Varma Kalai The Master of All Arts

Founding Varma Kalai Martial Arts 

Varma Kalai is a famous ancient martial art of India. The people believed that this art originated from Lord Shiva. Once Goddess Parvathi had known about Varmam from Lord Shivan and conveyed the theme to his son Lord Murugan. He also taught the music of Varmam to Agasthya. Then Agasthya wanted to survive in this art for a long time, so he started to lead the masses. He also gave the written form of the art techniques in Sanskrit verses. These original verses are not available now. However, the saints composed the Siddha’s sayings as poetic verses. At present, they are the sources to learn Varma Kalai. Now we have available around 50,000 songs, which explain the entire learning of Varma Kalai.

Evolution of Marma Kalai

Before the composition of verses, the martial art form generated from one to another as Guru Sishya param para, once this was the traditional way of learning new concepts in Hinduism. At first, Agastya learned from Lord Murugan, later taught to Bhoga Muni, Ramadeva, Theraya, Pulippaani etc. These learned Gurus taught to their disciples, and in this way, the art reached the ordinary people. The tradition of Guru Sishya param para was the cause to evolutes this art at every corner of society.

Techniques in the Martial Arts

Marma Kalai is a martial art form of unarmed combat. During the Chola, Chera, and Pandya dynasties, the warriors didn’t like to fight against unarmed soldiers. So they adopted this unarmed art to fight under any circumstances. They followed kickboxing-like art, traditional combat style and affinity towards pressure point system in the body. This art was famous in the border villages of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Especially, Kanyakumari and Nagercoil regions are famous for learning unarmed combat and Marma Adi techniques.

Study the concept of Marma Kalai.

According to Marma Kalai, Varmam and Marmam are the main key points to control the body and vital concentration areas. These points are known as Varma clusters and cause to generate the vital force. The pressure points, bone joints, and Nerve junctions are called Varma Adi in the body. Studying the nerve system, pressure points in the body and bone joints in a systematic method called Varmam, knowing and action making of this system made the learned self-defence during the combat with enemies. So this art is known as Varmam or Varma Kalai.