In the 14th and 15th centuries, Malabar was a place of feudal brutality. It was a time when fights and duels were the norm and the martial art, Kalaripayattu, had been perfected by the masters. One man who strode across the legends of that time was Tachcholi Othenan, a giant figure who was feared by the powerful and loved by the weak. Even today his stories are sung by the common people, of Kerala, in the form of ballads known as Vadukkam Pattukal.