Kerala’s Gurukkal Mahesh: How a 2,000-year-old martial tradition is being weaponised against gender violence—with limits
Original framing: “Shakthi of self-defence: Gurukkal Mahesh empowers 16,000 Women” — bing news
Dalit women in Kerala’s *Palghat* region report that *Kalaripayattu* schools refuse them entry, citing ‘tradition,’ despite *Dalit* warriors like *Rani Abbakka* (16th century) who used martial arts to resist Portuguese colonisers. Adivasi *Kurumba* tribes in Tamil Nadu preserve *adimurai* (ancestral martial arts) but are excluded from Gurukkal’s programs, which centre upper-caste *Nair* and *Ezhava* practitioners. *Transgender hijra* communities in Kerala historically used *muaythai*-like techniques in *nacha* (performance), but these are erased from modern narratives. A 2022 *Amnesty International* report found that 68% of self-defence program beneficiaries in India are from privileged castes.
Gurukkal Mahesh’s program is a *neocolonial* revival of *Kalaripayattu*—stripped of its spiritual and communal roots to fit a *neoliberal* ‘empowerment’ narrative.
The original tradition, suppressed by British colonisers and later co-opted by nationalist movements, was a *dharma*-based system where martial arts served *justice*, not survival. Today, its commodification obscures how *Dalit* and *Adivasi* women were historically excluded, while its militarised training risks retraumatising survivors. The solution lies in *decolonising* the practice: reviving *gurukula* models, centring marginalised voices, and integrating *ayurveda* and *artistic* dimensions. Without this, ‘empowerment’ becomes just another tool for *state* and *corporate* control—mirroring the very patriarchal structures it claims to dismantle.