Silambam

Silambam, Origins

Oral folklore traces Silambam back several thousand years to the siddhar enlightened Agatya munivar. While on his way to Vellimalai, Agastya discussed Hindu philosophy with an old man he met, said to be the god Murugan in disguise. The old man taught him of kundalini yoga and how to focus prana through the bodys nadi channels. Agastya practiced this method of meditation and eventually compiled three texts on palm leaves based on the gods teachings. One of these texts was the Kampu Sutra which was said to record advanced fighting theories in verse. These poems and the art they described were allegedly passed on to other Siddha of the Agastmuni akhara Agastya school and eventually formed the basis of Silambam, siddha medicine, and also influenced the southern style of kalaripayattu.

References in the Silappadikkaram and other works of Sangam literature shows that silambam has been practiced as far back as the 4th century BC. The bamboo sticks – along with swords, pearls and armor – was in great demand with foreign traders, particularly those from Southeast Asia where silambam greatly influenced many fighting systems. The Indian community of the Malay Peninsula is known to have practiced silambam as far back as the period of Melakas sounding in the 15th century, and likely much earlier.

The soldiers of Kings Puli Thevar, Dheeran Chinnamalai had Silambam army named “thadii pattalam”, Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Maruthu Pandiyar 1760–1799 relied mainly on their Silambam prowess in their warfare against the British Army. Indian martial arts suffered a decline after the British colonists banned Silambam along with various other systems. They also introduced modern western military training which favoured fire-arms over traditional weaponry. During this time, Silambam became more common in Southeast Asia than its native India where it was banned by the British rulers. The ban was lifted after India achieved independence. Today, Silambam is the most famous and widely practiced Indian martial art in Malaysia where demonstrations are held for cultural shows.

Weapons

Silambams focus is on the bamboo staff. The length of the staff depends on the height of the practitioner. Ideally, it should just touch the forehead about three fingers from the head, typically measuring around 1.68 metres five and a half feet. Different lengths may be used depending on the situation. For instance, the sedikuchi or 3-foot stick can be easily concealed. Separate practice is needed for staffs of different lengths. Listed below are some of the weapons used in Silambam.

Katti: knife
Savuku: whip
Silambam: staff, preferably made from bamboo, but sometimes also from teak or Indian rose chestnut wood. The staff is immersed in water and strengthened by beating it on the surface of still or running water. It is often tipped with metal rings to prevent the ends from being damaged.
Panthukol: staff with balls of fire or weighted chains on each end
Kattari: native push-dagger with a H-shaped handle. Some are capable of piercing armor. The blade may be straight or wavy.
Kuttu katai: spiked knuckleduster
Surul kaththi: flexible sword
Aruval: sickle, often paired
Maru: a thrusting weapon made from deer horns
Vaal: sword, generally curved
Sedikuchi: cudgel or short stick, often wielded as a pair.

Training

The first stages of Silambam practice are meant to provide a foundation for fighting and to condition the body for the training itself. This includes improving flexibility, agility, hand-eye coordination, kinesthetic awareness, balance, strength, speed, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular stamina.

Beginners are first taught footwork kaaladi which they must master before learning spinning techniques and patterns, and methods to change the spins without stopping the motion of the stick. There are sixteen of them among which four are very important. Footwork patterns are the key aspects of Silambam. Traditionally, the masters first teach kaaladi for a long time before proceeding to unarmed combat. Training empty-handed allows the practitioner to get a feel of Silambam stick movements using their bare hands, that is, fighters have a preliminary training with bare hands before going to the stick.

Gradually, fighters study footwork to move precisely in conjunction with the stick movements. In Silambam, kaaladi is the key to deriving power for attacks. It teaches how to advance and retreat, to get within range of the opponent without lowering ones defence, aids in hitting and blocking, and it strengthens the body immensely enabling the fighter to receive non-lethal blows and still continue the battle. The whole body is used to create power.

