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History of Silambam Martial Art Form

Silambam is a martial art thought to have originated in 1000 BC in India and is mentioned in ancient Tamil literature. It was practiced in Tamil Nadu and used bamboo staffs as weapons, evolving from defending hills and animals to a martial art. It spread from the city of Madurai throughout South and Southeast Asia but declined after the British banned it.

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Koushani Roy
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173 views2 pages

History of Silambam Martial Art Form

Silambam is a martial art thought to have originated in 1000 BC in India and is mentioned in ancient Tamil literature. It was practiced in Tamil Nadu and used bamboo staffs as weapons, evolving from defending hills and animals to a martial art. It spread from the city of Madurai throughout South and Southeast Asia but declined after the British banned it.

Uploaded by

Koushani Roy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HISTORY OF SILAMBAM MARTIAL ART FORM:

Silambam martial art is thought to have originated


about 1000 BC and was brought to India by the
sage Agastyamuni. The practice is mentioned in
Sillappadikkaram and many other works of
Shangham literature, and it dates back to the 2nd
century BC, but oral folk stories date it back much
further to over 7000 years. Tamil Nadu is the
home to the historic martial art of Silambam. Its
beginnings were in the early Dravidian period. The
art was transformed from 1760 to 1799 under the
leadership of Pulidevan and Veera Pandiya
Kattabommam to combat the British. After them
Silambam gained popularity across the nation and
in its states. The word Silambam derives from the
Tamil word Silam meaning hill. The term
Silambambu refer to a particular type of bamboo
from the Kurinjimala(Kurinji Hills) in present day
Kerala. Thus, Silambam was named after its
primary weapon, the bamboo staff. It may have
earlier used for self defence and to ward off
animals in the Kurinji Hills and later evolved into
the present day martial art. The ancient city of
Madurai formed a point of focus of Silambam’s
spreading. The Tamil kingdom which
encompassed Southern India and Sri-Lanka spread
it throughout South-East Asia. Indian martial art
and other related martial art practices suffered a
decline after the British banned Silambam and
promoted modern military training which favored
firearms over traditional weaponry.

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