Way of the Bow archery festival in Thiruvananthapuram from January 31

Join the Way of the Bow archery festival in Thiruvananthapuram from January 31, celebrating traditional archery and its heritage.

The origins of the Way of the Bow festival can be traced back to 16 years, when Praveen Ramachandran, vice president of the Indo-Vedic Traditional Archery Association (ITAA), approached members of tribes across Kerala, such as the Kurichiya, Kani, and Kuruma, as well as the Khasi tribe in the North East, to learn traditional archery. The three-day festival, which begins on January 31 at Prakirtheeyam at Nedumangad in Thiruvananthapuram, celebrates the waning practice of traditional archery. It is curated by Gadha Suresh of the cultural collective, Two by Three.

“The festival is about establishing traditional archery as a mainstream sport, entertainment medium and seeing it with a meditative approach,” says Praveen. “It is part of a vanishing heritage. When we talk about archery, we only consider modern archery, which is taken from foreign countries. We have a traditional archery culture that is at risk of getting extinct and may remain only in the annals of history.”

At Way of the Bow festival, competitions will be held in three categories —cultural traditional archers, traditional-inspired/shelf/hunting and tribal archers. The challenges will utilise 3D archery, where the participants must hit targets from 35 yards as opposed to the 75 yards in modern archery. However, the targets will be moving to simulate the conditions of a hunting expedition, which makes the shooting difficult.

Over 30 participants are expected to attend the festival, which includes 17 Indo-Vedic archers, 10 from the Kani tribe (they use slings and stones instead of bows) and seven modern archers.

“Modern archery participants resemble sniper shooters with their emphasis on accuracy. Everything in modern archery, such as stabilisers, is about ensuring that you have a fixed target. That is perfect target practice. Traditional archery is more dynamic. You learn to shoot with both arms, because apart from being a hunting tool, it is also part of warfare. It is also very situational,” says Praveen.

The fete will see demonstration on mace-wielding by S Mahesh Gurukkal of Agasthyam Kalari. Other events include archery workshops, discussions, and cultural programmes.