Kathakali and Kalaripayattu

Two traditional Kerala art forms, back to back in Thekkady. Kalaripayattu may be the world's oldest martial art; Kathakali tells its stories through gesture and expression alone. An evening that made the connection between them legible.

Twenty days into the trip, this was the first evening spent on something cultural rather than physical. Two shows, back to back in Thekkady. The first fast, the second slow. Together they made a reasonable two-hour introduction to what Kerala has been doing for several centuries.

The Kalaripayattu show was at 6 PM at the Kadathanadan Kalari Centre. Kalaripayattu is a martial art that originated in Kerala and may be the oldest codified fighting system in the world. The claim is disputed, as these claims tend to be, but the form itself is ancient and the technique is not in doubt.

The performance begins with unarmed sequences: low stances, deep backbends, jumps that belong to a much younger body, or so you would think until you watch someone twice your age execute one cleanly. The weapons work follows. Wooden sticks first, then sword and shield, then a long flexible sword that bends without breaking. The sequence builds in speed until the final section, where two performers spar at a pace that makes it difficult to track individual movements.

Everything is choreographed for the audience, but unlike stage combat in a Western context, the technique here is the performance. There is no pretending. The performers are simply doing it in front of you, which makes watching feel more like attending a demonstration than a show.

About Kalaripayattu

Kalaripayattu is a martial art originating in Kerala, with roots stretching back at least 3,000 years. It may be the oldest codified fighting system in the world, and its training curriculum has remained largely intact for centuries.

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The name combines two Malayalam words: kalari (training ground) and payattu (exercise or fight). Ancient texts including the Dhanurveda describe forms of combat training that are recognisably ancestral to the modern form.

The art declined sharply under British colonial rule. In 1804, the administration banned the carrying of weapons and the practice of martial arts across much of South India, driving Kalaripayattu underground for over a century. A revival began in the early 20th century, led in part by the scholar and practitioner C.V. Narayanan Nair, and the form has been taught in dedicated schools (kalaris) ever since.

Training begins in childhood, typically around age seven, and a full education takes a minimum of seven years. The curriculum moves from physical conditioning and unarmed combat through a succession of weapons: short sticks, long sticks, daggers, sword and shield, spear, and finally the otta, a curved hardwood staff used only in the most advanced forms. Alongside combat, practitioners also study a traditional medical system (kalari chikitsa) centred on marma points, the vital pressure points in the body that are used both in attack and in healing.

Three regional styles exist. The northern style (Vatakkan Kalari) emphasises aerial acrobatics and long-weapon forms. The southern style (Thekkan Kalari) focuses on unarmed combat and precise strikes to marma points. A central style combines elements of both. Performances in Thekkady generally represent the northern style, staged at schools that have operated as cultural centres since the 1970s.

The Kathakali performance followed at 7 PM at the Navarasa Kathakali Centre, a small venue with tiered seating and a low stage. The performers were already in full makeup when the doors opened. The colour palette is limited but specific: green for heroes and divine characters, black for hunters, red and black for demons. The costumes extend the body outward, the headdresses adding half a metre of height, the padded skirts making each gesture feel monumental.

Kathakali has no spoken dialogue. The story is told through gesture and expression, with two musicians singing the narrative from the side. The hand gestures form their own vocabulary: there are around 500 of them, each with a precise meaning. The form is built around nine codified emotions, each with its own expression. Watching a performer move through them without leaving the spot is not unlike watching an argument conducted entirely through eyebrows.

The eye work is the thing. Performers train for years specifically to control muscles most people have never been conscious of. From the third row you can watch the eyes roll, flash, go wide, and settle in sequence, each movement deliberate. It is more technically demanding than it looks and more hypnotic than you might expect.

The lighting is warm and directional, the green and red makeup photographs well, and no one minds if you are shooting from your seat.

About Kathakali

Kathakali is a classical dance-drama from Kerala, developed in the 17th century and built around stories from Hindu epics told entirely through gesture, expression, and elaborate costume. No performer ever speaks.

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The word combines katha (story) and kali (performance). Early patronage came from the royal courts of Kerala, and the form flourished under the Zamorins of Kozhikode and the kings of Travancore. It was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2008.

Stories are drawn almost exclusively from Hindu epics: the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavata Purana. The same episodes have been performed for centuries, which means that audiences familiar with the texts follow the gestures rather than the singing. The musicians, positioned to one side of the stage, chant the narrative; the performers never speak.

The makeup system is elaborately codified. Pachcha (green) denotes heroic and divine characters. Katti (knife) uses a green base with upward-curving red marks for villains and anti-heroes. Thadi (beard) comes in three varieties: white for monkey characters such as Hanuman, red for hunters and demons, black for forest dwellers. Minukku (radiant) is the simpler, more naturalistic scheme worn by women and sages. The raised white chutti frame around the face is applied over the base makeup and takes two to four hours in total. The application itself is a trained skill, performed by a specialist before every performance.

Training typically begins between the ages of five and eight and takes a minimum of eight years under a traditional gurukkal (master). Practitioners study 24 basic mudras (hand gestures), which combine into a vocabulary of over 500 distinct signs. They train separately in the expression of the nine rasas: shringara (love), hasya (humour), karuna (compassion), raudra (fury), vira (heroism), bhayanaka (terror), bibhatsa (disgust), adbhuta (wonder), and shantha (peace). Eye movement is drilled as its own discipline, often for years, since it is considered the most expressive element of the form.

What connects the two forms is not obvious until you know it. Kathakali dancers traditionally trained in Kalaripayattu to develop the strength and physical control their performances required. Seeing both in the same evening, in the right order, makes that connection legible in a way that reading about it does not.

One evening, two disciplines, a reasonable amount of craft in both. An entertaining evening.

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