erzähm tuning
erzähm tune
This is one of the oldest of all fighting systems.
It's called Kalari and has been practiced in southern India for at least 2000 years.
But until recently it was virtually unknown even to the Indians themselves.
It is even possible that the fighting arts began in India.
Kalari certainly shares with the Chinese systems the honour of being the most ancient.
Research by Indians into the techniques and history of Kalari is only just beginning.
Until now sophisticated Indians looked to the outside world and practiced arts like
karate.
Now they are beginning to realise that in the villages of South India they have their
own martial art.
In Madras karate master Tilak Moses is starting the process by collating the ancient writings
given to him by masters of Kalari.
They have been copied again and again for 20 centuries onto palm leaves.
Dawn in a village of Kerala on the western shore of South India.
The children meet for training in this ancient martial art as they have done for generations.
Around them the village wakes up.
Here the practice of Kalari is a part of Indian daily life in a village culture that has changed
hardly at all.
This small quarry is a place of battle.
Kalari means battle ground.
These children are not being taught a sport.
They are learning to defend themselves in a very hard school.
The daily lessons continue until well after dawn when the working day begins and the children
go to school.
This area of India is famous for its good education and its relatively high incomes.
It is by Indian standards a prosperous fertile place with many rivers flowing through the
plantations.
More than any other martial art Kalari has many formal salutations and they are performed
as a ritual before practice begins.
Kalari is a very sophisticated fighting system.
It includes unarmed techniques and many weapons skills.
Students are taught how to defend themselves with bare hands against weapons and sticks.
The more advanced students are also trained with real weapons knives hatchets and special
spring swords made from long thin strips of metal.
They are unique to India.
Fighting against a spring sword can only be done safely with a round metal shield.
Locking techniques are used to subdue an opponent or to immobilize him and take away his weapon.
They require great skill and years of practice before they can be applied effectively.
The village children absorb the techniques long before they can practice them themselves.
In the martial arts there are many different ways of striking an opponent with the hand
or foot but a unique aspect of Kalari is the use of the feet to block incoming attacks.
Students are also taught to dive and feint around the attacker under the opponent's
kicks or punches.
Since the Kalari ground is near the sea some of the students are fishermen.
Others are office workers, government officials or farm workers.
Kalari, like other fighting arts, is more than a fighting system.
It involves a detailed understanding of what can be done with the human body.
A few miles inland is the small private hospital run by Master Madhavan, a doctor and master
of martial arts.
Fighting and healing are a natural combination.
Whenever fighting techniques are practiced people are certain to be hurt.
The master is the natural person to heal his students.
As Master Madhavan's skill and fame grew he found himself being doctor to the community
and that has become more important to him than being a fighting master.
He practices a traditional Indian medical system called Marma which is seen as a science
of life.
It starts from fundamentally different assumptions to those of western medicine.
In Indian medicine the doctor aims to create a state of health in the body that prevents
bacteria and viruses surviving.
The doctor aims to strengthen the parts of the body that are suffering and to achieve
this he has many techniques at his disposal.
Medical massage by the doctor's feet is usually part of the treatment.
In addition there are herbs and potions which are not medicines in the western sense.
They are instead designed to counter the weakness caused by the illness and allow the body to
heal itself.
Master Madhavan is the third generation of his family to be the doctor in this small
hospital.
In the past transferred to policy institute in Kharagapuram where he came to know his
I am very satisfied with my life and I am satisfied with my peace.
I don't want to live after a great wealth.
I want peace, I want to live a life that is not disturbed by the pain of death,
which is not disturbed, which is broken, which is broken by the hands and legs,
which is not disturbed, which is dying, which is dying,
which is saved and healed.
This is what I want to do.
That is the main thing.
I learnt the Marma Chilsa.
The Marma Chilsa department is the most difficult to learn.
What is the human body?
What are the most and least harmful things in the human body?
This child is suffering from a distorted rib cage, probably related to a spinal injury.
It is a condition that is difficult to treat by any medical techniques.
In the West, a similar massage treatment is often attempted.
Doctors like Master Madhavan are very important to the community.
They charge little since most of their patients are very poor.
It is a work of devotion rather than profit.
When I went to see an event with my father at the age of six,
there were a lot of
people who were educated by my father.
I was a child and I was not seen.
He showed me a body.
When I saw my father, he gave me a place.
He sat with me and when I saw this,
I felt like studying.
When did you start doing this?
I saw the event and came back.
I asked my father what this is.
He said it is a stick.
He showed me the
stick and said it is a medicine for our health.
How long have you been doing this?
This is the first time I have done this.
I have been studying with my father,
my parents and my parents-in-law.
I have been studying science,
science and science.
I want to know more about this.
Who is the first Guru of this?
It is Agastya Muni.
