Today is Guru Poornima. And I guess some of you will have received a post on WhatsApp that says there are 6 or more words for “teacher” in Sanskrit*. Some of these words are “Achārya”, “Shikshaka”, “Adhyāpaka” and of course, “Guru”. But in common parlance, the word “Guru” is perhaps the most commonly used word to denote a teacher in many parts of India.
Karate featured on the cover of Tinkle No. 220. This cover was published in March 1991.
A zoomed in part of the cover from the earlier image. Tinkle comics is published by Amar Chitra Katha.
Another word that many of us in India have heard and also denotes a teacher is the Japanese word “Sensei”**. Anyone who had watched the original “The Karate Kid” (1984) surely knew the word. So did anyone who either trained karate as a kid or had a friend who trained the same. There was even an issue of the popular comic “Tinkle”, published by Amar Chitra Katha, which discussed Karate and how it used physics to perform great physical feats (this was a tale featuring the “Anu Club”).
Like most people, I too knew that the word “Sensei” can definitely be used to denote a teacher. This is not wrong. But very early during my years as a student of the Bujinkan system of martial arts, I learned that the word had a slightly different meaning, which did lead to its meaning a “teacher”.
The term “Sensei” as used in Tinkle comics. Image credit – Tinkle No. 220, published by Amar Chitra Katha (India Book House – IBH).
The word “Sensei” as I understand it, literally means “someone who was there earlier”. This is why elders and people with great expertise arising out of experience are also referred to as “Sensei”. I have also heard that “Sensei” means “someone who has gone earlier”. This phrase, as I understand it, could mean “pioneer”.
In a martial arts context, a teacher is one who has more experience than the student. The experience is because that individual walked the path of learning that the student is just starting on. In this sense, the teacher was a pioneer on this path, as far as the student is concerned. This does not mean that the teacher is a pioneer who created a new martial art system, it just means that the teacher has traversed the path before the student and hence can guide the student on the same.
This leads to an interesting outcome. Since students walk the same “path” as a teacher, or learn in a manner similar to their Sensei, they become “similar to” their teacher in the way they move. This is a common occurrence. If a martial artist who knew the teacher saw just the student move, he or she would be able to tell who the student’s Sensei was.
This is how lineages get created in the martial arts. A lineage could lead to the development of a style or school (Ryu or Ryuha (plural)) or system of martial arts. The lineage could be specific to an extended family or to a region. An example of this is the “Togakure Ryu”, one of the 9 schools studied as part of the Bujinkan. The “Togakure” in the name is supposed to be in reference to a village in the Iga province of Japan.
The concept of a lineage extends beyond the martial arts, into other art forms and sports as well. Cricket is the most popular modern sport in India. There are 3 “schools” of batting recognized in India. These are the Bombay school, the Deccan school and the Delhi school. Each of these has produced great batters.
Similarly, in Hindustani music, in north India, we hear the term “Gharana”. A Gharana refers to a lineage. The word “Ghar” in modern day Hindi also means “home”. So, a Gharana could refer to a lineage literally, as it comes from a family in a home. But then, the Gharanas are associated with regions. Some examples are the Delhi Gharana, the Lucknow Gharana and the Benaras Gharana. As the names suggest, each of these is named after a region. This concept of lineage extends to architecture, painting, weaving, pottery and any number of other arts.
The festival of Guru Poornima is observed on the first full moon day (Poornima) of the month of Āshāda (coincides with a part of July). It is observed to mark the birth anniversary of Maharishi Veda Vyasa. Veda Vyasa is also called Krishna Dwaipāyana and Bādarāyana.He is truly the ultimate Guru! This is obvious once the corpus of knowledge that is attributed to him is recognized.
Veda Vyasa is most well known as the composer of the Mahabharata (or at least the Jaya, which is the core of the 3 nested dialogues which form the Mahabharata). He is also credited with compiling the Vedas into the form we know today (hence the word “Veda” in his name). The 18 Mahapuranas are also attributed to Veda Vyasa’s authorship or compilation. In other words, according to tradition, a large volume of texts from Hindu culture owes its existence to this greatest of Gurus!
That said, it is not just teachers of knowledge that are revered in Hindu culture. There are great Gurus for the martial arts as well. I will mention just four that are top of mind for me. There are several other great Gurus, from history and culture, all of whose stories I would strongly recommend everyone to visit.
The 4 Gurus who are top of mind for me, from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, are,
Parashurāma
Vishwāmitra
Drona
Balarama
The first 3 of the 4 mentioned above form a lineage of sorts. Let’s look at a few points about these great Gurus.
Brahmarishi Vishwāmitra imparts knowledge of celestial weaponry to Rama and Lakshmana. Image credit – “The Ramayana” published by Amar Chitra Katha.
Vishwāmitra was the Guru who was a martial arts instructor of Lord Rama. It was from Vishwāmitra that Lord Rama received a lot of the celestial weapons that he would use later. Vishwāmitra, before he became a Brahmarishi, was an egotistical king named Kaushika. Kaushika obtained powerful celestial weapons to use against Vasishta, who was Rama’s first Guru at Ayodhya! Of course, the weapons were of no use against Vasishta, but they were successfully used by Lord Rama, who was a student of both Vishwāmitra and Vasishta. Vishwāmitra of course had long overcome his rivalry with Vasishta by this time.
Brahmarishi Vishwāmitra guiding Rama & Lakshmana in their fight against Tataka. Image credit – “The Ramayana” published by Amar Chitra Katha.
Parashurāma was Vishwāmitra’s grandnephew (the story of their birth is fantastic!). He was one of the greatest warriors of his time, of any time. He is also one of the 7 Chiranjeevis (immortals) who are supposedly still around during modern times, but not accessible to normal humans. Lord Parashurāma is the sixth avatāra of Lord Vishnu and the future Guru of Kalki, the tenth avatāra of Lord Vishnu expected to manifest in the future.
My favourite depiction of Lord Parashurāma. Image credit – “The Bhagavat for Children”, published by Anada Prakashan.
While Lord Parashurāma is best known for his mastery of the Parashu (axe), he was also a wielder of all celestial weapons. Parashurāma was the teacher of both Bheeshma and Karna, two of the greatest warriors who fought on the side of the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra War (the climactic war in the Mahabharata). He was also the Guru through whom Drona achieved his mastery of all weapons.Lord Parashurāma is someone whose legacy extends to modern India as well. He is considered the origin of the martial art of Kalari Payatt, which is famously practiced in the southern Indian state of Kerala!
Lord Parashurāmaconfronting Lord Rama early in the Ramayana. Image credit – “The Ramayana” published by Amar Chitra Katha.
Drona, also called Dronācharya was the teacher of most of the main characters who fought in the Kurukshetra War. The “Acharya” in his name is because he was a Guru to all the Kuru princes. Drona was also one of the warriors who was invincible. He was eventually killed by a trick, which forced him to drop his weapons and give up fighting. In this sense, he is the same as Bheeshma and Karna. Both of them were also warriors of such incredible prowess that the only way to defeat them was when they either chose to or could not fight!
Drona receiving knowledge of weaponry from Lord Parashurāma. Image credit – “The Mahabharata 05 – Enter Drona”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
Based on the described prowess of Lord Rama, Vishwāmitra was a great Guru! His grandnephew Parashurāma was a God, whose students were among the greatest warriors ever, some being invincible. One of Parashurāma’s students, Drona, became a great Guru in his own right. So Parashurāma’s school was a dream for any martial artist! Considering he and Vishwāmitra are from the same family, they could be considered to be from the same lineage.
Drona being terror incarnate towards the Pandava army. Image credit – “The Mahabharata 36 – The Battle at Midnight”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
The last of the great martial Gurus I mentioned above is Balarama. He is the older brother of Lord Krishna. Balarama is considered an avatāra of Ādishesha, the serpent on whom Lord Vishnu rests. He was the greatest gada (mace) fighter ever. This was despite the weapon he is most associated with being the plough! He was the teacher to both Bheema and Duryodhana. Bheema and Duryodhana fought on opposite sides in the Kurukshetra War. Both Bheema and Duryodhana were disciples of Drona as well. They went to Balarama for specialized training in the mace (gada).
Balarama wielding the plough! Image credit – “The Mahabharata 39 – After the War”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
Considering that all these Gurus were teachers of the martial arts, I suppose they could be considered Sensei as we understand the word today, specifically considering the lineage they were from and the one they perpetrated.
Balarama was the Guru for the Gada, for both Bheema and Duryodhana. Image credit – “The Mahabharta 38 – The Kurus Routed”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
We in India have a culture where a Guru, or a teacher is deeply respected and that comes from listening to stories passed down in our traditions. But the fact that some of these Gurus were martial arts teachers is not specifically recognized, even though it is well known. The word Sensei, in modern times is one that inspires great respect too, thanks to Japanese culture, where expertise, experience and teachers are deeply respected as well.
Looking at the two cultures, it should be possible to recognize that we always had many Sensei in India, who were Gurus of the martial arts. And they were as respected as a Guru from any other field of knowledge or expertise. The identification of this aspect was the purpose of this article. I hope I have been successful in highlighting the martial aspect of our culture and its extension to our respect for Gurus.
Notes:
* The many words for “teacher” according to the much forwarded WhatsApp message.
The teacher who gives you information is called Adhyapak.
The one who imparts knowledge combined with information is called: Upadhyaya.
The one who imparts skills is called Acharya.
The one who is able to give a deep insight into a subject is called Pandit.
The one who has a visionary view on a subject and teaches you to think in that manner is called Dhrishta.
The one who is able to awaken wisdom in you, leading you from darkness to light, is called Guru.
** Another word for teacher that many Indians know these days is “Sifu”, thanks to movie, “Kung Fu Panda” (2008).
India did not have a strong martial arts culture in the last few decades, until recently. Even now, it is not prevalent in all parts of the country. In places with higher disposable incomes, interest in and practice of the martial arts is growing. In parts of the country that have a strong continuation of historical traditions, martial arts are present as well, but more as a performance art. This is not true historically though. Martial arts were a vital part of Indian culture for many centuries before diminishing in importance in the latter half of the 19th century.
Now that martial arts are making a comeback, an interesting aspect is visible. There is a cost associated with practicing the martial arts. The costs include time, effort and money. Financial costs include, tuition fees of teachers, membership fees of gyms or dojos, cost of apparel and training equipment*. Training equipment includes protective gear and training tools, which include practice weapons. Beyond this, time is spent in traveling to the place of practice and in practice itself. And then there is the effort that it takes to make time and financial resources available for martial arts practice.
The costs mentioned above were present in the past as well. For some professions, this cost was valid as it directly impacted the earning of a livelihood. This is true in modern times as well. But for individuals who are not working with law enforcement, first responders and the defence services, this cost is not necessary. The payback is not necessarily monetary. Hence, there comes a point when martial arts practice becomes discouragingly costly. This was true in the past and is true in contemporary times as well.
The cost of martial practice extends to nations too. Here the cost is justified as a nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are dependent on the expenditure on its martial wings, in other words, defence forces, intelligence agencies and law enforcement services. As this is vital at a national level, all nations have defence budgets.
But the defence budgets of all nations are not the same. The defence budget of the USA is almost a trillion USD! The defence budget of China is about 350 billion USD. The defence budget of India is 78 billion USD (in 2025). The cost of defence preparedness might be the defence budget but that is not the same as the cost of war.
The cost of war, depending on how long it lasted and the devastation it caused can be varying. The cost in terms of loss of life and limb of citizens is incalculable. It renders a section of the population unable to participate in any economic activity and in many cases dependent on the state, which is a necessary drain on the economy. There is also a cost associated with reconstruction and rebuilding of the economy. This is exclusive of the opportunity cost and the uncertainty of real recovery.
Unlike the cost of war, defence preparedness can have a positive effect. Over time, increasing defence budgets can lead to the creation of a military-industrial-academic complex. This complex leads to better education for large sections of a society and development of a manufacturing ecosystem. This leads to more jobs, development of advanced technologies and improved innovative abilities of a society. Defence preparedness also involves having great infrastructure in perpetuity. And then there is the boost to the economy through the export of weapons and weapon systems. All this is without even considering the benefits of the development of dual use technologies. Beyond all this there is the saying “If you want to have peace, prepare for war” (from the original Latin, “Si vis pacem, para bellum”).
It could perhaps be said that preparation for war can lead to restarting and rebuilding of a flagging or destroyed economy. A perfect example of this is the Ashwamedha Yajna in the Mahabharata, which occurs years after the end of the Kurukshetra War. The reason the epic gives for the event is that Yudishtira performs this yajna to atone for the sins committed during the Kurukshetra war. But I opine that the reason for this yajna was to kick-start the economy of the kingdoms of Hastinapura and Indraprastha.
A very large number of males had died in the Kurukshetra war. If the numbers from tradition are considered, somewhere between 3 and 4.5 million men died in the war. This meant that a large part of the working population in Northern India was dead. The coffers of all the kingdoms that participated in the war were empty due to the logistics of the war. This meant that the economy of all the participants was in the doldrums.
The Ashwamedha Yajna requires a large investment to perform and conclude successfully. To start with, a large quantity of gold is needed in the performance of various rituals and all the participating Brahmanas have to be compensated for their part in the yajna. A strong army is needed to protect the horse, the Ashwa of the yajna.
The economy does not allow for an Ashwamedha Yajna. Image credit – “The Mahabharata, Part 41 – The Ashwamedha Yajna”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
The horse would wander around for a year in various kingdoms. These kingdoms could stop the horse or let it pass through. If they let it pass through, they had to offer tribute or sign a treaty with the army of the king whose horse it was. If they stopped the horse, they kingdom that stopped the horse had to fight the army protecting it. The fact that an army was involved meant that a functioning supply chain was needed, apart from soldiers and their training.
