Indian and Filipino arts coming together

Can't wait for this weekend.

Let me introduce myself I have practiced weapon based martial arts for the last 17 years. Over the years I have practice mainly Silat with a bit of Filipino Kali. I trained extensively (last 6/7 years) with Guru Richard de-Bordes.

I recently (past year) discovered a Indian martial art from my home state that is virtually extinct. The teacher is Gurudev Niddar Singh, take a look at some of the videos

He has to be one of the last classical swordsmen in the world. I've seen Guru de-Bordes and many other malay and filipino artist train with a sword. However I never seen anyone who can use the vast range of bladed weapons as Gurudev.

Anyway, I come to some conclusions in my simple head about the practise of Filipino martial arts. Unfortunately my skill level is quite average, i.e. I only dedicate 15 hours a week to training. So to my surprise rapid anis i.e. Pat O'mally is doing a workshop with Gurudev (Niddar Singh) on the 17th.

I got a lot of questions to ask. Can't wait for the weekend. I have to thank Pat O'mally, as someone who has spent a life time studying Filipino arts and still able to explore beyond the box. He's a true martial arts and true master.

Respect.

 

shastar vidiya?
where you training at?
the gurdwara i go to stopped classes cos the teachers were extremists that didnt really fit in with the compassion and equality of faith ethic we have at my particular gurdwara.
just so no one gets annoyed - i do know nihang singhs but im not taking about them, they're not extreme, the extremists im taking about holds strong prejudice against certain other religions. im going to study under a nihang singh friend of the family so that site was actually a great resource.
also Punjab zindabad

 

Thanks for posting this thread. I too am excited about this weekend as I have found Gurudev to be both a humble man and a generous teacher he is a true Master of the arts and I cant wait to see us both swap ideas on bladed combat with both the distinct differences and unique similarities of both arts.

I the short time I have known Gurudev I have been amazed at his wealth of knowledge and how both arts compliment each other.

To me this is an historical event were two great combat arts come together to share and hopefully this will not be the last.

The event is being held on Sunday in sunny Torquay south Devon and is open to all levels and styles of martial artists that wish to participate in this historical workshop.

Best wishes

Pat

 

Thanks to everyone who turned up at this workshop I had an absolute blast and it was great to see two combat arts happily work side by side and share each others knowledge. It was an honour to work with all of you and great to see how much both arts have in common.

The best workshop I have had the privilege of being on and I cant wait for the next one which I believe will be sometime in October in Leicester.

Best regards and thanks

Pat

 

It certainly sounded quite interesting. Would have loved to attend it. I hope everyone who did appreciated the experience.

Cheers...

 

It's was great. There will be interveiws and clips going up on YouTube soon and coverage in Combat Magazine as well as this there will be coverage and interveiws of the event going out too 280 million people on the BBC World Service sometime in September.

Best regards

Pat

 

Some people within the community doubt Niddar Singhs claims. But I think it has more to do with religious quarrels.
One complaint is that he bases everything of Hindu deities where as shastar vidiya was modified andpreserved by the Sikhs who did not believe in deities and do not include them in their teaching of anything.

 

Religion. Deities. Well that is neither here nor their all I know is I watched him move and I know when I am watching someone who knows what he is doing and he knows what he is doing. He is a true master of the combat arts.

He freely taught and shared his knowledge and trained in what we knew with an open mind and is a very humble man.

I don't care what other people think. From one fighter to another I have the upmost respect for his skills.

Best regards

Pat

 

As a matter of fact he could have based it on the Simpsons it would have made no difference he knows what he's doing and we seen no religion in the room. What we did see was a sharing of culture and knowledge of combat skills and good friends where made in that room. And that's what counts.

I would recommend that anyone seeking to improve their understanding of combat skills seek him out. I found him to be a very open and honest man with an undying passion for his art.

Best regards

Pat

 

I hope you will let us know when the clips are up on YouTube. Thanks in advance.

Cheers...

 

I agree. If his skills are good does his lineage matter?

 

Pat please ignore this post.

Hi Zaab,

I think your on the wrong forum, you should be posting here. lol

Also Zaab most Punjabis class them selves as sikh/hindu i.e. interchangeable. If you want a history lesson or a work out PM me I'm based in Ilford, born in India.

The same problem is occurring in SE asia with the silat community in regard to hindu traditional practice in silat. They even tried to bad yoga. Silat I practise still retains the traditional practice, modern silat style are adapting removing elements that are not compatible due to religious belief. This should not happen, the only reason to change and adapt is to evolve i.e. making it more efficient. I will be discussing my trips to SE (Indonesia, Malay & Thailand, in other posts).

I need to apologise to everyone, this I hope will be the last time I talk about race and religion on this forum.

