Indian Martial Arts?

[onyomi]

Has anyone practiced or seen any of these in action?

www.kalariworld.com

www.kathinayoga.com

Depending on your source, Kalaripayatu (sp?) is either one of the world's oldest martial arts, practiced by Bodhidharma and the predecessor of Shaolin Kung Fu or just an invention of the last 500 years. Any info or firsthand experience would be much appreciated.

[slipthejab]

I had contacted the first one several times via e-mail and gotten no response. I was interested to go check it out since I had a job confirmed in India and thought I'd take a few weeks off while I was there. But for all the slick website... no response. Hmmm... give them a try... maybe just an error in my particular case.

I have seen people training in similar things on my last trip down to Kerala. But by and large the emphasis was not on self defense or a focus like an MA but more focussed on being able to do stunt work. There are lots of chop-socky scenes in Indian films. Many of them being banged out the same time the Shaw brothers were banging out there Kung Fu films.

They are pretty funny to watch. Lots of fighters taking on multiple attackers with afros and bell bottoms.

There may be places out there that do train it as a serious MA...
but I didn't find any on different trips to India. If it's what your after though... keep looking... India is a big place (lol... there's an understatement) so I am sure they teach it somewhere in it's non-movie stunt version.

[Kwajman]

If you didn't know, theres a lot of material out there that shows most of the asian martial arts originated in India.

[bengaltiger]

Hi everybody,
New to this site. I am from India and was searching for kalari discussion forums. First of all I have to make one thing very clear. What you see in Indian films is nothing related to Indian tradtional martial arts. Again the website www.kalariworld.com is the most serious one in this field and it is really unfortunate that someone did not get a ny reply form them. Infact it is the only site where emails are checked everyday and answered within the next 24 hours. How do i know? Because I trainined in their kalari for a month and I know that this is a place where your get top quality instructions. The fees may seem slightly high but when you consider the quality of training, it is really worthwhile. Just have a try. India is a vast country and you have to make a through search to find the real traditional stuff.



BT

[coma]

While on the subject of indian martial arts, how realistic were the indian styles used in Jackie Chan's film The Myth?

[psbn matt]

i have seen Kalaripayatu at a big ma display at the peacock theatre in london, very differant to all other asian ma's, has a lot more in commen with yoga (escecialy the stances) and they use a 6 foot long fexible metal sword like a whip. there is also a sikh ma called ghataga wich again is nothing like Kalaripayatu or other asian ma's but does involve a lot of spinning with a variety of unusual weapons. go and see them if you can

[bengaltiger]

Yes kalarippyattu is different from other Asian Martial arts. The stances in the Northern system may look like the yogic poses. But in the southern system the stances are more upright. The long flexible sword is called "urumi" in the northern system and "chuttuval" in the southern system. Unlike the northern one , the southern system uses two weapons , one in each hand and the weapons have multiple blades usually two each. It is this one that i studied at Sudarsana Kalari whose website is www.kalariworld.com
In the training equipments the blades are not sharpened. But once sharpened theses can be leathal weapons in trained hands. For the untrained parson, this weapon can bring harm as it is very difficult to control the moving blade

BT

[CQC]

Anyone ever heard of Silambam?

[georgestando]

try here for some nice stuff:

http://www.silambam.com

[mahesh]

Try this web site for the best details of indian martial arts.

www.silambam.in

[gutsglorydesire]

Hey Bengaltiger, Mahesh nice to see you here . If you are located near Delhi tell me i can direct you to a place to learn the same.

[bengaltiger]

Originally Posted by mahesh

Try this web site for the best details of indian martial arts.

www.silambam.in

hey mahesh thank for the url. very good information especially about the marmma

[bengaltiger]

Hi I am not liveing near Delhi, but planning to visit delhi soon. In fact going to different places in North india to learn something about the Indian traditinal wrestling. Any help is appreciated

[georgestando]

bengaltiger:
Get a copy of the physical body DVD about kushti and the names of the wrestling schools are on there(www.thephysicalbody.com). Also try and get a copy of Alter's the wrestlers body book and go through there for places to see. Just a quick thought if you cant find anything!

[zenbaseballbat]

slipinthejab,
for combat application you need to go and see Gurukkal Sherif in Cannanore (kannur) in north kerala.. he knows the most about application that I came across in Kerala in northern, central and southern styles.
cheers