Kalaripayattu: An Indian Martial Art Form Which is Breaking the Gender Roles Since Ages!
Kalaripayattu is an ancient martial art from Kerela practiced by both women and men as a means of self-defense.
One of the oldest martial arts from God’s own state, Kalaripayattu, has been breaking gender stereotypes since time immemorial. It originated in Kerela, South India, and the term Kalaripayattu is roughly translated into “practice in the arts of the battlefield.”
It is a traditional psycho-physiological discipline that nourishes the practitioner’s physical, mental, and spiritual health. It teaches combat skills initially learned via wooden sticks but eventually practiced with spears, swords, and daggers. Kalaripayattu is a self-defense martial art and isn’t used to initiate an attack.
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There is no surprise in the fact that martial arts are a heavily male-dominated field. But some women are trying to bridge the gender gap and defy the roles imposed upon them by society. One of them is 80-year-old Meenakshi Amma, a Kalaripayattu teacher, and practitioner. A mother of four and grandma to eight, Amma has been practicing the martial arts since she was five years old. “When I started, there were hardly any girls learning Kalaripayattu. It was frowned upon, but my father, Damu, was insistent that I learn the art form in tandem with classical dance. Nowadays, it’s heartening to see many girls and women taking up Kalaripayattu. It helps build confidence,” says Amma as quoted to The Hindu. This was back in the 1940s.
Today, she trains 150–200 students of all ages, male and female typically from June to October. Even her children and grandchildren have learned the art. She considers it a way of life, not for any specific gender, but everyone. She is a Padma Shri recipient who is taking forward the legacy of her late husband, Raghavan Gurukkal, a Kalaripayattu legend himself.
Even though Kerela is the birthplace of Kalaripayattu, there are only a handful of women in the state practicing the art. Surprisingly, metropolitan cities of South India such as Bengaluru and Chennai have more women performers in comparison to Kerela. It is a signifier of the growing geographical and social influence of the art. As more urban women become skilled in the art, it means that the next generation will have the opportunity to learn it as well. These women receive the support of their families and are revered in the field. “The healthy numbers of women performers in the Kalaris in these metropolitan cities challenge the conventional idea that this martial art is inherently masculine and not suitable for women.”
However, despite the high literacy rate and favorable sex ratio, women in Kerela are excluded from Kalaris, which is an indicator of gendered practices. As they hit puberty, they are held back by absurd notions about their sexuality, bias in training, and dress code. This mostly happens in the rural parts of the state. As women get older and married, their husbands and families dissuade their involvement in the art. Most performers strive to shatter these notions and to prove that they are ordinary women acceptable to society, a practice that is demeaning in itself.
Being a self-defense martial art, it is even more essential for women to learn Kalaripayattu, given the dangers they face every day. We need to equip women with the skills to be there based on savior through martial art, they will not only protect themselves but also injure the perpetrator enough to get them caught. This is one of the reasons Meenakshi Amma wants to teach more and more girls the art as a weapon against violence and abuse.
Even today many parts of South India hail Kalaripayattu and enroll their children to learn martial art from a very young age. They say its young minds learn early and this is what even the parents believe in. Regardless of their gender, these children grow up with the basic skills to protect themselves and ward off an attack if need be. These students usually grow up to become teachers, helping others learn the art and spread it across the country and outside. With the efforts of Gurukkal Meenakshi Amma and others, we hope for more women to learn the art without facing any biases.
If you want to take your journey into Kalaripayattu, check out Habbit’s Kalaripayattu class to be held by Kajal Srivastava, a professional Kalaripayattu artist on the 9th of September! Learn to strengthen your health, energize your mind, and achieve your best-balanced life with Habbit.