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Varma Kalai
Varma Kalai (also called Varma
Kalari,Varmam, Varma ati, or marma ati)
(Tamil: ????????? meaning "the art of vital
points") is an ancient dravidian martial art
which has its origins in Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, India. The art itself originally began as
a healing art from Varma Cuttiram (the
"Tamil science of medicine"), which later
turned into a martial art, thus the name
Varma Kalai. It is also called the art of heal-
ing and the art of killing.
The attacks in Varma Kalari are meant for
self defence and though they target the vital
pressure points throughout the human body,
the emphasis is on stopping an attacker
without actually damaging him permanently.
Even in the most extreme situations there is
an emphasis on using as little violence as
possible. Varma Kalai teaches one to attack
with or without weapons. The effect of Varma
Kalai based offences is effective yet rarely
damaging a human being. One who teaches
and masters this art is called aasaan .[1]
According to legends, wrongdoers eventu-
ally learned the art and this upset the mas-
ters who trusted in the character of their dis-
ciples. This led to a code of secrecy in which
a master never teaches all of what he knows
to one man. A few secrets on how to counter
the misuse of the act are always safe with a
chosen few who excel in the art and have un-
impeachable moral values.
Though Varma Kalari is still taught in ker-
ala and is very poular among kalari experts
and in Tamil Nadu the art is not popular with
the youth who choose to study less time-con-
suming martial arts. Worth mentioning is the
fact that it would take about 10 years for a
student to learn about 75% of Varma Kalai
his master knows.
Bodhidarma and
Varmakalai
According to some Asian martial arts legends
Bodhidharma (A.D. 520) - who went to China
from India to spread Buddhism - stayed at
the Shaolin monastery, preached Buddhist
ideologies and also taught the monks some
1
Varma Kalai
martial arts.[2] The Indian martial art he
taught the local people could have been Var-
makkalai. The art underwent many changes
and came to be known as Shaolin boxing or
Kung-Fu. Later the Shaolin art influenced
many other martial arts in Asia. Anyway, it is
interesting to note that the Chinese school
agrees with the southern school of this art in
that it has the same 108 varma points.[3][4]
Varmam or Marmam
When one is affected by Varmam, it stimu-
lates or blocks one or more of the 10 Vayus
(air) governing the life centers of the body,
which in turn acts on the Sapta Dhathu
(Seven Vitals) of the body namely Ninam,
Kapham, Majjai, Suklam, Moothiram Pethi
and Viyarvai (blood, lipid, marrow, semen,
urine, stools, sweat) respectively, and makes
the desired effect to the enemy and causes
his death or unconsciousness.
Sidha Grandtas
This art is the one mentioned in the 300,000
Granthas (Books) of the early Sidhas. More
than 75% of the original Shastras have been
either lost, sold out or destroyed due to negli-
gence and also through the over conservative
character of the people who handled this Art.
Yet, there are sufficient quantity of these
rare Grandtas, in the form of Palm-Leaf Texts
in Southern India, especially in Malabar,
South, and Central Travancore. The Asaans
of Kanyakumari, Kollam and Trivandrum Dis-
tricts, although getting weaker at present,
are still alive to the standard of these rare re-
cords. In order to learn this Art, it was neces-
sary to work with an Asaan for a minimum
period of 12 years in those days. This Art was
not taught to anyone who came forward.
There are some qualities specified for the
student of the Art, as specified in the follow-
ing malayalam verses related to this art:
Although most of the vital Marma Sastra
treatise is lost, presently more than 100 are
traced out. Each book (in Palm-Leaf Text)
consists of 100 to 1000 verses, written in
Malayalam using Tamil scripts with Tamil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
phonetics.These Sastras were not available to
common men until the recent past when it
was openly published by some of the Asaans.
Origin
The origin of this Varma Kalari cannot be
specified. This connection links up the mater-
ial body with the spiritual ’life’ or Soul,
through the mediums of panchabhootha or
five elements activating the movement of
