A video is going viral on social media. In this video, some Muslim girls wearing hijab can be seen taking martial arts training. Social media users are claiming this video that Muslim girls are learning Kalaripayattu, the martial arts of Kerala from the Hindu community.
Sharing this video, a user wrote – ” #Kalaripayattu is the ancient #war lore of #Hindus of Kerala state ! #Muslims are teaching this weaponry to their daughters , and #Hindus are teaching dance to their daughters! Its result will be visible in future. #wake_up_hindus @ABVPVoice @nidhitripathi 92 @Aishwaghpatil @AnkitaP0598”
At the same time, this video has been shared by many other users with a similar claim which can be seen here, here and here.
Fact Check
To check the video going viral, we first checked the video. The logo of AsiaNetNews was on this video. We started checking the video on the official YouTube channel of AsiaNetNews. This video was uploaded on July 27, 2015.
According to the title and description of this video, 21-year-old martial arts trainer Arifa is training her students. To search more about Arifa, we found a report from newindianexpress.com. In this report, Arifa describes in detail how a Muslim girl has learned the Kalaripayattu martial art while facing societal challenges. Now she herself is training the girl students by becoming a trainer.
The same time, we found an article from The Hindu to know more about Kalaripayattu. According to this article, the Union Sports Ministry has included 4 Indian martial arts including Kalaripayattu in the “Khelo India Youth Games”.
The training of this martial art is not only received by Muslims but women and men of all communities of Kerala. Gurukuls are run for this purpose.
Conclusion
Our fact check proves that Kalaripayattu is an ancient martial art of Kerala. Like judo and karate, it also has competitions and championships. It is a martial art of Kerala. That’s why social media users are making the 2015 video viral with a misleading claim.
Claim- Muslim girls of Kerala are learning Hindu warfare
Claimant- Social media users
Fact Check – Misleading
