Indian Kalarirapayat

[Johnlogic121]

I read about a style from India called Kalarirapayat. I hope I am spelling the name of the art correctly. It is an old art taught in Northern India and it a sporting combat form. People who do this art have to prepare themselves for practice by putting on tight trusses to support their softer lower abdominal tissues, because the primary defensive method is to duck from a standing position into a very low squat, and this puts tremendous pressure on the lower back. When fighting with swords, the sparring custom is to touch the ground with the tip of the sword to both alert the opponent that an attack is coming and to also ensure that the attack rises to the opponent from a low angle, which makes ducking more difficult. All the teachers of this art also practice medical adjustments to the spines of their students so that they can keep the students healthy after their lower backs go out of place. The art also has a unique weapon that is a kind of sword which has a wide and thin curved metal blade. The edges of the blade are sharp and it is flexible enough to normally maintain its characteristic curled shape, but when swung at high speed, the metal blade uncurls and elongates to expose its sharp edges at the opponent. Thus, it is hard to judge the fighting range of the weapon and it is only used by advanced practitioners. A picture of this odd weapon would make its design clear but I think I have described it accurately enough. I thimk it could be compared to fighting with a slinky. Has anybody else heard of this interesting martial art? Does anybody know any more about it? Does anybody here do martial arts that orginated in India? Would you be willing to do a martial art if it meant that your lower back would be continually going out of place? How would you think that ducking in this art compares to something like Monkey style boxing, even though they tend to fight with swords? Please add any comments you like, --JL

[bushido_man96]

I had not heard about the continuous ducking as defense, nor the flexible sword. The art is an old art, rooted in combat, much like Krabi Krabong is.

[Vladko]

I am surprised I never heard about it. Do you have a video or something. It woulc be nice to see.