Verum Kai, hand-to-hand combat :Verum Kai (empty hands) is the unique and detailed study of blocks, parries (tadakal), dodgings (mattangal), grips (pidikal), locks (101 puttakal), projections (erukal), vettukal (hits made with the edge of the hand), and eventually the offensive use of vital spots (marma prayogangal).
It also includes a particular sequence called kattiyum talayum, which consists in countering an attack with a knife by using a piece of cloth. The people of Kerala, a hot and humid country, have always walked with towels on their shoulders in order to mop up perspiration on their faces in case they sweated. Kattiyum talayum is a technique based on defence, lock and strangulation; it is performed with a towel which may knock out the opponent and even break a brick or a coconut if it is rolled up into a ball and thrown with strength and accuracy.
With Verum Kai, the master passes his deep knowledge of vital spots on students (marma, vital spot, comes from the Sanskrit root MRN, which means “to kill”). Touching those vital spots might just trigger the opponent’s pain, but it can also immobilize him or even trigger his death. Kalaripayat masters discovered 108 vital spots in the human body; 96 of them are considered as minor but when they are touched, they may trigger acute pain or temporary palsy and even for twelve of them death.
These vital spots were transcribed and catalogued 2,000 years ago on palm leaves and have been handed over to initiates from generation to generation. These writings are called “marma sutras” (sacred writings); they describe the localization of each spot, the symptoms on the opponent after being hit and the nervous centres to stimulate to bring him round. This knowledge is taught at the very end of the training only for accomplished students because it is very dangerous. The attacks which aim at touching vital spots are kept secret for a long time. Marma sutras do not only focus on vital spots; they also devote many pages to the qualities needed to become a true master: abolition of ego, absolute control of anger, indispensable peace of mind. Indeed the master should not use his art for personal purposes or feelings. In a critical situation, he always has to calm down his attacker, for instance give him his purse if it is the object of contention; above all he has to transmit the science of the marmam only to the disciples whose honesty and sincerity were proved and who have gone through all the steps of Kalaripayat techniques.