The massive logistics effort needed for the Yajna. Credit for the images- “The Mahabharata, Part 41 – The Ashwamedha Yajna”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
So, all parts of the economy have to contribute to the Ashwamedha Yajna. Food production is needed to feed the army. Industry is needed to equip the army and carry out the yajna itself. Administrative and financial bureaucracies have to be put in place to coordinate the logistics of all the activities. With all this coming up, the economy gets a jolt to restart. The tribute from the successful performance of the yajna ensures capital flows for growing the economy further.
A strong military is needed and military conflict is inevitable during the Ashwanedha Yajna. Credit for the images- “The Mahabharata, Part 41 – The Ashwamedha Yajna”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
But, for a faltering/failed economy to be able to do this, an initial capital infusion is needed. This could be a loan. But in the Mahabharata, there was no institution or fellow kingdom that could afford to hand out a loan post the Kurukshetra War. So, the Pandavas dug up buried treasure. Maharishi Veda Vyasa directed them to the treasure. The treasure, a vast hoard of gold became the seed capital for the Ashwamedha Yajna and the prosperity it eventually led to.
Buried treasure is initial investment! Credit for the images- “The Mahabharata, Part 41 – The Ashwamedha Yajna”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
This wonderful segment of the Mahabharata shows how preparation for a war could lead to economic recovery. But the Kurukshetra war itself caused untold devastation. The epic is in this sense a wonderful case study for both war and its consequences and the economic recovery preparation for war can lead to (even if the defence preparedness is disguised in a sacred yajna).
Thus, it has always been about availability of resources for martial preparedness, and martial preparedness to protect and enhance economic resources and their availability. But, and it is a BIG but, this only holds where there is a democratic or a Dharmic society. A Dharmic society as I am referring to the word, is one that is defined by a clear understanding of responsibilities of the administration, even if the head of government is a king or queen who holds power due to heredity.
Wealth distribution is a must during and after the Yajna. Image credit- “The Mahabharata, Part 41 – The Ashwamedha Yajna”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
Defence preparedness is unlikely to function in the case of Palace Economies. A palace economy is one where the leader or king or dictator or the family of the same, controls all resources and distribution of the same. This control could be arbitrary, based on the will of the leadership, with no link to real world performance, hardships, challenges or threats.
A fantastic example of a palace economy is the Delhi Sultanate in India, specifically under the Mamluk dynasty and the Khaljis. All the Turkic invasions of Northern India were by palace economies. From the little history we were taught, there was no doctrine of administration that these invaders followed.
After the fall of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals controlled the regions of Punjab. The later Mughals, after the death of Aurangzeb, struggled to defend this region. When Ahmed Shah Abdali of the Durrani Empire centred in modern day Afghanistan invaded Punjab repeatedly, they were unable to protect the populace of this region.
Abdali was a wonderful example of a palace economy as well. He took over the regions of Afghanistan after the death of Nadir Shah of Persia, under whom he had previously served. The later Mughals were also a palace economy, but with a much smaller resource pool to go around. Abdali, on the other hand, invaded Punjab and northern India several times to acquire wealth, which was then distributed as he desired, further strengthening his palace economy. The invasions of Northern India continued until 1761 and the 3rd battle of Panipat and the invasions of Punjab continued for a few years even after that seminal event.
Abdali won the 3rd battle of Panipat, but the cost of the victory dissuaded him from ever returning to the plains of Northern India. His ravaging of Punjab is chillingly captured in the following Punjabi saying. “Khada peeta lahe da, baki Ahmed Shahe da”. It means that only what one has eaten and drunk is one’s own, the rest belongs to Abdali. It refers to the loot that ensued when Abdali attacked; people lost everything. And this kind of loot was important to keep a palace economy functioning.
The lack of this functioning in the later Mughal court required the Marathas to fight the 3rd battle of Panipat. Though they lost the battle, they successfully diminished further Afghan invasions. All further battles between Indians and the Afghans, beyond Punjab, occurred when Afghanistan was invaded by the East India Company or the British Raj. By this time, the Afghan palace economy had faltered and become dysfunctional as well. This is classic of nations where economic development did not kick off in the early modern era.
There is however a trap of exhausting one’s economy with an excessive focus on defence preparedness. I have heard a lot of people say that the USA defeated the USSR by outspending them on defence. The USSR failed economically and could not keep up with the USA. In the quest to keep itself on par with the US in defence spending, the USSR bankrupted itself.
Economic growth and development are a vital part of being able to spend on defence. The overall economy of a nation must grow continuously. When this happens, a part of the growth can benefit the defence budget. If the economy does not grow, but the defence budget keeps increasing, the country eventually ends up being a basket case. This focus on overall economic development is the reason the Ashwamedha Yajna ends up rejuvenating the national economy, because it focuses on supply chain as a whole and not just on the armed forces.
In the modern Indian context, we Indians have a threat on two fronts. Pakistan on one and China on the other. Pakistan is gradually becoming a client state of China and is being used by the latter to prevent India from becoming a competitor on the global stage for various resources. The events in Galwan in 2020 and in Pahalgam in 2025 clearly reveal that ignoring the threats will not make them go away. India will have to always be ready to militarily confront the twin threats. I include threats in the cyber and space domains when I use the term “military” here.
So, increasing defence spending is a foregone national imperative for perhaps the coming decade. This is likely what both adversaries want, to slow down India’s economic growth. China is banking on what was mentioned in my previous post, make the Indians fight themselves to keep them occupied and weakened – Pakistanis are Indians by a different name, remember**?
Will their expectation of a weaker India come to pass? Will this spending take us the way of the USSR or make our economy grow faster and become more robust? This is a question the answer to which will only become apparent in maybe 10 or 15 years. If we go about only importing technology and weapon systems, we could go either way. But if an academic, industrial military complex is developed locally, we could become a far greater economy with a stronger military and overall national power.
Notes:
* Let me elaborate with an example. We needed training katana for practice at the dojo. We could by them online, in a sports store, get a carpenter to make it or make training katanas ourselves. Back in the middle of the 2000s, an online purchase or a purchase at a sports store was out of the question. E-commerce was just beginning for only books and sports stores did not stock much martial arts equipment other than karate and taekwondo apparel and training pads. Getting a carpenter meant having a sample to go by. All of this had one serious impediment, MONEY. We did not have disposable incomes to consider this purchase lightly. We had to seriously consider if we would train the martial arts for years to come, to consider the investment feasible. Chances of continuing were always small, so the investment was unlikely as well.
That left the option of making our own training katanas. This was done with building scrap available at home, mainly small diameter PVC pipes, which were wrapped with fabric tape and held together with cellophane or insulation tape. The hardest things to make were the scabbard or saya of the sword and the tsuba or disc guard on the katana. Because these were difficult to make, the saya was given a skip and the tsuba was a piece of thermocol (polystyrene). These worked to an extent.
The drawback with the handmade equipment was twofold. The lack of a saya meant that any technique that required the drawing of a sword could never be accurately practiced. It was always an approximation. The flimsy tsuba came apart often and that led to either injured fists or to a lack of understanding of how to use the tsuba to lock the opponent’s position. So, there was pain and poor training. Both these were due to a lack of financial resources.
Our teacher back then had said that in the past, good weapons were expensive and the same was true in contemporary times as well. This was a lesson well learnt. It was as clear an elucidation of the importance of money in martial arts as any. Money leads to technology and training and both improve chances of survival.
William Dalrymple’s book, “Return of a King” has a very interesting statement about the rulers of Afghanistan. He says early in the book that the Kings of Afghanistan, found it hard to invade Punjab and the plains of Northern India in the first half of the 19th century. Dalrymple further states that this was a time-tested strategy followed by the rulers of Central Asia and Afghanistan for many centuries to accumulate wealth.
Excerpt from the book, “Return of a King”, by William Dalrymple
Northwestern India has faced invasion through what is now Afghanistan for millennia. It started with the Persian Empire and was followed by an invasion by Alexander of Macedon. These invasions were followed by the invasions of the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Sakas, Indo-Parthians, Kushanas and the Hunas. These invasions lasted from the 6th century BCE till the 6th century CE. What was characteristic of these invaders was that they assimilated into the local culture, while also making contributions of their own.
The next series of invasions, of the Arabs, began in the 8th century was not too successful. This was followed by the Ghaznavid invasions in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. These invasions ended Hindu and Buddhist control in what is today Afghanistan. This was the beginning of what can be considered the Turkic invasions. These invasions set the template for plunder and the loot of wealth.
Then came the Ghorid (Ghurid) invasion at the end of the 12th century CE, which led to the establishment of Turkic rule in Northern and Western India and was called the Delhi Sultanate. This was followed by the invasion of the Mughals (who were Turco-Mongol), Iranians and lastly, the Afghans in the mid-18th century. This was the end of the invasions of India from the Northwest, until the middle of the 20th century, after Indian independence.
Invasions from the Northwest, in chronological order
There was the British conquest in the 18th century, preceded by minor conquests by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. But the European attacks came from the South, from the seas and are not relevant to the purposes of this article.
The invasions following that of Mohammad of Ghor, were unlike those in the previous millennia. The rulers chose to impose their native culture over the local populace. Yes, this is a simplistic statement, but not entirely wrong. Even the culture they chose to emulate was that of neighbouring Persia and not that of the populace they ruled over. Their contributions were not nil, but unlike those of the previous millennia, these were not entirely positive to the conquered cultures and populations.
The geographical extent of Indian culture in the 3rd century BCE extended till modern day Southern Afghanistan and Baluchistan in the West. This was a cultural extent and not a political spread. The entire subcontinent, except for the odd century, was always split into multiple kingdoms, that warred with each other. So, the conquests of the invaders were not against a monolithic “Indian” kingdom, but against individual kingdoms, who were mostly smaller than the invaders.
Both the invasions from the North and the West and the warring of Indian political entities continues to this day. With variations of course. The modern-day republic of India is one of at least 3 political entities that exist within the historical cultural spread. If one considers just 3 countries formed out of British India*, the pattern of Indian states fighting one another and the invasions from the Northwest, both persist unabated.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the modern countries most associated with British India. Pakistan, by dint of its birth and historical association with Buddhist and Hindu cultures, is India with a new and different name. So, every time Pakistan attacks India, either with conventional forces or through its terrorist proxies, it is an instance of Indians fighting Indians. Exactly like in the past few thousand years.
Pakistan is India’s western neighbour, and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh are India’s north. So, every time there is a terrorist attack in J&K or a war with Pakistan, like in Kargil in 1999, the invasion is still from the Northwest, just like in millennia past. So, the pattern holds, nothing has changed. The difference is that Pakistan now tries hard to associate its identity with Turkey & the broader region of West Asia, contrary to the facts of history.
This is not new either. The Mughals, despite having Rajput Hindu mothers, identified themselves as Timurid after Timur the Lame, who hailed from Uzbekistan. Today, Pakistan, fills the dual role of an Indian entity identifying as foreign and that of an invader from the Northwest. Neither role is something that modern Indians can be happy about.
But about the reason for the invasion/attack? In the past, it has mostly been about controlling the wealth generated from the fertile plains of the Sindhu and Ganga river systems. The Sindhu river system includes Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh, while the Ganga river system includes all of North India excluding modern day Rajasthan. Today, large parts of the Sindhu system are in Pakistan. Also, Pakistan cannot hope to plunder wealth like the invaders of the past, nor can it take over any part of North India. So, why bother with the attacks?
The answer is likely the control of wealth within Pakistan. The leadership of the Pakistan army is the leadership of Pakistan, for they control the political leadership and are strongly associated with the business elites as well. These 3 groups control a lot of the wealth in the country as they control a lot of the agricultural land, and the prime real estate used for other purposes. For the army to stay powerful, they need the enemy in India, even though India neither wants any part of Pakistan, nor a war with it, not even a minor one.
So, if there is no powerful enemy in India, a powerful army is not really needed. There is a saying I have heard from many people in India. It goes, “The Indian state has an army, while the Pakistani army has a state”. This explains the situation beautifully. The army is like a parent to the Pakistani state. Keeping this image leads to power, which fuels budgets, prestige and wealth.
So, the “wealth” that the Pakistani army hopes to earn is power at home and that is achieved every time India is demonstrated as an existential threat to the state. An attack on India triggers a counterattack, which demonstrates a threat to the state, and this leads to the importance of the army. And from this importance flows everything else mentioned earlier.
For India on the other hand, the situation is still the same, Indians are still fighting Indians called Pakistanis, who have chosen to the take on the role of the Northwestern invaders, for the original invaders have either weakened to insignificance or just disappeared altogether.
This post is different from my usual articles. I almost always describe connections between traditional martial arts, Hindu culture, Indian history and modern Indian life. This article though, is entirely focused on Indian history. This is because of thoughts I have had post the actions taken by the Indian military during Operation Sindoor between 7th May and 10th May, 2025. Including the content of this post with another post (the next one) was making the other one too long and expansive in scope. The next post after this one, will go back to the usual pattern of connecting dots.
Notes:
* Burma, Aden and parts of Somalia were also administered as parts of British India
The first strike of Operation Sindoor was carried out in the early hours of 9th May 2025. This attack was carried out against 21 targets in 9 locations in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK). The attacks were carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and supposedly units of the Indian Army. The attack by the IAF used precision munitions.
The munitions used supposedly included the Scalp cruise missile, the Hammer, the Rampage and perhaps the Crystal Maze and Brahmos as well. The details are not officially made available as yet. The platforms that deployed these munitions include the French Rafale, the Indo-Russian Su30MKI and others, including the Russian Mig 29 and French Mirage 2000. None of the aircraft crossed into Pakistani airspace. All munitions were launched from Indian airspace.
All 21 targets were successfully destroyed with video evidence. All 9 targeted locations were terrorist bases or headquarters that were known and identified. There was no collateral damage, either civilian or military. And this LACK OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE is a VERY IMPORTANT POINT that leads to several amazing observations, from an operational perspective, from an Indian societal perspective and form learning for martial artists, specifically those are not experienced in the defence services.
