Manja Varmakkalai An Ancient Tamil Martial Art

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Varmakkalai History:
India is a land of various arts, most of them have disappeared over
time. Varmakkalai, the mother of all martial arts which originated in
Tamil Nadu is one among them which is slowly disappearing. All the
other martial arts are direct or indirect descendants of varmakkalai.
Tamil Sage Agasthiyar is the founder of varmakkalai who lived in the
south-pothigai mountains (Kutraalam) which is in the southern part
of Tamil Nadu ruled by Pandiya kings. His period is said to be before
"Sangam Literature". This art existed in the spoken-form and he
formulated and gave a written-form by writing in the palm leaves
(manuscripts). Only after him other sages (siddhar) like Theraiyar,
Pogar, Pulipani etc have written other manuscripts. Following song
is one of the evidence stating the origin.

" Varmakkalai Rajendran

"
"Then pothigai nathan thunaiyaal padi vaithaen murai nanramae"

Some of the varmakkalai manuscripts written by Agasthiyar are as

follows,

Agasthiyar varma thiravukol

Agasthiyar varma kandi
Agasthiyar oosi murai varmam
Agasthiyar vasi varmam
Varma odivu murivu
Agasthiyar varma kannadi
Varma varisai
Agasthiyar meitheendakalai

Jatavarman Pandiyan (or) Sadaiyavarman a Pandiya king who

learnt varmakkalai was a very brave and ambitious warrior king who
has won several wars. Though varmakkalai was founded in Pandiya
kingdom and slowly disappeared here, it was developed by Chola
kings and then this art went to Sri-Lanka, China, Cambodia, Japan,
Indonesia, Thailand and other foreign countries.
"Karikala Cholan, who is said to be from the period of Sangam
Literature approximately 180 A.D is one of the great exponent in
Varmakkalai. His name can be translated as "the man with charred
leg" or "slayer of elephants". "Kari" means elephant and "kaalan"
means slayer. Many say that he was named as karikalan because of
the fire accident which charred his leg. Ancient method of
varmakkalai training involved practicing by punching and kicking in
the wood, which made his leg to look like that. Chola kings have KARIKALA CHOZAN STATUE,
made every efforts for the growth of varmakkalai and their names KANCHIPURAM, INDIA
too had "varman" which means an exponent in varmakkalai.

The buddhist monk "Bodhidharman" hailed from the same city of

Kanchipuram, who then later went to China and has been called as
the founder of Shaolin Temple.

"Ekambareshwarar Temple" in Kanchipuram was built by Pallava

Kings which still has his statue of Karikala Cholan in the entrance or
"mandapam" in Tamil. Why would Pallavas would keep a Chola
king's statue in the temple they have built ?. The reason behind that is
Karikalan has ruled Chola kingdom with Kanchipuram as capital for
sometime, that's where he had varmakkalai "payirchi koodam" or
"training centers". Later the capital was shifted to Tanjore for Chola
kingdom. Only from him this art was passed on to Pallavas, one of
the renowned Pallava king named as "Narasimhavarman" or
"Narasimhavarma pallavan". There are many sculptures in this
temple which shows the fighting stances of varmakkalai.

On one of the Shaolin Temple walls, a fresco can be seen, showing

dark-skinned (Indian) monk, teaching lighter-skinned (Chinese)
TENJIKU NARANOKAKU,
monks the art of bare-handed fighting skills. Under this painting, the
SHAOLIN TEMPLE
words Tenjiku Naranokaku are inscribed in Chinese, which
translates in English to The fighting techniques to train the body
from India, supporting the view that Bodhidharma's exercises were
in fact the reflection of the ancient Indian martial arts. Therefore,
religious preaching of the Buddhist monks linked the systematic art of
Self defense to the world by crossing the borders of the Indian sub-
continent.
As a Chinese Ambassador to USA, Hu Shih once said India
conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without
ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma (A.D 520) went to China from

Kanchipuram (in Tamil Nadu) to spread buddhism, he stayed at the
Shaolin Monastry and preached buddhist ideologies. Bodhidharma is
the founder of Shaolin Temple, who taught varmakkalai to the
chinese monks. He trained them in exercises designed to strengthen
the body and thus their endurance. Still we could find the stone
carvings in the Shaolin Temple portraying Bodhidharma as founder
of the Shaolin Kung-fu

The Chola Kings have conquered many other countries and built
Hindu temples, one of the descendant of Raja Raja Cholan (his
original name is Arulmozhi varman) named Suryavarman II built
the Hindu Vishnu temple "Angkor Wat" in Cambodia. It is one of the
"Eight Wonders" in the world. The Cambodian martial art "Bokator"
is nothing but a form of varmakkalai called as "varma kuthuvarisai".

Many of the Tamil kings were named after "varman" which means
an exponent in varmakkalai like "Sadaiyavarman, Rajendravarman,
Jayavarman, Narasimhavarman and so on...

Gunavarmar a kshatriya or warrior and not a king who went to

China in 320 AD almost 200 years before Bodhi Dharman (520 AD)
went to China. He went to Java island and stayed there for some
time, the "varma" in his name denotes that he is exponent in this art.
He reached Guangdong in China and stayed in the mountain called
as Chi Sei, not sure if this is correct pronunciation as it is written in
Tamil. One day the villagers observed that he stroked a tiger on it's
head with a small stick and the tiger kept quiet. He has used varmam
to pacify the tiger. He frequented to the mountain which has
dangerous wild animals. Also the villagers observed that they saw
him as fluorescent white lion while he meditated in the cave, it is
nothing but a meditation stance like lion which is used in
varmakkalai. In another instance the villagers observed that the rain
did not fall on him and make him wet.

