{"id":287,"date":"2017-10-02T17:54:12","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T14:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/?p=287"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:30:55","slug":"kalaripayattu-the-body-as-a-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/kalaripayattu-the-body-as-a-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"<em>Kalaripayattu<\/em>, the Body as a Weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized small\"><a href=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/in054.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" src=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/in054.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-992\" style=\"width:736px\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A <em>kalari<\/em> hall for the training of <em>kalaripayattu<\/em> <span>Sakari Viika<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In India there are many regional forms of martial arts. Some forms of dance and dance-theatre also employ their techniques. This is also the case with <em>kalaripayattu<\/em>, a tradition of \u201cart of war\u201d known in the regions of Taminadu and Kerala. <em>Kalari<\/em> indicates a \u201ctraining centre\u201d while <em>payattu<\/em> means \u201cpractices\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Kalaripayattu<\/em> was originally a secret method of the Nairs, the members of the warrior caste of Kerala, and it was practised only in specific <em>kalari<\/em> buildings. Martial arts have a very long history everywhere in Asia, often extending to prehistoric times. In South India literary evidence from around 200 AD exists, which indicates the existence of martial arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/239084142?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Video clip: Training of <em>kalaripayattu<\/em> <span>Veli Rosenberg<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized small\"><a href=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/in055.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/in055.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-993\" style=\"width:736px\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Training with sticks <span>Sakari Viika<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Kalaripayattu<\/em> technique focuses on energetic footwork, which is executed mainly with the outer edge of the soles. It consists of kicking movements and extremely high jumping. <em>Kalaripayattu<\/em> can be divided into unarmed techniques and several armed forms. The weapons include sticks, swords, a three-bladed knife, axes, spears, and other local types of weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the movement units of <em>kalaripayattu<\/em> are named after various animals and they clearly imitate animal movements. This is a common feature in many of the martial arts traditions in Asia. It seems to confirm the long roots of these traditions, extending back to pre-historical times, when contact with the animal world was intensively close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized small\"><a href=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/in056.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/in056.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-994\" style=\"width:736px\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Training the flexibility of the body <span>Sakari Viika<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through years of practice and oil massage, the body is trained to become extremely elastic, quick and powerful. Many of <em>kalaripapayattu\u2019s<\/em> elements, particularly the stamping on the outer edge of the sole and the jumping method were adopted later by the <em>kathakali<\/em> dance-drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In India there are many regional forms of martial arts. Some forms of dance and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[41,40],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","tag-animal-movements","tag-martial-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4753,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/4753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}