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The first book in English on the Indian martial art that was the precursor to the Chinese and Japanese traditions • A rigorous martial arts practice that also promotes harmonious self-development • Provides practices for controlling the circulation of energy and vital forces throughout the body Originating in the southern Indian province of Kerala, kalaripayat is the most ancient of the Eastern martial arts. Yet today it has been practically forgotten. Former CBS war correspondent Patrick Denaud looks at this neglected tradition, whose history spans millennia, from the time it was transmitted by the god Vishnu to the sage Parasurama and his twenty-one disciples, the original Gurukkals, to its present-day practice. More than an art of combat, kalaripayat is a way of life and a spiritual discipline. Its martial techniques are designed to create states propitious for deep meditation. Long the jealously guarded art of the Nair warriors of southern India, kalaripayat was banned by the British East India Company in 1793 and was long believed by outside observers to be extinct. Several Gurukkals continued a clandestine practice and secretly trained the students who would transmit the teachings to today’s keepers of the art, such as Gurukkal Pratap S. Balachandrian. Like other spiritual disciplines, kalaripayat draws from the science of breath. Focused, silent breathing creates highly concentrated trance states and helps control the inner circulation of vital energy. The practitioner learns not only how to be a capable fighter with or without weapons but also an accomplished healer. The emphasis of this practice on circulating energy throughout the body is not only of interest to martial arts practitioners but also to all those interested in the harmonious development of the self.
Contributed seminar papers presented at the conference organized by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, and Dept. of History, Arunachal University.
In the mid 1970’s Martial Arts became sensationalized through movies and TV shows. It is widely believed that these ‘arts’ came from the Orient, but did they? Christopher Fernandes spent a great deal of his life researching the history of Martial Arts and where they originated from. In Vajramushti the reader will not only learn of this ancient form of martial arts, but they will learn the balance of mind, body and soul through the practice of Vajramushti. This book is a thought provoking, well laid out journey into the depth and understanding of Vajramushti.
Steven I. Wilkinson explores how India has succeeded in keeping the military out of politics, when so many other countries have failed. He uncovers the command and control strategies, the careful ethnic balancing, and the political, foreign policy, and strategic decisions that have made the army safe for Indian democracy.
This book explores how and why Scottish Highlanders, Punjabi Sikhs, and Nepalese Gurkhas became identified as the British Empire’s fiercest, most manly soldiers in nineteenth century discourse. As ‘martial races’ these men were believed to possess a biological or cultural disposition to the racial and masculine qualities necessary for the arts of war. Because of this, they were used as icons to promote recruitment in British and Indian armies - a phenomenon with important social and political effects in India, in Britain, and in the armies of the Empire. Martial Races bridges regional studies of South Asia and Britain while straddling the fields of racial theory, masculinity, imperialism, identity politics, and military studies. Of particular importance is the way it exposes the historical instability of racial categories based on colour and its insistence that historically specific ideologies of masculinity helped form the logic of imperial defence, thus wedding gender theory with military studies in unique ways. Moreover, Martial Races challenges the marginalisation of the British Army in histories of Victorian popular culture, and demonstrates the army’s enduring impact on the regional cultures of the Highlands, the Punjab and Nepal. This unique study will make fascinating reading for higher level students and experts in imperial history, military history and gender history.
Kalarippayat is the indigenous martial art of the South Indian state Kerala. The art incorporates empty hand fighting exercises, weapon drills, vital point attacks, massages, and healing methods for muscular and bone problems. This book is based on many years of field research. It provides an insight in Kalarippayat and its traditions, and in the society of India and Kerala in particular.
Shastra vidya is the name of the ancient North Indian martial art of the Kshatriyas - Hindus of the Vedic warrior class. This work, which is the result of many years of devoted research, looks at Shastra vidya's history, philosophy and technique.With textual evidence extracted from ancient Hindu scriptures, epics and treatises, this book presents the Kshatriya's art of armed and unarmed combat which includes punches, palm slaps, finger jabs, kicks, elbow attacks, knee strikes, head-butts, chokes, strangles, body throws, ground-fighting moves, sword strikes, mace blows, trident thrusts, lasso hurls, discus throws, archery techniques and mantras for operating divine missiles - all accompanied by nearly 120 line drawings.Also included: the connection between Hindu gods and martial arts, the life and fighting skills of renowned ancient Hindu warriors, weapon worship, animal sacrifice, Dharmic rules of warfare, the four enemy-defeating remedies, formidable fortification, training of war elephants, horses, chariots and infantry, pre-battle goddess worship, battle arrays, battle spells, espionage, assassination methods, martyrdom and more...
The title aspires to present a panorama of India’s yet to be fully discovered martial heritage, denoted by its unconquerable ancient epoch, a critique of the generally misread medieval age vicissitudes, followed by a survey of the contemporary & post-independence travails and triumphs. Not a historical narrative, it attempts to define what constitutes India’s natural-born military mind, how it evolved and breasted the world-conquering armies, followed by critical glimpses of the past ordeals, besides its uncelebrated defiance & conquests. The venture culminates in defining the nation’s prospective defence and development policy imperatives, for its emerging global role. It is rare in providing in one volume India’s scintillating perspective of the past, present and the future. The ardent quest, spanning over twelve years, is a reflective blend of a review of the Vedas, the Epics, relevant Shastras & other select material of help, with the author’s long years of rich military operational, planning and instructional experience. Poring over its pages answers many elemental questions, coming naturally to a lay reader, student, research scholar, man-at-arm, defence analyst and the policy maker. The thesis fills a gap by covering a wide range of archeological, historical, politico-military, socio-cultural and strategic and warfare issues, besides dispelling certain myths, which tend to demean India’s way of life and war fighting. The scrutiny of the post-independence wars comes to several untold finds. An exclusive study on ‘what motivates men in combat’ gives the subject an added depth. A lucid account of the nuances of the vital subject, bolstered by an unflagging perceptive probe, makes it an absorbing study.