Northern kalarippayattu places comparatively more emphasis on weapons than on empty hands.
Masters in this system are usually known as gurukkal (and only occasionally as asan), and were often given honorific titles, especially Panikkar.
By oral and written tradition, Parasurama is believed to be the founder of the art.
Northern kalarippayattu is distinguished by its meippayattu physical training and use of full-body oil massage. The system of treatment and massage, and the assumptions about practice are closely associated with Ayurveda. The purpose of medicinal oil massage is to increase practitioners' flexibility or to treat muscle injuries incurred during practice. The term for such massages is thirumal and the massage specifically for physical flexibility katcha thirumal.
Sampradayam, or lineages, or northern kalarippayattu include the arappukai, pillatanni and vattantirippu styles
Phillip B. Zarrilli, a professor at the University of Exeter and one of the few Western authorities on kalaripayattu, estimates that northern kalarippayattu dates back to at least the 12th century CE. The historian Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai attributes the birth of northern kalarippayattu to an extended period of warfare between the Cheras and the Cholas in the 11th century CE.
From the eleventh or twelfth century the right and duty to practice the martial art in the service of a ruler was most associated with specific subgroups of Nairs and Ezhava/Thiyyas (called chekavars). However, at least one sub caste of Brahmins as well as some Christians and Muslims were engaged in practicing this martial art.
In addition to this, chekavars were engaged to fight in ankam, public duels to the death to solve disputes between his opposing rules called Vazhunnor. Among some families of the above communities, some young girls also received preliminary training up until the onset of menses. In vadakkan pattukal ballads its a known fact that at least a few women warriors also continued to practice and achieved a high degree of expertise. Ankam were fought on an ankathattu, a temporary platform, four to six feet high, purpose-built for ankam.
The earliest and most detailed account of this art is that of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa (c. 1518).
Kalarippayattu underwent a period of decline after the introduction of firearms and especially after the full establishment of British colonial rule in the 19th century.
The resurgence of public interest in kalarippayattu began in the 1920s in Tellicherry as part of a wave of rediscovery of the traditional arts throughout South India and continued through the 1970s surge of general worldwide interest in martial arts.
