Kottakkal Kanaran Gurukkal (1850-1935) also known simply as Kanaran Gurukkal, was a prominent Kalaripayattu who lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is recognized as one of the gurukkals who was primarily responsible for the preservation of Kalaripayattu in Kerala into the twentieth century. He is reported to have learned Kalaripayattu in Kerala after studying it from several gurukkals in the Malabar region of the state. Kanaran Gurukkal is said to have been the among the first Kalaripayattu gurukkals to fuel the revival of Kalaripayattu in its native state of Kerala in the 1920s after the British banned the martial art in 1804, in response to the Kottayathu War, a revolt against the British by Pazhassi Raja. Among Kanaran Gurukkal's students was Chambadan Veetil Narayanan Nair (commonly known as "CVN"), in whose memory the CVN Kalaris sprang up across Kerala, enabling the revival of Kalaripayattu across its native state.<ref name=":0" />
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