Kalaripayattu - World's Oldest Martial Art

Which is the oldest martial art in the world?

Where is it practiced?

Who teaches it?

Kung Fu? No.

Shao Lin? No.

Judo, Karate? No.

Taekwondo? No.

Then which is the oldest? 

It is called Kalaripayattu!

Where?

Read on.

Kalaripayattu is a 3,000-year-old traditional martial art from Kerala, India, often considered the oldest surviving martial art in the world. Legend attributes its origin to Parashurama, a warrior sage.  It blends self-defense techniques, including kicks, strikes, and weapon combat, with physical conditioning and holistic healing.  It is taught in Kalaris (specialised training centres) in Kerala and other parts of India. It emphasises speed, flexibility, and synchronisation between mind and body. Readers may browse Wikipedia for more details.

Kalaripayattu has four stages of training, namely:

1. Meipayattu: Body conditioning, agility, and flexibility exercises, often mimicking animal postures.
2. Kolgari: Training with wooden weapons such as a bamboo stick
3. Ankathari: Combat with metal weapons such as swords, shields, spears, and the flexible Urumi.
4. Verumkai: Bare-handed fighting techniques, focusing on pressure points (marma).

We a group of Navy Veterans in the age group of 75-85 years recently witnessed an adrenaline raising performance of Kalaripayattu in Kannur Kerala. We had our Reunion there. It was a spellbinding performance to say the least. Watching the martial artists perform various combat forms including with the weapons, gave us goose bumps. Sharing below few pictures and videos taken that evening. The performance was held on the terrace of our resort in Kannur with minimal lighting. Flash guns were not used. Readers may kindly bear with some of the blurred images. The pictures and videos depict all the four stages of training as mentioned above.

Special thanks to Capt GR Nair for sharing some of the pictures.

See the video to get a feel of live action as they commenced their performance.

The video below has all three stages of training namely hand-to-hand, wooden and metal weapons. Sure to give you goose bumps.

Next came Urumi the flexible sword! Performing with an urumi requires a very high level of proficiency as you can see the video below.

It is all about the synchronisation of the mind and body. The video below shows various postures which help in Verumkai.

The team also performed with fire and ambers as seen in the video below:

In the end, the Kalari warriors conveyed their thanks in their inimitable style along with their Guruji See the short video clip below.

It was our turn to thank them. Here is a group picture of the performers with the Navy Veterans.

Kannur is also famous for Theyyam, the dance of the Gods. If you haven't read our story on Theyyam, just click the link below to browse.

Theyyam Dance of the Gods - A picture story from Kannur, Kerala

Munnar Kalaripayattu

Ghumakkad had earlier carried a story on Kalaripayattu performance near Munnar in Kerala. That performance was held in a Kalari shaped like a well with seating for the audience all around, Sharing below the link for the story along with few pictures for comparison.

Munnar The Charm of Kerala - The picture story takes you around the misty slopes of tea gardens of Munnar. It has also captured the kalaripayattu performance near Munnar. Sharing few pictures for comparison with the Kannur experience of Kalaripayattu.

 

We close with a picture of Ghumakkad with the Kalari warriors of Kannur.

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   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad and Kannur/ 27th March 2026

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