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Contemporary South Asia

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Kalari and Kalarippayattu of Kerala,

South India: nexus of the celestial, the
corporeal, and the terrestrial
a
George Pati
a
Department of Theology, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso,
Indiana, USA
Version of record first published: 23 Jun 2010.

To cite this article: George Pati (2010): Kalari and Kalarippayattu of Kerala, South India: nexus of
the celestial, the corporeal, and the terrestrial, Contemporary South Asia, 18:2, 175-189

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 Contemporary South Asia
Vol. 18, No. 2, June 2010, 175–189

Kal: ari and Kal: arippayat: t: u of Kerala, South India: nexus of the celestial,
the corporeal, and the terrestrial
George Pati*

Department of Theology, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, USA

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Kal: ari is an arena that imparts a whole body of knowledge in Kerala, south
India, including kal: arippayat: t: u (martial arts). In recent times, these centers
have been exclusively referred to as cultural performance centers, corroding the
intrinsic value and diluting the religious essence of such places and praxis. This
essay explores kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u from a Hindu religious perspective
and suggests that kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u embody the celestial and terrestrial
in its spatial and corporeal representations. Divided into two sections, the
essay first discusses some historical background of kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u
traditions; and, secondly, from a bhakti perspective it examines kal: ari and
kal: arippayat: t: u, proposing it to be a nexus of the celestial, corporeal, and
terrestrial.
Keywords: Kerala; Kal: ari; Kal: arippayat: t: u; bhakti; celestial; corporeal; terrestrial

Introduction
Kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u tradition are unique to the south Indian state of Kerala,
popularly known as ‘God’s own country.’ Kal: ari, as an open space, imparted
kal: arividya, whole body of knowledge, including aspects of fighting technique
(payat: t: u), healthcare, education, rituals, lifestyle, philosophy, meditation, art of
life and art of performance (Sasidaran 2006, 168). Kal: ari in Malayalam means a
place, open space, threshing floor, and battlefield (Warrier et al. 2003, 745).
Kal: arippayat: t: u, a compound term in Malayalam, has its origin in the Tamil term
payil (habit, practice, word) (Burrow and Emeneau 1961, 98 and 265; Zarrilli 1998,
25). In Malayalam, the term becomes payat: t: uka, which means exercise in arms,
practice, and finally payat: t: u (fencing exercise) (Burrow and Emeneau 1961, 265),
akin to original pat: ayan: i meaning army battalion, battle formation, commonly used
in central Kerala (Hiltebeitel 1991, 167). Phillip B. Zarrilli, a cultural anthropologist,
examines kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u from an aesthetic perspective and emphasizes
‘kal: ari serves the function of training center and temple’ (Zarrilli 1977; 1979; 1998;
2000), but does not engage in an in-depth analysis of kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u from
a bhakti, Hindu devotional, perspective. Indeed, Chummar Choondal, a Kerala
folklorist, entitles his chapter on kal: arippayat: t: u ‘Towards Martial Performances,’
asserting the performative aspect (Choondal 1988, 59–74). In contemporary times,

*Email: george.pati@valpo.edu

ISSN 0958-4935 print/ISSN 1469-364X online

Ó 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09584931003674976
http://www.informaworld.com
 176 G. Pati

too, kal: ari has been exclusively referred as a cultural center associated with
kal: arippayat: t: u training.
Based on field visits conducted in Kerala during the summers of 2004, 2005, and
2008, it became obvious how kal: aris have become more materialistic in their
objectives, deluding the essence of kal: arividya, which was religiously grounded.
Situated between Kottayam and Karukachal towns in central Kerala is the
traditional Srırangom C.V.N. Kal: ari in Campakara, Kottayam district. As one
enters the enclave of the C.V.N. Kal: ari in Campakara, on the right one sees the pink-
colored kal: aricikits akendram (treatment center) (Figure 2) and further down the
road on the left one sees a thatched roof building surrounded by plantain and other
herbal plants known as kal: ari (Figure 1). These herbal plants are used for treatment
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purposes at the cikits akendram, which I have discussed elsewhere (Pati 2010).

Figure 1. C.V.N. Kal: ari.

