Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

Written Texts: India
Within Indian systems of embodied practice like martial arts, yoga, and the
performing arts, knowledge is traditionally handed down from teacher to
disciple generation after generation, and therefore specialist knowledge is
lodged within the practice of the master. When written texts exist in these
disciplines, they are often worshipped, since they symbolize the knowledge
authoritatively interpreted in the master’s embodied practice. This type of
knowledge is witnessed as early as the Vedas, which were transmitted
orally for centuries before being committed to writing. Although one can
read a Sama Vedic text today, the living tradition of daily, calendrical, and
ritual recitation and use of Sama Veda is lodged in the practice of the few
surviving masters of the tradition.
Three types of texts are important to understanding the history and
techniques of martial arts in India: (1) primary source texts written within
a particular Indian martial tradition that provide specific information on
techniques and/or the ethos of practice; (2) secondary sources such as poetry
or epics that provide a variety of types of information about the practice
and culture of traditional martial arts; and (3) ancillary sources that
provide information on paradigms of the body, body-mind relationship,
and/or practice that are assumed in the practice of traditional Indian martial
arts, especially yoga and Ayurveda (Sanskrit; science of life), the indigenous
medical system. As reflected primarily in secondary sources, two
major strands of martial culture and practice have existed on the South
Asian subcontinent since antiquity—the Tamil (Dravidian) and Sanskrit
Dhanur Veda (science of archery) traditions. The early martial cultures and
practices reflected in Tamil and Dhanur Vedic sources have certainly influenced
the history, development, subculture, and practice of extant Indian
martial arts.
Texts and Textual Sources in Antiquity
From the early Tamil sangam (heroic) poetry, we learn that from the fourth
century B.C. to A.D. 600 a warlike, martial spirit predominated across
southern India, and each warrior received “regular military training” (Subramanian
1966, 143–144) in target practice and horseback riding, and
each specialized in the use of one or more of the important weapons of the
period, including lance or spear (vel), sword (val), shield (kedaham), and
bow (vil) and arrow. The heroic warriors of the period were animated by
the assumption that power (ananku) was not transcendent, but immanent,
capricious, and potentially malevolent. War was considered a sacrifice of
honor, and memorial stones were erected to fallen heroic kings and warriors
whose manifest power could be permanently worshipped by one’s
community and ancestors—a tradition witnessed today in the propitiation
Written Texts: India 749