Kalarippayattu: Of Shifting Circumstances and Alliances
Certainly the earliest
precursors of Kalarippayattu were the Sangam Age combat techniques
which fostered the growth of a heroic ideal; however, there can
be no doubt that the techniques and heroic ethos, at least of
Kerala's kalarippayattu, must have been transformed in some way
by the merging of indigenous techniques with the martial practices
and ethos accompanying brahmin migrations from Saurastra and
Konkan down the west Indian coast into Karnataka and eventually
Kerala (Velutat, 1976:25, 1978). By the seventh century A.D.,
with the founding of the first Kerala brahmin settlements, a
"new cultural heritage" had been introduced into the
southwest coastal region which subtly transformed the socio-religious
heritage of the area. The Kerala brahmins shared with other coastal
settlers the belief that their land had been given to them by
Parasurama, the axe-wielding brahmin avatar of Vishnu. According
to the Kerala legend, Parasurama, threw his axe
(parasu) from Gokarnam to Kanyakumari [or from Kanyakumari to
Gokarnam according to another version] and water receded up to
the spot where it fell. The tract of land so thrown up is said
to have constituted the Kerala of history, otherwise called Bhargavakshetram
or Parasuramakshetram- Menon, 1979:9
The establishment of Brahmin
settlements gradually brought the emergence of Brahmin ritual
and socioeconomic dominance through the establishment of a complex
system of hierarchically ranked service and marital relationships
based on relative ritual purity between and among castes, especially
in the northern and central regions of present-day Kerala (A.K.B.
Pillai, 1987:1-119). Important among early brahmin institutions
for this discussion were the salad or ghatika, i.e., institutions mostly attached
to temples where the cattar or cathirar, proficient in Vedas
and sastras and also military activities, lived under the patronage
of kings who considered their establishment and maintenance a
great privilege. - Narayanan, 1973:33
Drawing on inscriptional
evidence, M.G.S. Narayanan has established that the students
at these schools were cattar who functioned under the direction
of the local village brahmin assembly (sabha), recited the Vedas,
observed brahmacarya, and served as a "voluntary force" to defend the temple and school if and when necessary (Narayanan,
1973:25-26).The eighth century Jain Prakrit work, Kuvalaymala
by Udyotanasuri from Jalur in Rajasthan, records a clear picture
of the nature of these educational institutions
Entering the city he sees
a big matha. He asks a passerby, "Well sire, whose temple
is that?" The person replies, "Bhatta, oh Bhatta, this
is not a shrine, but it is a matha [monastery, residential quarter]
of all the cattas [students]." [On entering the matha] .
. . he sees the cattas, who were natives of various countries,
namely Lata Karnata, Dhakka, Srikantha ... and Saindhava....
They were learning and practicing archery, fighting with sword
and shield, with daggers, sticks, lances, and with fists, and
in duels (niuddham). Some were learning painting (alekhya), singing
(giya), musical instruments (vaditra), staging of Bhanaka, Dombiliya
[?], Siggadaiyam [?], and dancing. They looked like excited elephants
from Maha-Vindhya. - Shah, 1968:250-252
Along with other brahmin
institutions, these salad and the cattar trained in them must
have played some role in the gradual formation of the distinctive
linguistic, social, and cultural heritage of the southwest coastal
region although the degree of influence was certainly in direct
proportion to the density of brahminical settlement and local
influence. M.G.S. Narayanan dates this period of change between
the founding of a second or new Cera capital at Makotai under
Rama Rajesekhara (c.800-844 A.D.) and its breakup after the rule
of Rama Kulasekhara (1089-1122 A.D.). Before the founding of
the Makotai capital, Kerala was "a region of Tamilakam with
the same society and language"; however, in the post-Makotai
period Kerala became distinctive in many ways from the rest of
Tamilakam (Narayanan, 1976:28).
This watershed period of
Kerala history culminated in the disintegration of the second
Cera Kingdom at Makotai after a protracted one-hundred year war
of attrition with the Cola Empire. At the end of the war, Rama
Kulasekhara (the Perumal) abdicated, and the hitherto centrally
controlled Cera Kingdom was dismembered and split into numerous
smaller kingdoms and principalities.
It is to this extended
period of warfare in the eleventh century A.D. when military
training was "compulsory . . . to resist . . . the continuous
attacks of the Cola army . . ." that historian Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillai attributes the birth of the martial tradition now
known as kalarippayattu (1970:241). During the war, some brahmins
continued to be trained in arms themselves, trained others, and
actively participated in fighting the Colas (Pillai, 1970:155;
243-244).