Figure 2. Kal: aricikits

akendram, Campakara.
Note: Photograph by George Pati, 2008.
 Contemporary South Asia 177

Every morning around 10 trainees, ages ranging from six to 21, attend the kal: ari
class for an hour from 6:00 am to 7:00 am. As they enter the kal: ari, they pay their
respect to the bhu (earth) by touching the threshold of the kal: ari door marking their
entrance into a sacred space. Once inside, they change their street clothes, wear just the
loin cloth to cover their private parts, and apply coconut oil all over their body in
preparation for the day’s exercise. Christopher Fuller states that Giovani Maffei, who
visited Malabar in the sixteenth century, describes Nayar boys from the age of seven
who began their physical training, taking part in exercises and massaging their limbs
with sesame oil under the guidance of wrestling masters and these boys would go into
battle with just their private parts covered (Fuller 1976, 7). As soon as the Guru
arrives, and it is time for the class to begin, they pay their respect at the altar of the
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divine image (p uttar a), the altar for previous gurus or teachers (guruttar a), and then
touch the guru’s feet. The class concludes in the same way by expressing devotion at
the guru’s feet. Such practice can be observed in the north Indian Kusti tradition.
One day, after the class session, some of my informants, who are trainees, too, at
the kal: ari, candidly stated ‘we come to the kal: ari for body building and not religious
purpose.’ Another informant mentioned ‘some of the centers, not this one, have
turned to lucrative means of attracting foreign tourists and offering them massages
under the guise of traditional kal: ari massages.’ Such materially oriented and
exclusive depiction of kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u has diluted the religious significance
of such centers, which once served as temples for the Nayar caste households,
especially, the Panikkars and Kurupps. Therefore, it is imperative to examine kal: ari
and kal: arippayat: t: u from a religious perspective and to re-affirm the religious essence
of this tradition and praxis, which was integral to society in Kerala until the colonial
period.
One way to reinvigorate the religious significance and appreciation of this
tradition is to see it through a religious lens. Diana Eck stresses the significance of
‘religious seeing,’ and emphasizes ‘seeing’ as an act of worship, an auspicious sight,
or visual perception of the sacred (Eck 1996). In addition, David Morgan points out
religious seeing helps in ‘deepening our understanding of how religions work’
(Morgan 2000). Following their lead, this essay ‘sees’ kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u from
a Hindu religious perspective. Religious perspective, as Clifford Geertz emphasizes:
is different from the other scientific and common-sensical perspectives because it moves
beyond the realities of everyday life to wider ones which correct and complete them, and
its defining concern is not action upon those wider realities but acceptance of them, faith
in them . . . it is this sense of the ‘really real’ upon which the religious perspective rests
and which the symbolic activities of religion as a cultural system are devoted to
producing, intensifying, and so far as possible, rendering inviolable by the discordant
revelations of secular experience. (Geertz 1973, 112)

This essay examines kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u of Kerala, south India, from a
Hindu devotional (bhakti) tradition perspective. In Hinduism, bhakti is a path of
devotional love, which leads to moks: a (liberation) from the karma sams ara (cycle of
rebirth). Moks: a is one among the four pur artha (the goals of human life in
us´
Hinduism); the others being, dharma (duty), artha (wealth), and k ama (pleasure).
Bhakti in a religious sense means total submission or union with the divine, parallel
to moks: a, whereas in some instances bhakti can be understood in non-religious terms
(van Buitenen 1981, 24–25). I am considering the religious sense of bhakti. For the
south and north Indian bhakti traditions, the body, the emotions, and the embodied
 178 G. Pati

forms of the divine remain significant, enable a devotee to worship the divine, and
eventually become one with the divine, defined precisely in the Tamil term prapatti
(total submission).
Theologically, this human relationship of passionate love between the beloved
and the lover is analogous to the relationship between God and a devotee in bhakti
tradition, because bhakti employs the language of human love to express love
between human and divine. This love includes ‘self-abnegation and self-surrendering’
(Dasgupta 2002, 117–119). In this regard, as Norman Cutler points out, bhakti is an
emotionally charged relationship between the devotee and God as well as among
devotees, for whom a typical bhakti poem functions as both a description of and a
medium for such contact (Cutler 1987, 11). Although he examines bhakti poems,
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such a union of the divine and human exists in the details of human life and the
world, emphasizing the union of the corporeal, celestial, and terrestrial. As Karen
Prentiss asserts, bhakti is a theology of embodiment personified in the details of
human life and the world as the bhaktas (devotees), imagining gods, language, and
evaluation of the world are connected (Prentiss 1999, 6 and 27).
An examination of kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u from a religious perspective reveals
the intertwined nature of the celestial, corporeal, and terrestrial, and rethinks
hierarchical relationships between the sacred and the profane proving kal: ari and
kal: arippayat: t: u as a nexus of the corporeal, celestial, and terrestrial. This essay is
divided into two sections. First, it discusses some historical background on kal: ari
and kal: arippayat: t: u traditions. Secondly, it examines kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u
through the lens of bhakti asserting them to be an embodiment of bhakti.

