All India Silambam Federation

About Silambam

An Indian Traditional Martial Art In ancient days, pre historic man used a bamboo stick to protect himself from approaching animals and inimical humans. Because of its usefulness, they always had the stick with them. When they went in search of food, they had to walk long distances. Playfully they swirled the sticks that they carried with them. As and when some inimical humans attacked them with sticks, they had to defend themselves with sticks. Thus a kind of fighting with sticks began to develop.

HISTORY OF SILAMBAM

About 5000 years age, Sieges age shier, a great devotee of lord Muruga, the Tamil god, lived in the hills of Pothigai in Thirunelveli District, which is situated in Tamilnadu in south India. It is said that it was Agasthiar who invented this art of Silambam. Later on the chera, Chozha and Pandiya kings introduced this art in their warfare and made it compulsory for all the soldiers in the five wings of their military. In the recent past, at the time of Pulidevan and Veera Pandiya Kattabomman (1760– 1799) this art was resurrected and was used in the fights against the British. So the British passed orders not to practice Silambam. As for the Tamils, Silambam is not only a weapon but also a traditional Martial art. So they practiced it for the sake of physical fitness. From the south India, Silamabm spread over the rest of India and it called in different name in different part of the country. Silambam is called as Nedu Vadi in Kerala; karra saamu in Andhra Pradesh; Dhanta Varisai in Karnataka, Lathi in Uttar Pradesh; Marithani in Maharashtra; Dhal Lakadi in Gujarat; Patta Pachi in Punjab & Haryana; Kathga in Jharkhand and Bihar depending upon their language spocken in their area. Nowdays, Silambam is played in festivals like Moharram, Ram Navami, etc.