Pakistan claims to have shot down 5 Indian aircraft during this strike on terrorist targets. Indian forces have not officially released any details of what the losses entailed were. It will be revealed in due course, as the Indian defence establishment does not hide its losses. This information is not revealed as Op Sindoor is not yet officially declared as completed. Unofficial sources claim that India lost 3 aircraft, one Rafale, one Mig 29 and one Su30MKI.
What is clear is that no Indian pilot was lost. The Director General of Air Operations (DGAO) has made it clear that no human life was lost during the strike on terrorist targets. This means that even if the aircraft were lost, the pilots were safe. The DGAO also made it clear that as part of achieving mission objectives, losses were to be expected and were acceptable. This statement means that AIRCRAFT WERE EXPENDABLE, THE PILOTS WERE NOT.
So, why were these losses acceptable? Could they not have been prevented?The events of the early hours of 10th May 2025 answers the second question. Yes, the losses could have been prevented. On 10th May, the IAF struck several Pakistani Air Bases and air defence installations. Between 11 and 13 bases were hit, again with precision strikes, using pretty much the same munitions as earlier, including perhaps the indigenously developed SAAW (Smart Anti Airfield Weapon).
DURING THIS SECOND PHASE, NO AIRCRAFT WERE LOST. Why was this? Because this time around, the IAF carried out what I have come to learn, is called SEAD and DEAD actions. SEAD stands for “Suppression of Enemy Air Defences” and DEAD is “Destruction of Enemy Air Defences”. Once Pakistani air defences were eliminated, the IAF could take out the air bases with no losses.
The strikes on air bases destroyed runways, command and control centres, staff waiting centres and hangars (or hardened shelters). This rendered the Pakistani Air Force incapable of any retaliation for the next few days at least. This gave the IAF air dominance. Once this was achieved, Pakistan asked for cessation of hostilities and India agreed as the objective of striking terrorists had already been achieved.
It must be said, both Pakistan and India attacked each other with several drones as well. Pakistan also used ballistic missiles of varying ranges. Pakistani drones and missiles were intercepted and destroyed by integrated Indian Air Defence systems. But Pakistani Air Defence systems failed. The defence in India was all along the Pakistani border. The strikes Pakistan endured, was along its entire length; some say the attacks inflicted damage to its nuclear weapon storage and integration facilities (this is not admitted or confirmed). The strikes were sufficient to end further hostilities after 10th May 2025.
The attacks by Pakistan on the nights of 7th and 8th mostly included various types of drones. On the night of the 9th the attack included ballistic missiles. The targets of these attacks included Indian military installations, religious sites and civilian areas along the border. This convinced the Indian side to escalate and not limit itself to terrorist targets. Pakistani military installations were now legitimate targets, WHICH THEY WERE NOT IN THE FIRST PHASE, ON THE 7TH OF MAY.
Once the military was a target, India carried out SEAD and DEAD operations, which allowed further strikes on Pakistan with NO LOSSES. This shows that the losses could have been prevented on the 7th of May as well. Why the losses were deemed acceptable earlier is also answered here.
The object on the 7th of May, as stated earlier were terrorist bases. Terrorists, in the case of those supported by Pakistan, are weapons of the state targeting India and her citizens. This makes the terrorists, tools of the Pakistani state.The state in Pakistan, is its military, specifically the Pakistan Army. The civilian Government of Pakistan, according to several commentators, is one that is selected by the Army and not elected by the people. This was done by manipulating the election results. So, a tool of the Pakistani state is essentially a tool of the Pakistan Army.
As mentioned earlier, on the 10th of May, the IAF attacked Pakistani air bases. Air bases are places from where aircraft and other weapons are launched. So, the base by itself is a weapon, or maybe a weapons platform. In this same vein, the terrorists, being tools of the Pakistan Army, are weapons of an unconventional kind. It was these “weapons” that India targeted on the 7th.
Because only these weapons (terrorists) were targeted, and not the conventional military, SEAD and DEAD actions were not conducted prior to the strikes. This gave the Pakistan Air Force an opportunity to retaliate. INDIA CHOSE TO ACCEPT LOSSES RATHER THAN ATTACK MILITARY TARGETS! THIS IS A MESSAGE THAT SHOWS RESTRAINT AND DISCRETION. This self-imposed restriction was lifted when Pakistan chose Indian military and civilian targets. The fact that potential losses of expensive aircraft was seen to be acceptable but not the lives of the pilots shown incredible foresight, planning and execution of the Indian military establishment! This fact is mind-boggling!
Why though, did India accept this possible loss of air assets? This is because India, unlike its hostile neighbour is a mature civilian democracy. India wanted to punish terrorists that murdered its citizens, not invade Pakistan or cause harm to its citizens. This maturity in the Government meant that it was willing to sacrifice its military assets. If the Government had chosen to conduct SEAD and DEAD operations on 7th May, these losses would not have occurred, but hat action would also have made India an aggressor against Pakistan, rather than a country seeking justice.
This entire episode where India accepted potential losses in aircraft and perhaps did indeed lose a few, while not sacrificing its pilots is a fantastic demonstration of a concept that many martial arts teach. The fact that it was applied in modern day aerial warfare makes it all the more incredible, giving practitioners of the traditional martial arts no excuses to not train this concept. This is the concept of SUTEMI WAZA.
I am familiar with the Bujinkan system of martial arts, so I shall explain this concept from this perspective. I expect that most martial arts, whether they train armed or unarmed combat, will have a similar concept, and methods to practice the same. Sutemi in Japanese means “sacrifice” and waza means “technique”. “Sutemi Waza” thus stands for “sacrificial techniques”. But what is being sacrificedand how is it a technique?
The best way to describe the concept of Sutemi Waza is with the form called “Tomoe Nage”. “Nage” here means “throw”. “Tomoe” means “comma”, like the punctuation mark. So, when one executes a “Tomoe Nage” on an opponent, one drops one’s own body to break the balance of the opponent and throws her or him over oneself. The image below shows the execution of the tomoe nage and explains the situation far better than any words can.
Hatsumi Sensei, Soke of the Bujinkan, performing a “Tomoe Nage”. Image credit – “Unarmed Fighting Techniques of the Samurai”, by Sensei Hatsumi Masaaki.
In this form or technique, the person executing the throw sacrifices her or his own balance by dropping down to the ground and this sacrifice enables the throwing of the opponent. One likely scenario where this technique is used is when both opponents are evenly matched or when other forms are not possible in the given situation. However this technique is executed, the objective is to break the opponent’s flow by sacrificing one’s own balance.
One of the martial schools (ryuha) studied as part of the Bujinkan system is the “Takagi Yoshin Ryu”. This is a school that was historically practiced by bodyguards. Hence it involves a lot of subduing and immobilization techniques. This was done in the past to capture someone for further information gathering. Of course, the techniques in this school can be used to lethal effect, but the objective was to capture wherever possible.
One of the 9 sections of the Takagi Yoshin Ryu is called the “Tai no Kata”. This can be roughly translated to “The form of the body”, “tai” being the body and “kata” being the form. There are 15 techniques as part of this section, and 10 of these end with a variation of the tomoe nage, where the opponent is thrown over oneself to nullify the threat.
The concept of sutemi or sacrifice can also be applied in a more generic manner, which is also common to all martial arts. This involves “Letting go”. Whenever there is a situation where one’s attack is successfully blocked by the opponent or if the opponent is too strong for a given attack to succeed, there is no point in continuing with the same. One has to let go. This “letting go” of the attack allows one to move around and find another opening to exploit and if nothing else conserve energy by not wasting it on pressing a fruitless attack.
In the case of Op Sindoor, this concept of “sutemi” was executed flawlessly by the Indian Military. By accepting potential losses, they gained so much more. Not only was their performance as a defence force appreciated the world over, but it also cemented India as a responsible nation that can be depended upon to not violate the peace. It also demonstrated that India could achieve any offensive mission at will, tailored to the conditions that are prevalent.
This focus on the mission brought home another interesting distinction between the Indian and Pakistani air forces. On an episode of the “Carvaka Podcast”, a YouTube channel run by Kushal Mehra, the host Kushal was discussing Op Sindoor with defence analyst Angad Singh. A link to this video is seen below. Angad Singh had an observation that is fantastic. He said that the Pakistani Air Force had a mindset of “Knights of the Air”. They are more focused on facing off against the Indian Air Force than on a given mission objective.
Video of the interaction between Kushal Mehra and Angad Singh. Watch between the 36 and 43 minute marks.
This mindset makes the Pakistanis focus exclusively on the number of aircraft lost in any given engagement. Hence, they were flaunting the fact they shot down some Indian aircraft. They completely missed the fact that the Indian Air Force successfully completed all its mission objectives, of destroying terror targets with no collateral damage and with no loss of life for itself. This was in stark contrast to the mindset of the Indian Air Force, who let go (sutemi) of the need for a “clean scoresheet” to achieve the mission objective. Of course, it is now well known that Pakistan also lost multiple aircraft, both on the 7th and on the 10th of May. So much for keeping score over achieving what their mission should been, protect targets in Pakistan.
I have one last observation to make in this article. Sutemi Waza is an old concept in the martial arts, but is visible even in modern hi-tech warfare. In this same vein, I recently understood the use of Vyuha that were used in the Mahabharta War at Kurukshetra in modern warfare. Major General G D Bakshi (Retd.) was speaking at even to launch his own book, “Indian Strategic Culture: The Mahabharata and the Kautilyan Ways of War”. The link to the YouTube video of his speech is seen below. A Vyuha is a battle formation from ancient or historical times. It is how troops are arrayed in a battle or the formation they assume as a battle progresses to achieve certain objectives.
Video of the speech by Major General (Retd.) G D Bakshi. Watch between the 19 and 21 minute marks.
During his speech, General Bakshi explains how the Ardha Chandra Vyuha (crescent moon or half moon formation) was used in modern warfare. He mentions that this formation was used by India against Pakistan during the tank battle at the battle of Assal Uttar, in 1965. This battle was a severe defeat for Pakistan. The crescent moon formation in my understanding, is what is also called the “pincer movement”, where an enemy is enveloped and attacked from multiple sides.
A representation of the Ardha Chandra Vyha (Crescent moon formation). Image credit – “The Mahabharata – 37”, “Karna in command”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
When I had seen a representation of the Ardha Chandra Vyuha in a comic format back in the 80s, it had seemed like a static formation. But after listening to the General, it seems that this is a formation that is formed in response to an attack. The crescent is formed as part of receiving an attack from the enemy. When the enemy is enveloped and the pincer attack happens, the formation looks like a crescent moon. It need not have started out like that!
While we speak of the Mahabharata, it must be said that the epic also cautions against seeking glory and focusing on the mission objectives. This contrasts with the psyche of the Pakistan Air Force as described by Angad Singh, which I mentioned a few paragraphs earlier. The image below, of a panel from the Mahabharata published by Amar Chitra Kata, clearly illustrates this point, even if warriors back in the day did break this rule. Personal glory it seems, has always been intoxicating.
Image from the Mahabharata cautioning against duels seeking personal glory. Image credit – “The Mahabharata – 38”, “The Kurus routed”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
In a more recent historical context, Shekhar Gupta, in a video of his mentioned that the use of massed artillery by India during the Kargil War of 1999 was inspired by the same tactic used by Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the 19th century. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the founder of the Sikh Empire that was a major power in the 19th century. Shekhar Gupta is the Editor-in-chief of The Print, a well-respected news media organization in India. The link to the video in which Mr. Gupta mentioned this is seen below. He mentioned that this fact will be part of a soon to be released book by Major General Lakhwinder Singh (Retd.) of the Indian Army.
Video of Shehkar Gupta speaking about the use of artillery in the Kargil War being inspired by the tactics of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Watch between the 13 and 15 minute marks.
So, modern military engagements demonstrate that concepts developed over centuries of marital practice continue to endure, while the technology used to put the concept into practice has changed continuously. I expect I will post a few more articles based on the thoughts that Op Sindoor has left me with.
These are just my thoughts as a layman with no military experience. I could be wrong about many things written in this post, including the actual events that took place and the thinking behind the same. This is partly because all details of Op Sindoor have not been officially revealed yet.
On 31st May 2025, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, in an interview with Bloomberg accepted that there were aircraft losses, but the numbers were fewer than six. The CDS also mentioned that any tactical errors on the 7th were fixed right away. This is perhaps his way of saying that Pakistani air defences were eliminated before any strike, after the 7th. This could mean that Pakistani military was a legitimate target after the 7th and not on the 7th. It could also mean that the Indian military, after the events of the 7th has decided that not only is the successful completion of the mission important but ensuring that no assets are lost is equally important. Either way, there are likely to be more aspects to learn from the operation in the weeks and months to come. A link to a snippet of the CDS’ interview is seen below.
Video which contains a snippet of CDS Genral Anil Chauhan’s interview with Bloomberg. Watch between the 3 and 4:30 minute marks.
20th May was “World Bee Day”. In India, Bhrāmari Devi is a form of the Devi, the Female Principle or Goddess, worshipped in many forms. “Bhramara” means a bee in some Indian languages. So, Bhrāmari Devi is the Goddess of Bees or Goddess with attributes of bees. Like with all forms of Gods and Goddesses, Bhrāmari Devi is also credited with slaying an Asura who had upended the natural order and thrown the doors open to chaos. And this brings the aspects of martial arts into the story which I shall explore further in this post.
The Asura Aruna like many other Asuras gained a boon (vara) from Lord Brahma. According to the boon, he could not be defeated or killed by any creature that was a biped or a quadruped or a combination of the two. This meant that he was invulnerable to all humans, Gods, Goddesses, other humanoid entities and also the large beasts that could harm most humans as we understand them now. This boon seems to be one that compensated for the Varāha and Narasimha avatāras. Varāha was a boar and Narasimha was a combination of man and lion.
