- Northern Kalaripayattu
Kalarippayatt ( _ml. കളരിപ്പയറ്റ്) is anIndian martial art practised inKerala and contiguous parts of neighboringTamil Nadu andKarnataka . [cite book |last=Zarrilli |first=Phillip B. |title=When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms, Discourses and Practices of Power in Kalarippayattu, a South Indian Martial Art |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford] It incorporates strikes, kicks, grappling, and weaponry, as well as healing techniques. [Zarrilli 1998] Some of its choreographed sparring can be applied to dance. [Zarrilli 1998]Northern kalarippayatt places comparatively more emphasis on weapons than on empty hands. [Zarrilli 1998]
Masters in this system are usually known as "gurukkal" (and only occasionally as "asan"), and were often given honorific titles, especially Panikkar. [Zarrilli 1998]
By oral and written tradition,
Parasurama is believed to be the founder of the art. [Zarrilli 1998]Northern kalarippayatt is distinguished by its "meippayattu" physical training and use of full-body oil massage. [Zarrilli 1998] The system of treatment and massage, and the assumptions about practice are closely associated with
Ayurveda . [Zarrilli 1998] The purpose of medicinal oil massage is to increase practitioners' flexibility or to treat muscle injuries incurred during practice. The term for such massages is "thirumal" and the massage specifically for physical flexibility "katcha thirumal". [Luijendijk, D.H. (2005) Kalarippayat: India's Ancient Martial Art, Paladin Press, ISBN 1-58160-480-7]"Sampradayam", or lineages, or northern kalarippayatt include the "arappukai", "pillatanni" and "vattantirippu" styles. [Zarrilli 1998]
History
[
Jasmine simhalan performingKalarippayatt andSilambam .]What eventually crystallized as northern kalarippayatt combined indigenous Dravidian techniques like
Chilambam with the martial practices and ethos brought by migrations from Saurastra andKonkan down the west Indian coast into Karnataka and eventually Kerala. [Zarrilli 1998] .Phillip B. Zarrilli, a professor at the University of Exeter and one of the few Western authorities on kalarippayatt, estimates that northern kalarippayatt dates back to at least the
12th century CE. [Zarrilli 1998] The historian Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai attributes the birth of northern kalarippayatt to an extended period of warfare between the Cheras and theChola s in the 11th century CE. [Zarrilli 1998]From the eleventh or twelfth century the right and duty to practice the martial art in the service of a ruler was most associated with specific subgroups of
Nair s andEzhava /Thiyyas (calledchekavar s). However, at least one sub caste of Brahmins as well as some Christians and Muslims were engaged in practicing this martial art. [Zarrilli 1998]In addition to this,
chekavar s were engaged to fight inankam , public duels to the death to solve disputes between his opposing rules called "Vazhunnor". [Zarrilli 1998] Among some families of the above communities, some young girls also received preliminary training up until the onset of menses. [Zarrilli 1998] In "vadakkan pattukal" ballads its a known fact that at least a few women warriors also continued to practice and achieved a high degree of expertise. [Zarrilli 1998] Ankam were fought on anankathattu , a temporary platform, four to six feet high, purpose-built for ankam.The earliest and most detailed account of this art is that of the Portuguese explorer
Duarte Barbosa ("c". 1518). [Zarrilli 1998]kalarippayatt underwent a period of decline after the introduction of firearms and especially after the full establishment of British colonial rule in the 19th century. [Zarrilli 1992]
The resurgence of public interest in kalarippayatt began in the 1920s in Tellicherry as part of a wave of rediscovery of the traditional arts throughout South India [Zarrilli 1998] and continued through the 1970s surge of general worldwide interest in martial arts. [Zarrilli 1992]
Notes
Bibliography
*Luijendijk, D.H. (2005) "Kalarippayat: India's Ancient Martial Art", Paladin Press, ISBN 1-58160-480-7
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