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How Kalaripayattu was

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22 Nov 2012

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HISTORY OF YOGA

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Last week, we saw how it was Agastya Muni who

created Kalari. Today, we see the how and why of its
birth.

Sadhguru: Martial arts essentially evolved from

Southern India. Agastya Muni was a very small-built
man short and diminutive but he travelled
endlessly. He evolved martial arts mainly to fight the

1150404414

wildlife. Tigers roamed this land in great abundance

now we can count them, we have eleven hundred
tigers, but there was a time when thousands of them
existed along with various other potentially dangerous
wildlife. So, Agastya Muni evolved a system as to how
to fight the wildlife if a tiger comes, how to handle
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it.
Y ou will see, Kalari still retains that format. This is not
just about fighting with men. Fighting with men came
later. He taught martial arts to a few people just to
manage the wildlife when they travelled, and it still
lives. Some of the schools still look up to him and
associate themselves with him.
So when people went to China, once they crossed the
Himalayas, they faced wild men who were always
looking to attack the traveller. So what they had
learned to handle the wildlife, they used it on wild
men. Once they started using it on people, you will see
a distinct transformation in the martial arts. From a
very crouching kind of martial art to a standing up
kind of martial art is what you will see from India to
the Chinese and further into South-East Asia.
So, it evolved into a different format. And when you
fight men, you have to kill, otherwise he wont stop.
With wildlife its not like that. They come because they
think you are food. And once you make it very clear to
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him that you are a very difficult food, he will go away.

He will look for some easy food. Because of this, the
martial arts naturally transformed itself from a very
fantastic form of avoiding becoming somebodys
dinner, to something that can kill. Y ou will see this
transformation from Kalari to Karate. Later on, in
India also they started fighting with men but they did
not transform the art so much. Instead, they picked
up weapons. If you look at it, Kalari may not be as
good a fighting process with human beings as Karate
would be because in Karate they are standing on two
legs. In Kalari, you are trying to look at something
lower down because we did not see it as a tool to fight
other men, it was only seen as a defense from wildlife.
Parashuram was another great teacher of Kalari. He
single-handedly slaughtered armies because of his
phenomenal martial art capabilities. He taught one
school which flowed from the North of Malabar, and
Agastya Munis school came from the South.
Parashurams method used all kinds of weapons
hand weapons, throwing weapons, various kinds of
weapons but Agastya Munis martial art grew
without any weapons, it was all hand.
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We are unable to find really good teachers in Agastyas

form so we are going with Parashurams school but
we are hoping to build that system slowly, so that over
a period of time we want to shift to Agastya Munis,
just to honor him. Just a little gratitude for him for
what he has done because the kind of work that he did
is so phenomenal. Nowhere else and never before did
another human being take spirituality to every door as
he did.

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 Recommend 4

Join the discussion

krishnan

2 years ago

As a practitioner of a few martial arts and teacher of one, I find it hard to believe certain parts of the article above. T
animalistic forms described has more to do with early master attributing their moves to animals, they realised certa
animal have certain ways of fighting, they just attributed the style to the animal. The style you speak of would be
useless against a tiger or angry animal.
Kalari is still a functional style as it is a mixed martial art, as in requiring the knowledge of striking, wrestling and
ground fighting, unlike Karate which is a striking art. The weapons techniques, though most are redundant, are buil
on the basic hand to hand combat. Unlike Kung-fu, where the "art" and fighting have been separated. The Kalari
masters still, archaically, still teach students how to use a club or hook spear.
A good kalari practitioner is taught how heal first before doing harm. Most mid-level Kalari practitioners tend to run
Kalari massage and treatment too. The fact is the upper ends of Kalari, the practitioner is able of to incapicitate
people without striking them hard. This comes from a deep understanding of the skeleto-muscular system and the
nervous system, which most martial arts don't have.
There are a few reasons for its decline. To name a few, funding of schools, banning by the British during colonial
times, lack of media interest and the length of the syllabus, means masters are a dying breed. But the main reason
for it to be in decline is that in India it is not encouraged due the Gandhian ideologies, Pacifism and thus Kalari is
considered un-Hindu. Sadly, the one point the article is extremely correct on is that Kalari and Payaittu are as
fundamental to Hinduism and Spirituality as Yoga.
To be in balance of your mind and body, you must be able to open all your senses and be sensitive to your
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Praveen M K

2 years ago

Very true. Agastyar and Bhogar are famous names in the Thekkan (southern) form of kalari, which is famous for ba
hand fights. There are also many simple and effective techniques to face armed opponent(s) by using anything tha
is available at that moment, no matter whether its a piece of cloth, an umbrella, or a rope, or a stick or whatever.

Famous proverb fits well for this art "Even a grass is also a weapon in the hands of an expert person".
have deduced from the ramayan stories..., where kusha grass turned into an extremely potent weapon and hounde
the the KakAsura wherever he flew. Another famous story was about, Drona who also used grass...
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...
When the spiritual aspect of these arts gets revived, the art will comeback to its glory. That is its life, and this exac
what is ignored now.
All the Indian arts and science are designed in such a way that it will lead to self realisation.
knows 'how to and where to work out' for the revival. Thanks Sadguru.
2

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Maaz Ahmad

2 years ago

I always knew Eastern martial arts evolved from India. Thank you for this article.
2

Nikole

Reply Share

2 years ago

this is really such an informative article. not many people may be aware that martial arts really sprung from India.
great information.
1

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powerful kf

a year ago

This article shows the author's lack of knowledge in martial arts.

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powerful kf

a year ago

Hey man, where are your proofs for your fairy tale claims?

ram ya

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2 years ago

SO proud what they did for us in the south.

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Vishal Vangara

2 years ago

SADHGURU AWAITING FOR MORE KNOWLEDGE

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