I am making one assumption about this boon. If a biped, in other words Devatas, Mānavas (humans), Vānaras, Rkshyas (Jambavan’s kind – sometimes written as Rikshyas) and the like are prevented by the boon from killing Arunāsura, that includes any weapons wielded or discharged by them. So, a human shooting an arrow at the asura would not kill Arunāsura, nor would a warrior wielding a sword. If this was a boon in modern times, a bullet or missile fired by humans would not kill Arunāsura, nor would an AI system with human programming or input.
With this boon, Arunāsura dominated the three worlds and threw natural phenomena, the guardians of which were the Devas, into chaos. This required that he be stopped, even if it meant killing him. Since no weapon or massive beast of prey would have any success, other options needed to be explored. This is where bees and Devi Bhrāmari help resolve the problem.
Bhrāmari Devi, image credit – Wikipedia
Devi Bhrāmari unleashed a swarm of bees that stung Arunāsura. The Asura’s own attacks against the Devi were successfully defended by her. Arunāsura could not fight the bees. He eventually succumbed to the venom in the bee stings. The boon held and Arunāsura was defeated and killed by Hexapeds (creatures that walk on 6 legs), not bipeds or quadrupeds! Also, the mighty Asura was laid low by insects, among the smallest of creatures!
It is possible that Arunāsura did not include insects and other hexapods in his request for the boon since he did not consider them a threat to worry about. In this sense, a lack of awareness or incomplete threat perception did him in. He “expected” insects to not be a threat! This was an assumption, and in a conflict, assumptions and expectations are dangerous things.
I have heard a joke that has been around for at least a few decades now. A few Japanese swordsmen are competing to determine who among them is the best. The contest is to cut a fly! This joke works because everyone realizes that a sword is not what one fights a fly with. It is extremely difficult to hurt a fly with a sword. This fact holds true for bees as well!
There is a proverb I have heard, “You cannot fight smoke with a sword”. This aptly explains the situation anyone faces against a swarm of bees. When one is attacked by a swarm, all creatures know that getting away is the only option, one cannot stand and fight the swarm, unless one specifically came prepared for that eventuality. The fact that Arunāsura did not include protection from insects in his boon, shows that he was not prepared for this attack at all.
From what I know, it takes a couple of thousand or more stings to kill an adult human. Of course, if one is allergic to the venom, the number required is a lot lower. Considering we are currently in the “year of the snake”, it is apt that we are discussing a story where venom is the weapon! Venom is poisonous and fatal when injected beyond certain doses. In the case of Arunāsura, thousands of bees would have injected small doses, the sum of which was sufficient to kill him. It is a case of applying a large quantity of small solutions to a very big problem (the world ending kind!). It is the natural world equivalent of the classic adage “death by a thousand cuts”.
The story of Arunāsura is one in a long line where natural phenomena and animals are used to defeat threats to the natural order/humans and the Devatas. The stories of Varāha, the boar and Narasimha, the man-lion are well known. Another story that is pretty well known is when King Pareekshith was killed by the bite of a venomous snake. A less well-known story is Indra murdering a meditating asura by the name of Karambha. Indra committed this murder in the form of a crocodile. Indra paid for this subterfuge and assault on an innocent victim (Indra was worried that the meditation would lead to a boon which could make Karambha a threat to him in the future – a “Minority Report” kind of “pre-crime” situation).
A more interesting story of using a natural phenomenon as a weapon is that of Namuci and Indra. Namuci was an Asura of great renown and an enemy of Indra, the king of the Devas. Indra had promised Namuci that he would not attempt to kill him with anything that was either wet or dry. This seemed like a fair promise. But Indra smothered Namuci with foam on a seashore. Foam, supposedly being neither wet nor dry, allowed him to kill Namuci without breaking his promise. Indra had to face the consequences of his treachery of course.
In Hindu tradition, we celebrate a festival called “Āyudha Pooja”. This festival is celebrated on the ninth day of the 10-day long Dasara (Dussehra) festival. On this day, various tools of various trades are cleaned and receive gratitude from their users, for aiding them in living a good life. The tools that are worthy of respect in this festival include agricultural implements, weapons of war, machines in industries and even the laptops we use in the service sector.
The term “āyudha” means weapon. But it also means “tool”. Any tool that aids in life is an “āyudha”. Weapons are just tools that are used in war or any physical fight/conflict. And of course, in many cultures around the world, agricultural tools have doubled up as weapons on several occasions in history. A great example of this in Hindu culture is Balarama, the elder brother of Lord Krishna. The weapon associated with Balarama is the plough, which is most definitely an agricultural implement.
Animals have been used as tools and also as weapons of war for ages. Elephants, horses, pigeons and dogs are well known to have been used in war. If conspiracy theories are considered, even dolphins and chimps have been used as potential weapons in the 20th century, during the cold war and the 2nd world war before that. The story of Bhrāmari Devi is just an extension of this well-known teaming of humans and animals during times of conflict.
Honey Bee, image credit – Wikipedia
One instance of an animal being a tool to end a war while NOT being a weapon is the story of how Lord Muruga/Skanda/Karthikeya came to have the peacock as his vāhana. Vāhana can be translated as “vehicle” or “mount”. Most Gods we Hindus revere have animal companions, most of whom are vāhanas. The vāhana of Lord Muruga is the peacock.
Lord Muruga defeated and killed the Asura Tāraka. He also defeated another asura named Surapadman. I have heard in some stories that Surapadman is the younger brother of Tārakāsura. Surapadman eventually surrendered to Muruga. He asked for forgiveness and wanted to make amends for the harm he had caused. In return for his surrender, Lord Muruga spared his life. Surapadman then became a peacock and would serve Muruga as his vāhana. The peacock in this case is more like a peace treaty which led to the end of a war. Here, the peacock is not a weapon, but a tool, which led to peace.
This same aspect is true for bees in reality as well. That bees can kill is well known. I remember reading an article in the Reader’s Digest in the early 90s, which featured an attack by a swarm of bees. It was part of the magazine’s “Drama in real life” segment. That was the first time I read of a situation where an individual’s life was at risk due to an attack by bees. Even though we knew that bees and wasps are potentially dangerous, this article brought home to me the threat to life that they can pose. A similar article was also available in the same magazine, more recently, in 2021. I am sharing the link to that article in the notes below*.
Despite the threat bees pose, they are widely respected in the modern world. They are well known for the vital role they play in the ecosystems they inhabit and also for the wealth they can generate. The pollination services bees provide make them a keystone species in the ecosystems they have evolved to inhabit. Similarly, honey and beeswax are both sources of income for people around the world. Beeswax is used in cosmetics and honey as most would know has some medicinal properties.
Bees deploy chemical weaponry, in the form of the venom from their stings. The same biochemical abilities of the bees, results in the beeswax for the hives they build and for the honey, that is created from the nectar of flowers they visit.
I must mention a few pop culture references that come to mind due to this article. The point about bees being extremely useful and vital to the environment while being capable of threatening life has a hilarious parallel in the movie “Ninja” (2009). The movie stars Scott Adkins who is a great martial artist. The move itself is a fun watch. In the movie, the hero’s girlfriend is poisoned. The hero has inherited a katana from his teacher. The hilt of the katana has a secret chamber which has the antidote to the poison killing his girlfriend! He uses it to save her, and the antidote in the vial is the exact quantity needed to save her life! 😊
The hero does not know that there is a vial of antidote hidden in the structure of the sword until his girlfriend is poisoned. One of the teachings he has received from his teacher is that the katana of the ninja can take a life and also save a life. The hero recalls this teaching at the end and realizes that the teaching was literal! He then deduces that the antidote must be hidden in the sword! 😀 The whole scenario reeks of plot armour for the girlfriend!
The other reference has wasps** as the stars and not bees. But I am including it here since wasps are close relatives of bees and the scenario is far too amazing to ignore. There is a novel called “The Impossible Virgin” be Peter O’Donnel. It is one of the novels by the author in a series that stars the character “Modesty Blaise”. Modesty Blaise appears in 11 novels, 2 short story collections and 96 stories that appeared as newspaper comic strips.
Modesty Blaise and her friend Willie Garvin are extremely competent individuals. And they are both extraordinary martial artists with skills in unarmed combat and proficiency in many weapons, both historical and modern. In the novel “The Impossible Virgin”, they face off against a large number of gangsters while being outnumbered. This fight happens in a valley called “The Impossible Virgin” as people avoid entering it. Yes, the name is corny by modern standards, but the novel was published in 1971.
The Modesty Blaise novel, “The Impossible Virgin”, authored by Peter O”Donnel, published in 1971
Modesty and Willie are stuck without firearms against opponents who are carrying guns. But their opponents cannot use guns due to the valley. The valley is home to hundreds of active wasp nests. The sound of any gunshot will echo across the valley and trigger the wasps to attack. So, the fight is now against the machetes carried by the gangsters. Modesty and Willie use quarterstaffs to fight and defeat the gang. Fighting with a quarterstaff is basically bojutsu as we practice it in the Bujinkan system of martial arts. The sequence of bojutsu in the book is wonderful. And the reason for fighting with a staff is the presence of the wasps! The insects here are a shield without intending to be so! 😊
I included this sequence here since the wasps are responsible for some wonderful bojutsu action. But the sequence reminds us of another martial aspect of bees. Bees are quite militaristic! They have various roles and specialize in their tasks, just as modern militaries with high technology have specialists for different roles. And in conclusion I must add, a swarm of bees sounds a lot like a modern-day drone, at least the ones used by photographers at weddings and other ceremonies. So, perhaps quadcopters and similar military drones also sound like a swarm of bees on the attack! 😛
Narasimha Jayanthi was on the 11th of May this year (2025). Lord Narasimha was the 4th of the Dashāvatāra (dasha – 10, avatāra – incarnation). Lord Narasimha is a representation of incredible martial prowess. It is this prowess that I delve into in this article, to identify how his abilities are still practiced in real world martial arts, which in turn almost always have real life applications beyond the dojo.
A depiction of Lord Narasimha from the 6th century CE, Badami, Karnataka, India
Lord Narasimha came to be, to specifically counter one Asura, Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu had a vara (boon) from Lord Brahma which made him impossible to kill and thus functionally immortal. Hiranyakashipu’s boon conferred the following protections on him.
He could not be killed by a human or a beast
He could not be killed during the day or during the night
He could not be killed indoors or outdoors
I am now going to extrapolate a bit. I presume that Hiranyakashipu could not be killed by any weapon wielded by or controlled by a human. Otherwise, arrows would have been able to kill him in an age before gunpowder, an age when there existed “celestial weapons”, or astras of various kinds which could wreak unimaginable damage. Further, we will have to overlook the notion that humans are also beasts, just a different species. I have no idea if the boon took into consideration some specific definition for “human”.
I also presume that he was invulnerable to diseases that were cause by any biological vector, for they would constitute beasts. Considering the protection from the first point, the subsequent 2 points seem like an add-on package in case someone found a loophole in the first one. And as was the case, that is exactly what happened.
Beyond the boon itself, Hiranyakashipu was an incredible warrior, on par with the Devas. He wanted to be on par with Lord Vishnu before going out and conquering the world! This was the motivation for his gaining the boons. Further, he forced people in the lands he conquered to worship him instead of Vishnu. When I say worship, I mean in offerings at pooja, yajna and homa that are performed. There is a lot more nuance to every aspect of this story, which I cannot go into in this article*. I strongly recommend that everyone read the story in detail. Not only is it incredibly entertaining, but it is also full of conundrums and ways of overcoming the same. The connections to various happenings around the world is simply fantastic.
A common depiction of Lord Narasimha and his slaying of Hiranyakashipu in modern times. Image credit – “Prahlad”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
In the end, Vishnu incarnates as Lord Narasimha to destroy Hiranyakashipu. He bursts forth from a large pillar and fights Hiranyakashipu, eventually slaying him. There is a great fight between Hiranyakashipu and Narasimha, at the end of which Hiranyakashipu is disembowelled on the threshold. The end occurs by circumventing each aspect of the boon protecting Hiranyakashipu. These are as mentioned below.
Narasimha was neither man nor animal, but both. Hence Hiranyakashipu’s boon did not protect him from Narasimha. Nara means “man” and Simha means “lion”, literally “Man-Lion”.
Narasimha fought and killed Hiranyakashipu at twilight, which is neither day not night.
Narasimha killed Hiranyakashipu on the threshold, which is neither inside nor outside. I do not know if the threshold was that of his throne room or that of his palace.
From all the iconography I have seen of Lord Narasimha, he used no weapons other than his claws while fighting the mighty Hiranyakashipu. The same were used to disembowel and kill the Asura king. This same pattern is seen even in modern days comics depicting the story of the Narasimha avatāra. At the same time, Hiranyakashipu is depicted as using a sword or mace (gada), sometimes a sword along with a shield. I must add, I guess that the claws of Lord Narasimha were exempt from being classified as a weapon as Narasimha was neither man nor beast.
Lord Narasimha fighting Hiranyakashipu who wields a mace and a sword. Image credit – “Dasha Avatar”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
I will now extrapolate again. Based on the way the fight between Lord Narasimha and Hiranyakashipu is depicted, I think of this as a fight between a great warrior who was wielding weapons and another warrior, who was fighting unarmed. Of course, the fact that Lord Narasimha is a God evens out the odds of going up unarmed against an armed warrior. And the fact that a God had to fight at all and needed weapons (!) shows the martial prowess of Hiranyakashipu.
Now that the details of the fight are clear, let me look at the aspects of the same which, while fantastic, can highlight aspects of real-world martial arts and conflict management.
I will start with the simplest and most obvious one. The use of claws. In the Bujinkan system of martials, among the historical weapons we learn of, there are two interesting ones, which are worn on the fingertips. One is called the “Nekote” and another is the “Kanite”. Nekote means “cat claws” and Kanite means “crab claws”. Visually, to me at least, the two seem very similar.
