Antiquity (pre-Gupta) An Indus valley civilization seal shows two men spearing one another in a duel which seem to be centered on a woman. A statue of a spear thrower was also excavated from an Indus valley site.
Dhanurveda, a section found in the
Vedas (1500 BCE - 1100 BCE) contains references to martial arts.
Indian epics contain the earliest accounts of combat, both armed and bare-handed. Most deities of the Hindu-Buddhist pantheon are armed with their own personal weapon, and are revered not only as master martial artists but often as originators of those systems themselves. The
Mahabharata tells of fighters armed only with daggers besting lions, and describes a prolonged battle between
Arjuna and
Karna using bows, swords, trees, rocks and fists. The oldest recorded organized unarmed fighting art in the Indian subcontinent is
malla-yuddha or combat-wrestling, codified into four forms in the
Vedic Period. Stories describing
Krishna report that he sometimes engaged in wrestling matches where he used knee strikes to the chest, punches to the head, hair pulling, and strangleholds. Examples include such rulers as
Siddhartha Gautama and
Rudradaman. The Chinese monk
Xuanzang writes that the emperor
Harsha was light on his feet despite his advancing age and managed to dodge and seize an assailant during an assassination attempt. Competitions were held not just as a contest of the players' prowess but also as a means of finding a bridegroom.
Arjuna,
Rama and
Siddhartha Gautama all won their consorts in such tournaments. In the 3rd century, elements from the
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, as well as finger movements in the
nata dances, were incorporated into the fighting arts. A number of Indian fighting styles remain closely connected to
yoga, dance and performing arts. Some of the choreographed sparring in kalaripayattu can be applied to dance and
kathakali dancers who knew
kalaripayattu were believed to be markedly better than other performers. Until recent decades, the
chhau dance was performed only by martial artists. Some traditional Indian classical dance schools still incorporate martial arts as part of their exercise regimen. Written evidence of martial arts in Southern India dates back to the
Sangam literature of about the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. The
Akananuru and
Purananuru describe the use of spears, swords, shields, bows and
silambam in the Sangam era. The word
kalari appears in the
Puram (verses 225, 237, 245, 356) and
Akam (verses 34, 231, 293) to describe both a battlefield and combat arena. The word
kalari tatt denoted a martial feat, while
kalari koḻai meant a coward in war. Each warrior in the Sangam era received regular military training in target practice and horse riding. They specialized in one or more of the important weapons of the period including the spear (
vel), sword (
val), shield (
kedaham), and bow and arrow (
vil ambu). The combat techniques of the Sangam period were the earliest precursors to
kalaripayattu. The ten fighting styles of northern sastra-vidya were said to have been created in different areas based on animals and gods, and designed for the particular geography of their origin. Tradition ascribes their convergence to the 6th-century university of
Takshashila, ancient India's intellectual capital. Located in present-day Punjab, Pakistan, the Ramayana ascribes the city's founding to
Bharata who named it after his son Taksha. From the 7th to the 5th centuries BC it was held in high regard as a great centre of trade and learning, It also categorised combat techniques as joint locks, fist strikes, grapples and throws. The
Lotus Sutra makes further mention of a
martial art with dance-like movements called
Nara. Another
Buddhist sutra called
Hongyo-kyo (佛本行集經) describes a "strength contest" between Gautama Buddha's half-brother
Prince Nanda and his cousin
Devadatta. of which 64 were classified as being lethal if properly struck with a fist or stick. Around 630, King
Narasimhavarman of the
Pallava dynasty commissioned dozens of granite sculptures showing unarmed fighters disarming armed opponents. This is similar to the style described in the
Agni Purana.
Middle Ages (11th to 15th centuries) Kalaripayattu had developed into its present form by the 11th century, during an extended period of warfare between the
Chera and
Chola dynasties. Over a period of several centuries, invading Muslim armies managed to occupy much of present-day Pakistan and northern India. In response to the spread of Muslim rule, the kingdoms of
South India united in the 14th century to found the
Vijayanagara Empire. Physical culture was given much attention by both royalty and commoners in the empire, with wrestling being particularly popular with both men and women. Gymnasiums have been discovered inside royal quarters of Vijayanagara, and records speak of regular physical training for commanders and their armies during peacetime. Royal palaces and market places had special arenas where royalty and common people alike amused themselves by watching matches such as cockfights, ram fights, and wrestling. One account describes an
akhara in
Chandragiri where noblemen practiced jumping exercises,
boxing, fencing and
wrestling almost every day before dinner to maintain their health, and observed that "men as old as seventy years look only thirty". The Italian traveller
Pietro Della Valle wrote of cane-fighting in southern India. According to Pietro, it was the custom for soldiers to specialise in their own particular weapon of expertise and never use any other even during war, "thereby becoming very expert and well practised in that which he takes to". As their ancient predecessors, swordplay and wrestling were commonly practiced by the royalty of Vijayanagara.
Krishnadevaraya is said to have arranged a duel between a champion swordsman and the prince of
Odisha who was known for being an expert with both the sword and dagger. The prince accepted the challenge until he learned he would be fighting one not of royal blood and so killed himself rather than having to "soil his hands".
