Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

for stage combat displaying the prowess of great Christian heroes like St.
George and Charlemagne.
A number of today’s masters trace their lineage of practice back generations
to the era when a special title (Panikkar or Kurup) was given by
the local ruler. K. Sankara Narayana Menon of Chavakkad was trained by
his father, Vira Sree Mudavannattil Sankunni Panikkar of Tirur, who in
turn was trained by his uncle, Mudavangattil Krishna Panikkar Asan, who
learned under his uncle, and so on. As recorded in the family’s palm-leaf
manuscript, the Mundavannadu family was given the title Anchaimakaimal
by the Vettattu raja in recognition of its exclusive responsibility
for training those who fought on the Raja’s behalf and its “responsibility
for destroying evil forces” in the region. Similarly, Christian master
Thomas T. Tuttothu Gurukkal traces his family tradition back to Thoma
Panikkar, who held the rank of commander-in-chief (commandandi) for the
Christian soldiers serving the Chmpakasserry raja until his fall in 1754.
Kalarippayattu declined under British rule, due to the introduction of
firearms and the organization of police, armies, and government institutions
along European institutional models, but survived under the tutelage
of a few masters in scattered regions of Kerala, especially in the north. During
the modern era kalarippayattu was first brought to general public attention
during the 1920s in a wave of rediscovery of indigenous arts. In
1958, two years after the founding of a united, Malayalam-speaking Kerala
State government, the first modern association, the Kerala Kalarippayat
(sic) Association, was founded under the leadership of Govindankutty Nayar,
with fifteen member kalari, as one of seventeen members of the Kerala
States Sports Council. Despite increasing public awareness within the north
Malabar region in particular, and in the state capital, kalarippayattu continued
to be little known as a practical martial and healing art to the general
public in Kerala and in India as late as the 1970s. Since then kalarippayattu
has become known throughout Kerala, India, and more recently
throughout the world.
Historically there were many different styles and lineages of kalarippayattu,
including Arappukai, Pillatanni, Vatten Tirippu, and Dronamballi
Sampradayam. A number of distinctive styles were suppressed or lost, especially
during the nineteenth century in the south of Kerala, where a
greater effort took place to suppress the authority of the Nayars and to centralize
power along European institutional models. Although the Kerala
Kalarippayat Association officially recognizes three styles of kalarippayattu
according to the rough geographical area where each originated, that
is, northern, central, and southern styles, what is called southern-style
kalarippayattu today is also known as varma ati or adi murai, and it is best
discussed separately, since its myth of origin and techniques of practice,
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