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Vrutha – Fasting Before a Battle and the Wisdom of the Orient.
Author : Mr.R.Venkatachalam
Date : 09/10/2005
Email your comments to : kathinayogi@hotmail.com
Kalari warriors, in fact all the Hindu soldiers would go for a type of fasting before a battle or duel. Many such examples can be seen in the epics and the in the folklore. It is usual for the warriors to begin the religious fast of vrutha seven days prior to the battle or duel. He spends the seven days meditating and taking minimum quantities of food and undergoes specialized training in his chosen weapons. Usually tow days before the battle he makes special offerings to the presiding deity of the kalari or his family temple. This offerings include kadali fruit (a species of plantain), mature coconut, porridge made of rice cooked with sweet palm-jaggery and ghee, malar (the rice equivalent of popcorn), raisins, sugar candy etc. The actual recipe may vary from place to place but the ingredients are always rich in carbohydrates. Then the warrior goes to the battle field or duels and fights with gay abandon for hours. This superhuman effort is often attributed to the meditation and the fasting that resulted in the blessings of the presiding deity. Of course faith can move mountains. But here the question is whether there is any scientific reason behind these rituals? Modern day researchers need proof for everything and here I will try to explain something using my limited knowledge.
The religious rites of the Hindus were created by the ancient sages of Bharatavarsha in the most scientific manner and every rite has an inner meaning. For example: the offering of Thoppukkaranam or Ettham before Lord Ganesh. The belief is that if you do 108 thoppukkaranams before Lord Ganesh, HE will shower blessings on you. The inner meaning here is that Thoppukkaranam or Ettham is a whole body exercise and to do it even once, you have to be in terrific shape. Can’t believe? I am talking about the real movement- not what you commonly see in Ganesh temples i.e. People in all their earnestness holding the lower tips of their earlobes with the crossed hands and just shaking their buttocks. The real movement is:
1.Stand up with your heals close together and toes turned out to 45 degrees.
2.Hold the lower end of the left earlobe with your right hand and vice versa
3.Now take a deep breath.
4.Breathe out and squat down rock bottom and touch the ground in front of your feet with the elbows (NO. You cannot release the hold on your ear lobes).
5.Breathe in and stand up.
6.Repeat.
Do it 108 times and hey where is your pot belly? How flexible you are?
Got it?
So this is how in the good old days people were coerced to do good things like physical training.
Now let us come back to our subject. During the fast the warrior takes a minimum quantity of food. Two days before the combat he offers carbohydrate rich food to the deity and he himself consumes it. Then on the day of the combat he has energy levels to take him through hours of actual fighting. Can’t you smell something? Yes this is exactly what the modern day athletes are doing in the name of carbo loading.
Anyone who engages in endurance activities uses reserves of glycogen as a source of energy for the activity. If the glycogen levels are high then the endurance of the person will be high. A typical carbo loading cycle will be like this.
Six days prior to the actual event the process begins. During the first three days the competitor depletes the glycogen levels in his body be reducing the intake of the carbohydrates AND by doing exercise/training. Then the last three days of the cycle the competitor consumes carbohydrates and reduce the expenditure by lowering the intensity and duration of the training/exercise.
So what happens? When the glycogen levels are depleted during the first three day phase, the body thinks that there is famine and somehow the glycogen stores should be replenished. Just then comes the second phase of loading carbohydrates and relative reduction in the intensity and duration of the training/exercises. The body replenishes the glycogen stores and tops it up with extra stores of glycogen. Thus on the day of the competition, the athlete will have extra stores of glycogen to provide energy for extended periods of activity.
Now compare this with the above mentioned Vrutha of the Hindu warrior. The wisdom of the ancient sages of India ensured that the athletes of India trained in the most efficient manner.
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