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In Odisha, the Paika dancers were a particular group of
unarmed foot soldiers who went ahead of the main army to demoralise,
with their speed and grace, external forces bent upon aggression. In the
Pandya period in Tamil Nadu, the Silambam stick dancers/fighters were
the unorganised guerillas and mass leaders who terrorised the feudal
barons to control their rapacity. These militant functions are evident
even today in different forms of dance, such as Chhau with its roots in
Paika, and Kathakali with its roots in kalari. ('The Militant Origins of Indian Dance' by Chandralekha, The Wire, Dec 9, 2018) |
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Paika means infantry. Though extinct today, their battle dances are
still preserved by their descendants in Puri district. Each village in
the region has an akhada, where youngsters assemble in the evening. The
primary aim of the dance was to develop physical excitement and courage
among the warriors and keep them in battle readiness. Kathakali too is
obliged to the body conditioning and flexibility of kalarippayattu.
Kalarippayattu is among the most developed attack / defence systems and
there is good reason to consider kung-fu and other Southeast Asian
martial art systems as offspring of kalari. Besides being ritualistic
and physical, kalari by virtue of its grace and stylisation, is a form
which generates energy in the individual. ('The Militant Origins of Indian Dance' by Chandralekha, The Wire, Dec 9, 2018) |
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