Does Kung Fu have its origin in India?

Answer 1

No it does not, the people who are saying that "Kung Fu" does have its origin in India probably doesn't understand Chinese, and probably never bothered to read any Chinese historical texts about "Kung Fu".

Shaolin Temple was founded 464 AD, and Bodhidharma was not linked in a book to "Kung Fu" until the Ming Dynasty (1300s AD - 1600s AD). That book was confirmed by scholars to be full of mistakes and falsities.

First, to clarify, the modern "Kung Fu" (an term for all Chinese Martial Arts) began in the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD-1644 AD); and Chinese historical writings regard Equitation (skill with horses) and Archery as "Kung Fu".

Chinese historians believe that "Kung Fu" began as tools for survival such as hunting and war with different tribes. The earliest mention of a distinct style of hand-to-hand combat was around 2700 B.C. where a fighting technique called "Jiao Li" (角力), where the practitioner uses horned helmets to gore enemies to death. "Jiao Li" was a grappling form with strikes, blocks, and joint locks later added to it to form "Shuai Jiao" (摔跤), which is translated into Chinese Wrestling. "Jiao Li" was developed during the Zhou Dynasty (1045 BC-256 BC), and became an official part of the Zhou military training program. "Shuai Jiao" was used by the Qin army and became a sport under the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206BC).

During the "Spring and Autumn Period" (770 BC-746 BC), swordsmanship became wide spread, many of Confucius's students were described to be skilled swordsman. During this time period, punching techniques, called Boxing in modern terms, also improved a great deal.

During the Qin Dynasty, as mentioned before, strikes, blocks, and joint locks were added to "Jiao Li" to form "Shuai Jiao". Immediately after the Qing Dynasty, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC- 220 AD) many "Kung Fu" manuals were written, describing hand-to-hand unarmed combat techniques of the time, showing a vast increment of techniques from before the Han Dynasty. Toward the Han Dynasty, passages from books describe methods for an unarmed combatant to disarm an armed opponent. These records show that the basis for Chinese "Boxing" and its philosophy: <Far use feet to kick, Close use hand to punch, Next to body use joint locks and throws>.

Han Dynasty also saw rise to weapons "Kung Fu", where sword, dao (saber), dagger-axe, and sword-shield combination techniques.

If you have further questions please message me because I probably babbled on enough :)

Sources:

"中國武術史簡述"

"Classic of Rites"

"少林寺起源"