Those who wish to claim that Bodhidharma took kalaripayat to China should read the extraordinarily well researched account of the history of the Shaolin monastery, The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts, by Meir Shahar. Shahar is a specialist in Chinese history and language and if kalaripayat had been taken to China by Bodhidharma, Shahar would have said so.
Bodhidharma History In Malayalam
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Thanks Sriram - Yes and no. It is pretty close to today's Kodungallur and the exact location is still shrouded in mystery and mud (after the floods of Periyar). In history Cranganore & Muziris are synonymous. I read that a place called Vanchi is the likely candidate now. As a township, one could still say Kodungallur though.
The history of northern kerala is not only that of the Nair/Nambiars and the Mapillas. It is bewidering that the majority Hindu community in northern Kerala, the Thiyyas/Ezhavas have been mostly excluded from the narratives of Malabar history. As a Thiyya history fanatic myself, I have been hunting for hints about Thiyya history, especially history of Thiyyas from erstwhile Kolathunad, from various historical books. Apart from references to Thiyyas probably originating from Sri Lanka, or Thiyyas being toddy-tappers and other oft-repeated banalities there is no real materia available for researching Thiyya history. It is sad that this aspect of our history does not attract the interest of historians, both amateur and professional. I am sure that by reconstructing history using Theyyam Thottam songs, family narratives, colonial narratives, etc, it would be possible to built a good volume of historical data relating to the Thiyyas.
Thanks Sunil, PNS. The origin of Nairs is difficult to fathom, it sometimes goes to Scythia, Nepal, Assam, Punjab, Kalinga and all kinds of places. Some say Pallavas as well, which could also be right.That brings me to this recent comment on Thiyas. I assume it was more a request than anything to do with this article. The question as to why they do not figure in history would elicit an answer in this manner - It is possible that they did not figure in the colorful aspects of history such as wars, trade and the such and mostly remained behind scenes as a lower caste. However serious anthropological studies have been done by Thurston, N Shastri and many others on Ezhavas & Thiyas that the questioner can peruse. Unfortunately much of the colonial narratives only covered them in passing as a part of the living society, for there was nothing distinguishing done by them or recorded for posterity. I will definitely cover this community soon in a blog, and no doubt they are an important pillar of today's Kerala even if neglected in history.
I must also add this in continuation with the above - The comment would be incomplete I did not mention the chekavars of Malabar, the Aromal chekavar and the wide coverage they have in Kerala history. Their ballads have been subjects of many a doctorate study, if the questioner wants to check around.
Thiyaas were originally were thiraiyars of tamilnadu and Nairs were origins of tamil pallava empire. varmakalai and kalaripattu both were not same. varmakalai is bigger than karaipayatt. varmakalai derives his names from the subtitle of pallava kings. pallava kings were excellent in varmakalai and hold title as varma. kalaripayattu from the tamil word kalari(battle)+payatru(to train). bodhidharma is a 3rd prince of pallava king skandavarma pallava. bodhidharma original name is budhavarma pallava who was born in kanchipuram. kanchi is the main centre for buddhism and one of the seven mukthi stalas of hindus. many budhist temples now converted into hindu temples in kanchipuram. some of examaples were kanchi kamakshi amman temple, varadharaja perumal temple,ekamparaeshware temple and manikanteswara temple. another thing coast of kerala had linked with arab conuntries not with far east countries like malay,singapore,burma,thailand and china. there is silk path between china and kanchipuram. two chinese travellers visited kanchipuram only not kerala. in tamilnadu palli were reffered only to vannia kula khstriyars
it's a great work man . . . . . just need to know one thing . . . . some historical books say that bodhidharma had a great knowledge about medicines and he also cured the deadly disease which affected the chinese people during 6th century . . . . . and also when he was given the poisoned food . . . . he detected it and asked them why they have done this . . . the villagers told him that if they bury his body in their land their village would be disease-free . . . . . so according to their will .. . . he ate the poisoned food and was buried in the chinese mountains . . . . . . is that true ?