These are some of the incidents quoted about him in the book called
as JA (Journal Asiatique in page 199 to 209) wirtten by douard
Chavannes.
T'oung Pao, Vol. II co-edited by Chavannes has reference about
Gunavarmar in page 193 to 206 published in 1904.
BEFEO VOL 4 (Page 274 to 275)

Only a person like Aasan Rajendran can interpret these references

and co-relate it, who has himself demonstrated and practiced
Varmakkalai & Nokkuvarmam it for more than 45 years.

Disappearance in India:
Indian sub-continent, lacking patronization, gradually began losing it's
such rich heritage of Martial arts. Centuries of Colonial rule have
paralyzed the growth of Martial Art just like many other treasure-worthy
Indian knowledge systems and put them close to the level of
dysfunctional. Again in more recent history, in 1793 the British East India
Company fearing the inspirations of Youth revolutions, officially banned
the practice of varmakkalai (mother of the worlds martial arts) and it
actually came to a point of almost extinction.

Practical Martial Art Form:

As most of the varmakkalai masters (Asan or Guru) claim that they

have learnt only therapeutic form of varmakkalai and only teach
those methods. Those were learnt by reading some books,
manuscripts etc... One who can't simulate the symptoms of varmam
can't be good master, one should learn the practical form of
varmakkalai and then treat the victim affected by varmam.
Following song which was written by sage Agasthiyar in one of his
manuscripts clearly says that we should learn the practical form and
then the therapeutic form to treat the victim.

"
"

"Appanae varmathil adi pidi vettu kuthu katru pin varisayudan

varma ilakku seyyae"

Note: varma ilakku --- Retrieval or Treatment.

But most of them have reversed (vice versa) and say that they have
learnt the therapeutic form first. "Action speak louder than words",
master Rajendran who is the founder of this "Manja Varmakkalai"
trains the student through the practical form which can only be
learnt with the help of a guru or asan or master. Varmakkalai can be
either used for self-defence and also can cure various diseases.
Whatever varmam's we have mentioned in this site are practically
proven ones, you wouldn't have heard about most of them. Exercises
for varmakkalai are simple and any age group can practice this art,
the benefits can not be be measured. You wouldn't have seen these
exercises before and they are easy to do. We will detail the various
defensive varmakkalai techniques, the mudras to use while striking
and the impact it would have on the human body. You should not
think that by knowing the locations you can use the technique, it is
mandatory that you should do the practice regularly in order to get
the accuracy while using the same. As we can re-emphasize the fact
with the following idiom "A little learning is a dangerous thing". By
doing these varmakkalai exercises you can make your nerves more
stronger, as you know the root cause of most of diseases are nerves,
blood circulation and prana shakthi or oxygen (vital life power).

What does "Manja" mean ?

It indicates a style whose meaning has been kept as a secret, one who
knows this style of Varmakkalai will be able to spare with any style of
martial art. Only who knows this style of art can compete with them.

Who will be able to learn Varmakkalai ?

As per a stanza from a song written by Sage Agasthiyar which

indicates who will be able to learn this art.
"
"
"karma vinaigal avamirunthu vandhu koodi vitta kurai thotta kurai
ena vizhambalachae"
It means that one who has "Karma" from previous birth will only be
able to learn this art.

Types of Varmam:

Thodu Varmam (96)

Padu Varmam (12)
Thattu Varmam (8)
Nokku Varmam
Meitheenda Kalai

Brief description about each type of varmam are as follows,

Thodu Varmam: Once affected we will come to know the symptoms

of these varmams only after a certain time limit. Within this time
limit we should retrieve the victims. The time limit can be an hour, a
day, a month or even years.

Padu Varmam: They are vital and fatal too, once affected it would
generate the symptoms immediately. There is a time limit to retrieve
the victim for these varmam, they are basically some hours.

Thattu Varmam (or) Asan Varmam: These varmams are known only
to the masters and are basically kept as a high secret. It can only be
retrieved by the one who stroked, basically the master. They are
highly dangerous and are taught to the person in a confidential way.
It is the sole discretion of the master to decide whether it should be
taught to the student or not.

Nokku Varmam: This is the high stage of varmakkalai using which

we can strike a person at a distance by looking at him.

Meitheenda Kalai: This is the highest stage of varmakkalai wherein it

is used either to heal or to strike the person in any part of the world.
Without even touching the opponent we can strike or heal a person
from a distant place.

Both Nokkuvarmam and Meitheendakkalai requires more practice

and can't be learnt in a short span of time. It takes a life time to
attain this stage. It was demonstrated in ZEE Tamil Television and
more information can be found in our website
www.nokkuvarmam.in.

Apart from all the above types of varmam, there are sub-categories
within these types. Some of the other types of varmam are as follows.

Varma ponnoosi
Varma thattu
Sundu varmam
Varma adavukal
Varma adangalkal
Varma illaku
Varma sigichai
Oodhu varmam

Synonyms used in this website:

Varmam ----Pressure Point or Vital Point, name, category.

Varman ----Means an exponent in this martial art, many Tamil
Dravidian kings have been named after it. Some of the example
names "Arulmozhivarman", "Rajendravarman", "Suryavarman",
"Narasimhavarman", "Sadaiyavarman" and many more.

Varmakkalai is also called as Pressure Point Fighting, Kung Fu, Dim-

Mak, Aikido, Bokator in other countries.

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