He is a scientist.
Despite his preoccupation with medicine,
he is still a fighting master.
Every night in the cool season,
practice starts with a salutation to the gods
and another to the master.
The students touch his feet as a sign of submission
to his authority and guidance.
Before the fighting exercises,
there is a lengthy warming up session.
These movements are similar to those used in yoga
or the oriental fighting arts.
One exercise, the crocodile walk,
is probably unique to Kalari.
It exercises almost all the muscles of the back,
legs, neck and arms at the same time
and can only be performed perfectly
when the whole body is tensioned like a spring.
The variations on it are even more difficult to do.
At the heart of the southern style of Kalari
is the complex form or set of movements.
Most fighting systems practice these set forms.
The Japanese call them cartas.
They are long pre-planned sequences of moves
based on a series of attacks and defenses
against imaginary opponents.
The series of actions are repeated in many directions.
Master Madhavan uses his right arm to block twice
then punch through the face,
usually preceded by a low kick from his right leg.
It's as if he is being attacked from all sides by many opponents.
He leaps and turns to avoid one attacker
or to prepare to take on another.
When teaching the forms to students,
Master breaks down his performance into individual actions.
Every movement must be learnt perfectly,
then practiced until it's instinctive.
After studying the forms,
students pair up to practice the techniques which they contain.
They are deflecting an incoming blow and leaping clear of an attack.
They practice basic punching, blocking and kicking
in pre-arranged sequences so as to improve timing and balance.
They are also taught ways of disarming an attacker with a knife,
initially learning the techniques without a weapon.
The most spectacular weapons are the flaming balls of fire,
probably used in battle to frighten advancing elephants
and to turn them back into their own army.
Master Panikkar is manager of the best ice cream restaurant in Madras.
He is also in great demand as a film extra,
famous for his ballroom dancing.
Yet in his search for Kalari, Tilak Moses visits him
because he is the master of the deadly vital point system,
Mama Adi, a technique of striking at particular points in the body
in order to disable or kill.
They meet to practice secretly in a small Hindu shrine.
Knowledge of the vital points is the most secret part of any martial arts system.
The exact positions of the points are known to masters in India,
China and Japan and also to forensic scientists who confirm their deadliness.
A blow to the exact point is devastating,
but a blow that misses has no special effect.
The master always teaches the special method of resuscitation appropriate to the blow.
When to use this technique,
when there is danger to one's life,
without using the full hand,
use half of the hand to save one's life.
This has been the tradition since ancient times.
No one should use the full hand.
If you have the full hand, use the other half of the hand to save yourself.
If there is no other way,
look at the other side and use half of the hand to save yourself.
Even then, use only half of the hand.
The full hand should not be used for any reason.
It should not be used.
It is a death for the master.
Because we should not be murderers.
No one should be killed.
Do you understand?
Also, this is a very important matter.
Who can say that this is known?
The deep roots of Kalari in southern Indian culture
are demonstrated by the way that movements from the fighting techniques are found in their dances.
The Indian classical dance style, Bharatanatyam,
is known to date from at least the second century AD.
The dances tell the stories of the Hindu gods and goddesses.
Each posture, each movement has a meaning.
The dancers perform a language of gesture.
Since the postures of the dance were set at least 2,000 years ago,
it follows that any fighting postures in the dances were used at that time.
After their exercises, they move on to the actual dances.
They match their dance to the words that Master Lakshmi sings.
This is a fighting stance, used throughout the Far East and called tiger hands.
Some postures are obviously martial, like drawing an arrow.
When Kalari fighters pull back from an attack,
this is their movement, followed by a swift attack forward.
Some gestures are obvious, like angry shaking hands.
But what is not obvious is the following hand movement,
which is the same as a fighting backhand cut.
Finally, they move into the warrior god Krishna's classic posture,
the right leg kicks, the hands block attacks from high and low.
There are many unsolved mysteries about the history and background of martial arts.
It's impossible to be certain where the techniques started.
There are possibilities that they existed about 3000 BC in the Middle East,
and then travelled to both India and China.
It is most likely that the skills were developed by Buddhist monks and merchants
who travelled regularly on the dangerous trade routes between the two countries.
The warrior class in India would also have been involved in the thinking and practice needed
to reach the levels of skill that are now used in Kalari.
The famous warriors, the Naya's, practice the different northern style of Kalari.
They live in the northern half of Kerala, and although they still speak the same language,
there is a difference in racial background.
Fighters of the northern style traditionally tie lengths of cloth
for protection around their loins before practicing.
Kalari develops the whole physique in a balanced way,
aiming for bodies that are tough, but light and fast rather than heavyweight.
The standard of physical fitness developed by the masters in their students is remarkable.
Like the southern master, the northern master, Vesudivan, is also a well-known doctor.