Kal: ari and Kal: arippayat: t: u: some historical background

Kal: ari, the crucible for kal: arippayat: t: u is unique to Kerala. In Kerala, popular belief
regards Paraśur ama, the great Brahmin sage and warrior, as giving certain Brahmins
from the Bharadwaja gotr: am the s´astra-biks: a (alms of weapons) (Aiya 1999, 217),
establishing 108 fields of 42 square feet kal: ari for purposes of drilling and training
warriors, popularizing kal: arippayat: t: u. Keral olpathi, a text on the origin of Kerala
and Brahmin ancestry chronicles the famous past kal: ari gurus of the Namb utiri
houses known as Ugram Velli, Dronam Velli, Ghoram Velli, and Ullurtturuttiyattu
and the existence of different styles of practice including arappukai, pillatanni, and
vattentirippu. Needless to say, in each of these kal: ari, Paraśurama placed an image of
a deity, especially a goddess, who presides over arms and war and required that
lamps be lit and p a, an act of devotion, performed. The Paraśurama legend remains
uj
an integral part of kal: ari and throws light on the religious aspect of such an arena for
martial arts.
Based on the popular belief of Kerala, which maintains that sage Paraśurama
founded the northern tradition of kal: arippayat: t: u following the Dhanur Veda,
whereas sage Agastya founded the southern tradition of kal: arippayat: t: u following the
Varma Cut: t: iram, these kal: aris are broadly categorized into northern, central, and
southern, as kal: aris embrace different regional traditions of martial arts, and the
kal: arippayat: t: u lessons they offer slightly vary based on region (Luijendijk 2005;
Venugopalan 2005; Prasad 2004). In brief, these traditions of kal: arippayat: t: u
emphasize different methods of training in weaponry and the importance of bodily
engagements including verumkai (empty-hand), koltari (wooden weapon), and
ankamtari (iron weapons).
 Contemporary South Asia 179

Despite these mythical-religious stories, there are two major historical arguments
explaining the evolution of the kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u tradition: one traces its
origin to the early Cankam period, around 200 BC–600 AD, and the other traces it
to the twelfth century (Sasidaran 2006, 170–72). The Tamil literature of the Cankam
period refers to warring tribes, which makes it the earliest historical reference to the
evolution and development of kal: arippayat: t: u. For example, in the Cankam corpus,
the warlike Marvar (tribal people) (M. Narayanan 1994, 109; 1982) from the
relatively fertile hill region dominated and governed the peasants, and these Marvars
formed the majority of the armies of the great clan chiefs and were always ready to
serve in battle (M. Narayanan 1994, 110). Even the anthologies of Tamil bardic
poetry reflect constant warfare, as they have two central themes: love and war, the
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akam dealing with internal themes and expressions of love (uri), and puram dealing
with external themes and narrating tales of war and heroism (M. Narayanan 1994,
111; Ramanujan 1985; Hart 1975). Additionally, the kal: arippayat: t: u tradition of
Kerala can be understood as akin to Tamil battlefield rituals, such as the Draupadı
tradition examined by Alf Hiltebeitel, where kal: am rituals imply rituals of battle and
embody religious meaning (Hiltebeitel 1991, 166–207), or as P. Subramaniam
observes, the identification of 107 marmmams (vital spots) in the human body and
practice of warfare remains quintessential to both kal: arippayat: t: u and the Tamil
tradition of varmakalai (Subramaniam 1994, 83–4). Here, Subramanian argues that
Kerala chieftains and landlords occupied in training soldiers for their kings or
emperors were well versed in varmakalai, which formed part of their martial art
training (Subramaniam 1994, 89).
From around the seventh to the ninth centuries, Brahmins established their
supremacy and founded salai, the center for training in Vedas and weaponry for
Cattars (Brahmin students). Elamkullam Kunjan Pillai, a historian of Kerala, states
that the extended period of warfare and attacks from the C ola army necessitated
compulsory training in warfare and the birth of the martial tradition known as
kal: arippayat: t: u (Pillai 1970, 241). Moreover, during war with the C olas, Pillai
maintains that the Brahmins trained in martial arts, taught others, and actively
participated in warfare (Pillai 1970, 243–45). Hence, the salai became the center for
training the Brahmins and kal: ari the training centre for other castes. Eventually, the
Brahmins confined themselves to tasks of priest and landlord, and, as a corollary, the
salai ceased to function and kal: ari continued to train young pupils from other castes in
payat: t: u.
It was during the time of the Perum als, from the eighth to the eleventh centuries,
that the rulers patronized kal: ari and established forces trained in weaponry under
the leadership of N ayars, the warrior caste of Kerala (especially those given the
honorific titles of Panikkar and Kurupp). Although the origin of the Nayars remains
vague, this caste was instrumental in the evolution of the kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u
tradition. The N ayar caste assisted the Zamorins and other rulers of Malabar,
Cochin, and Travancore in their warfare and military exploits (Staal 1993, 81). These
Nayars not only functioned in the civil and military organization of the province,
they played a prominent role in the establishment and maintenance of temples
asserting the connection between the religious and corporeal in kal: ari as well as
kal: arippayat: t: u (Ramachandra 2005, 64; Fuller 1976, 6–90). Against the backdrop of
various traditions and caste-based praxis of kal: ari training, Kottakal Kanaran
Gurukkal, a member of the Tiyya caste (1850–1940), a merchant caste of north
Kerala, established the modern kal: ari with a compilation of techniques taught in
 180 G. Pati

