Silambam, a 3000 year old Tamil legacy

Silambam, a 3000 year old Tamil legacy, an ancient weapon-based martial art and today, a competitive sport across the Tamil diaspora is an iconic treasure of India.

Origins

Said to have been devised by Sage Agastya himself and passed down in documented form through Palm leaf manuscripts or olai chuvadi, Silambam has managed to keep its authenticity intact. As an art, Silambam is mentioned in the Tamil epic Silapathikaram (one of the five epics of the Sangam era) as one of the 64 arts in Tamilakam (Tamil province).

Bodhidharman, a Pallava prince turned great Buddhist leader who took various cultural treasures to China including Zen Buddhism and Kung Fu in the shaolin monastery is said to have taught Silambam in the far east. Don’t be surprised to find parallels between Kung-fu and Silambam!

Weaponry and Style

Silambam is all about holding a weapon of choice and spinning whilst performing leaps, strikes and feats of strength. As ancient as it is, this martial art uses unique weapons, mainly silambam a long staff made of bamboo or teak. Super interesting weapons such as maduvu or deer horns, surul Kathi or flexible metal swords and kattari, daggers that can pierce armours are used!

Thekkan kalari, a variant of Kalaripayattu is linked to Silambam, either by influencing each other or as an effect of each other due to battles between the contemporary Tamil kingdoms and surprisingly both works are also credited to Sage Agastya.

Legacy

The three great Tamil kingdoms – the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas were contemporaries warring over Tamilakam. Just as Kalaripayattu was to the Cheras, Silambam was the ancient Tamil warfare art that warriors of Cholas and Pandyas underwent training in.

King Veerapandiya Kattaboman, General brothers Maruthu Pandis and many other great heroes of Tamil Nadu were skilled Silambam warriors. Kind Kattaboman along with his army is said to have stunned British troops by their silambam skills and weapons!

Tamil Culture

Silambam holds a special place in Tamil culture, having been passed down unbroken through generations, and carrying the authentic legacy forward in the form of literature, movies and even school playgrounds.

Today Silambam is a national and internationally recognised sport. There is a World Silambam Association (a global body for silambam), and Silambam Asia ( Silambam body for Asian countries especially India, Malaysia and Singapore) has taken silambam to the global platform and helped creating a place as United Nation’s recognised sport! Today, all over the world, many competitions, hundreds of Silambakoodams or training centres and thousands of young Silambam enthusiasts are playing this sport with strength and pride!

Check the entire series on Ancient Indian Martial arts.