SHAOLIN KUNG FU IS DIFFERENT FROM KALARIPAYAT

I FIRST TRAVELLED to Kerala in 1976-77 when I began training first in kathakali and then in kalaripayat.

- PHILLIP ZARRILLI

I was fortunate that Gurukkal Govindankutty Nair accepted me as a student at the C.V.N. Kalari, Thiruvananthapuram. I also trained with C. Mohammed Sherif at the Kerala Kalarippayat Academy (Kannur) and learned some techniques from Raju Asan to familiarise myself with the ‘southern style’.

Between 1976 and 1993, I lived in Kerala for a total of seven years, and was very fortunate to be the first individual from outside Kerala to receive official recognition from the C.V.N. Kalari Sangham as a gurukkal. I continued to practise kalaripayat and teach at my own official kalari— the Tyn-y-parc C.V.N. Kalari—in West Wales, the UK. I use kalaripayat along with yoga and taiqiquan (one of the Chinese martial arts) in training contemporary actors.

Along with my practical training in kalaripayat and kathakali, I have pursued in-depth scholarly research on both these modes of embodied practice in Kerala and their historical and practical relationship.