Although the salads themselves
declined with the end of the Cera Kingdom and the division of
Kerala into principalities, Kerala brahmin engagement in the
practice of arms continued among some sub-castes. Known as cattar
or yatra brahmins who were considered degraded or "half"
brahmins because of their vocation in arms, for several centuries
they continued to train in, teach, fight with, and rule through
the martial arts. Although written from a brahminical point of
view to legitimize dominance, the legendary Kerala brahmin chronicle
, Keralopathi , confirms brahminic al sub-caste involvement in
teaching and bearing arms. The chronicle tells that Parasurama
gave the land to the brahmins to be enjoyed as 'brahmakshatra'
i.e., a land where brahmins take the role of ksatriyas also.
The chronicle adds that 3600 brahmins belonging to different
settlements or gramas accepted the right to bear arms from Parasurama.
They are described as ardhabrahmana or half-brahmins and valnampis
or armed brahmins, and their functions are mentioned as padu
kidakka [restrain offenders] pada kuduka [military service] and
akampadi nadakukkuka [guard service]. They are said to be divided
into four kalakams [a colloquial form of ghatika, or the organizations
of brahmincattarto defend the land] called Perincallur, Payyanur,
Parappur and Chengannur respectively. These kalakams nominated
four preceptors or rakshapurushas for the duration of three years
with the right to collect . . . revenue. - Narayanan, 1973:37-38
Some among today's traditional
kalarippayattu masters possess manuscripts which accept the Keralopathi's
account of history, pay homage to brahmin masters of the past,
and implicitly accept brahmin hegemony. For example, according
to one master's manuscript, long ages ago, the sage
Parasurama brought one hundred and sixty- six katam [one katam
equals five miles, i.e., this land mass was brought up from the
ocean, thereby "founding" the Malayalam- speaking readion
known today as Kerala State] from the sea and consecrated 108
idols. Then in order to defeat his enemies he established forty-two
kalari, and then brought some adhyanmar [high caste brahmins]
in order to conduct worship (puja) at the kalari. Then he taught
twentyone masters of the kalari how to destroy their enemies.
The text also mentions
that among the deities to be meditated upon in the kalari are
"the famous past kalari gurus of the Nambootiri houses known
as Ugram Velli, Dronam Velli, Ghoram Velli, and Ullutturuttiyattu."
Although the cattar continue
to be mentioned in Kerala's heavily Sanskritized Manipravalam
literature, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries these
formerly well-respected brahmin scholars and practitioners in
arms are depicted as living decadent lives. References find them
"wearing weapons with fresh blood in them," engaging
in combat, demonstrating feats with their swords, describing
the martial prowess of Nambootiri chieftains (such as Tirumalaseri
Nambootiri of Govardhanapuram), and touting the prowess of cattars
in combat (Pillai, 1970:275). A few of these brahmins continued
their practice of arms into the Portuguese period of Kerala history,
the Edapalli Nambiadiri (a special designation for a Nambootiri
general) serving as commander of the Zamorin (ruler) of Calicut's
army and navy in the early wars with the Portuguese.
Whatever the caste or religion
of the medieval practitioners of kalarippayattu, all practiced
their martial art within a socio-political environment which
was unstable, i.e., a constantly shifting set of alliances and
outbreaks of warfare between feuding rulers of petty principalities.
Since practitioners had pledged themselves to death on behalf
of their rulers, they were obliged to develop both the mental
power and battlefield skills that would allow them to sacrifice
themselves on the battlefield in order to fulfill their pledges
unto death.
Following J. Richardson
Freeman's recent research on the nature of teyyam worship in
North Malabar to which kalarippayattu practice and martial heroes
are integrally linked, it is clear that, for the medieval Malayali
practitioners of kalarippayattu, the "world" within
which they exercised their martial skills was shaped by a religious
and socio-political ideology in which "battle serves as
a dominant metaphor for conceptualizing relations of spiritual
and socio-political power" (Freeman, 1991:588). Following
Hart's research on the early Dravidian notion of power (ananku)
as capricious and immanent (mentioned above), Freeman convincingly
argues that in medieval Kerala also "the locus of divine
power is not primarily, or at least usefully, transcendent, but
immanent, and located in human persons and their ritual objects"
(Freeman, 1991:130). The martial practitioner was confronted
with having to harness through whatever techniques might be at
his disposal, those special, local, and immanent powers that
might be of use to him in fulfilling his pledged duty to a ruler.
Also Read: Kalarippayattu - A Study,
Some Preliminary Thoughts,
The Source of Kalari,
The Circumstances & Alliance,
Dhanurvadic Tradition,
Power in Antiquity,
System & Techniques,
The Concept of Sakti,
Conclusion