Also Zab, I would love to come and train with your nihang singh friend. Is his ground fight as good as Niddar Singh. What is his art called?

Zab If you want to train in the real thing, you no were to find it.

B4 I go you asked, 'If his skills are good does his lineage matter?' you should no better than this. It's like a son who asks who his farther is. You have to respect the masters that came before.Without them there is no knowledge, with no teacher there is no student hence no art.

You also said, 'modified andpreserved by the Sikhs', I don't no were you getting your historical info from. I agree preserved by a minority of sikh, who did not modify the art, hence only one person openly teaching the art. Therefore we still pay respect to the ancestors. Niddar does a lot of work for museums around London, why not go and ask them. My offer still stands on the history lesson.lol

peace, Jai hind.

 

My username is ZAAD

Im not sure we're having the same conversation...

I was pointing out that Niddar Singh's methods of teaching are different from how things have been taught by Sikhs today. He teaches with an older method that bases its forms on gods (or from at least what I've been told about his methods).
And yes Sikhs did preserve and modify "Shastar Vidiya", as it just means knowledge of the sword - a Wiki search shows that could range to numerous styles.
The main modification they made adding numerous weapons the fight with. This is because of the vast array of soldiers of different faiths that contributed their knowledge to the Sikh armies, this gave us the vast array of weapons available to study from.
It's like Kano studying different styles of Jujutsu and adding their techniques to form Judo.

It is very much possible that he teaches a style of Shastar Vidiya that is different from the some Sikh communities understanding of Shastar Vidiya, thats why they doubt his claims.
But more of it has to do with his lineage claims as well as his sect of Sikhism

But its really just petty religious quarrels that we shouldn't get involved in, Leave each to his own beliefs on those topics.
I don't doubt his claims.
Its very likely that Guru Gobind Singh would have taught Shastar Vidiya with Hindu religious elements as this is how he would have ben taught as he was of Kshatriya descent and learn't to fight from Hindu soldiers.
As they say, you teach how you were taught.
I personally don't care about his lineage and style as long as he can fight well. But as you said, it would be cool to learn something from Punjab

Is Niddar Singh based in Leicester? My Nihang singh friend (family friend, he's about 40 with family) said that there is a great and very accepting Shastar Vidiya teacher there. It might be the same person!
I've been rejected from training with some people because I have an Islamic surname.
As i said petty religious quarrels.
From his seminar it seems Niddar Singh is quite accepting of other people. I'd be glad to train with him!

Niddar Singh has good groundwork?!?!?!?!? GREAT! I love groundwork! Plus wrestling was emphasised as the main form of unarmed combat by the Gurus. People somehow forgot about that.
That in itself proves that Niddar Singh is the real deal.

 

I see this thread getting ugly very quickly.....hope I'm proved wrong.

 

By the way Pat, I think this is an awesome coming together of styles, congrats on championing it.

 

No more talk on politics, religion or race. We are all the same here. Let us share and train. We are one.

Sorry Zaad may of over stepped the mark, please pm me, I would pm you but I don't no how.

Sorry everyone.

Lets get back on track.

Can't wait for the next issue of Combat.

Peace.

 

No more talk on politics, religion or race. We are all the same here. Let us share and train. We are one.

Sorry Zaad may of over stepped the mark, please pm me, I would pm you but I don't no how.

Sorry everyone.

Lets get back on track.

Can't wait for the next issue of Combat.

Peace.

 

No more talk on politics, religion or race. We are all the same here. Let us share and train. We are one.

Sorry Zaad may of over stepped the mark, please pm me, I would pm you but I don't no how.

Sorry everyone.

Lets get back on track.

Can't wait for the next issue of Combat.

Peace.

 

Hopefully it won't, I actually agree with Maharaj.
But I would like to know the MA reason for people's objection to this Style of Shastar Vidiya. Apart from religious quarrels, there really is no reason.

Maharaj posted this link: http://www.sikhsangat.com/Index.php?/topic/62129-shastar-vidya-was-banned-by-the-british/

I agree with the last guy:

Pat said that he learn't a lot from the experience so it's clearly legit.
And Maharaj trains Silat and Eskrima and also learn't a lot.

I wondering, what similar concepts did you see between the arts?

 

Hi all,

Here is the video of the camp, can't believe Pat's 50 he doesn't look a day over 25.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aphzZLBNcwg&feature=player_detailpage"]Sanatan Shastarvidiya & Filipino Martial Arts Seminar 2011 - YouTube[/ame]

Also a little extra, to show are unarmed stuff.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUeB-RlRX9o&feature=player_detailpage"]Sanatan Shastarvidiya - Loh Mushti [Iron Fist Fighting] - YouTube[/ame]

Repect.