Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

Hi,




Want
to share the following interesting posting from a site called
fropper.com. Can anyone explain more on the martial arts forms in
TN as generally it's perceived to be a Kerala art form (Kalari).
Silambam is well -known but not others mentioned in this posting.
Ramaswamy





Kalaripayat from Kerala was actually formed around
the 13th century A.D. As for Daruma Bodhidarma, he was born in the ancient city
of Kanchipuram around the 5th
century A.D. which is situated in the state of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadus martial
arts consist of an empty hand combat called Kuttu Varisai and the
study of the pressure point attacks called Varma Kalai including the
healing study aspect of the art called Varma Cuttiram. The weapons
arts used are Silambam (staff fighting), Madhu (deer horn
dagger fighting), Yeratthai Mulangkol (double stick
fighting), Yeratthai Val (double short sword), Val Vitchi
(single sword), and the famous Surul Pattai (Spring sword) which can
be found in Kalaripayattu and is called the Urumi in
Malayalam. Also, each weapon was an art of its own which required many years of
training to master the weapon. These were used for warfare by the Chola, Chera,
and Pandyan kingdoms of ancient Tamilakkam (present day Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and
parts of Sri Lanka).
Tamil literature pieces like the Silappadikaram (written during 1st
century A.D.) and the Purunanuru - Four Hundred Songs of War and
Wisdom (written around 500 B.C.) mention about these martial arts. So immense
were the fighting techniques of Tamilakkam, that not even Asoka's army or the
Moghuls could conquer these lands until the arrival of the British after the
1600s.
.