modern kal: ari. It was Kanaran Gurukkal’s disciple, C. V. Narayanan Nair, a

member of the N ayar caste, who popularized kal: ari as a form of martial art. This
was the beginning of C. V. N. Kal: ari, which follows the southern tradition that later
spread all over Kerala (Balakrishnan 1995, 7; Sasidaran 2006, 171–73).
Despite kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u being highly integral to the Kerala socio-
political milieu, from the sixteenth century, kal: ari as an institution of military
education declined because western influence and colonial rule introduced modern
weaponry. In addition, provinces in Kerala were dismantled; as a corollary, the
significance of kal: ari diminished. These centers became centers offering lessons in
martial arts from an aesthetic perspective and for the treatment of people outside the
kal: ari. During the twentieth century, with the rise of Indian nationalism,
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kal: arippayat: t: u was revived as the traditional martial art system meant for self-
defense and individual combat; thereafter, its usefulness underwent transformation
and became anchored as a discipline of physical culture, a form of cultural
performance (Sasidaran 2006). In recent times, though few gurukkals (teachers)
impart lessons in different parts of Kerala, the primary focus remains physical, not
religious, as earlier mentioned by my informants. This observation was reinforced by
my informants from outside the kal: ari, who stated ‘some kal: aris claim to be
practicing according to the tradition, but hardly adhere to the traditional
prescription when it comes to treatment as well as training, thereby deluding the
religious significance’. Despite these perceptions, my evidence demonstrates that the
central motive of kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u remains to impart and achieve harmony
between the celestial, the corporeal, and the terrestrial; as discussed, it is grounded in
the mythical and religious tradition of Kerala.

Kal: ari and Kal: arippayat: t: u: nexus of the celestial, the corporeal, and the terrestrial
The celestial
Kal: ari (a space) and kal: arippayat: t: u (praxis) personify religious themes through their
various representations. A kal: ari traditionally refers to a thatched shed where boys
and girls train in martial arts of payat: t: u. There are two types of kal: ari – the
cerukal: ari or kuzhikal: ari (built for physical and weapon training) and the ankakal: ari
(built for conducting fights). The kuzhikal: ari, where the actual training of the
kal: arippayat: t: u trainee takes place, still exists in Kerala. One such kal: ari is the
C.V.N. Kalari of Campakara.
A typical kuzhikal: ari is constructed by caving the earth about three to four feet
from a rectangular plot of ground measuring 42 feet in length in an east–west
direction and 21 feet in breadth, which is then covered with thatched roof supported
with two main pillars, one on the east and one on the west (Balakrishnan 1995,
23–25). The gurukkal consults an as´ ari, an expert on taccus´astram or the science of
architecture, who advises on the construction of the kal: ari as well as the placement
of the deities according to the taccus´ astram. Kal: ari, constructed on the basis of
scriptural specifications, is an abode of the divine and human alike.
The practice and training of kal: arippayat: t: u remain deeply embedded in religion
as the martial art praxis takes place in an atmosphere of sacredness and devotion.
Kal: ari towards the southwest corner houses the different deities of the Hindu
pantheon, of which Bhadrak ali, the presiding deity of war, holds the center spot or
p
uttar a and those who practice kal: arippayat: t: u worship the goddess: the embodiment
of s´akti (power). Kal: ari was regarded as much as a temple as a place of training, and
 Contemporary South Asia 181

