12-07-2005, 02:19 AM
Sulekhite "rl" posted this as comment on Rudra's article..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rudra,
Nice article. Do you practice any martial arts? I thought the article was very basic, but considering that your target audience is primarily a bunch of desis that know very little about martial arts beyond Jackie Chan I think it's appropriate. Kudos.
You'll also find that a lot of modern martial artists are incorporating Indian wrestling exercises into their training regimen. I've heard of Hindu push-ups, Hindu squats (buski anyone?) and kettlebells being adopted from indian wrestling tradition for dynamic strength training (and they give credit where it is due). I remember the condescension piled on it by wannabe westerner classmates growing up. I wonder what they'll think now - maybe, as you said, they'll jump on the boat now that the west has embraced this! Not to mention, yoga is an excellent supplement for any martial art, physically and mentally.
My ancestors hail from South Karnataka, what is called 'Tulu-Nadu'. The 'Vadakkan Paatu' - a story/poem about North Kerala Kalari masters talk about them going further north to Tulu-Nadu for advanced training. What's interesting about Tulu Nadu is that a lot of Tulu Brahmins have ancient manuscripts that show that they're descended from Drona (Vishwamitra gotra) and Parashurama's brothers (Bhargava gotra). Unrelated research also evidenced manuscripts that showed that Tulu Brahmins came from the ancient kingdom of Ahicchatra (now in UP) at the behest of a local king - Ahicchatra is the region of Panchala that Drona took after the pandavas defeated the king of Panchala, Drona's ex-classmate - this ties with the other story. All of this ties together with the tradition of Kalarippayattu which claims that Parashurama bought it to Parashurama-Kshetra (The area south of gokarna upto kanyakumari) and taught Brahmin masters there. These brahmin masters seem to have taught anyone their skills regardless of caste and even religion (there is a famous muslim kalari master in kerala, for example), since most kalari masters in kerala are non-brahmin.
The life story of Madhvacharya speaks how the students learnt grappling/joint-locks in gurukula - in fact, Madhvacharya was supposed to be a great grappler with phenomenal strength. Unfortunately, a lot of the masters of traditional kalarippayattu in Tulu-Nadu were killed by the british, and I mourn the loss of that tradition (unless it's hidden away in the remote villages around there somewhere). It's healthy and well in Kerala - the malayalis are damn proud of kalarippayattu, regardless of religion - one factor is the stories like 'Vadakkan paatu' (Malayalam for "Song of the North" since it's set in North kerala) and it's move renditions that make kalari skills 'cool' - maybe other indian traditional martial arts could take a leaf out of this to gain 'soft capital' with the masses.
I really liked this link on kalari, so I've posted it here -
http://www.ex.ac.uk/drama/staff/kalari/power.html
... You know what? I grew up (for about 11 years) about 15 minutes (by bicycle) from a CVN Kalari ! I wish I had known all this back then, I would have put in some effort to have learnt something!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rudra,
Nice article. Do you practice any martial arts? I thought the article was very basic, but considering that your target audience is primarily a bunch of desis that know very little about martial arts beyond Jackie Chan I think it's appropriate. Kudos.
You'll also find that a lot of modern martial artists are incorporating Indian wrestling exercises into their training regimen. I've heard of Hindu push-ups, Hindu squats (buski anyone?) and kettlebells being adopted from indian wrestling tradition for dynamic strength training (and they give credit where it is due). I remember the condescension piled on it by wannabe westerner classmates growing up. I wonder what they'll think now - maybe, as you said, they'll jump on the boat now that the west has embraced this! Not to mention, yoga is an excellent supplement for any martial art, physically and mentally.
My ancestors hail from South Karnataka, what is called 'Tulu-Nadu'. The 'Vadakkan Paatu' - a story/poem about North Kerala Kalari masters talk about them going further north to Tulu-Nadu for advanced training. What's interesting about Tulu Nadu is that a lot of Tulu Brahmins have ancient manuscripts that show that they're descended from Drona (Vishwamitra gotra) and Parashurama's brothers (Bhargava gotra). Unrelated research also evidenced manuscripts that showed that Tulu Brahmins came from the ancient kingdom of Ahicchatra (now in UP) at the behest of a local king - Ahicchatra is the region of Panchala that Drona took after the pandavas defeated the king of Panchala, Drona's ex-classmate - this ties with the other story. All of this ties together with the tradition of Kalarippayattu which claims that Parashurama bought it to Parashurama-Kshetra (The area south of gokarna upto kanyakumari) and taught Brahmin masters there. These brahmin masters seem to have taught anyone their skills regardless of caste and even religion (there is a famous muslim kalari master in kerala, for example), since most kalari masters in kerala are non-brahmin.
The life story of Madhvacharya speaks how the students learnt grappling/joint-locks in gurukula - in fact, Madhvacharya was supposed to be a great grappler with phenomenal strength. Unfortunately, a lot of the masters of traditional kalarippayattu in Tulu-Nadu were killed by the british, and I mourn the loss of that tradition (unless it's hidden away in the remote villages around there somewhere). It's healthy and well in Kerala - the malayalis are damn proud of kalarippayattu, regardless of religion - one factor is the stories like 'Vadakkan paatu' (Malayalam for "Song of the North" since it's set in North kerala) and it's move renditions that make kalari skills 'cool' - maybe other indian traditional martial arts could take a leaf out of this to gain 'soft capital' with the masses.
I really liked this link on kalari, so I've posted it here -
http://www.ex.ac.uk/drama/staff/kalari/power.html
... You know what? I grew up (for about 11 years) about 15 minutes (by bicycle) from a CVN Kalari ! I wish I had known all this back then, I would have put in some effort to have learnt something!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->