Silambam is the name of the ancient martial art practiced in the Indian state of Tamilnadu which lies next to Kerala. It can be safely assumed that the southern style Kalarippayattu and Silambam developed from the same roots. Practitioners of both martial arts worship Sage Agasthya as the creator or their art. Let us go a little deeper into the art of Silambam.

Meaning of the word Silambam

If you go through the websites of Silambam you can see that many of the sites give a wrong explanation for the origin of the word Silambam. They say that Silam means hill and bam denotes bamboo - the bamboo sticks used for fighting. Nothing can be more wrong than this!!! Silam - si pronounced like chi in the word China, is a Sanskrit word for hill or mountain and bam or bamboo is an English word. So Silam and bam has nothing to do with the word Silambam. Yes. This art was practiced and is being practiced by many of the people in the mountain regions of Tamilnadu. But that is not an excuse to give any wrong meaning to the name of the art - Silambam.

"Salambal" is a common word used to denote the sound of fast flowing rivers/springs, the chirping noises of birds, the murmur of leaves, the noise created by blah blah ing of a crowd, the whooshing, whirring and clanging sound of weapons etc. When long sticks, swords and chain flails are used they produce the "sala sala" sound which is called "salambal". Thus Silambam became the name of the martial art that uses long sticks, swords etc.

The origin of Silambam

The most ancient text on Silambam - Agasthyar Kampu Soothram, is believed to be composed by Sage Agasthya. In this text, Sage Agasthya describes the incident that led him to learn the art of Silambam. While he was searching for the Velvi hill, he met a wise old man, who treated him kindly. The old man - many believe that he was Lord Siva himself, was at that time conducting many religious discussions/discourses on various aspects of Indian philosophy. While Sage Agasthya was with the great master, the master taught him the secrets of the martial arts and the how and why of the prana (the life energy or vital force that courses through the body) and the marma or vital points in the human body. He then taught Sage Agasthya the secrets of AUM and asked him to go to the mount Pothikai. Sage Agasthya tells about his learning experiences in mount Pothikai and how he came across various wise and learned Gurus and enriched his knowledge in various arts. Then he describes about how he got himself involved in meditation and the Kundalini - the divine force that lies dormant in every human being. He then describes that he composed many works on many different fields like astrology, marma or vital points, Siddha system of medicine etc. Again he went to every mountain, valley and cave in search of Gurus to complement his already enormous knowledge. Finally he went back to mount Pothikai and stayed there for his Thapa or deep meditation.

Various ways and methods to use a long staff for fighting and for self defense are given in the Agasthyar Kampu Soothram. The different length of stick for different people like forest/village dweller, city dweller etc are given. This great manuscript was lying in oblivion and the Silambam master Sri. A.Arunachalam should be given the full credit for getting this manuscript from the Asans and interpreting the same.

The art of Silambam was a part of the life of the people of the land of Tamilnadu from time immemorial. Its roots are entrenched in the culture of the Dravidian people. These people are supposed to be the original inhabitants of the South India. The art of Silambam, like all other arts and science of ancient India suffered a lot under the colonialist rule of the British. The British, seeing the danger of Silambam as a martial art, captured and hanged many of the local chieftains and warriors often by way conceit and treason. This loss of great masters was a serious blow to the art and along with this the confiscation of the arms from the various parts of the present day Tirunelveli district in Tamilnadu resulted in an almost sure extinction of Silambam. But the great warriors of Tamilnadu, the Maravar community had some other ideas. Many of the masters went into hiding and they taught the secrets of the art of fighting to the village folks. A sad outcome of this situation was that Silambam disappeared from the elite class and reached the hands of capable but illiterate village folks. Many of the techniques and training principles were taught by the masters to disciples and none of them were documented. Many different styles came into existence. No coordinated efforts were made to propagate Silambam in its original way.

he last two or three decades of the 20th century saw a resurgence of Silambam as worldwide interest in the oriental martial reached a peak. Now various Silambam associations are making an all-out effort to bring this ancient martial art to the level of popularity that it enjoyed in the ancient days.

Silambam will be presented here in kalariworld .............. please visit later for details on physical training for Silambam, preparation of Silambam sticks, fighting techniques, weapons, vital points etc.