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Did Kung Fu Originate from Kalari Payat?

There is something about Kung Fu that you will not find in any Western or chinese text. That is , Kung Fu originated from a State called Kerala in Southern India.

 As you know lord Buddha or Siddartha Gautama (his real Indian name)was an Indian. He had many disciples who tried to teach Buddhism in India after his death. One of his disciples called Bodhidarhma (also an Indian) came down to south India to teach about the principles of Buddha. He found in this state called Kerala a very interesting martial art called "KALARI PAYAT" being practiced among the Warrior class, the "Kshyatrias" ( like the samurai class in Japan). Instead of teaching buddhism Bodhidharma ended up learning Kalari Payat for many years, which he knew would be useful in crossing the mountain ranges of northern India while protecting him and his followers from the attacks of the Huns, Bandits and Vandals. His stay and his learning process of Kalaripyat is recorded in the Ancient texts of Kerala and are still unavailable today. One look Kalari Payat and Kung Fu andy ou can see the similarity between the two.

Kalari Payat means the martial art that is done in deep chamber dug into the ground in the ground and roofed with a dome. Kalari Payat is like kung fu a very hand based fighting system. A trainee starts when he or she is 4 years old and takes 12 years to become an average fighter. The first 4 months are spent in oiling and massaging the body using herds and medicinal plants. Many strengthening  exercises are also done during this period to increase flexibility and endurance. After this initial training the various hand and leg combat techniques are taught, after this weapons like the sword , staff, short blade, short staff, shields, spheres etc are taught. The most advanced weapon is the belt sword which is a long flexible sword that is usually 10 feet long and can be wrapped around the waist. it is so deadly that a person using the weapon can slice off his own body parts if not careful.

There are 4 schools of Kalari Pyat in Kerala- the Northern, southern , Western and Eastern Schools. As a practicer of Kalari for the past 10 years and also wing shu for the past 3 years , I can only be amazed at the similarity of the two arts. When Bodhidharma's disciples set up the shaolin temple, they had already modified KALARIPAYAT into a new but similar fighting system called Kung Fu.

Archived from guestbook entry in Shaolin International Federation

 

 

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