Existence of Martial Arts in India for more than 3000 years can be proved by the mention of Martial Arts in Vedas. According to ancient oral history, Lord Vishnu's disciple,Parasurama who was the avatar of Lord Vishnu and Agastiya were believed to be the fonder of martial arts in India. Kalaripayattu is believed to have been founded by Parasurama. The word Kalaripayattu is the combination of two words, Kalari- Training ground and Payattu- Fight. Klaripayattu reached its crown during the hundred years war between Cholas, andiyas and Cheras. Many Martial Arts in India had been extinct due to neglect and lack of documentation.
It was customary to have all children above the age of seven to obtain training in Kalaripayattu. Martial Arts in India were considered as a code of life for many. However, during the British occupation, Martial Arts in India suffered a lot, because British prevented us from practicing Kalaripayattu by passing Laws. However, the arts were practiced by the rural areas to avoid confrontations with the authorities. Many postures and movements in the art of kalaripayattu are believed to be inspired by the raw strength of animals and so named after them. There is a strong belief that this art was developed in the forests when the hunters closely watched the hunting and fighting styles of animals.
The oldest reference to this art is found in Rig veda and Atharvana veda. In Rigveda it is mentioned that Lord Indra used one of the marmam techniques of Kalari to defeat Demon Vritasura.
Shiva was said to have taught Kalari to parasurama, which arised itself out of Shiva's war with his Father-in-law Daksha, One of the prajapathis or Lord of creation. Later, Parasurama taught his 21 disciples and then opened 108 Kalari schools around kerala region.
In tradition the Shaolin Temple martial art of china was introduced by the Indian Buddhist leader and founder of Zen Buddhism; Bodhidarma(450-523 AD).Bodhidarma known in chinese as 'Dat-mo', was the 28th patriarch of Dhyana Buddhist tradition of India.
Kalaripayattu today, is still in practice in Indai, keeping its original practices very much alive and unaltered.
This is still alive and spreading all over the globe and again regaining its fame ...
Comments
Post a Comment