Northern Kalaripayattu
Northern style of kalaripayattu. According to Zarrilli, after 1958 this became the name for Kerala's own art, as opposed to the Tamil forms of the southern style.
Quick Facts
IndiaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Northern Kalaripayattu
About Northern Kalaripayattu
The northern style of kalaripayattu, which English Wikipedia and the Kerala government's tourism website call vadakkan kalari, is not a separate school with a founder. Phillip Zarrilli writes in Green's martial arts encyclopedia that after the Kerala Kalaripayattu Association was founded in 1958, the Tamil forms came to be called the southern style, and kalaripayattu itself, preserved mainly in central and northern Kerala, came to be called the northern style. Under British rule, he says, the art survived only with a few masters, mainly in the north. The association now recognises three styles, northern, central and southern, but at competitions it declares winners in two, northern and southern.
Read more
Zarrilli's description of training concerns mainly the northern style. After a ceremonial initiation and a greeting to the master, the gurukkal, the student oils the body and practises poses, kicks, steps, jumps and leg exercises in ever more complex sequences across the kalari. What matters most is mastering the basic poses named after animals, for example the elephant, the horse and the lion, which Zarrilli compares to yoga asanas, and the steps that link the poses, so that the body, in his words, flows like a river. According to Zarrilli, master C. Mohammed Sherif teaches eighteen basic unarmed attacks and twelve ways of blocking, which were traditionally part of at least some north Kerala styles. The kalari of the northern style is a building, ideally in a pit dug into the ground, whereas the southern style is practised outdoors or in unroofed enclosures. According to Green's encyclopedia, northern masters teach only indoors and at night for ethical reasons, and the building may also serve them as a traditional medicine clinic. The northern style relies on Ayurveda, the southern on siddha medicine.
History
In Green's encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World, Phillip Zarrilli describes how the designation northern style came about. In 1958 the Kerala Kalaripayattu Association was founded as a member of the Kerala State Sports Council. Since then the Tamil forms have been called southern style kalaripayattu, and kalaripayattu itself, preserved mainly in central and northern Kerala, northern style. Under British rule the art survived, according to Zarrilli, only with a few masters in scattered areas of Kerala, mainly in the north. Zarrilli names neither a founder nor a year of origin for the northern style, he only describes how its designation arose. Oral and written tradition credits the warrior and sage Parasurama with founding the first kalari and the lineages of teachers. An article by V. M. Maneesh in the International Journal of Yogic, Human Movement and Sports Sciences (2023) states, according to legend, that Parasurama was directly the founder of the northern style.
How it differs
According to Green's encyclopedia, the kalari of the northern style is a building, ideally sunk into a pit, whereas the southern style uses outdoor spaces, for example pits or a shady spot behind the master's house. The northern style relies on Ayurveda, the southern style, that is the Tamil forms of varma ati, is derived from the sage Agasthya and relies on siddha medicine. Zarrilli also describes a central style, which adds techniques performed inside drawings made of rice flour on the floor and steps taught in a pattern of five circles. V. M. Maneesh's article (2023) states that three styles exist in the northern style today: Arappukai, Vatten thirippu and Pilla thangi. Among the historical lines of kalaripayattu Zarrilli names, among others, Arappukai, Pillatanni and Vatten Tirippu, but does not assign them to the northern style.
Technique
According to Zarrilli, the most important thing in the northern style is mastering the basic poses named after animals, for example the elephant, horse and lion, which he compares to yoga asan, and the steps that link the poses so that the body flows like a river. Master C. Mohammed Sherif teaches eighteen basic unarmed attacks and twelve ways of blocking, which according to Zarrilli were traditionally part of at least some north Kerala styles. English Wikipedia describes the northern style as a style practiced mainly in the Malabar region, usually considered the original form of kalaripayattu, which stresses flexible movements, evasions, jumps and training with weapons.
Training
According to Zarrilli, after a ceremonial initiation and paying respects to the gurukkal, a student of the northern style rubs the body with oil and practices body preparation exercises, poses, kicks, steps, jumps and leg exercises, in ever more complex sequences back and forth across the kalari. Green's encyclopedia states that northern masters, out of an ethical concern that a dangerous art might be misused, teach only indoors and at night, and the kalari building may also serve them as a clinic of traditional medicine. V. M. Maneesh's article (2023) describes vaythari, the master's rhythmic oral commands, which according to him are used in the first three disciplines of the northern style. English Wikipedia says about kalaripayattu in general that most kalari start weapons after three to six months and some allow learning only one weapon a year. Zarrilli, by contrast, writes that metal combat weapons come only after several years.
Ranks and progression
The progression in the northern Arappukai line is described by V. M. Maneesh's article (2023): meythari, body training, kolthari, wooden weapons kettukari, mucchan or cheruvadi and otta, ankathari, metal weapons, and finally verumkai, unarmed combat, which no longer follows oral commands. Zarrilli confirms the order of body, wood and metal, but according to him unarmed combat is learned already through otta and as part of advanced training.
Today
According to Zarrilli, the Kerala Kalaripayattu Association recognizes three styles, but at the annual district and state competitions in forms it declares overall winners in two styles, northern and southern. Government press releases about the Khelo India games mention only kalaripayattu without distinguishing styles, and we have not found separate evidence of the northern style from recent years.
Frequently asked questions
What is the northern style of kalaripayattu?
According to Phillip Zarrilli, the name that took hold after 1958 for Kerala's own kalaripayattu, as opposed to the Tamil forms called the southern style.
How do the northern and southern styles of kalaripayattu differ?
The northern style is practised in the kalari building and relies on Ayurveda. The southern style is practised outdoors, derives from the sage Agasthya and relies on siddha medicine.
What matters most in the northern style?
According to Zarrilli, mastering the basic poses named after animals and the steps that link them, so that the body flows like a river.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.