some kal: ari were constructed as part of a temple of the goddess, Bhadrakali or
Bhagavatı (Zarrilli 1998, 62; Aiya 1999, 217). The temple plays a significant role for a
devotee in the Hindu bhakti tradition. Seven tapering semi-circular steps at the
corner form a pedestal known as p a. Next to the p
uttar uttara on the northwestern
end remains Gan: apatipıtom, the abode of Lord Gan: eśa, remover of all obstacles.
Adjacent to the p a and north of the Gan: apatipıtom lies a small-elevated place
uttar
known as guruttar a constructed in memory of gurukkal, or ancient teachers of
martial arts. Here, the p a and guruttar
uttar a adorned with flowers and nilavil: akku
(traditional lamp) define the space as a ritual space (Figures 3 and 4). The Gods and
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Figure 3. P a.
uttar

Figure 4. Guruttar
a and the trainees in training.
Note: Photograph by George Pati, 2008.
 182 G. Pati

the spiritual dimension of the kal: ari express the inherent significance of
kal: arippayat: t: u (Varghese 2003).
In this light, the sacredness of the space for the union of the divine and the
human is maintained, just as in a Hindu temple. As Kapila Vatsyayan concisely
points out:

All ancient civilizations (and many contemporary societies of some parts of the world)
organized space, established a physical center, made enclosures and gave it a mythical
and cosmic significance. This was a method of re-integration, of re-affirmation of the
relationship of the micro-macro, terrestrial and celestial. For a specific time and
duration, the circumscribed space was transmundane. The inner space of the heart
(hr: dy as´a) and outer physical space (bh
ak ut as´a) were in communion. (Vatsyanan
ak
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1991, 381)

In a kal: ari, the inner self and the outer physical space have communion. As Zarrilli
argues, kal: ari is a complex nexus of experience and self-formation, a crucible for
an individual’s experience and the embodied practice which helps to shape a self
(Zarrilli 1998, 9). Kal: ari, then, signifies a physio-spiritual space on which
kal: arippayat: t: u is practiced. Here, the kal: ari becomes the uniting space for the
ephemeral and the eternal as Stella Kramrisch asserts in her account of garbhagr: ha
(womb chamber), where she compares the garbhagr: ha with the heart and states the
open display of the Sabh a (congregation) converges with the garbhagr: ha
(Kramrisch 1946, 163; Smith 1996, 87). In this regard, kal: ari as a temple enables
an aspirant in kal: arippayat: t: u to have an internalization process: a movement
towards the garbhagr: ha. As Michael Meister argues, the Hindu temple acts as
access and approach for aspirants and worshippers, which changes the role of the
temple from a centralized to a defined longitudinal axis (Meister 1991, 275). He
argues that on this axis the worshippers approach their personal divinity within the
sanctum (Meister 1991, 275). In other words, kal: ari is a pathway toward the divine
and human union. As Anand Coomaraswamy points out, the elements of earth,
air, and sky are the way by which the devas (celestial beings) first strode up and
down these worlds, and now provide the way for the sacrificer to do likewise
(Coomaraswamy 1977, 465–466).
This is similar to the exchange between a devotee and the deity in the bhakti
tradition. In this case, the kal: arippayat: t: u trainee moves towards the divine through
a process of internalization within the confines of the kal: ari. Here, the kal: ari serves
as a temple directing a movement towards the center or heart at two levels,
physical and personal: kal: ari as temple facilitates a physical movement towards the
garbhagr: ha and personal internal journey to the heart of the aspirant – a process of
self-realization. This movement exemplifies a convergence of the celestial and
terrestrial. In this regard, the movement affirms the union of the divine and
human; that is, the union of the human and the eternal self, the all-pervading self
as affirmed in Bhagavad Gıta 6:31: ‘I exist in all creatures, so the disciplined man
devoted to me, grasps the oneness of life; wherever he is, he is in me’ (Miller 1986,
6:31).

The terrestrial
Kal: ari, then, as a Hindu temple, is an axis of cosmic creation and the ritual path for
release of the aspirant, worshipper, which becomes the reality of the Purus: a
 Contemporary South Asia 183

