Like most martial arts of the ancient world, religion played a large role in Indian martial arts. Practicing martial arts in ancient India was considered tribute to the gods. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, finger movements and dancing became an important part of martial arts, much like how the Japanese kata and Chinese forms had been in their respective arts. In fact, dancing became so interlinked with martial arts that until recent times, the chhau dance was only performed by martial artists as both arts enhanced each other. In some traditional Indian dance schools, martial arts are still considered part of their program.
Pehlwani
Pehlwani is a form of South Asian wrestling developed in the Mughal era as a combination of native Indian wrestling as Persian combat arts. Forms of Pelwani can be dated back to at least the 5th century BC and is considered an ancestor of modern South Asian wrestling. When North India was conquered by the Central Asian Mughals, Persians of Mongol descent, in the 16th century AD, Iranian and Mongolian wrestling were incorporated to the local Indian arts, resulting in Pehlwani. A man by the name of Ramadasa, who is considered the father of Indian athletics, encouraged Hindus in the country to participate in physical activity as tribute to the monkey god Hanuman in the late 17th century, which popularised Indian martial arts.
Pehlwani includes mainly locks, throws, pins and submission holds similar to Japanese Jujitsu, avoiding strikes and kicks.
Kalaripayattu
Kalaripayattu was first documented in the 11th-12th century AD by historian Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai however oral folklore which described the creation of Kalaripayattu by Hindu gods, precedes that. Kalaripayattu's origin in Kerala is traced back to the legend of the 6th avatar of Vishnu, where he threw his axe into the sea and when the water receded, the land of Kerala was created. He is said to have introduced Kalaripayattu to help protect the land and it's people. The art's development was emphasised during the 9th century when warfare was ripe and warrior clans practiced it to defend their state and king. Writings of early colonial historians such as Varthema, Logan and Whiteway attest to the wide popularity of the art, transcending gender and communal lines, becoming as important as reading and writing. In the earliest western accound of kalaripayattu by Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa (1518), he mentions that warriors begin training as young as seven years of age and they are taught tricks of dexterity, dance, leaping and weapon training.
Kalaripayattu is a deeply religious art. Kalari, meaning school, is a holy sanctuary watched over by a guardian deity (usually Kali or Shiva) and is worshipped with floers, incense and water before every training session. Traditionally, when a kalari was closed down, it would be made into a small shrine dedicated to the god. Kalaripayattu also emphasised on pressure points, becoming famous for allegedly being able to kill or disable opponenets by merely touching one of these vital points. As a result of studying the human body, Indian martial artists also became excellent doctors and masseuses. In fact, massages were often given by teachers to their students to increase flexibility of treat injuries.
Kalaripayattu includes strikes, kicks, grappling and weapon arts. It is rumoured to be the forerunner of Chinese martial arts, as the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma took this knowledge from India to China.
http://www.kalari.in/kalaripayattu.htm
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/martial-arts-india/
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http://www.mykickboxing.com/India/malla-yuddha.html
http://4point4milliondays.com/disciplines-sport-39-1051
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