Kalaripayattu
Wrote this story in early 2020, winter of 2020, when people could be in a room of 60 without fear…..
- Sne Disclaimer for this but also life: No story (or even further- no verbal conversation) can ever contain everything a person is trying to convey due to the fact that the English language limits us. The fact that we do not have words for the exact sentiments and thoughts we are feeling and hold. This language/s is/are missing amounts of expressions that cannot be heard and understood through verbalizing sounds.
- Example: Sanskrit has 267 words for Love. English has…. uno? Thus, stories, conversations, sometimes can lack in what is actually being felt, meant, breath — the depth.
This story starts with my dearest beloved, my 11-year old baby. Ente mone. (shout-out to my Mallus).
He came back from school and told me some news the other day. While he explained it as the 11-year-old he is, it translated into my head as: folx in his middle school don’t believe in his aspiration of being an NBA baskerballer.
Knowing that my town is a Desi children majority school now yet still with a majority white teacher and admin dynamic, this situation, unfortunately, didn’t surprise me that there was some doubting self-esteem breaking nonbelievers. Heck, the town’s been anti-Black Since the creation of salt being used as a seasoning.
Let me tell you — people are always telling you — you can’t do something. Then they try convincing YOU— then up to you to see if you’re going to believe their narrative of you or hoop their insecurities in the trash.
Y’all can do anything (i italicize because don’t want people thinkin literally anything like don’t hurt anyone after reading this) y’all want to pursue— also #Let’sStartHiringRNW. You know if you know. But that hashtag is for another medium post.
So what does the title of this article mean????
Kalari means school/space/field/gymnasium and payattu means exercise/practice derived from Malayalam. Both words together — Kalaripayattu is known as the mother of all martial arts dating back to 3rd century BCE (why’re we still using a man named christ as a year-zero neutral scale puts me in shock, pretending like good times didn’t exist before this man when we all know A LOT OF AMAZING SHIT happened before his birth, jesus’ friends really were the hype friends you want at the club) to this day starting in modern-day Kerala (my amma land) in South India. It’s recorded that Buddhists traveled upwards from South India and brought Kalaripayattu to other lands — forming Kung Fu in China and samurai warriors in Japan and etc.
However, kalaripayattu isn’t just self-defense, it is also healing (Ayurveda), yoga, astrology, and spiritual practice, and the intersections of these with the belief that none of which can exist or develop in isolation of the others. As much as it is physical, it puts even more attention on the energy of our system and the sync of the body and mind.
Not only is the self the focus with this art — but the inspiration was from our better halves— animals. Kalaripayattu looked at the raw power, majestic strength and instinctive fighting techniques of animals like lions, tigers, elephants, wild boars, crocodiles and etc.
- Gajja Vadivu: Elephant posture
- Ashwa Vadivu: Horse posture
- Simha Vadivu: Lion posture
- Varaha Vadivu: Wild boar posture
- Kukuda Vadivu: Rooster posture
- Sarpa Vadivu: Snake posture
- Matsya Vadivu: Fish posture
- Marjara Vadivu: Cat posture
RESPECT ZA ANIMALS!!!! :)
When the British came to India in the 19th century, they banned Kalaripayattu and punished folx with the penalty of death or exile as they saw this form as a threat to their livelihood.
Side note: British also limited sex among Indians, while simultaneously advocating for and creating prostitution laws for British military to use with the Cantonment Act of 1864. The Cantonment Acts regulated and structured prostitution in a way where twelve to fifteen Indian women were placed in each British regiments with each regiment containing about one thousand soldiers. These women were licensed by military officials and were kept in brothels called chaklas, and were only allowed to be with British soldiers. While these women came from families with difficult to opportune economic independence, the colonial governments took this by enforcing and pushing women into prostitution.
With the increasing practice of this law in place, and the rampant violent rape and unsafe sex being upheld, there became an increasing amount of venereal diseases that spread which became the main reason for the next British laws in place: Indian Contagious Disease Acts of 1868. This made every woman register with a card if they had a venereal disease.
Specifically, these acts made it law for women in prostitution to be registered with the police and accordingly partake in an invasive medical examination. The police then determined if the woman had a disease, she had then two options from there. One is to be confined to a lock hospital until pronounced clean. The other was three months to six months of imprisonment or hard labor… while writing this medium post I continuously realize how random minds flow as now the topic has shifted with a side note to how British spread STDs among Indian women. They also created and enforced homophobic laws and stopped Devadasis's role in society but those two topics will covered in another medium post.
I JUST WANT TO SAY THERE IS SO MUCH WE DO NOT KNOW AND ALL OF OUR ROOTS AND BACKGROUNDS HOLD A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE TO THE BOARD. JUST BECAUSE WE ARE IN 2020 DOESN’T MEAN WE KNOW MORE THAN FOLKS FROM 1020 (BCE).
ALSO, LET ME TELL YOU — I WENT TO STARTING FROM 1ST GRADE TO THESE PUBLIC SCHOOLS CONNECTICUT AND LET ME TELL U, I REMEMBER ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM THESE SCHOOLS (except reading Kite Runner, loved all my English class books)- IN FACT I DIDN’T LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEY’RE THERE AND THEIR UNTIL 11TH GRADE DUE TO MY CRUSH AT THAT TIME TELLING ME. AND LET ME TELL YOU — WAS IN ESL FROM FIRST GRADE TO 5TH GRADE — AND WHAT THEY DO IS PUT YOU IN A ROOM WITH OTHER ESL KIDS AND YOU LEARN HOW TO SIT QUIETLY AND THEY TELL YOU TO STOP SPEAKING YOUR FIRST LANGUAGE AT HOME (PPL WITH KIDS IF YOU ARE READING THIS — DO UR RESEARCH…DO THEY WANT YOUR CHILDREN TO LEARN ENGLISH, OR DO THEY WANT THEM TO BE IN ANOTHER ROOM SO THEY DON’T GET IN THE WAY OF OTHERS LEARNING?). hopefully, that has all changed as I graduated HS in 2014...here’s to Hope.
THIS IS A REMINDER: AMERICAN EDUCATION IS NOT SUPERIOR THAN ANY EDUCATION FROM AROUND THE WORLD. THEY DO TEACH A LOT ON HOW TO VIEW WORLD FROM A BINARY GENDER LENS & HOW TO BE ANTI-BLACK
A GENTLE CAPS LOCK REMINDER: SELF LEARN. PICK UP BOOKS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. PICK UP BOOKS WRITTEN BY WOMXN. WRITTEN BY TRANS FOLX. WRITTEN BY BLACK FOLX. WRITTEN BY INDIGENOUS ELDERS. BUT ALSO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY LISTEN TO YOURSELF WE CAN UNLOCK SO MUCH IF WE LET IT. WRITE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES. TALK ABOUT IT. LISTEN. love love love
Anyway, this post has turned into a rant.
If anyone has made it to the finish of this…create create create create. Record record record record. We Love being heard.
***Grateful***
Story from early 2020 ❤️