Fernao Nunes and the Persian envoy Abd al-Razzaq relate that
Deva Raya II survived an assassination attempt "as he was a man who knew how to use both sword and dagger better than anyone in his kingdom, avoided by twists and turns of his body the thrusts aimed at him, freed himself from him, and slew him with a short sword that he had".
Mughal era (1526–1857) After a series of victories, the
Central Asian conqueror
Babur established
Mughal rule in north India during the 16th century. The Mughals were patrons of India's native arts, not only recruiting akhara-trained Rajput fighters for their armies but even practicing these systems themselves. The
Ausanasa Dhanurveda Sankalanam dates to the late 16th century, compiled under the patronage of
Akbar. The
Ain-i-Akbari tells that the Mughal court had various kinds of fighting men from around the
empire who would demonstrate their skills every day in exchange for rewards. Among them were said to be both native and
Mughal wrestlers, slingers from
Gujarat, Hindustani athletes,
boxers, stone-throwers and many others. "There are several kinds of gladiators, each performing astonishing feats. In fighting they show much speed and agility and blend courage and skill in squatting down and rising up again. Some of them use shields in fighting, others use cudgels. Others again use no means of defence, and fight with one hand only; these are called
ek-hath. Those who come from the eastern districts of Hindostan use a small shield called "
chirwah". Those from the southern provinces have shields of such magnitude as to cover a man and a horse. This kind of shield is called
tilwah. Another class use a shield somewhat less than the height of a man. Some again use a long sword, and seizing it with both hands they perform extraordinary feats of skill. There is another famous class called Bankúlis. They have no shield but make use of a peculiar kind of sword which, though curved towards the point, is straight near the handle. They wield it with great dexterity. The skill that they exhibit passes all description. Others are skillful in fighting with daggers and knives of various forms; of these there are upwards of a hundred thousand. Each class has a different name; they also differ in their performances. At court, there are a thousand gladiators always in readiness." Avid hunters, a popular sport among the Mughals was
shikar or tiger-hunting. While often done with arrows and later even rifles, it was considered most impressive to kill a tiger with a hand-to-hand weapon such as a sword or dagger. A warrior who managed to best a tiger would be awarded the title of
Pachmar. In the 16th century,
Madhusudana Saraswati of Bengal organised a section of the Naga tradition of armed
sannyasi in order to protect Hindus from the intolerant Mughal rulers. Although generally said to abide by the principle of non-violence (
ahimsā), these Dashanami monks had long been forming
akhara for the practice of both
yoga and martial arts. Such warrior-ascetics have been recorded from 1500 to as late as the 18th century, although tradition attributes their creation to the 8th-century philosopher
Adi Shankara. They began as a stratum of
Rajput warriors who would gather after harvest and arm peasants into militarised units, effectively acting as a self-defense squad. Prevalent in
Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and
Bengal, they would give up their occupations and leave their families to live as mercenaries. Naga sadhu today rarely practice any form of fighting other than wrestling, but still carry
trishula, swords, canes and spears. To this day their retreats are called
chhauni or armed camps, and they have been known to hold mock jousts among themselves. As recently as the 1950s, it was not unusual for Naga sadhu to strike to kill someone over issues of honour. There is also a 17th-century
Dhanurveda-samhita attributed to
Vasistha. The
pehlwani style of wrestling developed in the
Mughal Empire by combining native
malla-yuddha with influences from Persian
varzesh-e bastani. After serving the Dakshin sultanates of the early 17th century, the scattered Marathas united to found their own kingdom under the warrior
Shivaji. Having learned the native art of
mardani khela from a young age, Shivaji was a master swordsman and proficient in the use of various weapons. He took advantage of his people's expertise in guerilla tactics (
Shiva sutra) to re-establish
Hindavi Svarajya (native [Hindu being a term traditionally applied to the native inhabitants of India throughout antiquity] self-rule) at a time of Muslim supremacy and increasing intolerance. Utilizing speed, focused surprise attacks (typically at night and in rocky terrain), and the geography of
Maharashtra,
Karnataka, &
South India; the Maratha rulers were successfully able to defend their territory from the more numerous and heavily armed Mughals. The still-existing
Maratha Light Infantry is one of the "oldest and most renowned" regiments of the Indian Army, tracing its origins to 1768.
Modern period (1857—present) Indian martial arts underwent a period of decline after the full establishment of British colonial rule in the 19th century.
Silambam was also banned and became more common in the
Malay Peninsula than its native Tamil Nadu. Nevertheless, traditional fighting systems persisted, sometimes even under the patronage of enthusiastic British spectators who tended to remark on the violence of native boxing and the acrobatic movements characteristic of Indian fighting styles. The British took advantage of communities with a heavily militaristic culture, characterising them as "
martial races" and employing them in the armed forces. Sikhs – already known among Indians for their martial practices – were particularly valued by the colonists as soldiers and guards, and were posted throughout not only India but Southeast Asia and other parts of the British Empire. Members of the army were allowed to box as a way of settling disputes, provided that they were still able to carry out their duties as soldiers after a match. The particular form of boxing used by the Punjabi soldiers was
loh-musti, as the
kara worn by Sikhs could be wielded like
brass knuckles. The resurgence of public interest in
kalaripayattu began in the 1920s in Tellicherry as part of a wave of rediscovery of the traditional arts throughout
south India which characterised the growing reaction against British colonial rule. and
paika akhada in Orissa. ==Texts==