Reviving the art of historical archery

Historical archery is seeing a great revival in all parts of the world, and India is also an integral part of this endeavour. In the team event competition at the recently concluded Bario International Historical Archery Festival 2024 (BIHAF 2024), in Bario, Sarawak, Malaysia, the international team defeated Hungary, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and the local blowpipe team to win first place. The winning team comprised archers from Philippines, Great Britain and India. The archers representing India were V Balakrishnan (Chennai) and Jasminder Pal Singh (Chandigarh). Both of them are also a part of the Indovedic Traditional Archery Association.

Telling us about his love for historical archery, Balakrishnan says, “Historical archery is how archery was practiced before guns and ammunition came in. Countries like India, China, Japan, Hungary, Mongolia, Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia have a very rich heritage of archery. And we are talking about the bows and arrows, basically the stuff mentioned in legends and myths. So there has been a great deal of research in trying to recreate these bows using modern materials. Artists all over the world meet and discuss, have forums, and participate in competitions.”

Bala mentions the bows that the artists use at the Olympics archery events has got got sighters and stabilizers to help them shoot better. But in historical archery, what is used is basically a stick tied with a string — something that our ancestors used to hunt or to fight in wars.

Bala’s interest in everything to do with mythology and legends is what influenced his decision to pick up historical archery. He says, “I started taking historical archery seriously (practicing and participating in competitions) from 2015. I started it because it was a great help with my theatre work. Theatre Nisha uses a lot of concentration, focus and mindfulness whenever we prepare our plays. So historical archery has been like a very meditative experience, and now we have also started teaching this art.”

Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com

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