I like this trailer a lot. May be I will watch it sometime this summer. Kung fu cult says, everything is Kung fu, just like the Yoga cult.

This move is called IruttiKaal in Malayalam. This clip is filmed in my Kalari Institute CVN Kalari, Thiruvananthapuram (as complicated as Massachusetts!).  This is one of the toughest basic sequences for me. The hip joints have to be completely flexible to sit down completely like in full splits. I could not do it completely and my Gurukkal Rajasekaran Nair asked me not to do it. Children learn this easily and adults who are already flexible can do this, for others this is quite difficult. The spine turns around 360 or feels like it. And the gurukkal will pretty much manhandle the students. He would pull the kids’s hair to twirl around. It does not look too difficult while watching it. But one gets to do this, it is extremely demanding. One needs to coordinate the right and the left, twirl and change direction. When it is time to twirl, the brain needs to adapt so quickly as to where the body is and the control is important. The gurukkal would never be happy with the students. He would always complain and sometimes hit the children mildly to ask them to keep the focus. This is something I will have to practice next time I go to my Kalari Institute.

In a Kalari class, one can often hear the gurukkal say that one must embody the spirit of an animal. It is so beautiful to watch the students who have been practicing for a few years to see this in action. The way they stay and move in a pose is exactly like an animal, ready to charge. There are a lot of poses in Kalari based on animals. Sort of similar to yoga in that way, but it is done with more vigor and precision is given a lot of importance. After all, one is getting trained to fight, not meditate. One of the poses is based on the form of a lion called Simha vadivu.

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A lot of Kalari sequences look like a combination of dance and yoga. The first video is called Poothra Thozhuthal. This is one of the beginning sequences taught in Kalaripayattu. (more…)

I have been reading up about Kalaripayattu from the book called ‘when the body becomes all eyes’ by Phillip B. Zarrilli. I thought the title was tacky but then I read that it is a literal translation of a Malayalam phrase meyyu kannakuka like Lord Brahma, the thousand eyed. I do not like this book as there is no flow in the way it is structured.  I bought it as this was the only book that I found on Kalaripayattu and has some historical tidbits. This post is mainly sourced from this book.

Kalaripayattu is derived from two major traditions, Tamil traditions dating from the early sangham culture and the Sanskrit Dhanur Veda traditions. Although Dhanur Veda means science of archery, it encompasses all martial arts. Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana follow Dhanur Veda for the specifics of combat and warfare. Although many martial arts and a form similar to Kalaripayattu have been practised since ancient times in India, Kalaripayattu as a form primarily to Kerala is said to have been established during the eleventh or twelfth century AD. This style of Kalaripayattu is also practised in adjacent Tulu speaking Coorg district of Karnataka.

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I am witnessing the 6.30 am class at CVN Kalari, Thiruvananthapuram. Kalaripayyattu is one of the martial arts from the state of Kerala aka God’s own country. The boys are wearing langhottis (loin cloth), oiled, look shiny, lean and mean like black panthers. The lamps have been lit by the gurukkal, the deities and the sword  have been decorated with flowers and the students have offered their pooja. The place, the students, their outfits  and the gurukkal make me feel like I have gone back to ancient times. The floor is made of red mud, there are lots of weapons like sticks, sheilds, swords, spears, wooden daggers arranged neatly against a wall.

The gurukkal has asked the students to start the warm up in malayalam.  I notice that he is already criticizing some students to put in more energy in those legs, kaal kondhanum mone. The warm ups themselves look spectacular, with students having to kick the leg so high up while walking that it should touch the shoulder. Like a military parade, but the leg goes all the way up, like a standing splits. That is the aim and most students look very close to doing it.

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