Toronto woman keeps ancient Indian martial art alive

[psychobobsnob24]

did some idiot post here that 'a few martial arts are 10,000 years old'?

[Orcrist]

600 years is right go research your facts instead of believing hearsay.

[studentofthegr8art]

well no one can tell when kalri originated but dhanur veda, one of the oldest text written, has descriptions of a fighting art that is similar to kalari, most weapons described in the dhanur veda are similar to kalari weapons.

[bluecollarcanuck]

@studentofthegr8art Based on some of the techniques shown here, how would you compare this to the "defanging the snake" technique of Filipino Kali/ Arnis?

[studentofthegr8art]

@bluecollarcanuck well i dont know much about filipino martial arts, but from what i heard "the defanging the snake technique" is a technique used for disarming an opponent, in kalari there are a set of techniques called "verum kai"( empty hand), which are used to fight opponent armed with daggers, swords etc, with bare hands.

[RhadeConstantine]

600 years? its one of the oldest known martial art's and it's over 5000 years old with some placing it at bein 7000-10000 years old.

[Trinivalist]

I am a martial artist with mixed background heritage... I love that you're keeping the art alive, and I'm always impressed with women martial artists. There is another one- two sticks fighting art- that came to Trinidad... I was wondering if you know about it... Gatca... I think that's how you spell it. how come all the stick fighting arts start with k- kalaripayat, kalenda, kali?

[Berkanno]

It's a génious art martial.

[GORAMIR15]

Kalaripayat is consider the " original " martial art , for god sake , 600 years ? -.-

[zaracki92]

@GORAMIR15 alot more than that. but to be considered original, it doesnt have to be the oldest.

[sandmansolo]

this woman cant even do the high kicks right...shes just trying to get a little popularity, she infact is shaming one of the oldest martial art of india... and c'mon 600 yrs???? kung-fu is older than that!!!

[gaandarvam]

nice... well done keep it up...

[DesperateAmateursone]

Thank you for posting this.

[Gatkaitaly]

See our film also on you tube - Gatkaitaly.

[BoxerMonkey]

she's the dumbest kalari teacher out there

she looks like an old bitch just trying to get her fuck on

and she's the dumbass that got rocked by a lion, who the fuck would try doing kalari to a lion

[BuntFencer]

I think the title should be edited to say "in Canada" at the end. There are lots of people keeping Kalari alive in India otherwise.

[zencaper]

UFC is A "SPORT" with rules and a ref not a street fight.....

People study martial arts for different reasons. like meditation ,history etc.

[arjunpn1]

guys dont underestimate the art by seeing some beginners...search kalaripayattu in youtube. you will see some good videos.. but the videos what us see doesnt even come near the art..

[hoeky442]

Watch them from 1:38 to 1:50. You can tell this is more 'dance' and 'show' than actual fighting. The UFC has proved that the far east striking martial arts simply don't work in true combat (in their pure forms).

[moelicious416]

muay thai?

[anhkhoinguyen]

@hoeky442 Eastern arts dont work? Lyoto Machida does karate, Cung le does San Shou, jujutsu is JAPANESE and yoshida,akiyama,TK,karo parosyisan does judo and EVERYONE in MMA does MUAY THAI the traditional south east asian buddhist martial art =]

[anhkhoinguyen]

@hoeky442 The UFC has also proven tradditional western arts like Boxing are incomplete and dont work in MMA unless muay thai and wrestling is added. Wrestlers couldnt finish without submission n lacked striking. only saying "eastern" dont work is ignorant..

Everyone does MUAY THAI for stand up. and its MY countrys art and WE EASTERN people! and everything in BJJ is from JUDO newaza without it the "west" would never have had BJJ.

[anhkhoinguyen]

@hoeky442 The UFC has proved that the far east striking martial arts simply don't work in true combat (in their pure forms).

you forgot to put WESTERN arts also dont work in there pure forms either......when have you seen a pure boxer win a MMA match? or a pure wrestler win a tournament without strikes or submissions from another style?....pssst ignorant people.

borer line racist comment you have there

[hoeky442]

You're right, I shouldn't have put the word "Eastern" at all. I wasn't trying to say that Western arts are better, only that when people talk about martial arts, they're all originally Eastern. My real point is that a black belt (or whatever) in karate or Kung-Fu or anything else isn't necessarily enough to win a real fight. A bar room brawler who can wrestle is as likely to win a fight as a ninja. I think MMA has almost become it's own martial art.

[zaracki92]

@hoeky442 i disagree on that, someone who learned any of those martial arts has a higher chance of winning a real fight. there are techniques in kalari that let you paralyze or even kill people with only a few strikes with the finger. besides, people who practice martial arts have much more reflex than others. but, NINJAS are a whole different story, no bar room brawler stands a chance against a good ninja.

