NAVODAYA STUDIO

Chekavars  were warriors trained in the kalaris of Malabar where kalarippayattu  - the ancient Kerala martial arts, was taught. Disputes, in those times, were settled by duels. A Chekavar’s profession was to duel to death on the arena against another Chevakar - for a price. It was a Chekavar’s dharma to accept a sponsor’s commission and step onto the arena to use his prowess against another chekava clansman for winning his sponsor’s cause. By defeating the one opposing him, a victorious Chevakar affirmed the dispute in favour of his sponsor … and thrashed the one who endorsed his opponent. What were the disputes? Family feuds, sibling rivalry, inheritance brawls, … a slandered damsel asserting her chastity to her detractors, etc.

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Ankam  & Ankathattu  (The Duel & the Stage)

Since the dawn of times, feuds leading to skirmishes leading to war, was the norm in all tribal settlements. As elsewhere in the world, this was true in Malabar also … till wisemen wanted to do something about it. When two mighty egos clash and the sword slashes spill-over onto the streets, it envelops not just the two prestige at stake … but also lives in a community as men rally towards the feuding camps … and a cycle of bloody wars of vendetta ensues. In hindsight, the wise saw a never ending trail of blood … some stretching over so many generations, that the combatants of a latter date became ignorant as to what the dispute is about!

  

So sometime during the turn of the first millennium, the wise village chieftains of Malabar found a practical way out. It was called the ankam  (duel to death). If at all two individuals or clans had an issue to be settled, they could sponsor two swordsmen - as proxy. These swordsmen would fight a duel on an arena in front of the spectators (and the clan’s terraphims) till one was bloodied and fell down dead. Such clash of swords always happened on a stage erected in the temple courtyard - right under the eyes of the village deity to ensure that the outcome is divinely ordained and the righteous side emerge victorious.

That verdict would seal the dispute!

The pool of blood spilled on the stage, a few limbs strewn around the arena, a family orphaned … all these seemed to appease the gods! Well, if not gods, at least an audience cheering the bloodsport … also the gratified Paanan  (bard) who composed a new ballad on one more heroic exploit of his Chekava champion … and then the hordes in the paddy fields for whom the Panan’s new ballad is a solace from the heat, dust and wariness. All it took was two trained swordsmen, who had nothing against each other, fighting somebody’s cause for a fee, while a horde out on festivity cheered and jeered. Crowds thronged to the event where peddler of goods, soothsayers and harlots opened shops around the arena. The ruler benefitted by taxing such services and sales.

   

This bloody sport of ankam was staged on a specially made elevated stage called ankathattu which was of a

prescribed size, made out of Tamarind planks and propped up on logs.

It was with the ankams that a professional clan of swordsmen of Chevakars evolved. As in the Indian caste system, Chevakar clan remained a family custom where the tradition was handed from the patriarch to his descendants. In the ancient lores there are stories of father vs son, uncle vs nephew pitted against each other on the ankathattu. For, it was against the dharma of the Chevakar to refuse a sponsor once he met the Chekavar’s market price.

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 Chevakar Mahasabha  (Guild)

There evolved a Guild or Sabha which set code of conduct, standards, rules and practices. The chevaka apex body was Chekavar Mahasabha. They awarded the license ‘ankathali’ - a talisman, to those sword fighters - graduates from the Kalari schools, who qualified in the annual competitions. The Mahasabha had a mediation committee and even a panel of umpires to supervise the ankams.

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Kalari

Kalaris were not just martial schools, it way a way of life in ancient Kerala. The Kalari Guru or Aashaan was not just a teacher of self defence. The master was a go for person for anything, a spiritual counsellor, one who treated injuries or mended broken limbs, also prescribed herbs or potions for physical ailments.

  

The Kalari rules had evolved over centuries, they had a prescribed school calendar, specified size for the practice yard, well defined rules of initiation and graduation, etc. Kids of 7 years of age - both boys and girls, were enrolled in Kalari schools. The initial years were spend in training and toning the body with physical exercises, the movements and exercises were accompanied by the recitation of litanies.

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Vadakkan Pattukal -  Ballads of Northern Kerala (Malabar)

The Chevakars were the celebrities of the era. Ballads of Northern Kerala are folk songs or Veera Gathas of the Chevakars. The Malabar coast is awash with songs and stories of several such bloody battles which has soaked and suffused it’s soil. Even the lashing monsoon rains over centuries was not able to remove the blood stain from the laterite soil of Malabar.

   

A literate upper class had dismissed these folk songs of the peasants as ‘cacophony of the lower class’ and never took any effort to scribe it on palm-leaf. During the 18th century Hermann Gundert - a pastor turned linguist from Europe, and in the 19th century Mr Percy MacQueen I.C.S. who served in the Madras Presidency, both

understanding the collective native wisdom, had the ballads written down. The first publication of Ballads of North Malabar was done by Madras University in the year 1935 when Mr Percy Mac Queen was the Collector of Madras & Chingleput Districts and Chelanat Achutha Menon headed the Malayalam department in the Madras University.

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Paanar  - the balladeer

Mentioned in ancient Tamil literature, the Paanar or balladeer is a caste of professional singers found in South India. In the Malabar part of Northern Kerala, apart from serving their customary role of a minstrel in the countryside, Paanan also played as personal publicist of a Chevakar. The songs he sang about the brave Chevakars, were about their skills and exploits off and on the arena - at times chivalrous and at times amorous.

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Modern day Kalaripayattu - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayattu

The widespread practice and prevalence of Kalaripayattu in Kerala began to decline in the 17th century, when the usage of guns and cannons became widespread. This also coincided with the European invasions into Kerala, after which, firearms began to surpass the usage of traditional weaponry such as swords and spears.[29][1] In 1804, the British banned Kalaripayattu in Kerala in response to the Kottayathu War, a rebellion against British rule lead by the Keralite king Pazhassi Raja. The ban came into effect shortly after Pazhassi Raja's deathon November 30th, 1805, resulting in the closure of most of the major kalari training grounds in Kerala. Many Keralite gurukkals of Kalaripayattu resisted the ban and continued to teach Kalaripayattu to their students in secret and preserved the martial art for posterity. They were responsible for preserving Kalaripayattu into the beginning of the twentieth century, as well as sparking the revival of Kalaripayattu in Kerala in the 1920s.[30][6]