Sino-India martial arts masters meet at famed Shaolin Temple

Martial arts masters from China and India met Sunday at the Shaolin Temple, which is famed as one of the holy sites of Chinese Kungfu, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Twelve Indian masters the traditional Nithya Chaithanya Kalari Indian martial arts training center, which was founded in 1993 by Murugan Gurakal, performed Indian martial arts called Kalaripayattu on the same stage where monks of the Shaolin Temple performed their Kungfu Sunday morning.

"Shaolin Kungfu is the father of Chinese martial arts and Kalari is mother of Indian martial arts, " said Murugan Gurakal, chief instructor of the Indian Kalari group.

Murugan Gurakal said he hoped his countrymen could learn a lot from Shaolin Kungfu .

Indian masters performed Kalari, or Kalarippayattu in front of the abbot with techniques including long stick fighting, knife fighting, sword, shield and flexible swords on the platform, which attracted many tourists.

Also, Shaolin monks performed many types of Kungfu including Tung Chi Gong, Er-zhi-zen and "Eighteen Weapons."

Shi Yanhao, a monk who performed Tiger Fist, said, "I am happy to see the mysterious Indian martial arts. Their performance was excellent and they were flexible in their body techniques."

Source: Xinhua