The Barong Dance - Bali Version

Barong is a lion-like creature and character in the mythology of Bali, Indonesia.  He is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good, and enemy of Rangda, the demon queen and mother of all spirit guarders in the mythological traditions of Bali.  The battle between Barong and Rangda is featured in Barong dance to represent the eternal battle between good and evil.

The lion barong is one of five traditional Barongs. In Bali each region of the island has its own protective spirit for its forests and lands. Each Barong for each region is modeled after a different animal. They are:

1. Barong Ket: lion barong, the most common Barong, it is the symbol of a good spirit.
2. Barong Landung: giant barong, the form is similar to Betawi Ondel-ondel
3. Barong Celeng: boar barong
4. Barong Macan: tiger barong
5. Barong Naga: dragon (or serpent) barong

The mythical creature would dance along the street to the Calon Arang dance.  A priest would throw holy water at it.

• The dance opens with two (2) playful monkeys teasing Barong in a peaceful environment. 
• The next scene is popularly known as "Keris Dance".  The Rangda character appears and wreaks havoc.  She casts black magic upon male dancers, who represent Airlangga's soldiers, and orders them to commit suicide. In a trance, these men stab themselves on their chest with their own Keris.  Meanwhile Barong and the priest cast protective magic on these men, which makes them invulnerable to sharp objects.
• The dance ends with the final battle between Barong and Rangda, concluding with the victory of Barong over Rangda.  Rangda runs away, the evil is defeated, and the celestial order is restored.

(source: Wikipedia)

 

The Kalari - another big piece in the FMA puzzle?

 

The word Kalari (pronounced "ke-le-ri") means "threshing floor" or "battlefield" in Malayalam. Training for Kalaripayattu, a martial art of Kerala is traditionally done inside the Kalari.  Also, the past village schools (underscoring  mine) of Kerala, run by the traditional astrologer families were known by the name Kalari or Ezhuthu Kalari.

 

Every Kalari has a Puttara (meaning "platform where flowers are kept" in Malayalam).  The Puttara is a seven-tiered platform placed in the south-west corner and houses the guardian deities of the Kalari. The seven (7)  tiers symbolise the seven (7) abilities that each person must possess: Vignesva (strength), Channiga (patience), Vishnu (power to command), Vadugashcha (the posture), Tadaguru (training), Kali (the expression) (underscoring mine), and Vakasta - purushu (sound).  Other deities, most of them incarnations of the Bhagavathi or Shiva, are installed in the corners.  Flowers, incense and water are offered to the deities every day.  Before starting the day's practice, it is the norm for practitioners to pray to the deities.  Not only is the Kalari a temple of learning, but it is also a temple of religious worship with a cult and ritual of its own.

 

There is also a Guruthara inside all Kalaris. Guruthara means "the place where a lamp is kept burning in reverence to all the Gurus (masters) of the Kalari".

 

Traditionally, the Kalari is constructed by digging a hollow in the ground forming a sunken area four feet in depth, forty-two feet in length and twenty-one feet in breadth. This is usually called KuzhiKalari.  Kuzhi means "portions formed by caving in the earth" in Malayalam.

 

The entrance to the Kalari is in the east, to let in the morning sunlight, and leads into the forty-two foot leg running East-West while the twenty-one foot leg runs North-South. Another consideration taken when constructing the Kalari is that it is built in the south-west side of the main plot, just like the Puttara which is kept in the South-West corner of the Kalari itself.  The floor of the Kalari is leveled using mud... (source: Wikipedia)

 

In summary:

 

"Kele-ri" refers to the training pit where Kalaripayattu training is conducted.

 

"Kali" or expression is one of the seven (7) abilities that a Kalaripayattu practitioner must possess.

The "Kele-ri" is both a place for martial arts learning and religious worship.

The masters that teach in the Kalari are called "Gurus".

 

Is it a coincidence that in Bahasa Melayu (the core language of present-day Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia), "Kali" refers to a shallow ditch, such as that used for drainage?

 

Is it a coincidence that in the Hiligaynon Language (a Visayan Language), "Kali" means "to dig"?

Is it a coincidence that in Bahasa Melayu and most Philippine languages, a teacher is also referred to as "Guro"?

 

 

 

 

Kalaripayattu - a major piece in the FMA puzzle?

Kalaripayattu (pronunciation: ke-le-ri-pe-jet-i) is an Indian martial art.  One of the oldest fighting systems inexistence, it is now practiced in Kerala, in contiguous parts of Tamil Nadu andamong the Malayali community of Malaysia. It was originally practiced in northern and central parts of Kerala andthe Tulunadu region of Karnataka.