Though these exercises are practiced regularly, there is still a strong element of danger.
A mistake in timing can be serious.
They practice fiercely, with the energy and passion of a genuine fight.
Their master encourages them to use their skill to the limit,
though he's always ready to step in if they get too excited and tip over the edge into real violence.
While playing hungos on the suit, Vesudivan teaches a basic technique.
The S çıkarakasho techniques are home from this training in the modern era,
Tlac Moses has travelled to study with Master Vasudhra, especially to increase his understanding
of the vital point techniques.
The relationship between these and the very ancient Chinese medical system of acupuncture
is further confirmation that contacts existed between the fighting masters of both countries
in the past.
The
master dives forward and uses his head to butt the ribs.
A concealed stick makes the techniques even more effective.
The backbone of Kalari is contained not in the exercises, but in an attitude to life.
The
You should not have any kind of accident from any way.
That's what we understood.
This is easy.
You should fold your hands like this.
Fold like this.
Fold your hands like this.
This is the movement.
You should bend your knees.
This is where pain goes away.
Pain should not go away.
What treatment should we give?
You should not bend your knees.
What is the pain?
You should not bend your knees.
You should bend your knees.
If you bend your knees, it will not be a problem.
One, two, three, four, five.
You should not bend your knees.
Here, breath in.
Breath out.
All the movements.
And the palm of your hand.
The palm of your hand.
You should not bend your hands.
This is the middle of this.
This is the middle.
You can give it anywhere you want.
This is the middle.
And this is the middle.
The eyes.
This is not straight.
The relationship between fighting and medicine is more fundamental than a western sports coach's concern with fractures, sprains and bruises.
The Masters study and practice a whole body medicine, designed to anticipate illness as much as to cure it.
Master Vasudevan has a whole team of assistants to help him at his morning surgery.
Many of them are also students of Kalari.
This particular patient is having such a long thorough massage that it's necessary to cool him during the process
by pouring liquid onto his forehead.
The aromatic vegetable oils used in this massage are specially mixed for his condition.
Massage is only a small part of his treatment.
We don't have any illness.
It's a bit bitter.
It's not good for the stomach.
It's not good.
It's not good for the stomach.
It's not good.
You shouldn't keep on sleeping during the night.
Should not also think of watching Sita with her North God,
Brahma Chaitanya is always there.
This is the only thing we need.
We need it.
That is the only thing we need.
We did it yesterday.
Yes, both of them.
The other thing is the health.
We don't count it.
That is the same thing.
We look at a man's body.
We say, sir, you are small.
We will give you a small piece.
We don't need anything.
We break the muscles.
We break the legs.
We put our hands in the air.
We push our right leg through the right leg.
We push our left leg through the left leg.
We bend in the right leg.
We put our hands in the air.
In the northern style, the salutations to the gods are very complex.
When students salute the altar and the weapons on it, they are worshiping Kali,
the Indian goddess of war and destruction.
At the other side of the training hall they salute Mother Earth.
Instead of practicing in the open, as in the southern style, here they place a roof over a dugout pit.
The dimensions of this fighting temple are precisely laid down by tradition.
The northern style uses many high kicks and low crouching movements, designed to confuse an attacker.
When the students spring up from the ground they thrust with great force from an unexpected direction.
There is ritual in everything, even in the exchanges before a fight, which are in fact designed to avoid fighting if possible.
Some fighting arts are taught and practiced in an abstract way.
The exercises seem to have little relationship to actual fighting.
This is not so in Kalari.
In the early stages of learning a defense against a man with a stick,
the master warns his young student where the next blow will strike.
The student is not able to move his body, and the master is not able to move his body.
In the early stages of learning a defense against a man with a stick, the master warns his young student where the next blow will strike.
Move your head.
But with an older boy the master strikes, without warning, calmly concealing the intention and direction of the blows,
stretching the young student's anticipation, courage and resistance to intimidation.
The master gently tests his young student's reflexes, making sure that he is gauging the proper distance and defensive postures,
and is ready to accept a powerful, terrifying attack.
Move your head.
Most fighting arts don't use real weapons in training, but they do in Kalari.
Their use increases the students confidence and courage as well as their fighting skill.
It is the master's responsibility to put himself at risk when he teaches new techniques.
Training and techniques like these come out of centuries of experience,
thought and practice. Master Vasudevan works to the limits of his students ability and his
arms are a massive scars from his daring teaching. It is even more dangerous when
he gives up his dagger. He is full of the spirit of Kalari which for him resolves
the conflict between fighting and healing. Next week's program looks at the
Japanese martial arts. Now stay viewing for a sneak preview of the coming week's
goodies with Sylvia Riviere and then at 830 it's Tan Hirinstrat with the final gripping
episode.