Both the Kanite and the Nekote are pointed metal tips worn on the fingertips, much like thimbles. The points on these can be used to cause damage to the opponent with a shallow stab or rakes across the body. An image is seen below of the Kanite. These are reminiscent of the claws used by Lord Narasimha to kill Hiranyakashipu.
Kanite (crab claws/finger). Image credit – “Unarmed Fighting Techniques of the Samurai”, by Sensei Hatsumi Masaaki.
Even without the metal attachments, practitioners learn to use the tips of the fingers as weapons. There is a way of striking called “shako ken”. The fingers are used as claws to rake an opponent. Obviously, this is not meant for use against armour or any protected surfaces. It can be used to hook and pull the apparel of opponents. This strike is very similar to using the weapon called the “shuko”. The “shuko” in turn is very similar to a historical Indian weapon called the “bagh nakh”. I had written in greater detail about the bagh nakh and the shuko in a previous post, where I had discussed the martial prowess of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. A link to that article is seen below+.
Another way of striking with the fingertips is with the “Go Shitan Ken”. “Shitan Ken” is to strike with the fingers. “Go” refers to the number 5. So, “Go Shitan Ken” means “five finger strike”, in other words, to strike with the fingertips. This strike involves stabbing at the face or any other part of the opponent with the fingertips. It is not necessarily a strike or stab; it could be a push as well. To increase the force of impact of this strike, the five fingertips could be held together (like while eating). An image of each variant of Go Shitan Ken is seen below.
Two ways of using the fingers to strike (shitan ken). The fingers can be kept apart or held together for the strike.
Considering we are discussing claws here, there is a category of weapons one is taught about in the Bujinkan, called “Shizen Ken”. This refers to “natural weapons”. This in turn refers to weapons one is born with. Shizen Ken includes nails, teeth and even spit, that can be used to cause pain or discomfort to opponents with pinches, rakes, bites and just old-fashioned disgust**. 😛 The claws used by Narasimha would be called a “Shizen Ken”. But if a God that is neither man nor animal uses claws, would that then be a “natural” weapon? I am not sure. 😊
A closeup of Lord Narasimha’s claws. Image on the left is from Pattadakal, Karnataka. Image on the right is from Badami, Karnataka. The depictions are from the 6th and 7th centuries CE respectively.
Form around 2015 to 2020, Hatsumi Sensei, the Soke (inheritor/grandmaster) of the Bujinkan, focused a lot on the concept of “Muto Dori”. We learnt from our teachers, mentors and seniors that this was a very important concept, that included not just physical aspects but also ones relating to the attitude and a spirit of calmness, self-control and of course, breathing. “Muto Dori” in its simplistic form can be translated as “capturing without a weapon”. It means that an unarmed individual can take on and perhaps defeat an opponent wielding weapons, and not just survive.
Needless to say, it is extremely difficult and needs a lot training to achieve this successfully even in the dojo, let alone a real fight. The chances of survival and success diminish considerably if there is more than one opponent with weapons. But the training of this concept is very beneficial in terms of learning one’s weaknesses, achieving a modicum of self-control and in fine tuning one’s extant abilities. Hence, the practice of this concept lasts a lifetime, if not just during one’s time as a budoka.
If we think back to the fight between Lord Narasimha and Hiranyakashipu, Narasimha was demonstrating Muto Dori all through. Hiranyakashipu was a warrior of great prowess and wielded weapons against him. Despite this, Narasimha successfully disarmed and defeated him. Narasimha would have had one goal all through the fight. Hiranyakashipu had to be either manoeuvred towards the threshold, or he had to be moved to the threshold. This means Muto Dori with an objective! Anyone who has ever gone up against an opponent with a weapon while being unarmed would realize how mind boggling an achievement this is!
I am not going into details of how muto dori is practiced because it has to be experienced. No volume of words or even videos will transmit what it entails. So, suffice it to say that as a martial artist, Lord Narasimha’s abilities, for his demonstration of Muto Dori, should be the epitome one can aspire towards.
The above 2 images, the one on the right is a close up of the one on the left, are my favourites. This is a depiction of Narasimha actually fighting Hiranyakashipu in a doorway, with the threshold below them. This image actually shows a fight! Narasimha has locked both arms of Hiranyakashipu, rendering his ability use the sword and shield useless! And he is tackling the legs of the Asura king with his own! This is such a wonderful snapshot of fight in progress! This absolutely is a depiction of MUTO DORI! The image is from Pattadakal, Karnataka, from the 7th century CE.
Now I will look at some martial concepts that relate to conflict management as a whole, which also become apparent from the story of the Narasimha avatāra.
We have all been taught that to make any argument or a counter to any proposal or point raised against oneself or a team, we need to have all the necessary data. Making a point or a counter to one, without necessary and relevant information is almost foolhardy. This is something all of us are taught and practice regularly at work and in various aspects of life.
This same concept is stated in the Bujinkan, mellifluously I must add, as “Tsuki and Suki”. This is something I have heard mentioned a few times during training. Tsuki is a punch or a stab, a thrust in essence. Suki is a hole, more like an opening in armour or a gap in the same. It is a point when a thrust can be applied to cause harm to the opponent. So, one needs to “tsuki” a “suki”. One should attack an opening.
To attack an opening, one first needs to find an opening. To find an opening, one needs to know the opponent and how she or he is moving. Knowing the opponent includes the armour, weapons and objectives of the same. All of this adds up to “having all the necessary information”***. Simply put, having information is a precursor to “identifying the suki to tsuki”. The tsuki itself is the equivalent of counter a point in an argument. In a fight, an attack is a point raised, which is “countered” by a tsuki, which is a counter argument, and all of this is facilitated by information.
This flow of events in the various avatāras of Lord Vishnu is as follows. A great Asura acquires a vara (boon) from Lord Brahma. This boon ensures the invincibility of the Asura as he or she cannot be killed, though he or she is not immortal. This invincibility causes havoc in the world and the Devas, who are the guardians of the world, to lose power and go into hiding. The Devas and people of the world after failing to protect themselves despite all efforts, beseech Lord Vishnu for succour. Lord Vishnu incarnates in an avatāra to end the terror of the Asura and restore balance.
In the flow of events mentioned above, for any avatāra, I suggest that information is key! Lord Vishnu, when he appears as an avatāra, tailors the specific incarnation to circumvent all aspects of the boon the Asura possesses. In other words, the Asura creates the avatāra. Every aspect of the boon is understood, the loopholes are identified and exploited by the avatāra. This is the same as “tsuki to suki”. An opening is identified in the armour provided by the boon and a tsuki is applied to this suki. The avatāra is a tsuki and the loophole in the boon is the suki!
Hiranyakashipu realizes that the chink (suki) in his boon has been identified and is being used to attack (tsuki) him. Image credit – “Prahlad”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
All this does make one wonder, when the boon is granted, what is the confidentiality around it? Does the Asura announce to the world that he has acquired a set of powers due to the boon? Or is this gradually identified as people lose fights against the Asura? Does Brahma reveal details of the boon he has granted to the Asura, to the Devas who then report it to Lord Vishnu to device a counter? Or does Lord Brahma communicate the details to Lord Vishnu directly? Or does Brahma, who granted the boon, already know the loopholes which he reports to Lord Vishnu? If the answer to these is a “No”, does the duration of an avatāra depend on how long it takes to identify the loopholes? Or is there time taken to identify the “suki” in a boon before an avatāra incarnates? I do not have answers to any of these. Perhaps these are stupid thoughts. We are talking of Gods after all, and time does not have the same meaning in such circumstances, and I could be rambling. 😛
But these questions do lead to an appreciation of the Asuras and how they craft the boon they settle upon. I will explore this through a few examples. Many Asuras asked Brahma to grant them immortality. Lord Brahma could not grant that boon as all that was created had to end. So, the Asuras asked for boons that made them near immortal and definitely invincible, at least for long durations.
The Asura Tāraka asked that he be invincible and killed only by a son of Lord Shiva. This was a really smart move as Lord Shiva was a yogi and in deep meditation and unlikely to ever have children. Also, he was in deep mourning after the loss of Devi Sati. Tārakāsura was eventually killed by Lord Kartikeya, the son Lord Shiva and Devi Pārvati (a reincarnation of Sati).
The Asura Mahisha asked that he be unkillable by any male, as he was certain that no woman could best him. Devi Durga ended up killing him.
Rāvana asked that he be unkillable by most creations of Brahma. But he did not include humans in the list of beings he would not be killed by, as he assumed that humans would never be capable of defeating him. Lord Vishnu incarnated on Earth as Lord Rama, a human, to defeat Rāvana. What is interesting is that Rāvana was defeated by the Vānara king Vāli (Bāli) and the human king Kartaveerya Arjuna, but neither of them killed him.
Mahishi, the wife of Mashishāsura asked that she be vulnerable only to a son of Lords Vishnu and Shiva, both male Gods! Eventually, Lord Ayyappa killed Mahishi. Lord Ayyappa was the son of Devi Mohini (the female form of Lord Vishnu) and Lord Shiva.
There are more examples, but the ones mentioned above adequately illustrate the points I am going to make. Asuras were incredible, despite going against Dharma and attempting to upend the natural order of the universe, which would result is the suffering of vast numbers of beings. In all the examples above, the Asuras clearly had a great deal of intelligence. Their awareness of how the world existed at a given time, informed how they crafted their requests for boons.
The consequence of all these boons was that the Devas routinely lost power and the ability to perform their duties as the guardians of the 8 directions and natural phenomena (natural order). The Asuras lorded over the Earth during the time when an avatāra was yet to arrive to reestablish the natural order. Beyond the ability for great information gathering, the Asuras had great presence of mind in wording the request for a boon. The boon is no different from an inviolable contract in modern day parlance. So, their awareness of the strength of language was incontestable. All these observations together indicate that the Asuras were warriors of both physical and intellectual prowess.
Beyond all the above points, the Asuras were rewarded for another aspect. The path to achieving a boon from Lord Brahma was a torturous one. A very long time had to be spent in meditating on Brahma, in unimaginable conditions with all earthly needs overcome. This perseverance deemed one worthy of a boon. Hence, the effort ensured that the boon was inviolable and necessitated the presence of a God on earth to overcome.
The meditation of Hiranyakashipu was brutal on his body. It resulted in him almost dying and plants and anthills growing over him. Image credit – “Prahad”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
In my opinion all of this seems like what in modern day parlance is termed “Lawfare”. It could also be called “the process is the punishment”. “Lawfare” refers to “warfare through laws”, where the actions of specific peoples are either limited or given free rein through laws of a land. “Process is punishment” is when a person is highly unlikely to be convicted of any wrongdoing under given laws, but needs to work through the due process to get oneself acquitted nevertheless. A lot of resources and time is lost in this process, which has a massive opportunity cost. This cost is the punishment, not the actual one that the law might prescribe, as a conviction is almost certainly not on the cards.
These concepts were used by the Asuras and the avatāras both, with success on both sides. The process of proving oneself as being worthy of a boon ensured that most creatures, including Asuras, Devas, humans, Vānaras and other entities, would NEVER prove themselves eligible. The process was simply too hard to complete and the punishment too much to bear!
I called the boon an inviolable contract earlier. This was despite it bending natural rules and leading to the natural order being threatened. So, it was like a law that no one could violate. The Devas, despite having consumed Amrita, were incapable of overcoming the powers bestowed by the Vara. Even Lords Vishnu and Shiva, despite being the ultimate power in the Universe, were not allowed violate the restrictions of the boon, even if they could. This is why Lord Vishnu, as preserver of the natural order, had to incarnate with specific abilities to nullify the abilities bestowed by a boon. This is undoubtedly “lawfare”, where a law is created by a boon to benefit specific individuals or groups of individuals. Eventually, the law is NOT violated and yet the beneficiary of it is destroyed by identifying the loopholes in the law!
Mashishi asking for a boon, and thus indulging in “Lawfare”. Image credit – “Ayyappa”, published by Amar Chitra Katha.
If one considers the contemporary Indian context, the abrogation of Article 370, the amendment to the Waqf Act and not repealing the laws that curtail the financial freedom of temples are considered “lawfare” by people of different political leanings. There is one interesting aspect about laws in relation to this post which I have added in the notes, simply because it tangential and redundant to the idea already explained. I do recommend that people read it++.
That brings me to the end of this article. The Narasimha avatāra should, beyond the traditional significance and symbolism, open our eyes to knowledge that is not commonly known. This avatāra sheds light on the traditional martial arts and modern conflict management. And if one is not a practitioner of the martial arts, the story of the avatāra can open one to the idea that it is not a fantasy of old, the aspects holding it together are very real. Similarly, the story should hopefully reveal that conflict management is not magic and has no “silver bullet”. Intelligence, effort, time and perseverance are always required.
Notes:
* The last sukta (hymn) of the Rig Veda, as far as I know is called the Aikamatya sukta. Aikamatya roughly translates to “common opinion”. It could also mean, according to the little that I have read, “unity”. But this is not unity through homogenization. It is more like accepting all opinions and coming together. It is something like the modern Indian refrain, “Unity in Diversity”.
This sukta invites everyone to come together around the sacred fire and also states that all the Gods (essentially Gods of everyone) will be given offerings through the fire. I have heard two wonderful interpretations of this sukta. One by Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal, who is the Principal Economic Advisor to the Govt. of India and also a historian and author. Another is by Mr. Abhijit Iyer Mitra, who is a strategic affairs analyst, a Senior Fellow at the IPCS. Both are very well known in Indian media (both traditional media and social media).