In the main stance, the staff is held at one end, right hand close to the back, left hand about 40 centimetres 16 inches away. This position allows a wide array of stick and body movements, including complex attacks and blocks. When the student reaches the final stage, the staff gets sharpened at one end. In real combat the tips may be poisoned. The ultimate goal of the training is to defend against multiple armed opponents.

Silambam prefers the hammer grip with the main hand facing down behind the weak hand which faces up. The strong hand grips the stick about a distance hands width and thumbs length from the end of the stick and the weak hand is a thumbs length away from the strong hand.

The weak hand only touches the stick and to guide its movement. Silambam stresses ambidexterity and besides the preferred hammer grip there are other ways of gripping the staff. Because of the way the stick is held and its relatively thin diameter, blows to the groin are very frequent and difficult to block. Besides the hammer grip, Silambam uses the poker grip and ice pick grip as well. Some blocks and hits are performed using the poker grip. The ice pick grip is used in single hand attacks. The staff is held like a walking stick and just hand gets inverted using the wrist.

In battle, a fighter holds the stick in front of their body stretching the arms three-quarters full. From there, they can initiate all attacks with only a movement of the wrist. In fact, most Silambam moves are derived from wrist movement, making it a key component of the art. The blow gets speed from the wrist and power from the body through kaaladi. Since the stick is held in front, strikes are telegraphic, that is, the fighter does not hide their intentions from the opponent. They attack with sheer speed, overwhelming the adversary with a continuous non-stop rain of blows. In Silambam, one blow leads to

and aids another. Bluffs may also be used by disguising one attack as another.

In addition to the strikes, Silambam also has a variety of locks called poottu. A fighter must always be careful while wielding the stick or they will be grappled and lose the fight. Locks can be used to disable the enemy or simply capture their weapon. Techniques called thirappu are used to counter the locks but these must be executed before being caught in a lock. Silambam also has many different types of avoiding an attack like blocking, parrying, enduring, rotary parrying, hammering, kolluvuthal attacking and blocking simultaneously and evasive moves such as sitting or kneeling, moving out, jumping high, etc. Against multiple attackers, silambam exponents do not hold out their sticks as they do in single combat. Instead, they assume one of the numerous animal stances which makes it difficult for opponents to predict the next attack.

An expert of Silambam will be familiar with varma adi or marma adi pressure points and know where to strike anywhere in the body to produce fatal or crippling effects by the least use of power. In one-on-one combat an expert would slide the stick to opponents wrist many times during combat. The opponent may not notice this in the heat of battle until they feel a sudden pain in the wrist and throw the stick automatically without knowing what hit them. When two experts match against each other one may challenge the other that he will hit his big toe. Hitting the big toe can produce crippling effects on the fighter, making them abandon the fight. This is called solli adithal which means “challenging and successfully hitting”.

Traditional masters still encourage students to live a “pure” life through daily meditation and abstaining from drinking, smoking, and meat consumption. Students who have completed the training syllabus by learning every form are considered qualified to teach. The time it takes to complete differs from one style to another. For example, the nillaikalakki style requires around seven years of training while other styles may have no articulated syllabus.

4. World Initiatives

Silambam name has made its historical first time appearance in the world eyes as the committee of United Nations Assembly recommends Silambam Asia for United Nations status for representing Asia Continent. Occasion held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States on January 21, 2019 whereby China-Taipei government representatives arised border conflicts in ancient recording pertaining Silambam and requesting organisation of Silambam Asia to resolve prior to internal committee clearance request. On January 30, 2019 concluded substantive work as the Committee recommended Silambam Asia for Special Status in the United Nations.

In Tamil Films

In quite a number of his movies in 1950s and 1960s, M.G.Ramachandran MGR had incorporated silambam fighting scenes, to popularize this ancient martial arts in the 20th century. MGR himself was an exponent on silambam fighting. Some of these movies include Thaikkupin Tharam, Periya Idathu Penn, Mugaraasi and Thanipiravi.