(Primordial Person) (Meister 1991, 279). Meister argues that the manifestation of
Purus: a beyond form may be of the cosmos, of divine form, or of human potential
within the temple. In this light, Kramrisch asserts ‘the temple is the concrete shape of
the Essence; as such it is the residence and vesture of God’ (Kramrisch 1946, 165).
The union of the cosmos, the divine and human form in one Purus: a beyond form
attests the union between the devotee and deity in the vais: n: ava bhakti tradition,
prapatti. It also affirms a movement from vis´is: t: advaita (qualified non-dualist)
perception of the divine and human to an advaita (non-dualist) perception. Such
understanding of the kal: ari space, then, transcends the boundaries of time and space
and represents space–time continuum as in a tırthasth ana (crossing place), regarded
as auspicious among Hindus. For example, Hindus consider the eastern Indian city
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on the sacred river Ganges, Varanasi or K ashi (abode of S´iva) as a place where the
boundary between the sacred and mundane is transgressed (Fuller 2004, 208–209).
This concept of tırthasth ana is not confined to Kashi, but the entire landscape of
India is considered sacred because K ashi, the microcosm of the universe, shares the
landscape with the rest of India (Eck 1996, 63–75). In other words, Kerala and kal: ari
both share the auspiciousness of the tırthasth ana and hence a place that transcends
boundaries between the sacred and the profane, the divine and the human. Hence, a
kal: ari that embodies the divine and human is actively engaged in a process, a form of
procession.
Gregory Booth suggests that space in a procession takes on ritual meaning at
specific significant transitional points, and also as a pathway connecting those
points, from inside/private to outside/public (Booth 2008, 66). Such ritual meaning
of space is affirmed through the movement in a kal: ari; as Don Handelman and
David Shulman observe, Indic cosmologies act as a process to contract, internalize,
erasing differences and distinctions and returning to the holism of more
homogeneous encompassment (Handelman and Shulman 1997, 46). This concept
of encompassing entirety of the cosmic self is recorded in the R: g Veda 10.129.2:
‘There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no distinguishing sign of
night or day. That one breathed, windless, by its own impulse. Other than that there
was nothing beyond’ (O’Flaherty 1981, 25). Mircea Eliade states that the temple
continually re-sanctifies the world, because it simultaneously represents and contains
it, and acts as an imago mundi and earthly representation of the transcendent (Eliade
1959, 59). Hence, a kal: ari represents the transcendent and the immanent and
becomes transformative in itself.
A kal: ari housing deities, past gurus, and present guru and students represents
the three realms of the Hindu cosmology: the heavenly realm habited by divine
beings, the atmospheric realm where past gurus reside, and the earthly realm for
present guru and students. A parallel to this spatial concept can be found in the
northern and eastern Indian tribal dwellings, where these dwellings are simul-
taneously abodes for men, gods, and deceased ancestors (Jain 1991, 344). Kal: ari,
then, represents Hindu cosmology because it houses the divine, the human, and the
deceased ancestors (past Gurus), and depicts its religious essence. It is here
that regular worship of the divine and the human takes place. The deities are
installed as per the customs of installation of the deities in Hinduism; that is,
through pr a. Pr
an: apratis: t: h a, central to some p
an: apratis: t: h a (devotion), estab-
uj
lishes vital breath in the image of the deity; thereafter, the lifeless image ‘is’ the
deity and not merely a symbol of it. As Bhagavatı is a central deity for Nayars (in
particular, Panikkers and Kurrupps), in all kal: ari the installation of Bhagavatı and
 184 G. Pati

her worship is of paramount significance. As a temple housing gods and goddesses,

each day the guru enters the kal: ari with his right foot first and begins the lesson
with a brief moment of p a before the seat of the deity. A p
uj a typically includes
uj
chanting the mantra, reverently placing a handful of flowers on the puttara and
guruttar a, thereby asking the divine and human gurus to av ahikkuka, to embody
the kal: ari with the divine presence (Clothey and Long 1983, 92–99). These acts of
invocation, adoration, and embodiment are integral to the bhakti tradition, which
Puran: ic theism clearly states includes adoration, remembering, listening, singing,
worshipping at the Lord’s feet, serving, and friendship with the divine,
and declaring oneself as His ( edana). These devotional elements are
atmaniv
demonstrated every day before and after every class session as the guru sits and
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worships the deity and his gurukkal. In this vein, the p aramparyyam (tradition) is
handed over from the divine (as per mythology) to humans (past and present gurus),
and then to the disciples training in kal: arividya (knowledge). In other words, the
handing over portrays an exchange between the three realms. This customary practice
of worship does not end with the teacher; rather, every student in the kal: ari begins his
or her lessons following the teachers: entering the kal: ari with the right foot first,
bowing before the puttara and guruttar a, and finally seeking the guru’s blessings by
touching his feet. These acts personify elements of devotion affirmed through
devotional love of a devotee towards the deity, culminating in total submission at the
Lord’s feet, which is recorded in the Temple Tiruv aymoli Songs:

. . . show me your grace

so that I, your servant
who loves you without end,
may reach your feet. (V. Narayanan 1994, 168)

Kal: ari, then, can be considered a ritual space, a space where the sacred and
profane converge. As a sacred-effective space, it functions to purify and protect; that
is, as a purity space it purifies man and makes him fit for liberation, acting both as
tırtha ks: etr: am (shrine of god) and tırthasth
ana (sacred landscape); and as a
protective space it protects man and society from evils and dangers from outside
(Saraswati 1991, 357). This is in accord with the primary function of the warrior
caste to wage war against attacks from outsiders and to protect the province for
which they worshipped Bhagavatı: the source of power.

