Kalaripayattu is an ancient Keralan martial art. Kalari mean ‘school’, or ‘gymnasium’ and ‘payttu’ means ‘to fight’ or ‘to exercise’. Training in the art goes through various stages. The beginning of the training is about body sequences involving twists, stances, complex jumps and turns. The next stage of training is in handling wooden weapons. Then comes the use of metal weapons of sword and shield, followed by spear and flexible sword – a ferocious weapon like a metal cat-o-nine-tails. The final stage of training is in bare-handed fighting .
In Kumily there is a purpose-built auditorium. The performance arena is in a pit below the audience, with a floor of sand and many lighted lamps at one end and one on each of the other walls. The audience consisted of foreign and Indian tourists. I sat between a couple of women from Singapore and a family group from Israel. The performance consisted of 4 young men showing us their physical skills, to a clashing drum-type accompaniment.
sword and shield
sword and spear
One particularly interesting presentation was to show how a sash can be used to disarm and immobilise a knife-brandishing opponent.
The final part of the presentation was for visual effect only, I think. The lights were dimmed and two men twirled fire sticks, like you can see on a Cornish beach of a summer evening, and then there was a circus-type act where one man did a flying forward roll through a fiery hoop.
1 comment:
In the last presentation, the fire may have been for visual effect, but also compliments the form in using the staff. Though not really recognized (when competing with other weaponry), the staff can be very effective in the right hands.
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