In keeping with the encyclopedic nature of the puranas, other sections of
the Agni Puranainclude information related to the use and application of
martial arts in warfare, including a section on rituals performed by Brah-
man priests to protect and/or cause success in battle (Dutt Shastri 1967,
840, 539), construction of forts (576–578), instructions for military expe-
ditions (594); and battle formations and troop deployments (612–615,
629–635).
The Dhanur Vedic tradition was clearly a highly developed system of
training through which the martial practitioner was able to achieve ac-
complishment in combat skills to be used as duty demanded. Practice and
training were circumscribed by rituals, and the martial practitioner was ex-
pected to achieve a state of ideal accomplishment allowing him to face
death. He did so by combining technical training with practice of yoga, in
the form of meditation using a mantra, thereby achieving superior self-con-
trol, mental calm, single-point concentration, and access to powers in use
of combat weapons. This antique pattern of training toward accomplish-
ment is clearly assumed in the way that traditional kalarippayattu inte-
grates the practices of ritual and devotion, meditation and concentration,
and technical training.
It is clear that from antiquity there exists a legacy of recording the
techniques and secrets of martial practice in palm-leaf manuscripts, which
were preserved, copied, and passed along to a master’s most trusted disci-
ples. Not surprisingly, these texts have traditionally been kept secret and
only revealed within a particular lineage of practice to those trusted to safe-
guard secret knowledge and techniques. Among traditional masters, this is
still the case today. Although numerous palm-leaf manuscripts exist in li-
brary collections throughout India, only very recently have a few of these
texts been published, and many await translation and interpretation by
qualified historians and linguists.
Texts within Specific Indian Martial Arts
The following discussion provides an overview of texts—primarily from
within the kalarippayattu of Kerala, with some reference to the varma ati
of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The points made, however, may represent gen-
eral relationships between martial arts and texts. The symbolic importance
of texts within the kalarippayattu tradition is marked each year in kalari
celebrating Navaratri Mahotsavam, the festival of new beginnings inaugu-
rating an annual season of training. It is a time for worshipping the tradi-
tional sources of knowledge, that is, texts, masters, and tools of the trade.
An architect worships manuals of measurement, building tools, and the
master. A dancer worships manuals recording dance technique, hand cym-
bals for keeping time, items of costuming, and the guru. In kalarippayattu,
Written Texts: India 753