Otta
A long, curved wooden weapon of kalaripayattu with a handle at one end and a small mace head at the other, meant for the elephant fighting form.
Quick Facts
IndiaAbout the weapon
The otta is a wooden weapon of Kerala's kalaripayattu, classed among the kolthari wooden weapons. We have not been able to establish its origin or dating. According to tradition, the otta recalls the mighty trunk of an elephant, which skilfully fought a lion, as the god Shiva himself is said to have watched. The otta is long and curved, with a handle at one end and a small mace head at the other. We have not found dimensions in the sources. According to the Kerala school Kadathanadan Kalari, the otta is the only weapon of the elephant fighting form and the last wooden weapon students learn. Training includes strikes to marma, vulnerable body points known only to masters and advanced students. Marma is traditionally taught only after twelve years of practice, so the otta could only be taught after that too. The school says a master of the otta cannot be struck even asleep. In another sense, the otta also appears in the kalari training space itself: in the Ganapathitharu, the deity Ganapati is symbolically invoked by placing an otta, a wooden peg shaped like a tusk. We have not been able to verify whether this is the same object as the fighting otta.