Read the following story carefully. Mr. X has been training in martial arts for a long time - may be 10 + years. He conducts classes in many towns. He holds a black belt in karate and he can execute many of the seemingly lethal movements from several other martial arts. I once saw him lying on ground and a car being driven over his stomach muscles. A fantastic demonstration of his body conditioning. He can demonstrate all the karate katas of his style and many of the moves he makes in sparring sessions are really wonderful. In short he seems to be a real martial artist. .

Well. One fine evening Mr. X was surrounded by a few thugs. With sticks and chains they forced the martial artist into submission. Mr. X couldn't apply any of the martial techniques that he has learned in the dojo against the aggressors. None of the body conditioning exercises prevented his body from getting bruised. The few punches and kicks he was able to throw at the hooligans missed the intended targets or made no effect at all. None of the techniques that brought him scores of trophies in the martial art competitions c ame in handy on that fateful day. Anyway Mr. X still continues his training with the belief that one day his training will make him invincible in street fighting.

The above example may apply to millions of martial artists around the world. Martial arts of the orient like karate, judo, kendo, taekwondo, many styles of kungfu and to a certain extend Kalarippayattu appear to be effective in the dojo or training hall but out in the open street the techniques become too insufficient for survival. Why? I will try to go deep into the subject.

There is a story in the epic Mahabharata. Guru Drona was teaching Arjuna along with other princes the art of archery. A nishada boy (nishada - forest dweller) named Ekalavya approached guru Drona and requested that he may be taught the art of archery. Guru Drona send back Ekalavya citing the social status of a nishada. The disheartened Ekalavya returned to the forests. He began to practice archery and in due course became a proficient archer. A few years later guru Drona took Arjuna and his other disciples to the forest for a hunting trip. Arjuna let loose his hounds in the dense forest and they went in search of game. Suddenly the hounds stopped barking and returned to Arjuna. Arjuna could not believe his eyes. Someone has shot arrows into the mouths of the dogs. Till then Arjuna was considered the best archer in the world. But now an unknown nishada could shoot arrows at targets that can only be heard - not seen. How could this happen? Arjuna had all the training facilities in the world. He was taught by none other than guru Drona. Still in the forest there is an archer who is better than Arjuna. The difference between Arjuna and Ekalavya was the way in which they trained. Arjuna trained in the art of warfare where he has to hit stationary and moving targets and the training was as realistic as possible. Let me repeat - as realistic as possible - not real. Ekalavya trained in the real world. He could not afford to miss his targets. If he missed the target that meant that he had to spend the day without food. So he developed skills that would help him to survive in the wild.

Many of the martial traditions have become spectator sports and lost their lethal or dangerous techniques. Many of the so called masters have made martial arts gentle and civilized. Jujutsu has given way to judo, karate jutsu to karate do, aikijutsu to aikido and so on. The seen is not much different in the case of Kalarippayattu. Modern 'masters' or gurus are interested in research work and demonstrations. You cannot show real life fighting during demonstrations on a stage. So techniques were modified so as to make them appealing to the spectators. Result? Spectacular techniques which are almost useless in real fighting. With the possible exception of Thai boxing almost every other martial art is slowly changing into spectator sports which has nothing to do with war or self defense.

This is the same case with Kalarippayattu. This particular martial art has some great techniques for street survival. Unfortunately many kalari masters make Kalarippayattu suitable only for demonstrations on a stage. And in the west Kalarippayattu is being promoted by people who appear to have nothing to do with martial art. When professors of performing art and drama, who are mainly interested in research work, try to propagate Kalarippayattu - of course with genuine interest and intentions, they seem to project Kalarippayattu as a performing art rather than as a martial art and as an effective means of self defense. Let me make one thing clear. I am not against someone taking so much pain in research work and publishing their views on Kalarippayattu. I am concerned about the future of Kalarippayattu as a martial art. Kalarippayattu should be projected as an effective form of martial art and as nothing else. There are many other spectacular art forms that come under the title of performing arts and the real spirit of Kalarippayattu lies in its martial and self defense applications.

Here I would like to point out one major difference between the northern style Kalarippayattu (usually people around the world think that this is the only form of Kalarippayattu and with its spectacular jumping and leaping movements gives the impression of being a most effective fighting art) and the other styles. The really useful techniques are not very pleasing to look at. Take the case of the southern style Kalarippayattu or the Kathinayoga version. The solo forms of both these styles lack any of the visual appeal of the northern style. But the techniques are extremely effective in street survival.

What I say is that persons interested in Kalarippayattu should undertake their training in the lethal form or the jutsu version of kalari training so that the techniques they learn will enable them to survive a real world aggression. When I say this I know that the many of the so called gurukkals and asans of kalari system will raise their voices against me. But if Kalarippayattu should survive as a martial art then the system should never be treated as a performing art like Kathakali - it should be treated as a martial art.

When the partner training is introduced training should be made as realistic as possible. In many kalaris the training sessions have become some sort of play. Once the basic training is over and trainees become proficient with the prearranged sparring all premeditated attacks and defenses should be replaced with free sparring - whether done with weapons or otherwise. Self defense training against attacks by multiple persons should be incorporated in the everyday training. Students should not treat their training partners as friends or co-students. This is very specific as far as weapon training is concerned. One should be aware of the fact that a wrong move with knife or sword made by a friend or foe can cause serious injury. If one treats the training partner as an aggressor he would be able to defend or evade many of the attacking movements with ease. My guru the great Kumaran Asan used to advice as about the mental aspect of training. He would say "be prepared for everything in every training session. You may get a serious injury even from a friendly sparring session. Treat every one as an aggressor. Even a child can inflict heavy physical damage with an edged weapon. This mindset will help you out in the open street. Unless you use full power techniques in the training sessions you will never be able to use your full strength in a stressful situation". In his training sessions he would ask every student to use full power techniques in every type of sparring and training for defense against attack by multiple partners was a rule rather than an exception.

Another thing about the present day training of Kalarippayattu is the degradation of the grappling techniques. It appears that nobody is giving any serious thought to the grappling techniques. In almost every kalari demonstration you can see that one person applying an arm lock or other and the other person easily gets out of the hold using a counter move. With my hand on my heart I can say that there are no counter moves to a properly applied kalari grappling technique. You need tremendous strength to apply an arm lock or a leg hold and it takes dedicated effort from the part of the student to learn the proper techniques.

So train seriously. Train in such a way that you will be able to use the martial art in real life situations. Train with full power and strength. (If you train using five pound dumbbells you will never break any Olympic lifting record). Do as much research work as you like. But be aware of the fact that no amount of research work or reciting of mantras will save your skin in a bloody fight. For that you need some practical training coupled with uninhibited savagery. Those who are interested in performing arts of India - please leave Kalarippayattu alone and look for something else.