kalaripayattu

The selection of adavu or technique is also significant. The student is trained in making a choice of the most appropriate way to tackle the enemy for self-protection, to counter-attack or to escape. Although there are several adavus in Kalaripayattu, the usual practice is to train students in 18 of them.

Weapons have been in use ever since humans moved beyond stones and twigs to hunt animals and fight enemies. In ancient India, weapons were categorized into four: (i) weapons to cut, slash and stab, like swords and daggers (ii) weapons attached to sticks, like spears and axes (iii) weapons like sticks and maces and (iv) weapons released from hand, like arrows, discuses, catapults, boomerangs and so on. The ancient Indian epics – the Mahabharata and the Ramayana – as well as Kautilya’s Arthashastra carry many references to scores of weapons but modern generations have little knowledge about the shapes, dimensions and uses of most of them.