WAYANAD, Kerala: Every year Vani Uma Krishnan looks forward to the Vijayadashami festival to publicly demonstrate her fighting, weapon, and self-defense skills — all polished through the rigorous practice of kalaripayattu, one of the world’s oldest martial arts.
Kalaripayattu, often called kalari, is believed to have originated around the third century B.C. on India’s southwest coast, in what is now the state of Kerala. It is a complete combat system with physical and spiritual training.
The practice combines strikes, kicks, grappling, preset forms, weaponry, healing methods, and meditation. Unlike in many other martial arts, students first learn weapon-based techniques before barehanded fighting. They train fluid movements inspired by animal postures, and also meditation.
Like most children in Kerala, Vani, now 14, has been practicing kalari from a very young age.
“I first fell in love with kalari when I was 7 years old. I have seen all these videos of people flying and being able to be so agile and block any offense … That was the closest thing to being a superhero for me,” she told Arab News.