Abhijit Iyer Mitra says that this sukta I am referring to is akin to the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the 30 years war in Europe. The treaty of Westphalia allowed citizens to follow any form of Christianity that they chose. It also ensured that the state or ruler cannot mandate the religion to be followed by its citizens. It separated religion and state. It also made all forms of Christianity equal as one could not persecute the other. This is pretty much what the Aikamatya sukta states, that all Gods will be accepted and prayed to and people will come together. The sukta of course, is a few thousand years older than the treaty.
Sanjeev Sanyal expands on this idea by showing what happens if this “agreement” made through the sukta is violated. He uses the stories of King Daksha and Hiranyakashipu (referred to in this article) to explain the same. King Daksha conducted a yajna where all Gods were invited to receive offerings, except Lord Shiva. Daksha’s daughter Devi Sati was married to Lord Shiva and Daksha was against the union. In opposition to her father’s decision, Sati disrupted the yajna by immolating herself in the sacred fire. This angered Lord Shiva and King Daksha was slain.
Hiranyakashipu forced people to abandon their worship of Lord Vishnu. He further demanded that people worship him in Vishnu’s stead. This is the same as King Daksha’s actions. Both Daksha and Hiranyakashipu violated the agreement of the sukta that all Gods would be worshipped. This violation resulted in their being punished. It is like there being a consequence for violating the treaty that mandates freedom of worship and equal respect to all Gods. This is the notion that Sanjeev Sanyal has put forth. I am not aware if others have also suggested the same.
** In Hindu culture there are “Navarasas”. Nava is nine and Rasas are emotions. One of these is “beebhatsa”. This is “disgust”. It is one of the nine emotions that can be evoked in an audience by any performance. The manner in which Hiranyakashipu is killed, by disembowelment, evokes a sense of disgust, or beebhatsa in the person experiencing the story. This same emotion is evoked by the manner in which Bhima kills Duhshāsana, in the Kurukshetra War in the Mahabharata.
*** In a martial arts context, “knowing the opponent” and “gathering information about the opponent” happens in the flow of the fight. It is not necessarily an activity that happens in a separate time from the fight. One needs to identify aspects of the opponent as the fight is happening. This seems esoteric, but anyone who has done any sparring knows that this happens all the time during training.
One needs to know oneself – one’s own abilities, weaknesses and objectives. And also, all these details about the opponent. In Hindu culture, knowing oneself is called “Swayambodha” and knowing the opponent or enemy is called “Shatrubodha”. I had written an article about these 2 concepts in a previous article, the link to which is seen below.
++ The guru of the Asuras, Maharishi Shukrācharya created the “Sanjeevini Vidya” by meditating on Lord Shiva. The Sanjeevini Vidya allowed him to bring back to life Asuras who were slain in battle. And they came back as they were before death, not like zombies from modern day pop culture. This was an effective counter to the Amrita that the Devas had in their possession. Amrita conferred immortality on the Devas, (for the duration of a Manvantara, if I am not wrong).
I presume that Hiranyakashipu and other Asuras who asked Brahma for the boon of immortality did so before the Sanjeevini Vidya was created. If not, there would be no need for such a boon. (And if it was later, would the boon hold if they were brought back after death? I have no idea). Anyway, the Asuras used Brahma’s boons to counter the Devas who had Amrita.
Eventually of course, the Devas gained the ability of Sanjeevini Vidya through subterfuge and a honey trap operation. Why they needed it though, I have no idea, as they already had access to Amrita. Was it to find a counter to the Vidya? Again, I have no idea. In my opinion, this conflict between the Devas and Asuras ended when Bali Chakravarthy was confirmed as the next Indra after the Vāmana avatāra. That’s another treaty by itself, something I have written about in other articles of mine, the links to which I am sharing below. All of these events can be considered technological warfare and “lawfare”.
The murder of Hindu tourists in Kashmir earlier this week has severely affected all of us Indians. We are all coping with it in our own ways. Since I have a domain and blog, I am using them to deal with the sadness, anger and other feelings. Perhaps some of the ideas shared here might resonate with others, though that is neither necessary nor the objective of this post.
The most important thing that any practitioner of the martial arts learns is protection of the self. One can choose to use the word “defence” instead of “protection”. This is true whether one is practicing an art form that involves weapons or an unarmed fighting style. When I refer to weapons, I mean both weapons of offence and defence. Examples of weapons of defence include body armour and shields.
The emphasis on protection or defence is revealed by a very important aspect. I will use the Bujinkan system of martial arts to explain this because that is the art form I am familiar with. We are taught that even weapons of offence are first and foremost, SHIELDS. Whether one is using a sword or a spear or a staff, all weapons of offence, we are reminded that these weapons are to be used a SHIELDS before their ability to cause harm to an opponent is utilized.
When one is using a staff, or bo, the basics taught include ukemi with the staff. Ukemi refers to receiving an attack, in other words, how to protect oneself with a bo in response to an attack. This same is true while using a spear. One learns how to receive an attack and hopefully redirect it away from oneself. While using a sword, one learns how to use the strong part of the blade and the tsuba, or the disc guard on a katana to stop an attack and the middle part of a blade to control or redirect an attack – the principle is similar to how a staff or spear is expected to be used.
I must add, I am referring to traditional martial arts here, specifically to the use of shastra*, as we call weapons that are not discharged, in India. This means that the attacks I am referring to could come from swords, axes, staffs, spears and other polearms. To protect oneself, and use one’s own offensive weapons like swords or spears as shields, all one has to do is put the weapons between oneself and the weapon(s) wielded by the opponent(s).
The importance of using even weapons of offence as protection is demonstrated by the concept having a posture named after it! There is a kamae called “Totoku Hyoshi no Kamae” in the Bujinkan. A kamae can mean “posture” or “attitude” (posture of the mind/spirit). “Totoku Hyoshi no Kamae” can be translated as “hiding behind the sword”. The reference to the sword is because we learnt this kamae while training the sword. But this kamae could refer to any weapon, when it could be called “hiding behind the weapon”. Simply put, this means using the weapon as a shield, by putting it between the wielder and the opponent (or opponent’s attacking weapon).
One of the senior most sensei of the Bujinkan system and soke of the Shinden Fudo Ryu is Nagato Sensei. I distinctly remember him saying, one should “Leave no opening” while facing an opponent. His statement was made with respect to how one should move in response to an attack by an opponent. He meant that when one responds, he or she should ensure that there is no opening left for the opponent to exploit. Until this is achieved, there is little sense in attempting a counter attack. Of course, this is incredibly hard to achieve and requires years of incessant training.
Another learning from Sensei’s statement is that one should keep moving in response to an attack until there are no openings left for an opponent to attack after the initial one. It need not mean that one moves or responds to the very first attack in a manner that denies any further openings. That could be a happy outcome, but not to be expected, much less depended on.
This brings us to the use of armour. One can “use any weapon as a shield” and move to “leave no opening”. The two together mean that one should move in response to an attack while using one’s own weapon as a shield. This movement will ensure that the shield is in the right place to protect its wielder. Like I said earlier, this is difficult to achieve without a lot of training and practice. Lack of training can be mitigated with the use of armour.
In any fight the conditions are always unpredictable and many a time, unknowable. In such a case, body armour is important. When the individual cannot move as required or utilize a weapon as protection, the armour takes the attack and protects its wearer. Further, armour also increases the opportunities to use a weapon of offence as it was intended, to harm the opponent.
While an armour protects the one wearing it, training is also needed to maximize the protection afforded by armour. No armour is without its openings and chinks. The openings are usually at the joints, the back of the leg and the arm pits. These openings are necessary to enable movement in armour. These openings will be targeted by opponents and practice is needed to keep these attacks at bay.
The above image shows openings in Plate Armour. Image credit – Wikipedia.
Historically, armour and weapons have evolved in response to each other. I will take the example of western armour to elucidate this. In the early Middle Ages chain-mail was worn over gambesons as armour. Later coats of plates were worn over the mail and gambeson combination. Eventually, a full plate harness came about. The full plate armour meant that the person wearing it was pretty much impervious to any weapon on the medieval battlefield. But this armour had openings as well, in the places I referred to earlier. To better protect the arm pits, chain mail was used under the plate. The elbow and knee joints eventually had articulated plates to enable movement while affording protection. The back of the legs were always vulnerable, but eventually plates were added there as well.
But weapons evolved to challenge armour. The estoc evolved from the regular sword, as a stiffer pointer version of the same. This allowed half-swording as men-at-arms and knights grappled to stab through the joints of plate armour. Daggers with reinforced points appeared to enable the same. And poleaxes evolved to combine hammers, axes and spears. The poleaxe could bludgeon opponents in armour to cause blunt force trauma and concussion like injuries. The spear point of this weapon could stab into joints and eye slits in the helmets that accompanied plate armour.
The head of a Poleaxe
When all the previous points are considered together, the following points should be clear.
Protection or defence is of paramount importance.
Every armour has its openings that can be exploited.
One needs to train to move to protect the openings.
Even weapons of offence are first and foremost a shield for protection.
A counter attack can only come when protection is achieved and there are no openings left for exploitation.
With the above points in mind, let me look at the situation we Indians and the Indian Government are in, post the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir. Before I start, I must mention that I am not an expert in geopolitics or geo-strategy. I am not a defence expert or an ex-soldier. Nor am greatly aware of how international relations and diplomats work. I am just a layman, with experience in martial arts, the knowledge of which drives some of my thinking. I am as sad and angry as most of my fellow Indians and its diaspora. This post, specifically what comes next, could be considered my rant, or a means of venting; either way, it is me trying to make sense of what is going on and what could come next. When I say what comes next, I do not mean a response by India to the terrorism it has been subjected to, I mean how we Indians share opinions and react to what the administration does, or has done.
There are many people who are wondering why there was no security in the Baisaran valley in Pahalgam where 26 Hindu tourists were murdered by terrorists. That is a fair question and the government has admitted there was a lapse. Over the last 6 years tourist numbers in Kashmir were continuously on the rise and violence was on a steep decline. Hence it was assumed that normalcy was pretty much back and tourists would not be targeted as that affects the local economy. One aspect of normalcy is that overt security presence is minimized. All of this seems to have been a temporary truth and hopefully normalcy will indeed return in the near future, perhaps with overt security presence. Either way, the lack of security leads to a point that has been raised even when violence was on the wane in Kashmir and in the naxal belt. I have heard this point referred to by some as “Fortress India”.
I have heard the term “Fortress India” mean two things. First is to ensure that India’s territorial integrity is inviolable. The second is to ensure that the life of every Indian is protected within the country. The second is usually in reference to protection from terrorist violence. In my opinion, this concept of Fortress India is the same as “Totoku Hyoshi no Kamae”. It means that protection is paramount. “Fortress India” refers to the country as a whole, while “Totoku Hyoshi no Kamae” refers more to the protection of an individual. Protection of the nation includes protection of its critical assets and infrastructure apart from the people and includes protection from cyber warfare and any 5th generation warfare attempts.
Once protection or defence of a nation is paramount, weapons invariably come into the picture. And like mentioned earlier, every weapon is first and foremost a shield. To demonstrate this, the first example would be the nuclear weapons possessed by some 10 countries in the world. The nuclear option has always been a deterrent, in other words a shield. Countries possess nuclear weapons to prevent other countries from causing damage beyond a “threshold” (however they define it). No one would ever dare to use one, at least as of now.
This concept of “protection” extends in a slightly different manner to modern day “stand-off” weapons. These include missiles launched from various platforms, but mostly aircraft. These can be launched from a distance far enough away to prevent the aircraft from being targeted by the air defence platforms of enemy nations. So, the range of the missile, or glide bomb, is the defence to the platform, while still being able to deploy the offensive (destructive) capability of the missile. This is the same as moving to a position to safely parry an attack from the opponent and carrying out the counter when “there is no opening” exposed to exploitation. In the case of the aircraft, the distance from the anti-aircraft weaponry is the “safe position” when there “is no opening” to attack for the air defence systems.
A shield for the nation, easy for visual representation, but very hard in reality.
The “protection” aspect extends to any air assault being able to have an electronic warfare suite, to jam the radar of incoming attack missiles. Then there is the ability to conduct network centric warfare, where an AWACS can guide a missile fired by a fighter aircraft. Or the aircraft that is using its radar can guide a missile fired by another aircraft which is part of the same mission package. All of this requires that vastly complex technologies work together precisely. And this working together or networking, requires a great deal of training. In other words, in a strike package, some aircraft are protecting the other aircraft which are carrying out the attack. So, this is the basic concept of traditional martial arts at a personal level scaled up to massive technological deployments at the scale of national armies.
And that brings me to the concept of resources, time and money. For a modern day martial arts practitioner, there is a huge cost to keeping up with the practice, even as just a hobby. The training equipment is not cheap, and time has to be set aside for the practice, both of which are hard even if one is passionate. And seeing improvements in one’s martial abilities takes time, years even, and for recognizable changes to manifest in personal and professional lives takes longer still. This same is true for the protection of nations. Vast resources are needed, and the time taken to evolve and improve technologies runs into decades. The cost to society due to defence related expenditure can be large. So, not all nations can afford technological superiority. This includes cyber warfare and war for the minds and morale of national populations.
Lastly, technological progress, just like personal ones, will see failure, and learning from the same is needed. Losses will be faced, and overcome. Who can state that nothing has changed in India’s defence architecture since the 2019 Balakot strike and the consequences of Pakistan’s Operation Swift Retort? I would say no one can. And if someone said it, they would be wrong. Longer range missiles have been inducted, better EW suites are available, software defined radios have been introduced to overcome jamming, and more improvements are on the way.
Grey zone warfare has perhaps been used (unknown gunmen) as well. Have there been improvements in intelligence and cyber warfare capabilities? I have no idea. And improvements are happening at an impressive pace in the development of laser weapons and scramjet engines. Both of these bring us closer to an Indian version of the Israeli “Iron dome” missile defence. Just so we do not forget, there is already a ballistic missile defence shield based on the Prithvi missile. This has been deployed for a few years now. So, development is happening incrementally and continuously.