The corporeal
It is in this context of purity and protection that kal: arippayat: t: u is taught and
practiced. Kal: arippayat: t: u trainees undergo training in weaponry and body move-
ments in order to engage in combat efficiently. This training includes body massage
therapy directed towards ensuring the wellness of the individual, gaining strength,
and enhancing agility. The focus is on purifying the body of waste substance and
making it able for warfare. The guru performs this massage with medicated oil on
the student, in a manner similar to that observed among trainees of Kathakali
performance, a dance-drama of Kerala (Zarrilli 1998, 87–90). In all these processes,
sanctification of the body and the space marks the kal: ari as a sacred space of
transformation for the trainee.
In kal: arippayat: t: u both body and weapons are used for fighting techniques. Sarah
Caldwell observes that weapons do not simply symbolize the deity’s power; rather,
 Contemporary South Asia 185
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Figure 5. Body exercise.

Note: Photograph by George Pati, 2008.

weapons literally transfer the deity’s power (Caldwell 1999, 29ff). This practice of
considering the weapon as an embodiment of the divine is similar to that noted
amongst followers of the Śakta tradition of Bengal, who worship Devi, the divine
embodiment of active energy (McDaniel 2004). As an embodiment of active energy,
s´akti immediately affects human life and the physical world. In kal: arippayat: t: u, the
sword is considered an embodiment of S´iva and the shield a personification of the
S´akti, and the combination of both S´iva and S´akti proves beneficial in defeating
enemies (Caldwell 1999, 30). Apart from the weapons, the body’s movement in
kal: arippayat: t: u is characterized as based on divinity. The northern tradition includes
various sub-styles unique to each warrior clan involving an empty-hand form known
as meippayat: t: u. In meippayat: t: u, the practitioner mimics animal postures (Figure 5).
These meippayat: t: u are divided into two groups, the S´iva swar upam and S´akti
swar upam (Luijendijk 2005, 32). Zarrilli observes that kal: ari was a center for training
and healing in villages or with royal households, and served as a temple where the
guardian deity was either a form of the goddess or S´iva/S´akti in combination
(Zarrilli 1998, 26). S´iva swar upam meippayat: t: u embodies steady and strong linear
movements, whereas the S´akti swar upam includes circular, flowing movements, and
more jumps. Some p aramparyyam emphasize S´iva swar upam, while some S´akti
swar upam.
In kal: arippayat: t: u, the most important skill remains to achieve certain poses
known as cuvadukal, or the position of the entire body that gives strength to perform
a particular task. For instance, the vat: t: a k al chuvatu, where one stands erect on the
ground with legs firmly planted, and the nıtta k al cuvatu, where the right leg is
stretched backward and the left leg is positioned in front suitably bending the left
knee. The central tradition, an offshoot of the northern tradition, employs extensive
footwork (cuvadu). Even though both the traditions follow similar training in
weaponry, the footwork patterns vary. The northern tradition follows a linear
movement, whereas the central tradition takes any shape, from straight line to
square or octagon (Luijendijk 2005, 75). This erratic footwork technique can be
associated with the capricious patterns or kal: am drawn by those following the
devotional path. Kal: am are rice powder drawings, simple or complex diagrams
which are both decorative and symbolic of the deity, used in ritual performances and
through which a deity’s presence is invoked. These footwork patterns representing
 186 G. Pati

kal: am serve as yantra (instrument). A yantra is a diagram ‘drawn or engraved on

