History of Kalarippayatt

Kalarippayatt is the ancient martial art of India, it is said to be the mother of all martial arts and dates back some thousands of years. Could it be true that the Buddhist monk, Bodhidarma studied this art and imparted these skills throughout South East Asia, then into China at the Soong Shan monastery? From further study, it is now clear that many traveling monks, merchants, and especially Ksatriyas (warrior class), were also responsible for imparting such knowledge, from its martial techniques in injury , medicine, and pressure point (marman) striking skills. One can easily see similarities between the arts such as silat, Chuan Fa (Gung Fu), not just in its techniques, but also in its training methods.

Traditional masters of Kalari attribute Parasurama who is an incarnation of the supreme Lord, and the creator of the land of Kerela, instituted 108 Kalaries all over the land. This legend on the origin of the institutions propagated by Keralolpathi, still lingers in the minds of the people. Some masters believe that the Kalari system originated out of the wrath of the lord Shiva while in his fury, to destroy Dakshayaga. Parasurama is surposed to have studied this art from him and and have handed it over to his 21 disciples in Kerela. Of the Kalarippayatt, the southern system offers the story that sage Agastya was the founder of the art.

Sometime later in the history of the Kalarippayatt, the famous Bhodidharma from Madras who was said to be the master of the art of Kalarippayatt traveled to Kerela. It is said that he had learnt the Northern as well as the Southern forms of Kalari. From there he went on to Indonesia, Malaysia then to southern China, and then to Soong Shan mountains to the Shaolin Temple, and it was there that he taught the martial art. He later became known as Da Mo, this was some 1500 hundred years ago.