Kalaripayattu

Kalaripayattu claims to be the oldest extant martial art in the world. While Greek Pankration is currently the oldest martial art that remains discernible in the West, it is clear from epic tales and religious texts that organized fighting techniques existed in India long before the rise of combat methods in the Mediterranean. Information is sketchy at best and scholars have been unable to patch together information to produce a workable replica. In India itself, the early arts seem lost to antiquity but records indicate that as early as 1500 BC wrestling was practiced.

The combative method we witness today dates dates from the twelfth century and is thought to contain clues as to its forerunner styles, perhaps even copies of techniques. The art originates in Kerala, in southwest India, and was formerly part of the training program used to prepare the local warrior caste for combat. Tradition holds that it was the sage Parasurama that created the art, combining methods of prolonging life with martial practices.

Training in Kalaripayattu

Training, as might be expected, has religious undertones, though practice in the art is non-denominational. For physical exercise the body is stretched and massaged, as much for health reasons as to promote martial ability. Basic training includes footwork, stance practice and various thrusts and kicks before moving onto the study of weapons and how to counter an armed opponent. Further training focuses on manipulating pressure points to both harm and heal, as well as the ability to counter any attacks made against one’s own weak areas. The tradition generally identifies 107 such pressure points with sixty-four being considered practically accessible in a fight. Advanced practice in striking vital points utilizes the otta, a carved, curving stick, with each curve corresponding to a specific arm position. Using this stick combative techniques are replicated before the practitioner goes on to effect the movements against an opponent.

Certain key points that are replicated throughout Asian fighting arts are found in this art and perhaps suggest a common basis in Yoga for assumptions on the generation of power. Masters teach that a vital energy flows through our systems, an energy that can be harnessed in times of need. Furthermore, it gives pride of place to the lower abdomen as being the area from which all movement should originate. These guiding assumptions are replicated in Chinese, Japanese and Korean arts and to a lesser extent (most particularly the idea of the existence of an invisible vital energy) in other areas of Asia.

In combat the master relies on strikes to weak points of the opponent’s body, using basic strikes and throws to disorient and allow for the successful execution of a pressure point attack. Attacks are met first with evasive body movement that puts the adversary in a disadvantageous position.