While yes, the topic has been discussed a bit here before, my 2 cents:
Gatka is to practical weapons techniques as empty hand wushu is to practical wing chun or good JKD. Gatka is a stylized dance. Like capoeira. All have their place and I have no disrespect for any of them. But Gatka is what it is.
In regards to actual martial use of a tulwar, size of your hand isn't a big factor. I have small hands and still most of the tulwars I've owned have been super tight, locking my hand into place. Wrist movement is virtually impossible.
But thats the point with this weapon. You almost can't track a tulwar poorly through strikes. The lack of wrist mobility means you physically can't make little popping cuts like we use in sport sabre fencing. Slashes are long, but tight in against the body, and expose the target to a lot of blade edge. Also, the lack of wrist mobility means you have to commit to all your actions. Which is great, if you have good form. You can't ineffectually flick the wrist to try to parry a downward diagonal strike coming to the neck. The entire arm (and body) must move to create a shielding action, where the blade will slide off and away; this also puts you into position to flow right into a return strike.
In filipino martial arts practice, we do the things the tulwar makes you do, but I prefer to use less restrictive, less curved blades.
For the guy who gets handed a munitions grade tulwar in 19th century India, I think the learning curve is pretty quick. Just try to make a cut with a tulwar while extending the wrist and you'll avoid that again.
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