Speaking of which, most people believe the term ‘fencing’ refers to the kind of linear, stylized olympic-style sport fencing you refer to in your blog. Actually fencing means all forms of self deFENCE with weapons. And interestingly, the actual European martial arts, which just like the Hindu Arts are nearly forgotten to history, are not nearly as different “in the ways that East and West are” as you may have thought.

Consider the Portuguese Jogu Du Pau, a stick-fighting form remnant from Renaissance Longsword fencing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSDSsereOdg

Or the ancient German tradition of Dussack fighting http://arma-sfl.com/videos/dusack/meyer-dusack.wmv

My own groups sparring isn’t nearly as elegant or energetic, but it also springs from a similarly ancient source.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6Iw7iqzM0

Peace out!

What’s that you say? It’s gatka? Well then.

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And why shouldnt it? You’d rather see a silly snake eating chinese man?

After all, theyÂ’re swarthy, mainly male, dressed in salvar kameez, wearing round turbans. The men have long flowing beards. if you as me, i’d rathe have that than oohh let’s be patriotic, have a drink off to loud country music.

if you think about it, when you’re doing bhangra and all of a sudden you feel “chardi javani” — you’re spirit rising, you pretty much are a martial artist at that point

anyone who’s bhangra-ed and al of a sudden you catch the spirit and you’re flying through your moves, i think thats what gatka teaches you how to do

but then again, i’ve gatka-ed only a few times and don’t really know how

but still

3. Gatka isn’t well known inside India once you get outside of Punjab.

Gatka is well known and feared here on the shores of United Kingdom of Desi. There are many groups here and they often showcase their skills in public, including in front of Royalty. Though I have to say that there is something very Indiana Jonesish about the bloke on this website Your dear uncleji’s prefered style though is the open handed dance floor clearing drunken bhangra style.

http://www.gatkaonline.com/

GATKA MIXTAPE VOLUME TWO!!!!

This is from another website that has been discussing this matter:

“As to kalaripayattu…. There is no association historically between kalaripayattu and shaolin kung fu or any other martial arts. This only came about recently and has been pushed strongly by practitioners of kalaripayattu as an association (i guess to try and generate interest in the art). Unfortunately, the general pracitioners of kalaripayattu are unwilling to admit (although Zarilli’s book and almost all other books on kalaripayattu reference this) that the earliest suggested birth of kalaripayattu is around 11th-13th century a.d. and that the earliest proof of kalaripayattu was from portuguese records in the 16th century a.d. No credible records of kalaripayattu exist before this.

The association between indian martial arts and chinese martial arts is between the legend of Bodhidharma (an Indian or Central asian monk, depending on the legend you use) who founded the Shaolin temple. The rumor began in the 1600′s A.D. and was written by a Chinese Taoist monk who did not like the Shaolin monks….

The first explicit association of Bodhidharma and the Shaolin martial arts is made in a text from no earlier than 1624 written by Zining Daoren (literally “Zining, the Taoist”) and it states in the text that Bodhidharma created the exercises that developed into Shaolin quan in a cave in China after staring at a wall for nine years without moving. Between the founding of the Shaolin temple (600A.D.) and 1600A.D. no association has ever been made about Bodhidharma and Shaolin Kung Fu.

From this legend in the 1600′s A.D., kalaripayattu practitioners and other people have been trying to push that maybe Bodhidharma was a kalaripayattu practioner. If he was a kalaripayattu practitioner, then that must mean that kalaripayattu was created in the 600A.D. and is the progenitor of Shaolin Kung Fu and hence all martial arts! Of course, this disregards the other martial arts traditions in china that go back to before Shaolin kung fu by a few centuries.

There is physical and written evidence in China that martial arts as practiced by the Shaolin monks predate the 6th century A.D. and that most martial arts in most countries developed to some degree independently of each other. The “Extensive Records of the Taiping Era” record that, prior to Bodhidharma’s arrival in China, monks practiced wrestling for recreation. Shaolin monastery records state that two of its very first monks, Hui Guang and Seng Chou, were experts in the martial arts years before the arrival of Bodhidharma.”