S R D Prasad

S. R. D. Prasad, known as Prasad Gurukkal, is a master of kalaripayattu, the martial art of Kerala, and heads Sree Bharath Kalari in Kannur, among the handful of long-established schools where the art is still taught ^[2]. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of sports, from Kerala ^[1].

A kalari in the family

Prasad was born on 11 January 1945 in Pallikunnu village in Kannur district ^[2]. His father, Chirakkal T. Sreedharan Nair, started him in kalaripayattu and trained him at home and at the kalari he had founded in 1936 as Rajkumar Kalari, renamed Sree Bharath Kalari after Independence ^[2]. After graduating, Prasad worked as an officer with the Rubber Board and as manager of a rubber estate while continuing to practise and teach ^[2]. Since 1998 he has been the kalari’s full-time guru, and he still teaches hundreds of boys and girls ^[2].

Demonstrations and courses

With his students he has given lectures and demonstrations in India and abroad, including at the World Book Fair in 2008, Sangeet Natak Akademi events in 2012 and 2015, and in Belgium and Luxembourg in 2017 ^[2]. He helped draw up syllabuses for movement science and dance and fitness courses at Mumbai University, where he also taught as visiting faculty, and prepared the syllabus for a diploma in kalaripayattu at Kannur University ^[2].

Writing about the art

His books include Otta (2004), Kalariyile Kala (2010), a biography of his father, Maippayattu (2012) and Marapidichu Kuntha Payattu (2019), as well as Bharatha Kandam, a novel based on the Ramayana ^[2]. He has received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2015 and a fellowship of the Kerala Folklore Akademi in 2021 ^[2].