metal, wood, skin, stone, paper, or simply traced on the ground or wall’ (Eliade
1958, 219). These yantras represent the universe and at the same time become a path
towards spiritual liberation, as Suresh Kumar asserts how these drawings serve as
‘‘manifestations of different purposes like worship, rituality, tantric rites and fertility
rites’’ (Kumar 2008, 104–122). Such representation of patterns and their functions
can be seen in the elaborate floral diagrams that south Indian Hindu women draw at
the entrance of their household at dawn or during the popular worship of Bhagavatı
in kal: amezhuttu of Kerala (Choondal 1988, 77–79). Here, the pattern is Devı
personified. Similarly, in kal: arippayat: t: u, the body of the practitioner through the
movements becomes a yantra, a vehicle towards the divine. In this regard, a
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practitioner actively engages in realizing one’s self and shaping the self in a kal: ari;
that is, he or she embarks on a path towards spiritual liberation through knowledge
(jñana) of the self. This self is the all-pervading divine that transcends the boundaries
of space and time, the eternal and ephemeral. As Zimmer asserts, the symbolic
pattern is meant to guide the initiate in a process of introvert regression to the state
beyond all attributes, limitations, and characterizations (Zimmer 1972, 210). In
addition, Fritz Staal asserts that these bodily movements and various animal
positions of kal: arippayat: t: u have parallels in ritual, dance, yoga, and art of erotics,
and they extend and develop indefinitely (Staal 1993, 84). In all these, both the kal: ari
and the guru and trainee in kal: arippayat: t: u are actively involved in a transformative
process as yantras – a transformation that mediates the divine and human union as
embodied through space and person, a microcosm of the macrocosm. As A.K.
Ramanujan asserts:

Ritual, superstition, sacred space and sacred time, pilgrimage and temple going,
offerings to god and priest, prayers and promises – all forms of ‘making’ and ‘doing’ –
all of them are performed to get results, to manipulate and manage carefully the Lord’s
universe to serve one’s own purposes, to save one’s soul or one’s skin. (Ramanujan
1973, 30)

This ‘making’ and ‘doing’ is transformative, which translates to sociopolitical

liberation; the impetus for warfare among the kal: arippayat: t: u trainees. Hence,
kal: arippayat: t: u and kal: ari serve to create and dissolve the body and being,
transcending binary categories of time and space, celestial and terrestrial, and
emphasizing transformation. Here, the Gods and the spiritual dimension of the
kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u express the inherent significance of the practice.

Conclusion
Although kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u were integral to Kerala society until the colonial
period, in recent times there is a lack of appreciation of their place and praxis.
Contemporary discussion in Kerala regards kal: ari and kal: arippayat: t: u centers as
engaging in ‘lucrative business, catering to tourists and’ removed from religious
understanding. While inquiring about such practices from local individuals, an
informant asserted ‘these places are engaged in making money attracting foreign
tourists.’ On the contrary, an informant who works at the kal: aricikits akendram
stated ‘local people hardly value such traditional treatments or practices of the
kal: ari; they prefer gymnasiums and fitness centers.’ In fact, the kal: ari Guru himself
mentioned, with a deep sigh, ‘Only a few kids from the neighborhood attend the
 Contemporary South Asia 187

kal: ari training session because others do not understand the religious significance of
such practices.’ This was confirmed during my visits. Nonetheless, it is hard to
understand how many of those who attend kal: arippayat: t: u training do it with a
religious understanding or merely for the sake of body fitness. Apart from local
criticisms of kal: ari and kal: aricikits akendrams, in 2005 tension arose between
the government of Kerala and traditional household kal: ari centers because the
government of Kerala wanted to takeover such institutions to centralize the
governance of traditional alternative medicine practices in Kerala. All of these
criticisms, tensions, and to some extent rejections of such traditional space and
practices can be attributed to the lack of awareness of the connection between the
sacred and the mundane, making the locals and the government less appreciative of
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the nexus between the celestial, the corporeal, and the terrestrial enterprise.
Kal: ari, the crucible of kal: arippayat: t: u, is a temple that exemplifies the union of
divine and human. Kal: ari as a sacred space and kal: arippayat: t: u praxis embodies
divine and human union through various spatial and bodily representations
transcending the categories of the sacred and the profane, and actively engaging in
re-integration and re-affirmation of the relationship of the micro-macro, terrestrial
and celestial. Kal: ari, then, is a transformative space. Such perception of kal: ari and
kal: arippayat: t: u re-affirms the religious essence and re-instills appreciation of this
ancient tradition that has played a significant socioreligious and political role in
Kerala, ‘God’s own country.’

Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was read at the American Academy of Religion, 2008 Annual
Meeting. The author wishes to thank respondent Ivette Vargas for her comments, as well as
the co-panelists and members of the audience for a thoughtful discussion. The author would
like to thank the journal and its anonymous reviewers for offering helpful perspectives and
suggestions. The author would also like to thank Sreedhara Kurup Gurukkal at C.V.N.
Kal: ari Campakara for discussing the kal: ari tradition and giving access into the kal: ari.

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