Editing Kalaripayattu (section)

==== Principles of Kalaripayaṭṭu ====
The art and tradition has, through its rigor and moral rectitude, maintained a pristine purity of thought, transmission of tradition and philosophy for centuries. Kalaripayaṭṭu is a living testimony of the code of conduct and sense of honor for the warrior practitioners.. In fact, it was their belief that once a sword was drawn, it must not be put back without being stained in blood. Its ten principles, rooted in its motto ‘nitya thozhil abhyāsam’ or ‘practice makes perfection’, which are cultivated in its practitioners, have been enumerated by the masters of Kalaripayaṭṭu as follows:

# Acadakkam — discipline
# Gurutvam — respect for the Guru
# Krithyaniṣṭha — regularity in ones practice
# Śaktiyulla śarīram manasu — strength of body and mind
# Kṣama — patience
# Vinayam — humility
# Manusvatvam — humanity
# Pāramparya Bahumānam — respect for tradition
# Ātmābhimānam, Dhīratā — self-esteem and courage
# Śānti — peace

The dark walls of the kalari, the scent of burning myrrh, the chanting of mantras and the ritual and spiritual atmosphere that is created play an important role in the formation of the character and the attitude of the student towards life. Kalari, therefore, is not a practice reducible to its set of “virtuosic body-techniques”; but rather, exists as a “set of potentialities of self, power, and agency inherent in che complex set of practices, discourses and representations through which a practitioner’s experience of practice is historically and contextually negotiated”. (Zarrilli, 1998)