"When you are learning about a martial art, you are learning about respect."
-Jackie Chan
"Courage, above all, is the first quality of a warrior."
-Carl von Clausewitz
I chose that second quote because a lot of people practicing martial arts become obsessed that the art they practice is 'the best' and choose to never explore the potentials that other arts can add to their knowledge and ability.
It takes courage to admit something is good or bad, and then to try something else regardless. There is not enough exploration of the arts, something I try to keep myself doing endlessly.
I began writing this blog to practice a number of things; one to hone myself as a martial artist, as I believe writing is an integral part of its practice; we are more than just fighters, but writers also. Well rounded human beings you could say.
Another is to begin realizing my goal to create a comprehensive documentation on the history of martial arts, including as many styles as is possible.
After all, though a martial artist, I am also a historian. That is what I got my BA in, and hopefully will eventually get my MA and PHD in archaeology as well.
That being said, today I am writing what I hope may become a template for a later piece on martial arts which originated in India. While martial arts began earlier, I believe in the theory that as long as man has existed there has been conflict, and as long as civilization has existed war has occurred. And while the two are not necessarily synonomous I believe the practice toward becoming better at war is what generated martial arts originally. In that sense, so long as war exists martial arts may be as well.
But Indian civilization dates back millennia, and while the first evidence of martial arts occurs in ancient Egypt at the Beni-Hasan tomb, predating that are images of the lotus position found in Harappa from the Indus-Valley civilization.
While not necessarily martial arts, this picture is indicative that what pre-dated yoga existed as far back at 5,000 B.C. And considering the first documented evidence of any martial art occurred in India later, around 500 B.C. with the Indian great epics and even earlier circa. 1700-1100 B.C. within the sacred Vedas, I believe the Indian culture contributed greatly to the cultivation of martial arts.
Boddhidharma was a martial artist long before traveling to China where he purportedly taught and propagated its influence, so one must take into account where he received that training, and what culture instilled within him to be able to train.
As for Indian martial arts themselves, there are many. The Mahabharata describes Malla-yuddha in the contest between king Bali and Ravanna. While virtually extinct today, it is still practiced by a numbered few, though many of its techniques can be found within later styles, such as Kusti.
Although there are many martial arts, I would like to place my focus on Kalaripayattu. Most Indian martial arts focus on weapons, but this hybrid style is interesting because of how well rounded it is; involving wrestling, striking and weapons training, this style promotes extreme agility not unlike that witnessed in proficient Capoeira practitioners.
In the last portion of the video one can see the jumps of Krabi Kabong, which is often synonymous in the west with each other, but the styles vary widely.
Kalaripayattu is divided between the north and south, as many martial arts are in relation to their culture of origination, be it Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Indian.
A large reason to why I wanted to focus on Indian martial arts is because of how relatively unknown they are in the west. While Southeastern Asian martial arts such as Muai Thai and Muai Laos, and even Bando have become popularized as of late Indian martial arts have been relatively ignored.
Martial arts is not only Asian, especially when its originations were in likelihood African. There is a myth of the culture of martial arts that says it is this and that and one must explore how every culture in the world engages in their own particular brand of martial arts.
Sometimes people call me the 'Karate Kid' where I live because I practice everyday in places that are either community based, or public. That and because I am fairly short. I mind the title because most of my experience is Tae Kwon Do or Chinese martial arts, and though I have practiced some forms of karate, the fact that all martial arts are associated with one or two cultures when they are literally prevalent everywhere is indicative to what I mean when I say people are relatively close minded about how broad the spectrum really is concerning martial arts.
Considering Kalaripayattu is considered one of the oldest martial arts in the world (with only a few exceeding it in history) I wish more people knew about it. While Bodhidharma is remembered for propagating Shaolin martial arts, he is scarcely remembered as a practitioner of Kalaripayattu. And while legends are not the best to go off of for long, they do form much of the foundation of pre-scholastic history. Half of history seems to be historical histories, with the other half being either artifacts or myths.
Something tells me we need an Indian Tony Jaa to make it popular, and it does bother me that more Americans need popularized fighting films before they decide to become aware about a martial art. It honestly does bother me that while we are willing to base our medicine and electronics these days off the nation we choose to stay relatively uninformed about the culture itself.
I'd like that to change, so here is my small attempt at doing so.
Rant ended.
"There is no finish line. When you reach one goal, find a new one."
-Chuck Norris
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