But this is not to say that there is no scope for improvement and there are certain projects that are more cause for disappointment among the general public than the rest (think Kaveri engine and the infrastructure needed for its testing). And speaking of disappointment, we come to the war being waged against the fabric of Indian society.
We are a polarized country, just like the rest of the democratic world. Homogenous non-democracies will always attempt to exploit fissures in our societal fabric, like the fault lines of caste, religion and militant leftist ideologies. This is no different than finding an opening in armour.A united national populace is armour for a nation, and the splintering of the same if the creation of an opening to attack.
This begs the question, are we protected against “narrative warfare”. It seems we are, at least for now. And are we using it successfully against adversaries? I do not know. Perhaps we are and I do not know, or maybe we are not very successful at it, yet.
This leads to the question, are we citizens responsible for protecting our own selves and hopefully each other in this narrative assault? Perhaps we are. And if yes, how successful have we been? Considering how polarized and tribal we are in current times with social media access, perhaps we are successful in not being defeated by narrative, but not successful is ensuring the opponents of the nation realize that the attack will always fail, for certain. It seems that foreign adversaries still see opportunities for success here. There is sufficient friction in the country to enable these attacks.
There is an old Bedouin saying, which goes, “I against my brother, my brother and I against our cousin, my brother and our cousin against the neighbours, all of us against the foreigner.” I suppose in the Indian context, considering the size of our population, we can expand it to something like this.
“Me against by brother or sister. My sibling and I against the family. My family and I against the village or city. My city and I against the country. My country and I against the enemy nation.”
The spirit of this saying is that no matter our differences, we unite against a threat to the nation, be it foreign or domestic. We perhaps need to train how to protect each other in the narrative wars to come.
With that I conclude this post. This article is more of a coping mechanism for me, venting if you will, as I confessed earlier. So, I do not have a clear conclusion. Just a bunch of thoughts and connections I have strung together.
Notes:
* Shastra (weapons that are not discharged), not Shaastra or Shāstra (fields of knowledge/study)
In large parts of India, among Hindus, touching the feet of elders and teachers or bowing down to them, is a common practice. It is an extension of bowing down before the Gods and Divinities. When I say bowing down, it is not the Japanese bow, or one seen in a historical European context.
We do what is called a “Shāstānga namaskāra” or “Dheerga Danda namaskāra”. Men do a full prostration in front of Divinities. Women sit on their knees touch their foreheads to the floor in front of the Gods. The same is done in the presence of our Gurus, some teachers and elders in the family, community or society based on the situation.
Two depictions of the “Dheerga Danda Namaskaara”. Image credits – (L) “Mahabharata 23 – The Twelfth Year”, published by Amar Chitra Katha, (R) “Mahabharata 20 – Arjuna’s Quest for Weapons”, published by Amar Chitra Katha
Touching the feet is not something generally performed with the Gods. This is done mostly with humans we revere. In this case, one bows down and touches either the feet or the ground in front of the feet. This is an abbreviation of the prostration described earlier, performed in the interest of space and time. A further simplified version is just bowing down and touching the knees of the person*.
Irrespective of the exact nature of the “bow”, the act denotes showing respect to the Gods or to the person before whom the same is performed. It is not exactly an act of deference or subservience, it is purely one of respect, and maybe bhakti (loosely translated as “devotion”). It could be an act of deference, but that was not, as far as I know, the original intent and is not the intent in most parts of modern India today.
The key point of the “bow” is to touch or be in front of the feet of the individual(s) towards whom respect is being shown. The Feet are, in this sense, the most important aspect. This extends to the point where we consider the ground that is trod by the feet of great people and Gods as sacred ground.
It was common practice, perhaps it still is, for elders who accompany younger folk to any temple, to tell them to look at the feet of the idol of the deity. This is a constant reminder and is passed on from generation to generation. In Kannada, it is called, “Paada nodu”. In Hindi it would be, “Pair dekho”. It literally translates to “look (nodu/dekho) at the feet (paada/pair)”. In this vein, touching the feet is “Paada muttu” in Kannada and “Pair chuo” in Hindi. “Muttu” and “Chuo” translate as “touch”.
So, the focus of Bhakti and the act of showing respect always involves THE FEET.
The other field where the focus on the feet is vitally important is the Bujinkan system of martial arts; I daresay this is the case with all martial arts.
Among the first things that a student learns on starting in the Bujinkan is “Kamae”. “Kamae” could be considered “posture”, of the physical body. It could also refer to “attitude”, which is the “posture of the mind”, which in turn refers to displays or the exuding of non-physical aggression, confidence, fear and the like. For the purposes of this article, I am referring to the physical posture.
Two depictions of Kamae (physical posture). Sketches by Vishnu Mohan.
Kamae, when seen by an onlooker, predominantly shows the posture of the hands and the legs as a whole. But the kamae as experienced by the budoka (practitioner of budo), has greater focus on the core and the feet. The core because it holds the upper and lower halves of the body together. And the feet because it ensures balance and determines potential movements the body can perform, from said kamae. I will focus only on the key aspects regarding the feet in this article.
One of the key things that I have learnt from my teacher, mentors and seniors in the Bujinkan is that the weight should be towards the front half of the feet, i.e. towards the ball of the feet and the toes. The weight of the body should NOT be on the heels in any kamae. This holds true even for the most basic of the kamae, Shizen no Kamae, which can be translated as “Natural posture”. For those not in the know, this kamae just involves standing naturally in a relaxed posture.
Two more depictions of Kamae (physical posture), one with a weapon. Sketches by Vishnu Mohan.
The distribution of the body weight on the feet is absolutely crucial in the Bujinkan! To reiterate, it must be on the front half of the feet. This is vital because, making any movement from any given kamae, is faster with the weight on the ball and toes of the feet. Triggering any movement if one had loaded one’s heels is definitely slower. This is because the body is a lot more stable and rooted if one is standing on one’s heels. This in turn means that the inertia that needs to be overcome to initiate a movement is greater if one is on the heels.
When I say the “time taken to initiate a movement”, it is not too much, it could be a fraction of a second. But this time difference makes a definite difference during training and most certainly in a conflict situation that involves real harm. It could be termed “a split-second difference which makes all the difference”. This difference need not be distinctly visible to an onlooker, but any practitioner of the martial arts, certainly a practitioner of the Bujinkan, experiences this time and time again, perhaps in every class.
The distribution of the weight on the feet brings us full circle, back to the feet in Hindu culture. Specifically, to the depiction of the feet in sculpture produced by Hindu culture.
Lord Varaha saving Bhoodevi – carving in Cave 3 in Badami, Karntaka, India. The image on the right is a close up of the feet in the image on the left. Observe that the weight is either on the front half of the feet or on the side of the feet. Photograph by the author.
Consider any architectural or sculptural marvel from Indian history. It could the temple in Madurai, the sculptures in Mahabalipuram, the carvings on the magnificent temples at Halebeedu, Hampi or Badami, the marvels at Ellora or the historical monuments around Sanchi and Vidisha, or the many many others I have not mentioned here. All of them depict stories from Hindu culture. These include stories from the Mahabharata and Ramayana and the deeds of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Devi Durga. Many sculptures and bas reliefs depicting these stories show the human form in martial action. This includes the use of weapons and unarmed combat. Apart from the stories themselves, almost all temples have guardians carved on either side of the entrance to the Garbha Griha (literally “home or abode of the womb”), or sanctum sanctorum. These guardians always bear weapons.
The image on the left shows Lord Shiva destroying the Asura Andhaka (Aihole, Karnataka, India). Observe that the body is leaning forward and hence the weight will be on the front half of the feet. The image on the right from Pattadakal, Karnataka, India, shows a “Dwaarapalaka” (Guardian at the door). Observe that the individual is leaning on the weapon (mace/gada) and the weight is either on the front or the side of the foot. The weight of the body is not on the heels in either image.Photographs by the author.
Now consider the depiction of the feet in the sculptures showing martial action. Almost all of them show the body weight on the front half of the feet, irrespective of the kamae or posture depicted in the sculpture. This also extends to the posture of the guardians at the doorway to the Garbha Griha. Individuals might be shown leaning on the weapon they wield but are never depicted with the weight on the heels.
I am sharing multiple images with this article, that show the posture of the feet from a few different temples. One of them even shows the crimping of the little toe when the foot is lifted as if in a potential axe kick!
The image on the left, from Cave 3 in Badami, Karnataka, India, shows the Trivikrama form of Lord Vamana. Observe that he is standing on one leg. The image on the right is a close up of the left foot in the image on the right. Observe the crimping of the last 2 toes, as the weight is distributed to the front and side of the foot. Photograph by the author.
It is well known that temples in India have historically been more than just places of worship. They have been cultural centres, malls, schools/training centres, banks and treasuries, apart from just places of worship. The carvings on the temple walls were intended as teachings and storytelling features, sometimes both. Everything from tales from history and ethics to practices of intimacy were carved on temple walls. This was, according to some, because a lot of this knowledge was not taught directly.
Temples were thus a means to learn what was not yet in books and was not taught specifically as a subject in schools. So, considering this intent, in my opinion, what is carved in the temples are depicting what is, in all likelihood, the correct way one is supposed to load one’s feet. Therefore, the depictions of feet of warriors, even if they are deities, is showing how the weight distributions on the feet works, in marital arts in India.
The image on the left, from the Ravanaphadi Cave in Aihole, Karnataka, India, depicts the Mahishaasuramardhini. The image on the right is a closeup of the left foot of Devi Durga. Observe that weight is clearly on the side and front of the foot. Photograph by the author.
This continuum of importance of the feet and more importantly, the weight distribution on the feet is awesome indeed, at least to me. If one is a Hindu, it will be well known that feet are important to Bhakti and if one is a budoka practicing the Bujinkan the importance of weight distribution on the feet would be a key learning. The two come together in the depiction of the feet in sculpture seen in Hindu temples. Perhaps the best place for a budoka to appreciate the kamae of the feet is in a sculpture in a Hindu architectural marvel and being a Hindu, it is impossible to miss the kamae of the feet, for the feet is what one is culturally conditioned to observe. An absolute win-win combination. 😊
Notes:
* When a person touches the feet of another, the person whose feet is touched, almost always offers āshirwāda, which can loosely be translated as blessings. So, there is a responsibility placed on the person receiving the respect. It is not just to foster an air of superiority. A person being shown respect must have the humility to know that āshirwāda is due, even if not expected.
The above image summarizes the 5 methods of conflict management described further in the article, with examples
In this article I am suggesting that conflict management in human life, be it in the martial arts or at work, in different industries or in personal relationships, follows similar patterns. Hence, experience at work or in relationships or in the martial arts can bleed into one another. The experience in any is likely to be beneficial in the others.
One of the first things that a student of the Bujinkan learns is the “Uke Nagashi”. Uke Nagashi can be roughly translated as “receive the opponent in flow”. In practical terms, it means “how to respond to an attacker”. In generic terms that might be used in multiple martial art systems, “Uke Nagashi” could be called “ways to defend or block or parry”.
There are two ways in which Uke Nagashi are classified, for ease of learning by beginners. Over years of practice, the importance of Uke Nagashi does not diminish, it takes on a more central role, but is not top of mind in regular practice. One of the ways of classifying the Uke Nagashi is beautiful and simple, for it is alphabetic. Five Uke Nagashi are defined. These are,
A – Absorb
B – Block
C – Counter
D – Deflect
E – Evade
A reasonable description of the above 5 methods of Uke Nagashi are seen below.
“Absorb” generally means ceding space. It means allowing an attack, either unarmed or with a handheld weapon (non firearm) to reach its intended extent but surviving the attack by out of the space where the attack lands or ends.
“Block” refers to holding ground. It means that an attack, again unarmed or with a weapon, is stopped when it reaches its intended target, and fails to inflict the intended harm.
“Counter” usually means moving into the space (occupy space) that is likely used by the opponent/attacker. The individual receiving the attack likely moves forward to occupy space to deny the attacker the needed space to carryout the attack in the first place. The attacker could be forced to withhold or mitigate the attack to avoid any harm to herself or himself.
“Deflect” is a variant of “block”. The individual receiving the attack positions herself or himself such that the attack, despite landing, fails to cause the intended damage or is turned away from the intended target.
“Evade” could be considered a combination of any or all of the above 4 methods. It could simply mean, “not being in the space where the attack is likely to land”.
The above could be a hard to visualize, so an example to visualize the five Uke Nagashi could be the following. Imagine an attack with a sword.
Stepping back beyond the maximum reach of the cut or thrust would be an “absorb” uke nagashi.
If one has a shield or is wearing armour, receiving the attack on either of these without changing ones position would be a “block” uke nagashi.
If one has a sword and stops the attack by threatening the attacker with a counterattack (😊), that is a “counter” uke nagashi.
If one has a shield and repositions oneself such that the sword attack glances off the shield, maybe because of its convex curvature, that is a “deflect” uke nagashi.
A combination of any or all of the above would be an “evade” uke nagashi.
The above are a perspective through the prism of the martial arts. I posit that the same methods of response to various conflict situations are what we use on a day-to-day basis at work. I further suggest that these five methods of responding are used at all levels of organizations, not just the entry levels or middle management or the higher echelons of leadership.
To elucidate this point, I share the following examples. Consider a scenario where a client disagrees on any aspect of doing business. The 5 five methods of responding to this would be something like those mentioned below.
“Absorb” response – One either says that they will see what can be done to accommodate the client’s requirement or apologize if there seems to be a lacuna of some sort in one’s actions. Here a supplier has acceded to a client’s position and has bought time so see how the requirement can be met.
“Block” response – One can tell the client that the supplier does not agree with the stated position, and it will have to be looked at in greater detail. Here, the position of the client is not accepted, and further negotiation/discussion can take place. The client’s position is also stopped where it was and further expansion on the same is checked.