[TheArrgh]

The UFC is definitely an incredible representation of martial skill, but it itself isn't - and shouldn't be - "true" combat. It is still a sport, and should be treated as such. It comes close to representing an actual fight, but it doesn't allow, for instance, groin shots. That's only one example, but it is enough - a fight changed quite a bit when one adds in just one extra variable.

[redeyedol]

@anhkhoinguyen

You forget that a lot of these other martial arts have moves which the UFC would consider illegal, and shit such as small-joint manipulations that if any UFC fighter happened to get caught in, he'd be unable to do a thing. I still believe that cross-training styles is the best thing to develop your fighting, which is why MMA'ers do so good. But for the most part, you shouldn't underestimate an artform just because MMA rules prevent it from being fully effective. Different goals.

[HotDogOfFortitude]

who cares about this art or whether or not it was the grandfather of most arts today. its impractical and it sucks dick. Modernize yourself plz.

[TheWarriorIndian]

Hello there buddy... Iam from kerala, where this martial arts orginates... You dont show even 1% of this in this video... To be more precise, kalari payittu is faster than kung fu or shaolin, "Marma Kuttu" Its a style by which you can paralyze your enemy by just one finger, no matter even if its an elephant whos coming to kill You. Iam a kalari Student, There is no martial arts exept kalari which promotes "Swing blades" or "loose blades". And Meditation to strengthen you from within. old is gold

[HotDogOfFortitude]

do not believe

[TheWarriorIndian]

your wish buddy, I could share the fact with you, and Iam satisfied with it, Its upto u to believe or not... :-)

[blooknight]

This is a left over fighting technique from colonial days and has a combination of pike fighting from the British and martial art from the east. Remember the bamboo cane swords and the padded outfits?Same thing but slower and less accurate. This is the same as the martial arts that involve scythes and rice beating sticks, these were developed only because these were the only weapons the peasants had to defend themselves from bandits and soldiers.

[dsiminet]

Well done. It is an ancient martial arts. I think It would be introduce 5000 years ago.

[filthyassmonkey]

@dsiminet civilization does not date back as far to record

[r123h]

What the hell, 600 years. get your facts right lady. its one of the oldest martial arts in the world.

[shopboyzgurl]

very good

[GanjaBhai]

if you see martial arts of thai land, and malaysia, they are very much a combination of both indian and chinese martial arts, which makes them very strong in my oppinion

also shorinji kempo karate, and chinese shaolin gungfu boxing, is a translation of the indian martial art Vajramushti

[ptverhey]

i like the other video better (when the lion tackles her during a photoshoot) :P

i guess she should have used a tiger (natures way of correcting geography errors :)

[tokyoronin]

It's funny when you tell a Chinese person that their martial art kung fu was actually invented by a brown dude they get so defensive!

[GanjaBhai]

that's because it wasn't invented by a brown dude

chinese techniques are very much chinese, and indian techniques are very much indian, india however invented the ideology of instituting martial arts into the temple, before martial arts used to be considered barbaric deadly fighting techniques for warriors

[GanjaBhai]

it was in south india the tamil kingdom of palava, decided there is a need for priest to be skilled with their fist, and they were known for merging the AYAR (bhramin) and the SHATRIYA(kshatreya) caste, bodhidharma was apart of the tamil kshatreya family Sardili, but became a buddhist monk, and brought this idealogy to the shoalin temple

[zaracki92]

@GanjaBhai chinese techniques are derived from the indian techniques.

[PrometheanRunGood]

@zaracki92 Yes all cultural achievement must come from India because you're Indian.

[zaracki92]

@PrometheanRunGood not because i'm Indian. kalari was the base of all asian martial arts. indian monks taught kalari to others and they developed on it to make the new techniques. dont you think its interesting that martial art is most practiced by Buddhist monks and Buddhism has its root in india too? it is unfortunate that you lack a brain.

[PrometheanRunGood]

@zaracki92 You say I lack a brain and yet you construct your whole argument on a logical fallacy.

A) Martial arts are practiced by Buddhists

B) Buddhism originated from India

C) Therefore, all martial arts are Indian.

Oh well you're just some pimply 18 year old. There's little chance you'd understand why you are wrong.

[zaracki92]

@PrometheanRunGood like i said, you do lack a brain. i didnt say all martial arts, i said all asian martial art. buddhism and kalari was two thing that indian monks taught the neighboring nations. i didnt construst that argument. you can find that out with a simple google search, and i dont blame you for not being able to do that since you are mentally challenged.

btw, i'm 17. and since your lack of brain, i doubt you'd ever understand what i'm saying.

