Indian Gada
At it's core, the Indian Gada is just a heavy weight at the end of a stick. Yes, there are thousands of years of history, tradition, and lore around it, but at its elemental core, it exists because some dude, somewhere in history, put a big rock and the end of a stick and swung it around until he got stronger.
Actually, if we are being honest, he probably used it to club people. If ancient Indian art and statues are any indication, this is defintely the case. Whatever it's begining, The Gada eventually came to be a symbol of a warriors strenth, and fighting ability.
Over time, they became elaborate and ornate. They were presented to grapplers as trophies. The Great Gama, an Indian wrestler who had 5000 matches over the course of his lifetime (and never lost a match) was presented with a golden Gada as a symbol of his strength and skill.
Side note, the Great Gama was asked by an American wrestler in the 1930's what the secret of his great strength was. He told the wrestler that ever morning he would go into the woods and spend an hour trying to uproot a large tree and throw it to the ground. To which the wrestler replied, "Did you ever succeed?" Gama said, "No, but after a tree, a man is easy."
For my purposes, I was not interested in clubbing people, or wrestling trees. I was looking for a simple, primal, and effective way to increase whole body strenth and agility. Fortunately, another Gada tradition has existed outside of golden trophies. The Akaras of India, a kind of training gym for common folk, use the Gada in its purest form, which is a tool of strength.
Following my intention to exit modern gym culture and move to something more primal, the simplicity of the Gada was appealing. It also worked well with my desire to build my own equipment.