“Counter” response – One tells a client that the supplier disagrees with the client’s position and the reason for the disagreement is something to do with client actions in the recent past. Here, the client is not only thwarted from confirming a position in a discussion but is potentially pushed on the defensive to explain a stance previously taken.
“Deflect” response – A representative of a supplier can tell a client that they will set up a separate call to discuss the issue at hand or say that one will have to discuss the issue with someone else to get details of what has transpired. Here, in setting up a call, one has deflected the issue in time, to later date or bought a few hours to respond. In saying someone else needs to be contacted, the deflection is in space, where a different person has to be brought into the fray. This of course could buy time as well. The client’s position is not acceded to or disagreed with, it is “put on hold”.
“Evade” response – Like in previous examples, evasion is a combination of a few or all of the previous 4 methods of response. So, one could say that the supplier disagrees but will set up a call to discuss further. This would be a combination of “counter” and “deflect”. Or the response could be that they are sorry for the disagreement and will discuss further on a call. This is a combination of “absorb” and deflect”. There could also be a case where the specific person the client has a disagreement with goes on “leave”. This is a “deflect in time” and a “block” as the client position has been put on hold for the time being without acceding to their position.
I have considered a scenario which involves a business interaction. The manner of responses would apply to personal relationships as well. Consider any disagreement with a spouse, a parent, sibling, child or friend. All these disagreements are conflicts of varying scales with the consequences ranging from financial ones to reputational ones to just considerations of ego. The responses in all of the disagreements/conflicts can be classified into one of the five defined earlier in this article.
So, if the “5 methods” of responding or uke nagashi are applicable in just about any conflict, either physical or not and be it in business or in personal life, this cannot be something new. It is not an invention of mine. It is just an observation of an application in the Bujinkan system of martial arts to life beyond the dojo. The “A B C D E” seem to have always been applied by humans.
So, if the ways of responding are not new discoveries and something that we humans have always been doing, why am I writing this post? The answer is as follows.
Generally, even if an idea is well known, if we externalize it, by writing it down or making a video or picture of the same, it is easier to remember. Also, if we can rely on an external medium and not just memory to remember an idea, it is easier to express and evolve the idea from its base. This also frees up our memory without any worry of losing ideas due to focus on other pieces of knowledge.
There are also stressful times when we lose track of what we already know and an external reminder of what we could apply based on existing knowledge and experience in such a situation tends to be helpful. Consider it as having access to one’s notes or a textbook, or a manual or support webpage or just a search engine, if not AI LLMs. 😊
To take an example from popular fantasy, consider the Harry Potter series. Professor Dumbledore uses a “Pensieve”, a magical device which he uses to look at his own memories from an external perspective, that helps him with new realizations. This aspect also has a parallel in the Bujinkan. One of our mentors, Daishihan Darren Horvath, once said that to be able to improve as a martial artist, one should be able to look at one’s own movement from an external perspective.
That brings us full circle. Perhaps being able to look at our actions in life, at work and in personal relationships, should be able to help us achieve better movement and flow during practice in the dojo. The A, B, C, D and E of responses seem pervasive, likely due to their facilitation of preserving one’s life, or position or opinion at work and in life outside the dojo.
This post is a series of observations in hindsight. It is an identification of a set of coincidences that seem important to me personally. There is no great significance to the observations but for the experience of having them.
This article will be my 65th post. This number is what brought about the observations that are documented below. Not specifically the number sixty five, but the numbers in the “sixties” in general. My posts are about the intersection I see between Hindu culture and the martial arts, specifically the Bujinkan system of martial arts. So, here are the series of thoughts I have had, as of now.
In India, the 60th birthday of an individual is considered very special. It is called “Shashtyabdha Poorthi” or “Shashti Poorthi”. “Poorthi” means “completion”. “Shashti” is “sixty”. “Shashtyabdha” means “cycle of 60 years”. Both terms refer to the completion of sixty years of life. The significance of the 60 year cycle comes from astronomy.
Shashtyabdha Poorthi – written in Kannada (left) and in Devanagari (right) script
The cycle of 60 years refers to the time taken by three important celestial bodies, according to Hindu tradition, to cycle through the sky from and to the constellation Mesha (Aries). When Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon) and Guru (Jupiter) are in the constellation Mesha (Aries), it is considered the year zero. The three celestial bodies move across the night sky to cycle through the 12 zodiacal constellations multiple times before all of them are in Mesha at the same time again. Since the three bodies move across the night sky at different rates of time, they do not meet in Mesha often. It takes 60 years for Surya, Chandra and Guru to meet in Mesha once they start their cycle and move away from each other.
This is the reason the 60 year cycle is considered very important. Hence, when a person turns sixty, a pooja or homa is performed at home. If nothing else a visit to the temple is almost always guaranteed when an individual turns 60. Also, in the Hindu calendar (panchānga), a year is called a “Samvatsara”. There are 60 samvatsaras, each with a specific name. There are 60 samvatsaras because they are designed to coincide with the alignment of the Sun, the Moon and Jupiter in Aries.
The Bujinkan is a system of martial arts with its origin in Japan. And interestingly, the 60 year cycle is of importance for the Japanese as well! The 60th birthday of an individual is considered important even in Japan. From what I know, this is called “Kanreki” in Japanese. The word means “return of the calendar” according to Google. So, what is “Shastyabdha Poorthi” in India is “Kanreki” in Japan.
Kanji for “Kanreki”
The Japanese follow the Chinese zodiac. This zodiac has twelve animals and five elements. The five elements are Earth, Water, Fire, Wood and Metal. Every twelve year cycle is associated with an element. So, one twelve year cycle has one year for each animal and is associated with one element. For example, this year is the “Year of the Wood Snake”, wood being the element and snake being the zodiacal animal. So, a multiplication of 5 and 12 gives 60, 5*12 = 60.
Thus when a person turns 60, he or she would have lived through all the 60 years as a combination of the animals and each of the five elements. And hence, they have “returned in the calendar” to the year which is a combination of the animal and element at the time of their birth. Thus, a full cycle is complete and is a cause for celebration. The measurement of the cycle is different, but interestingly, both the Indian and Japanese (and of course Chinese) methods lead to a sacred time span of 60 years!
Even in the Western way of thinking, the 60th anniversary of an institution or an event, is considered the “Diamond Jubilee”. An individual is supposed to have entered one’s “Golden Years” when he or she turns sixty or perhaps 65 by some points of view. This seems tied to the fact that one is retiring from a regular job and has more time for leisure. It therefore seems that in many parts of the world, a sixty year cycle is considered important, if not sacred.
But can the importance of the number 60 have a reference to the martial arts? Specifically the Bujinkan system of martial arts? It seems possible, as I elucidate below.
The link with the Bijinkan is not specifically to the number 60, but more to the numbers in the sixties. This is something like the definition of the “golden years of one’s life”. Also, this absolutely is me cherry picking data to suit an idea. It could also be a case of Frequency Bias or the wonderfully named “Baader-Meinhof Effect”*. Either way, I am writing this because I enjoyed doing so and it makes sense to me. This is not an attempt to connect things for anyone else.
The core of the Bujinkan consists of the Ten, Chi and Jin Ryaku no Maki and the Buki Waza. The Buki Waza refers to training with weapons of varying lengths. “Buki” is “weapon” and “waza” is “technique”, literally, “techniques with weapons”. The Ten, Chi and Jin Ryaku no Maki (Ten Chi Jin for short) consists of training unarmed combat and in some ways is a precursor to training with weapons, for one needs to learn body movement before adding a weapon into the mix.
My mentor Arnaud Cousergue once referred to the Ten Ryaku no Maki as the “ryaku” of the Bujinkan. He also referred to the Chi Ryaku no Maki as the “waza” and the Jin Ryku no Maki as the “kata” of the Bujinkan system respectively. “Ryaku” is “principle”, “waza” is technique” and “kata” is “form”. So, a student of the Bujinkan learns the principles and techniques of the Bujinkan, followed by the forms. The forms are designed to be able to apply the principles and techniques in various combinations. These are carried on to training with weapons, with modifications where applicable.
Now for the numbers.
The Buki Waza consists of 67 forms across 9 weapons. This is exclusive of the kamae (postures) and kotsu (key points).
In the Ten Ryaku no Maki, 60 kyusho are listed. Kyusho are weak points or “pressure” points on the human body.
In the Ten Ryaku no Maki, apart from the kyusho there are61 points (or ryaku), apart from the variants for some of these.
In the Chi Ryaku no Maki, there are 67 waza including the variants of some. If one disregards the variants, there are 57 waza.
In the Jin Ryaku no Maki, there are 59 kata including the variants of a few, which is just short of 60.
The above chart has the entire Ten Chi Jin and Buki Waza syllabus. It is a chart created by our mentor Arnaud Cousergue. I have only shown the headings for reference and hidden the actual forms and techniques, for they have to be learnt in a dojo. Also, I do not own the rights to the above chart.
As can be seen, pretty much each segment of what a student of the Bujinkan learns as part of the basics consists of roughly 60 forms/techniques/concepts. The Ten Chi Jin and Buki Waza are key learnings every practitioner has to imbibe before earning the black belt or before being considered a real student of the system.
Since we are looking at similarities between and Japan and India, there is one point that must be mentioned. And this one involves a number in the sixties as well. In ancient India, a cultured or learned individual was expected to be skilled at 64 kalas**. A kala is an art or in this case, a skill. These 64 include, singing, dancing, conversation, flower arrangement and a host of others. These are separate from the 14 vidyas, or “forms of knowledge”, which include the 4 vedas, 4 upavedas (subsidiary vedas) and 6 shāstras (branches of knowledge)***. The 64 kalas/art forms are discussed in the famous ancient Indian text, the “Kāmasutra” (yes, it has information beyond just the “positions”).
A folio of the “Kamasutra” written in Devanagari script. Image credit – Wikipedia
Now, before concluding, I would like to descend further into the rabbit hole of numbers. 😛
In the Bujinkan, there are 10 kyu levels, or more correctly, 9+1 kyu levels. Kyu levels are like standards or grades in schools, like 1st standard, 2nd grade and the like. They are levels or stages a student passes through before achieving a black belt or “shodan” level, which is a 1st dan or 1st degree black belt. After earning a black belt, there are 15 levels, which are called Dan ranks. So, before a black belt, there are kyu ranks and after a black belt, there are dan ranks.
When a student begins her or his budo journey in the Bujinkan, she or he is considered a “mu kyu”. “Mu” is “empty”. So a “mu kyu” is someone who does not have a kyu or any rank at all. This is the first level. When a student with a “mu kyu” passes the first test, she or he earns the “9th kyu”. This is the first of the numbered ranks. Over the course of training, the kyu levels reduce in descending order. So, when a student with a “1st kyu” earns the next rank, he or she becomes a “1st dan black belt” or a “shodan”.
A male student wears a green belt before earning the black belt (while holding the kyu ranks). Female students wear a red belt before the black belt is earned.
In the Bujinkan, there is a concept of the “Goho Sanshin no Kata”. Here, the word “goho” refers to “five ways”. These five ways correspond to the five elements. Here though, the five elements are, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Space (wood and metal are not a part of this set of five). These elements are the same as those seen in Hindu culture. In Hindu culture the five elements are called “Pancha Bhoota”. “Pancha” is five and “bhoota” is element. The five elements in many Indian languages are called, “Prithvi (Earth), “Jala (Water)”, “Agni (Fire)”, “Vāyu (Wind)” and “ākāsha (Space/Sky)”.
The forms related to the Goho are trained over and over all through one’s life as a practitioner of the Bujinkan. The learning from the training of these 5 forms is applied in armed and unarmed combat in various ways. The Goho is pretty much a foundational aspect of the Bujinkan. Hatsumi Sensei, the previous Soke or Grandmaster of the Bujinkan system, had once said that there is a sixth element beyond the five we train regularly. This is something I have heard from my teacher Shiva and other mentors.
A representation of the Godai (the five elements). Artwork by Adarsh Jadhav.
Hatsumi Sensei had said that the 6th element is “Consciousness”. The Japanese term he used to refer to “consciousness” was “Shiki”. This could also be referred to as “being aware” or “being mindful”. From what I have learnt and experienced of this concept of Shiki, this is supposed to be something that one can experience when the experience with the other 5 elements are imbibed with many years of training.
Hatsumi Sensei is also supposed to have remarked upon this idea of “Shiki” in reference to the famous book “Go Rin no Sho” authored by Miyamoto Musashi, the master swordsman who lived during the 16th and 17th centuries in Japan. “Go Rin no Sho” means “The Book of Five Rings”. It is quite a popular book even in modern times in corporate circles where it supposedly teaches strategies to overcome challenges.
The five rings in the title of the book refer to the five elements that we mentioned a little earlier in this book. Sensei supposedly said that he has moved beyond the five elements referred to by Musashi, and into the sixth one, that is Shiki or consciousness. This was supposedly mentioned as a further evolution from the past and an improvement as well. He also mentioned that he was teaching this to his students and that they should imbibe Shiki as well.
Thus, there are 6 elements, the five which are analogous to the Pancha Bhoota in Hindu culture and Shiki, which is a layer on top of the five. I cannot help but think of the old cartoon series “Captain Planet” here. In the series, there were five parts to the eponymous superhero, 4 elements (earth, water, fire, wind) and “heart” (because it is what unites the other 4 elements or something like that, I cannot recall). In real world martial arts training though, Shiki enables the effective application of Chi, Sui, Ka, Fu and Ku (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Space).
So, there are 10 kyu levels and 6 elements. There are several other concepts and sets of concepts with different numbers in the Bujinkan. But why did I look at the two sets that had 10 and 6 respectively. Simply because this article is about 60 and the sixties. Six time ten is sixty, 6*10 = 60. 😀
Notes:
* Baader-Meinhof effect – A phenomenon where one seems to encounter a word or concept often after coming to know of its existence.
Mundane Budo 