Northern Kalaripayattu
The northern circle of kalaripayattu. It trains in a kalari sunk below ground level, with Ayurveda; weapons are taught before bare-handed fighting.
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About Northern Kalaripayattu
Vadakkan kalari is the northern circle of kalaripayattu, the martial tradition of the Indian state of Kerala. It is not a separate school with its own founder and date — it is one of the two main regional branches into which kalaripayattu divides, and it differs from the southern thekkan circle in how it trains and in the medicine that accompanies it. The difference begins with the training ground itself. The northern kalari is sunk below ground level, enclosed and oriented by ritual rule; the southern is practised at ground level, in open space or under a thatched shelter. The northern branch works with Ayurveda, the southern rests on Siddha medicine and traces its origin to the sage Agastya. Some sources add a central circle, madhya. Training has four stages, and their order surprises a European reader. It begins with body conditioning (meithari), continues with wooden weapons (kolthari), then metal ones (ankathari), and only at the end comes bare-handed fighting (verumkai). The weapon comes before the fist — the reverse of most fighting traditions. Before training proper the student receives a full-body oil massage, kalari uzhichil, which prepares the range of the joints. The syllabus includes knowledge of the marmas, the vital points, and equally the healing side: the master, the gurukkal, is usually also the one who treats injuries. No year of origin is recorded in this entry. The dating of kalaripayattu is disputed in itself, and its northern branch cannot be dated separately from it.
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