Kalaripayattuincludes strikes, kicks, grappling, preset forms, weaponry and healing methods.Regional variants are classified according to geographical position in Kerala;  these are the Northern style from Malabar regionin north Kerala, the Central style from inner Kerala and the southern stylefrom Travancore region of south Kerala.  Thesouthern Payattu system is now extinct and the Tamil style of "AdiMurai" is classified as the southern Kalaripayattu.  Legends like Unni aarcha, Aromal Chekavar andlegendary Kalari trainers like Narayan Gurukkal belonged to the Ezhavas clan. Kalaripayattu was spread across to the Chineseborders by Bodhidharma, who was a Buddhist monk. (underscoring mine)

Theoriginal style was practiced in Kerala primarily by the Ezhavas, the Kalari hasBuddhist origins related to the Ezhava community, who where believers of Shaivismand Buddhism.  Other castes like Nairslearned the trade from the Ezhavas. The southern style, called “Adi Murai”, was practiced largely bythe Nadars and has features distinguishing it from its other regionalcounterpart.  Northern Kalaripayattu isbased on elegant and flexible movements, evasions, jumps and weapons training,while the southern "Adi Murai" style primarily follows hard impact-basedtechniques with priority on empty-hand fighting and pressure point strikes.  Both systems make use of internal and externalconcepts.

Someof the flexibility training methods in northern Kalaripayattu are applied inKeralan dance forms, and Kathakalidancers who knew martial arts were believed to be markedly better than theother performers.  Some traditional Indiandance schools still incorporate Kalaripayattu as part of their exercise regimen…

Kalaripayattu underwent aperiod of decline when Velu Thampi Dalawa terminated Chekavar Ezhava warriorsfrom the Travancore army in the 1800s.  Theseterminated soldiers joined the British Army and went on to kill Velu ThampiDalawa.  The British eventually bannedNairs from practicing Kalaripayattu and the Nair custom of holding swords, soas to prevent rebellion and anti-colonial sentiments.

The resurgence of publicinterest in Kalaripayattu began in the 1920s in Tellicherry by EzhavaKalari trainers, as part of a wave of rediscovery of the traditional artsthroughout South India and continued through the 1970s surge of generalworldwide interest in martial arts... (source: Wikipedia)

Takenote how the first two syllables of Kalaripayattu, which are pronounced as “Kele”sounds very similar to the Moluccan “Tjakalele”, the Central Luzon term for theFMA of “Pagkali-kali”, and the traditional name of the FMA according to Fr.Aglipay of “Kali”…

Thereis also a traditional Keralan dance called “Kathakali” - the better performersof which are also practitioners of “Kalaripayattu”…

 

 

Silambam - another piece in the FMA puzzle?

 

Silambam is a weapon-based Indian martial art from Tamil Nadu, but also traditionally practised by the Tamil community of Sri Lanka and Malaysia.  It is closely related to Keralan kalaripayat and Sri Lankan angampora.

The term silambam derives from the Tamil word silam meaning "hill" and the Kannada word bambu from which the English "bamboo" originates. The term silambambu referred to a particular type of bamboo from the Kurinji hills in present-day Kerala. Thus silambam was named after its primary weapon, the bamboo staff...

Silambam may either be practiced for the purpose of combat (por silambam) or purely for demonstration (alangara silambam)...

References in the Silappadikkaram and other works of Sangam literature show that silambam has been practiced as far back as the 2nd century BC.  The bamboo staff - along with swords, pearls and armor - was in great demand with foreign traders, particularly those from Southeast Asia where silambam greatly influenced many fighting systems.  The Indian community of the Malay Peninsula is known to have practiced silambam as far back as the period of Melaka's founding in the 1400s, and likely much earlier...

Listed below are some of the weapons used in silambam:

• Silambam: staff, preferably made from bamboo, but sometimes also from teak or Indian rose chestnut wood. The staff is immersed in water and strengthened by beating it on the surface of still or running water. It is often tipped with metal rings to prevent the ends from being damaged. 
• Maru: a thrusting weapon made from deer horns
• Aruval: sickle, often paired 
• Savuku: whip
• Katti: knife
• Muchan/Sedikuchi: cudgel or short stick, often wielded as a pair (underscoring mine)

Indian martial arts suffered a decline after the British colonists banned silambam along with various other systems.  They also introduced modern western military training which favoured firearms over traditional weaponry.  During this time, silambam became more common in Southeast Asia than its native India where it was banned by the British rulers.   The ban was lifted after India achieved independence.  Today, silambam is the most famous and widely practiced Indian martial art in Malaysia where demonstrations are held for cultural shows....

(source: Wikipedia)