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When I tell people that I’ve been a martial artist for 12 hard years, I’m often met by expressions of disbelief. The most common notions for them seem to be that I appear ‘too sweet’ or ‘too calm’ to ‘kick someone’s ass.’ What a lot of people seem to miss is that martial arts are about much, much more than putting up a fight, black belts or breaking bricks. Rather than making one aggressive, it actually makes one much calmer. And it’s this sense of calmness is what I feel when I meet Pradeesh Raj – the 44-year-old man who may have well got the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu to Mumbai.
The first time I see him is at his spacious studio at Retreat House in Bandra. Dressed in a loose grey shirt and black shorts, he stands with his back towards me – perhaps getting ready for his Kalaripayattu demonstrations. A warm smile and a short greeting later, he takes an intriguing position – a straight back, focussed eyes, fingers folded in a mudra, he sits down on his hunches with the right leg folded toward the back. “This is the Kalarivandanam, the opening to any Kalari demonstration,” he explains. His body is agile and stealthy as he showcases his moves swiftly. I watch him in awe, instantly inspired to begin my training under a teacher like him – in a martial art that is perhaps considered to be one of the oldest fighting traditions in the world.
Kalaripayattu has been recorded as early as 300 BCE. It was originally practised in northern and central parts of Kerala and southern parts of Tamil Nadu. Buddhist texts even show records of it in the 5th century AD when it was taken back by the monks and travellers to China and beyond where it grew and transformed into what we know today as Karate and Judo.
Pradeesh’s introduction to Kalaripayattu happened quite early in life. Being born into a family of Kalari and Ayurveda teachers on both his maternal and paternal side, he started training at the age of 4 and teaching when he turned 15. “I did not take a single day off for 12 years. Kalari became a mindset,” Pradeesh states proudly.
This mindset gave way to other similar interests. “I was very inspired and intrigued by Bruce Lee and thus wanted to delve into other combat sports too,” he states coyly. Alongside Kalari, Pradeesh started training in Karate and Wrestling and went to become a national and state champion in both these sports respectively. While attending college in Bengaluru he started learning Taekwondo from professional Korean teachers and also took up boxing. Through all these years of intense training, Pradeesh realized that martial arts were his true calling. Thus he came to Mumbai in 2006 with the sole purpose of making people aware about the ancient martial art and starting his own Kalaripayattu and Yoga school, which he ran for quite a while.
The most unique part about Kalaripayattu is that it involves training every part of your body as a weapon. This requires sharp awareness levels that are trained better and quicker at a young age. Thus when Pradeesh started teaching Kalari to adults in Mumbai, he realized that it was difficult for them to keep up.
“It is an intensive regime which is difficult to begin when one has come of age. It wasn’t a viable monetary option either. Thus I gave up teaching Kalari and started teaching Shakti Yoga where I combine some slow Kalari moves with ancient yoga and meditative techniques,” he says.
Very few people know that yoga and meditation form the basis of most martial arts. Pradeesh is the 12th generation predecessor of Yogi Shankaracharya and has always found solace and power in Yoga that he now teaches throughout the week. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Yoga and has taught in places like Russia, Europe and USA.
However before Pradeesh gave up teaching Kalari in Mumbai, he had some popular students to boast of. From training Vidya Balan, Ranveer Shorey and a few other celebrities, he recalls how Kalari became a fad and how his class would always be brimming with enthusiastic students.
But what were his days as a student of Kalaripayattu like? Pradeesh recounts them with utmost nostalgia. He spent most of his former years in Kerala and trained in his family schools – the Hindustan Kalari Sangam and the Malabar Kalari Sangam that are now run by his cousins. For him, Kalari wasn’t so much training, rather a lifestyle. He grew up listening to many stories and observing many traditions that he fondly remembers and tells me.
Recounting one such interesting story about the history of Kalari, he narrates, “The British banned Kalaripayattu in Kerala as they thought it would be a tool of rebellion. The sport went underground. At the time their grandfather’s academy functioned secretly and was only open for close family members.”
He also talks about the teacher-student relationship. It was in accordance to age-old Hindu traditions wherein a student would approach the Kalari teacher who would only allow him/her admission if they thought that the student was mentally strong. The students would pay their teachers – the guru Dakshina – a tradition that many Kalari schools in Kerala practice till date.
Pradeesh also states how Kalari has been one of those sports that has encouraged female participation in the sport from the beginning. “Both my mother and grandmother were trained in Kalari. Age too has never been a defining factor. There are Kalari masters aged 90+ who continue to teach in Kerala,” he exclaims.
Another fascinating thing about Kalari is that it has close ties to Ayurveda. Pradeesh himself is a doctor in Ayurveda and holds an expertise in Marma chikitas, Uzhichal (Indian massage), Pranic healing, Reiki, shiatsu, acupuncture and naturopathy. He remembers how he would see people coming into his house to get treatment. “My ancestors were expert in bone-setting or extracting poison out of the body,” he says stating a personal example of how his mother got rid of third stage cancer within 9 days by only drinking water and eating nothing. Of course, the Kalari lifestyle had a lot to do with it. In fact, there are many such healing centres all around Kerala where people seek treatment.
With such a colourful history, and a thriving present in Kerala, what is the future of this ancient martial art in the rest of the country? To Pradeesh it doesn’t look too stable.
Though Kalaripayattu is fairly well known throughout Kerala, it has never been considered a competitive sport and hence has been sidelined many times over. Today while the Kerala government is pushing to solidify its status and set up official federations, the efforts put in by other state governments remain minimal. So far, he is perhaps one of the only few teacher in Mumbai practicing the ancient martial art. However in other small towns and villages outside of Kerala, the sport remains invisible.
Even though it’s a small community, the Kalaripayattu fighters continue to endure. This ancient art is slowly gaining more momentum through South American contemporary dancers, who are coming in to learn the ancient martial art and use it in their dance.
But Pradeesh still seems hopeful. He takes life easy, travels alot and values his personal freedom. Kalaripayattu has been his whole life and staying true to his passion, he continues to practice it every single day. He is open to train people in Kalari with a background in sports and has been regularly conducting, yoga, meditation workshops, discourses on spirituality, self-defense seminars for women.
As I bid adieu to him, he leaves me with one last thought – the one that inspires me the most. He says, “Martial arts like Kalari instil a warrior mentality within you. But life should never be about proving anything to anyone, as long as you continue to prove your worth to yourself.”
For more information about Pradeesh Raj and his school, please visit his website.
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