List of posts

October 23, 2023

Aayudha Pooja, Vijayadashami – The most important festivals for the martial arts

Image credit: Original art by Vishnu Mohan (Goobe Art) , above rendition by Chirag Hasyagar (Goobe Art), art concept by Vikram M R Today is Aayudha Pooja and tomorrow is Vijayadashami. Aayudha Pooja is celebrated on the ninth day (Navami) of the Dasara festival and Vijayadashami on the tenth (Dashami – it is built into…
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October 15, 2023

Missile – long range weapon :: Narrative – “Long time” weapon

“Kirik” in colloquial Kannada means, “deliberate mischief”, maybe with malicious intent Training of any traditional martial art system involves learning to use weapons. Generally, practitioners learn the use of weapons based on the reach of the weapon. The range a weapon can affect is based on its reach. A simple classification of weapons based on…
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September 28, 2023

Kaitatsu Gairouku and Tapasya – How to get help with influencing the Gods

Kaitatsu Gairoku means “do it indirectly”. This is just a phrase from the Japanese language. But it is also a concept that is trained in the Bujinkan system of martial arts. It is understood and applied differently based on the depth and duration of experience of a practitioner in the Bujinkan. Further, this concept is…
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September 14, 2023

Gogyo – Ura and Omote

Godai – artwork by Adarsh Jadhav During the pandemic, all of us had to deal with several changes. We all had a lot of trouble changing how we went about our regular routines due to the enforced situation and the lack of choices that allowed one to go about life without making any changes. While…
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August 31, 2023

Shabdavedi, Sakkijutsu and Why Charioteers are Awesome!

Anyone who has read stories from Hindu culture or watched TV series based on the same, would have heard of the ability called “Shabdavedi”. This is the ability of an archer (either a hunter or a warrior) to accurately strike a target purely based on the sound it makes, with no visual input at all.…
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August 15, 2023

Swaraj and the Lizard (and Ninjas?!)

Today is “World Lizard Day” (August 14th). Tomorrow is the Independence Day in India (August 15th). So, the two were connected (in my head) with a nice little legend from Indian history and I felt like sharing the same. This is unlike my usual posts where I explore the intersections between Hindu/Indian culture and the…
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August 3, 2023

Kuki Taishou and the Gaze of Nahusha

Nahusha was an ancestor of the Pandavas, who are the victors of the Kurukshetra War described in the Mahabharata. The Pandavas are something like the twenty second generation after Nahusha in the Chandravamsha++ (Lunar dynasty). Nahusha is one of the well-known ancestors of the Pandavas and an illustrious king during his time. He lived a…
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July 20, 2023

Connect, Control – Part 2; Boons, Blessings, Curses & The Sakki Test

The test for the fifth dan in the Bujinkan is also called the “Sakki” test. Sakki here generally refers to “intuitive ability”. For those that are not a part of the Bujinkan, I am describing the test. The test involves two people, one administering the test and another who is being tested. There are other…
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July 6, 2023

Connect, Control – Part 1; “Connect, Control = Shatrubodha in flow”

An interesting connection between Budo and Bharatiya tradition There are two concepts that are taught in the Bujinkan system of martial arts which are very simple to state but extremely difficult to express and achieve. The two concepts are “Connect” and “Control”. These concepts are mentioned to everyone practicing in the Bujinkan from their early…
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June 22, 2023

When there are no solutions..

Training with knives is scary. It is scarier than training with swords or spears or sticks. I am of course referring to traditional martial arts and not considering fire arms or even historic projectile weapons like bows and arrows, crossbows, slings and other thrown/discharged weapons. In other words, using Bharatiya terms, I mean while training…
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