Kalarippayattu Origin Of Shaolin Martial Arts?

[Kane]

There is an ongoing debate on whether Boddhidharma learned Kalarippayattu from Kerela, India and tought it to Shaolin monks in China. There are many simularities between a Shaolin Monks and Kalarippayattu practitioners such as very similar weapons styles and knowledge of the mystical energy that exists all around us called Chi (they call it prana). Kalarippayattu practitioners, like Shaolin Monks usually start training to when they are 7 or 8 years old.

What do you think? Could Kalarippayattu be the origin of Shaolin martial arts or are these just mere simularities?

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Well having been to Kerela, India just last January and during that
stay I trained with some very fine Kalarippayattu folks I find the
arts very similar! Kalarippayattu is a dynamic, beautiful martial
system with lots of weapon training. The particular group that
I trained with had a lot of younger practitioners but I was very
impressed with the older practitioners flexibility and martial skills!
Could Boddhidarhma who was an Indian Prince have studied
Kalarippayattu? Probably there is a good chance of just that!
It has also been the belief in Kerela for a very, very long time!

Brian R. VanCise

 

[Flying Crane]

It is certainly a possibility, but is one of those things that we will never know for sure.

I suspect there is much about the Damo legend that is more myth than reality, but again, we will never know for sure. Meantime, the function of Myth in a society is to give identity to a group of people. Even if the myth is not historical fact, that does not mean that it is not Truth in its own way. It can still act to give cohesion and identity to people.

 

[eyebeams]

There is an ongoing debate on whether Boddhidharma learned Kalarippayattu from Kerela, India and tought it to Shaolin monks in China. There are many simularities between a Shaolin Monks and Kalarippayattu practitioners such as very similar weapons styles and knowledge of the mystical energy that exists all around us called Chi (they call it prana). Kalarippayattu practitioners, like Shaolin Monks usually start training to when they are 7 or 8 years old.

What do you think? Could Kalarippayattu be the origin of Shaolin martial arts or are these just mere simularities?

Kalarippayattu is a Southern Indian martial art and Bodhidharma was a Northerner. Bodhidharma may be a myth himself and there's no proof he taught martial arts to monks. Therefore: probably not. The North did have Vajramushti grappling and armed combat arts, but they were not the same as Kalaripayattu.

However, there is reason to think that there are connections between South Asian, Chinese and Okinawan martial arts. Part of karate oral tradition says that Te draws some influences from India and Southeast Asia, and there has been speculation that Kalarippayattu's grappling and pressure point techniques influenced or were influenced by Chinese techniques due to some striking similarities.

 

[sansoo]

There are three main styles of kalaripayattu.
ie style from the Northern part of Kerala
from the central part of Kerala
from the southern part of Kerala

The Northern style mainly focuses on weapons.It's very beutiful to watch with a lot of acrobatic stuff,leaps,kicks etc.It's mainly practiced by the Upper caste people of kerala.

The central styles ( it's derived from the northern style) focuses on the footwork (against the multiple opponents).It has a lot of grappling stuff.

The southern style is like a street fighting style.The emphasis is on empty hand fighting although it teaches weapons.The practitioner directly goes to attack the vital points and to end the fight as quickly as possible.It's also designed for multiple opponents.

Best regards
SS

 

[InvisibleFist]

Just look at the stuff! Its obviously related! Plus we have an origin legend that the arts came from India. What more proof do you need?

 

[Flying Crane]

Just look at the stuff! Its obviously related! Plus we have an origin legend that the arts came from India. What more proof do you need?

well, I wouldn't rely on a legend as proof. Creation myths and legends do serve a purpose. they can give a group of people an identity and a purpose, and so contain a level of truth, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is historically accurate. This holds true for both religious based creation myths like the Book of Genesis in the Bible, and also for the many creation myths that we have in the martial arts.

Do I believe that Tibetan White Crane was created when a meditating lama witnessed a battle between a crane and a mountain ape in the hills of Tibet? No, not really, but the story acts to give an identity to the system and gives a sense of what kind of movement the art incorporates.

Many times a martial system was created by someone of lowly social status. The art may be very effective and widely practiced, but nobody wants to admit that it was created by a street sweeper in China in 1641. So instead, stories are created that connect the creation of the art to an important historical military figure, or a mysterious wandering monk (bagua here). I think General Kwan has the creation of dozens of style attributed to him. Do I believe he did it? No way.

Now as for kalarippayattu and Damo, let's assume for a moment that Damo was a historical figure, and he did introduce physical excercises to the Shaolin Monks, that became the beginnings of Shaolin martial arts. Damo is placed some 1500 years ago. Did kalarippayattu even exist back then? I am sure fighting systems did exist in India back then, but I doubt if kalarippayattu in any recognizable form, or by that name, did. Martial arts change from generation to generation. Probably a precursor to Kalarippayattu did exist back then, and it gradually became what we know of as kalarippayattu today. But, I don't think it is possible to link two martial arts that exist today, with something that may have happened 1500 years ago. If Damo did exist, and if he did introduce the beginnings of martial arts to Shaolin, it probably was derived from an Indian martial art. However, it was probably not kalarippayattu as we know it today.

 

[clfsean]

Just look at the stuff! Its obviously related! Plus we have an origin legend that the arts came from India. What more proof do you need?

This is intended to be sarcastic right?

 

[Kane]

One difference maybe that the prana is used by Hindu martial art while Shaolin martial arts use the Taoist Chi. Although the forces are so much alike and almost the same the origin maybe different. The wapons also seem to be slightly different, although both systems use a lot of weapons.

Yeah! My 400th post! I'm a brown belt! artyon:

 

[eyebeams]

There are three main styles of kalaripayattu.
ie style from the Northern part of Kerala
from the central part of Kerala
from the southern part of Kerala

The Northern style mainly focuses on weapons.It's very beutiful to watch with a lot of acrobatic stuff,leaps,kicks etc.It's mainly practiced by the Upper caste people of kerala.

The central styles ( it's derived from the northern style) focuses on the footwork (against the multiple opponents).It has a lot of grappling stuff.

The southern style is like a street fighting style.The emphasis is on empty hand fighting although it teaches weapons.The practitioner directly goes to attack the vital points and to end the fight as quickly as possible.It's also designed for multiple opponents.

Best regards
SS

Those are all in relation to the Kerala region. All of Kerala itself is in South India, and not where Bodhidharma was supposed to have come from.