"life" within the body, carried through the ten
vayus. As a matter of fact, this is the funda-
mental principle of Yoga and Samadhi con-
nected with Saints. To cite an example to this
special character:
This is a very noble character, which was
found in the early Jains and the Buddhists.
Peace was the aim of the community. But, if
someone violates the codes of peace, nothing
wrong to arrest his pride for which the
Marma Kalari may be applied.
There is a form of Kalari with sticks (Chil-
ambam). There are many branches under it.
Dr.J.David Manuel Raj has written a book on
it " History of Chilambam Fencing". Sticks or
swords can be used as the offensive weapon.
When applied with sticks, the infliction of
marmam is very effective. For example:
Valatha eduthu valathu veesi, Edatha
madakki othiram. Mugathinu, kaalinu,
kaalinu mugathinu. Edatha madakki Othiram,
kadathala, Munathala, Pirathara.
This is the first step, which slowly in-
creases into 12, 108, and 1008 etc, each aim-
ing at the Marma centres of the body.
If the enemy is attacked at the side point
of Kadamuna, in twenty-four hours the male
organ will become erect, and on the first
sight of a female, he will ejaculate. The vic-
tim will cry, he will also laugh and behave
like in epilepsy and there is no cure for him.
So much severe and incredible are the ef-
fects of application of Varma Kalari and that
much, even more, are the quality, patience
and character required to maintain, preserve
and handle such an Art. It is totally meaning-
ful that Sainthood is prescribed for the
Super-Masters of this Art, like the Saints of
Buddhism and Jainism. Four stages are pre-
scribed to become a Super-Master. At the
end of the fourth stage he attains the perfect
Sainthood observing the sacred codes of
"Ahimsa" or Non-Violence, which declares
the noble principles of Varma Shastra. By
practicing these noble principles of the
2
Varma Kalai
Varma Shastra, a man shall be enlightened of
the true mission of his life on this earth.
In popular culture
The art of Varmam was dramatised in the
1996 Tamil blockbuster Indian where a free-
dom fighter uses his unusual Varmakkalai
skills to eradicate corruption and nepotism in
India.
See also
• Varma ati
• Chin Na
• Dim Mak
• Tui Na
References
[1] Varma Kalai: The Martial Art from Tamil
Nadu
[2] Luijendijk, D.H. (2008). Kalarippayat:
The Essence and Structure of an Indian
Martial Art. Oprat (LuLu.com). ISBN
978-1409-2262-60.
[3] Subramaniam Phd., P., (general editors)
Dr. Shu Hikosaka, Asst. Prof. Norinaga
Shimizu, & Dr. G. John Samuel,
(translator) Dr. M. Radhika (1994).
Varma Chuttiram ???? ?????????: A Tamil
Text on Martial Art from Palm-Leaf
Manuscript. Madras: Institute of Asian
Studies. pp. 90 & 91.
[4] Reid Phd., Howard, Michael Croucher
(1991). The Way of the Warrior: The
Paradox of the Martial Arts. New York:
Outlook Press. pp. 58–85. ISBN
0879514337.
Bibliography
• Luijendijk, D.H. (2005) Kalarippayat:
India’s Ancient Martial Art, Paladin Press,
ISBN 1-58160-480-7
• Luijendijk, D.H. (2008) Kalarippayat: The
Essence and Structure of an Indian
Martial Art, Oprat, ISBN
978-1409-2262-60
• Asan, Ramu & Nadar, K.Kochukrishnan;
"Tekkan Kalriyude Marmam". Published
by K.Kochukrishnan Nadar, Kerala, 1970
• Immanuel, Dr. M.; "Culture of Travancore
Arts ", a paper submitted at Annual
Conference of Association of Third World
Studies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Varma Kalai

External links Varisai (Tamil Nadu Warfare Martial Art),

• COMBAT VARMA KALAI at the
International Combat Varma Kalai
Research Institute
• INDIAN MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY Indian
Martial Arts Academy is an institute that
gives courses in the various
TRADITIONAL MARTIAL ARTS of India
like Kalaripayat (Northern (Vadakkan) and
Southern (Thekkan)), Kuthu Varisai/Kuttu
Mei Abhyasam, Silambam, Varma Kalai,
Marma Vidhya, Ghusthi, Kalari Marma
Massage Treatment and Courses. We are
providing different Packages and Courses
in all the above mentioned arts as per the
requirement of the attendants of our
courses.
• Varma Kalai at the Karnataka State
Silambam (Stick-Fencing) Association

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Categories: Indian martial arts, Dravidian martial arts, Tamil martial arts, Combat sports, In-
dividual sports

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