Unmaiyavan point is almost right... and the truth is, varmakalai has 4 main parts found by 2 main siddhas in different living years. one is Agasthiyar and the second siddha is siva vakyar.. they are collectively padu varmam, thodu varmam, thattu varmam and nokku varmam.. u can see all are tamil name.. Agasthiyar is the first founder of marma+kalai or varma kalai.. when he was staying in phothigai malai.. border of tamil nadu and kerala some kerala people died by some diseases and Agasthiyar helped them to cure and he teach some martial arts for their safety.... that was taken as kalari payat and this kalari payat is not full part of varma kalai... if u want to understand easily, the kalari has no noku varmam... but the disciple of agasthiyar, learned from him and they teach chozha king and later it went to pallava king as they were so interested to learn this. and still in kanchipuram many people knew some part of varmakalai and still they following and somebody hide too for safety... if you read chozha samrajayam old tamil book, u can understand all... friends u all need to know one truth, the name malayalam is pure tamil word and it is named by see one side malai(mountain) and another side alam(deep)...and the one more truth is, there were no name kerala, andhra and karnataka when chozha kings ruled... only one name tamilnadu... they mean south india identified in the name of tamilnadu and it was ruled by 3 kings.. chera, chozha and paniyar... the cheran ruled kerala upto coimbatore.. the chozha ruled, tanjore, andhra and karnataka.. trichy... pandiya madurai, some times trichy too by win in war... bodhi dharma is the first tamil king and he derived from chozha not like caste categories becoz that time 428-29 AD, only king and people...no castes like brahmin, vaisya, nair, nambiyar, like this and still records there to prove in indian cutural book and it is maintained by indian government says clearly no castes when these 3 kings ruled. (If u want to know still read this source: _es/h_es_goel-m_aryan_frameset.htm)...Hi Sriram... Thondi and muzuri are now in trichy... yes muzuri is now karur.... thondhi is still in the same name near trichy... karur is next to trichy....and one more request friends... please don't say caste things... becoz bodhi dharma and many saints didnot consider the caste and they went to china apart from castes, only with humanity... Thanks
Dont compare kalariyapattu with varmakalai. kalaripattu is a part of varmakalai. without varmakalai kalaripayattu was no more. kalaripattu is formation of two tamil words. kalari-battle and payattu-training. kanchipuram is one of the ancient cities in india and it also a budhist culture centre. Bodhidharma and Dharmapala were from kanchipuram only. Dharmapala is the principal of nalandha university. bodhidharma is third son born to pallava prince suganda or skandavarma. there are lot of scripts and evidences in kanchipuram temples and cult were proved bodhidharma belongs to kanchi. kalarapattu is not originated in kerala. at that time there was no kerala state. no caste... only four kingdoms chera,chola,pandya and pallava. dont confuse with caste and language. there was no malayalam at that time. both the three kingdom people were speaking tamil. pallavas i dont know. kalari is 1/10 part of varmakalai. varmakalai is great. person know kalari is able to fight only but knowing varmakalai you can do anything....
Thanks nath, Ummayiavan, WDS and Praveen..Your comments are much appreciated. Some of these matters from history are always disputed, and yes, there was only cheranad and pallavanad in those times, i suppose.. but well, much of all this could be speculation, I guess..we just try to get to the right understanding in some way..
I invite many people who commented to come and visit kannur,vatakara to see and hear without relying on books alone. the steps of kungfu and kalari are so similar and there are 18 stages in kalari like 18 stages in kungfu as taught by bhodidharma.counter to popular propaganda many kalaris are owned by thiyya warriors. valapattanam kalari through which the nh road goes was one of the biggest kalari in kannur and it was owned by my grandfathers family. we thiyyas are well off in northkerala since time memorial and there were thiyya army unit in kolathiri kingdom. there was a thiyya kingdom and he had 200 nair warriors to accompany him and who had the power to ask for a namboothiri child if no offspring was there.in meetings of feudal lords the mannan thiyya king had the highest position and even the kolathiri king had to rise up on the entering of thiyya king..this is recorded by the kannur british collector. the last king was killed by nairs during early 19th centuary when they thought it was a insult to them to serve thiyya king and those were not aware of ancient customs.on bodhidharma he is said to have blue eyes and in kannur,kasarkode.mangalore there are many thiyyas who have blue,pale eyes and they are funnigly called as poochakannu. they did not get it from the british as you all would like to tell me but it came from the greeks. ezhimala was a ancient harbour and there was a roman colony in historical time.in kannur 4 full bullockcarts of roman goldcoins of augustus were discovered in 18 th centuary while only ONE goldcoin was found in the false muziris..read pattanambhodharma name was damu and it is a common name among thiyyas .thiyyas were followers of buddism and at dharmapattanum another ancient harbour island was a place inhabited mostly by thiyyas and now historians are saying is a place of budhist learning center.my intention is not to claim that bodhidharma was a thiyya no... i am not ethonocentric. dont talk only about nairs when talking about kerala history . and you said that there is only a passing reference to thiyyas by british anthropologist. they did not know about the Kalabhra Interregnum. this was the age of bhuddist kings in all southindia during 4 to 6 AD when bhidharma lived and died. and after the budhist kings were defeated all traces of their history were erased and it is still known as the dark age of southindia. the budhist werelowered down and in north kerala thiyyas become backward caste. 2ff7e9595c
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