History of Varma Kalai

source: http://www.combatvarmakalai.com/varmakalaihistory.html

Extent of the Pandya Territories c. 1250 C.E.

The art of Varma Kalai have been in existence on the Indian sub-continent for thousands of years practiced by ancient Tamils of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Eelam (Northeast Sri Lanka), Kerala, and the Southern portion of present day Andhra Pradesh. Varma Kalai is one of the deadliest form of martial art in history. The tamil word “Varma" means "vital points" and "Kalai” means "art", hence it is translated as the “the art of vital points”. Varma Kalai is also known by following names: Varma Kalai, Varmak Kalai, Varma adi, Marma Adi, Varma Sastra, Varma Vidya, Marma Vidya, Marma kalai, Varma Kalari, Kalari Varma etc.

The art of Varma Kalai originally evolved from the Tamil science of SIddha medicine into a martial art and is called the art of healing and killing. It was developed by gurus and experts of siddha during the Pandyan dynasty and nourished and promoted by the Cholas. Legend has it that during the development period of Varma Kalai, experiments were done on slaves and captured warriors to discover the weakness in the human body. Thousands of captive warriors and slaves gave their lives on the process of discovering all vital points of the human body for the purpose of gaining the rich knowledge contained in art of Varma Kalai.

Pressure Point experimentation on slaves and war prisoners to formulate Varma Kalai

The Pandyas, along with Chola and Chera, were the three ancient kingdoms which ruled the Tamil country until the end of the 15th century. The Pandyan kingdom of southern India was founded around 500 BC and was considered by historians as the richest kingdom in the world. Pandyas were fierce warriors. The early Pandyan dynasty was revived under Kadungon in the early 6th century, but again went into decline with the rise of the Cholas in the 9th century and were in constant conflict with them. The Pandyas revived again during the late 13th century by alliying themselves with the Sinhalese and the Cheras and expanded the empire into Telugu country and conquered the northern half of Sri Lanka. The Pandyan Kingdom finally became extinct after the establishment of the Madurai Sultanate in the 16th century.

Grand Master Dr. Yuree standing in front of the PALLAVA dynasty’s last piece of structure at Kanchipuram, the birth place of Bodhidharma.

At the turn of the 6th century A.D., martial arts spread from Southern India to China by a Tamil prince turned monk named Daruma Bodhidarma, the third prince of King Sugandha in Kanchipuram province, the then capital of the Southern Indian kingdom of Pallava. Bodhidharma had his childhood in Kanchipuram and became one of the most brilliant students of the Vedas, Siddha medicine, meditation and philosophy and as a prince he was taught by different masters and experts the deadly art of Varma Kalai along with other arts. Bodhidharma later played a pioneer role in the root and history of formalized Martial Arts. Daruma Bodhidharma became the 28th patriarch and founder of Chan or Zen doctrine and went to China to spread Buddism according to the wishes of his master Prajnatara. Bodhidharma settled in the Shaolin Temple of Henan province but found that the Chinese monks under him were frail and weak. He formulated a physical fitness and martial arts training guideline for the monks from his knowledge of Yoga, Varma Kalai, Vajramushti. His teaching to monks later evolved into different Chinese martial arts which can be seen to contain the advance component of Dim Mak (or dim hsueh) containing the same 108 varma points which originated from his knowledge of Varma Kalai. Thereafter, different variations and specialization of martial arts took place from China and spread to Korea & Japan having a continued deep influence of pressure point knowledge originating from art of Varma Kalai.

Dr. Yuree inside Shaolin temple beside a statue of Bodhidharma in Hunan, China.

The art of varma kalai travelled from India to China through Bodhidharma and later to other areas, but the complete authentic knowledge remained back in India which slowly decreased in existence due to lack of patronization and use due to end of the war eras and introduction of firearms and advanced warfare weapons. The deadly unarmed art of Varma Kalai only remained in the minds of some Great Assans and some written in some palm leaf manuscripts kept in secret. Gradually some of those palm were revealed to public over the years, but still most remain secret. The ancient tradition of transmission of knowledge of Varma Kalai went underground and was only passed through family lineage and rarely to very dedicated disciples, and this number became very few due to its use in war decreased.

Over the years, the knowledge being passed to some criminals and miscreants made the Assans (Masters) of Varma Kalai even more protective of this deadly ancient wisdom and the transmission of knowledge has decreased so much its going from obscurity to extinction. Some experts fear that some of the only few living masters maybe the last generation of the authentic masters of Varma Kalai who, with their passing, will end the passing of authentic knowledge of this great combat art.

Another reason for decreasing the study and practice of Varma Kalai is that it is a highly comprehensive and knowledge rich martial art and takes considerable amount of time to learn the healing and combat aspect which has stymied the popularity of this martial art with the youth who choose to study less time-consuming martial arts. So much severe and incredible are the effects of application of Varma Kalai and that much, even more, are the quality, patience and character required to maintain, preserve and handle such an Art. Today this extremely powerful art is losing much of its heritage and is slowly fading away due to lack of transmission of knowledge and deceasing of authentic masters.

Dr Yuree with Legendary Varma Kalai Grand Master, Assan Vaskaran, Tamil Nadu.

Now, Grand Master Dr. Yuree, an expert on Varma Kalai who has rigorously researched on this subject and trained under many great Assans including the legendary Assan Varkaran, who has learnt the art from 18 original masters of Varma Kalai. Dr. Yuree has founded the art of Combat Varma Kalai trying to revive this highly rich art. Combat Varma Kalai tries only to contain effective and applicable methods from Varma Kalai to impart knowledge quicker than traditional Varma Kalai and gain back popularity of this lost art. Today Dr. Yuree is only one to stand distinguished in world of martial art to represent the great treasures of Indian systems of self defense with a special international activity and recognition. Combat Varma Kalai continues to work to revive the fading art of Varma Kalai and being is being adopted by military and Special Forces.

Some of the suitable aspects of Varma Kalai is also included in the Butthan Martial Art, the Noble Art of Stopping-Fight and Enlightenment. For more information click here