Kalarippayattu: THE PLAY OF POWERS IN ANTIQUITY
What is implicit in these
Dravidian, Sanskritic, as well as medieval Kerala sources and
history is the view that combat is not simply a test of strength
and/or will between two human beings like modern sport boxing,
but rather is a contest between a host of complex contingent,
unstable, and immanent powers to which each combatant gains access
through divine gifts, through magico-ritual means, and/or by
attaining mastery of some aspect of power through practice and
training. The first two of these modes of gaining access to power
are religio-sacred, and the third is more "rational"
in that accomplishment comes through training. Other realms of
practiced knowledge in South Asian antiquity, such as Ayurvedic
medicine, reflect a similar symbiotic relationship and interaction
between the divine and the "scientifically" explainable.
The antique medical authority, Susruta, articulated the existence
of both rationally understood causes for systemic imbalance in
the body's humors as well as the possibility of divine and/or
magical sources of imbalance and/or cure. In fact, he identified
one of seven kinds of disease as "the providential type
which includes diseases that are the embodiments of curses, divine
wrath or displeasure, or are brought about through the mystic
potencies of charms and spells" (Zimmermann, 1986:Cikitsasthana
xxiv, 10; Bhisagratna, 1963:231).
Likewise, the agency and
power of the martial artist in Indian antiquity must be understood
as a complex set of interactions between humanly acquired techniques
of virtuosity (the human microcosm) and the divine macrocosm.
Unlike our modern biomedical and/or scientifically-based notions
of power and agency, which assume that any type of power (electricity,
gravity, etc.) is totally rational, stable, and, therefore, measurable
and quantifiable, "power" (ananku or sakti) in Dravidian
antiquity and at least through the medieval period in South India,
as we have seen, was considered unstable, capricious, and locally
immanent. Given this instability, the martial practitioner accumulated
numerous different powers through any and all means at his disposal,
depending not only on his own humanly acquired skills achieved
under the guidance of his teacher(s), but also on the acquisition
of powers through magico-religious techniques such as the repetition
of mantra.[16]
The Sanskrit epic literature
reflects this complex interplay between divinely gifted and humanly
acquired powers for the martial practitioners of antiquity. One
example is the playwright Bhasa's version of Karna's story, Karnabhara,
which illustrates the divine gift of power (sakti) which requires
no attainment on the part of the practitioner. Indra, disguised
as a brahmin, has come to Karna on his way to do combat with
the Pandavas. As a brahmin, Indra begs a gift from Karna. Karna
freely offers gift after great gift, all of which are refused.
Finally, against the advice of his charioteer, S'alya, he offers
that which provides him as a fighter with magical protection-his
body armor, which could not be pierced by gods or demons, and
his earrings. Indra joyfully takes them. Moments later a divine
messenger informs Karna that Indra is filled with remorse for
having stripped him of his protection. The messenger asks Karna
to "accept this unfailing weapon, whose sakti is named Vimala,
to slay one among the Pandavas" (102). At first Karna refuses,
saying that he never accepts anything in return for a gift; however,
since this gift is offered by a brahmin, he agrees to accept
it. As he takes the weapon from the messenger, he asks, "When
shall I gain its power (sakti)7" and the messenger responds,
"When you take it in [your] mind, you will [immediately]
gain its power" (105-106).[17] Unlike other powers to which
a martial artist gains access through the practice and repetition
of exercises and/or austerities, here Karna is a vehicle of divine
power which requires that he simply "take [the weapon] in
mind" for its full power to be at his disposal.
A more complex set of circumstances
is at play in the story of Arjuna and the Pasupata, and his mastery
of the weapon requires much more of him than simply accepting
the weapon as a gift.[18] Yudhisthira knows that, should combat
come, the Kauravas have gained access to "the entire art
of archery," including "Brahmic, Divine, and Demoniac
use of all types of arrows, along with practices and cures."
The "entire earth is subject to Duryodhana" due to
this extraordinary accumulation of powers. Yudhisthira, therefore,
calls upon Arjuna to go and gain access to still higher powers
than those possessed by the Kauravas! Yudhisthira prepares to
send him to Indra, who possesses "all the weapons of the
Gods." But to gain access to Indra, Yudhisthira must teach
Arjuna the "secret knowledge" which he learned from
Dvaipayana and which will make the entire universe visible to
him. After Arjuna is ritually purified to win divine protection
and once "controlled in word, body, and thought," he
meets Indra in the form of a blazing ascetic who attempts to
dissuade him from his task, but he is not "moved from his
resolve" and requests that he learn from Indra "all
the weapons that exist." Indra sends Arjuna on a questhe
can receive such knowledge only after he has found "the
Lord of Beings, three-eyes, trident-bearing Siva." Setting
out on his journey "with a steady mind," he travels
to the peaks of the Himalayas where he settles to practice "awesome
austerities." Eventually Siva comes to test him in the form
of a hunter. After a prolonged fight with bows, swords, trees
and rocks, and fists, Siva-the-hunter subdues Arjuna when he
"loses control of his body." Siva then reveals his
true form to Arjuna, who prostrates before him. Siva recognizes
that "no mortal is your equal" and offers to grant
him a wish. Arjuna requests the Pasupata, the divine weapon.
Siva agrees to give him this unusual weapon, which is so great
that "no one in all the three worlds [the Brahmic, Divine,
and Demonic] . . . is invulnerable to it." In other words,
with this weapon he will gain access to powers greater than those
possessed by the Kauravas.
However, to gain access
to the weapon's power Arjuna must first undergo ritual purification,
prostrate himself in devotion before Lord Siva and embrace his
feet, and then learn its special techniques. Siva instructs him
in the specific techniques of the Pasupata, and having become
accomplished in these techniques he also learns "the secrets
of its return."
As illustrated in this
and other stories, among all the martial heroes of the epics,
Arjuna is the perfect royal sage, possessing the ideal combination
of martial and ascetic skills, and able to marshal the various
powers at his command as and when necessary. Arjuna is able to
attain the awesome power of the Pasupata because of his extraordinary
"steadiness of mind," his superior skills at archery,
and his ability to undergo "awesome" austerities.
Although Arjuna's skills
and accomplishments appear superhuman, the process of attainment
of powers follows a pattern we shall find repeated among some
traditional masters in the ethnographic present: ritual purification,
superior devotion, practice of techniques to gain mastery, gaining
access to higher powers through the practice of austerities and/or
special meditation practice, acquiring the secrets of practice,
and even the use of magical means to obtain immediate access
to a specific power.[19] However, even if this pattern of attainment
of powers is still present in the ethnographic present, as the
necessity of gaining access to powers when confronting death
in combat has become largely a moot point, the hitherto capricious,
unstable, immanent, and local nature of power(s) has been somewhat
muted and pacified today-a subject to which I shall return in
the concluding discussion.
Also Read: Kalarippayattu - A Study,
Some Preliminary Thoughts,
The Source of Kalari,
The Circumstances & Alliance,
Dhanurvadic Tradition,
Power in Antiquity,
System & Techniques,
The Concept of Sakti,
Conclusion