[RhadeConstantine]

@zaracki92 kalaripayattu, was taken to china by bodhidharma where it laid the foundation of shaolin kung fu, and then it later spread to japan. there are carvings of bodhidharma teaching kalaripayattu in a cave near the shaolin monastery and the monk's themselves have said that their martial arts came from india. it's very well documented. all asian martial arts did indeed come from kalaripayattu. I don't get why people argue about that its pretty evident.

[zaracki92]

@RhadeConstantine indeed, some of these idiots needs to atleast google some info before arguing....

[moonachi]

@PrometheanRunGood it is a very well known fact that Roshis(Rishi) spread the original martial arts from India which got further subdivided into other forms such as the lath fight (fighting with a staff),kick fight (muai Thai) etc

[Standardfrank]

@GanjaBhai : Hmmm....Indians Were Taught Martial Arts By The TAMA REANS And It Was The Indians Who Gave Pieces To The Chinese. Well, This Is TAMA Re Legacy For Which Every One Now Attributes To The Chinese For Commercial Purposes...But Why Should You Be Taught Any Different? After All, The Vai Gave The World Base ~20: Mathematics, The Dohgon Base-8...For Which Most INDIANS ARE NOT AWARE...All Nuwbun Languages Are Coded With Binary, Base-8, Or Base-20 Mathematics...All Coded In My Hair-Spirals!

[AtishMaratha]

shut up chinky flat face!

[noisyturtle]

Kalarippayattu is possibly one of the oldest martial arts in creation. Kung fu owes part of its heritage to this art. Japanese martial arts owe part of their heritage to kung fu. Even MMA fighting systems today are based on recent martial arts derived from older systems of fighting.

Of course people care, man. Kalarippayattu is also part dance - don't see anyone putting down Capoiera these days, do we?

[MichaelForian]

You can tell this video is from Toronto; boring as hell and no one really cares...

[trinitymike]

You can tell you don't LIVE here: your post was pointless and we don't give a shit....

[flancka]

@trinitymike

i live here and it is boring . cultural exchanges are great, have a pot luck dinner, laugh and do some of these dance moves but don't kid yourself that you are doing combative arts. Everyone is way out of shape, physically retarded with absolutely no understanding of body dynamics and about sticks and tools used as extensions of the body. There is no warrior spirit here and it is blatantly obvious that no one has seen any fighting experience. Keep it for the pot-luck please

[Vi3tSurviv3r]

no1 really cares***

[Vi3tSurviv3r]

no offence but this martial arts looks sloppy i lookd up vid of it

its looks as though they are unbalanced and their stance isnt that good

i know a Sundin in Mississauga actually 2

no really cares

[Vi3tSurviv3r]

are you kidding me a lot of ppl walk around with knifes

maybe not sticks but say you are at a bar and these 2 guys or girls w/e come up to with knifes or sticks and all

okay maybe you dont have a stick but you can use a mop cant you all you have to do is take the thing(dont know what its call, the bottom part) off and you got a stick

[carnage123123123]

So where is the resistance? Under pressure? Dancing around only sounds like a good idea in practice, that is until you face reality.

Nobody will attack you with a stick these days except maybe in Jackie Chan movies, and nobody is going to carry around a knife like that either, the Rambo days are over.

[Jenfucius]

I wonder if theres an internal element to this art like those found in kung fu, aikido etc.

[gaijin70]

I have seen this art on another show.When it is done fast,it is scary.Like any martial style.You just do not see this art as much as compared to popular stles such as Shotokan or Jiu-Jitsu.

[Honor1104]

yea.. i'd definately like to learn more about it..

by any chance..do u remember the name of that show?

[gaijin70]

BBc did one called the way of the warrior.and the other show was with a french-canadian woman who travelled there to learn what she could in 2 weeks.I will find the name for you and send it your way if you wish

[gaijin70]

The other documentary was called Deadly Arts.I do not know if the Kalari Payit section was put online.But the gentleman in that show was truly a master.I have been playing Wing Chun Kung Fu for 20 years,and for me to say,he is a master is a big deal.

[Honor1104]

aight thanks alot!

[flancka]

@gaijin70 is a wanker

i'd say that narcissism is at play here

[mattiamusic]

well no wonder its dying, cuz it doesnt have survival value.

[Crackalackin14]

Sundin2008??? I have a friend named Sundin in Thunder Bay, Ontario :P

[burgoonster]

That Is Awsome ....

[sundin2008]

first one to watch comment rate and favorite yuaaaaaaaaaaaa