Southern Kalaripayattu (Thekkan)
The southern style of kalaripayattu from Kerala. It trains in the open, draws on Siddha medicine and stresses empty-hand fighting.
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Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Southern Kalaripayattu (Thekkan)
Thekkan kalaripayattu is the southern style of kalaripayattu, the Indian martial art of Kerala. This page names no founder, and it is worth explaining why: the tradition traces itself to the sage Agastya, but he is a figure of Hindu mythology, not a documented historical person. That the southern line claims him is a verifiable fact about the tradition; that he founded it is not verifiable. The northern vadakkan style likewise claims Parashurama. The year that previously stood here rested on nothing and has been cleared. The difference between the northern and southern branches is not only technical but spatial and medical. Northern kalari is practised in a sunken covered arena below ground level; the southern works in the open or under a simple thatched roof at ground level. The northern tradition rests on Ayurveda, the southern on Siddha medicine, which is at home in the Tamil world — and this is precisely what inclines the southern style culturally towards Tamil Nadu rather than Kerala. Technically the southern style is known for its emphasis on empty-hand fighting and striking, while the northern places greater weight on weapons and on extreme flexibility of the body. Both branches, however, cover both: stick, lance, knife, dagger, sword and shield, and bare-handed work. They also share the science of the marmas, the vital points of the body, and the healing and massage bound up with it. This is no appendage: knowledge of the points serves in kalari both for attack and for treatment, and both sides are learned together. Mastery is held to require at least five years of continuous training.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.