Meenakshi Amma Biography 
Meenakshi Amma is a practitioner and teacher of Kalaripayattu, the traditional martial arts form of Kerala. She is still active in the field and also teaches her students despite she is 75+ years old. At the age of 76, her efforts were honoured by government of India through Padma Shri. She is the oldest lady to practise this martial art form. In her mid-70s, cladded in sari, she can attack like a tigress with her weapons and conquer her opponents. She is fondly called Meenakshi Gurukkal by her students. She was one among 15 such unsung heroes whose efforts were honoured in 2017, and this category has been introduced to Padma Awards this year only.
She hails from small town of Vadakara, about 45 km away from Kannur in Kerala. Kalaripayattu became a part of her life since the age of 7. Her father first introduced her to it by taking her to watch an exhibition performance by a Kalari group. It was long before Independence and her father had already determined that Meenakshi and her sister would be given training in martial arts. Seeing her interest, she was enrolled to learn and train under Raghavan Master, and later she married him. Once when Meenakshi’s father got a minor injury and started bleeding in one such exhibition, she was in tears. Watching her, Raghavan proposed her and later married.
She got married at a young age of 17 and since then she got permanently associated with the world of Kalaripayattu, and its training. Initially she took on the responsibility of helping her husband-guru run the training center – Kadathanadan Kalari Sangam. She also started teaching students later. At any given time in the season of Kalari training, she has around 150 students, aged between six and mid-20s. At the end of the training session, the student pays a gurudakshina according to their ability.
Published: February 19, 2019
Updated: February 19, 2019
