Lemuria Varmakalai, Adimurai & Silambam Academy

Varmakalai — also written varma kalai or varmakkalai — is the Tamil art of the varmam: points of the body that the tradition names, maps and treats with great care. Tamil tradition attributes its teaching to the sage Agastya and the Siddhars, and much of its literature survives as verse on palm-leaf manuscripts.

It has two sides. The martial side is taught at an advanced stage of Adimurai and Silambam, with restraint. The healing side, varma vaidyam, is described within the Siddha system of traditional medicine. The tradition counts 108 principal varmam, conventionally divided into 12 padu and 96 thodu points.

Adimurai takes its name from two Tamil words: adi, to strike, and murai, method — the method of striking. It is the empty-hand fighting art of the far south of Tamil Nadu, historically practised in the Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts and the neighbouring parts of Kerala.

Training builds from stances, footwork and conditioning to strikes, kicks and blocks, and then to combinations, locks and escapes practised with a partner. Its preliminary empty-hand work is often called adithadai, and the application of vital points within it, varma adi.

Silambam is the Tamil art of the staff. The name is usually traced to the bamboo of the hill country, and the staff — the kambu — is traditionally cut to reach about the forehead of the person who wields it. Silambam is named in classical Tamil literature, including the Silappatikaram.

Practice centres on footwork patterns and continuous spinning, striking and guarding sequences. The wider system includes an unarmed component, kuttu varisai, and other traditional weapons that are taught once the staff is secure.

At Lemuria VAWO they are taught as one path rather than three separate courses. Conditioning and footwork are shared foundations; Silambam trains timing, distance and coordination with a weapon; Adimurai trains the empty hand; and Varmakalai — the knowledge of the points — sits at the advanced end of both, beside the healing side of the tradition.

A student begins with the foundations and moves on when the instructor judges them ready. Certification follows structured, assessed study.

Lemuria VAWO is the Lemuria Varmakalari Adimurai World Organization. It teaches these arts, documents their texts and lineages, runs seasonal camps and certification, and offers traditional Varma sessions. Its home ground, Thaikalam, is in Ramanathichanputhur near Marungoor, in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu.

The name refers to the Tamil tradition of Kumari Kandam, sometimes called Lemuria in English. The organisation is not connected with the nineteenth-century sunken-continent hypothesis, or with other groups that share the name.

Training, healing and the tools of the arts, all from one lineage. Trial classes are held for students and for masters, and beginners are welcome in every discipline:

• Trial classes: Trial classes are held for students, and for masters (asans) of the arts. Book a place and the team will call you to confirm where and when the next trial batch meets.
• Tamil martial arts classes: Adimurai, Silambam and Varmakalai taught as one progressive path, with Mallakhamb and the lineage's traditional weapon forms alongside them.
• Varma therapy: Traditional Varma sessions at the lineage's centres, offered as a traditional wellness practice alongside, not instead of, medical care.
• Learn Varma therapy: Varma therapy is taught to students and masters as supervised, in-person study within the lineage. It is never taught as self-treatment.
• Camps & certification: Seasonal camps concentrate training into consecutive days at Thaikalam and other venues. Certificates are assessed, and anyone can verify one online.
• Traditional weapons & equipment: Swords, veecharuval, maankombu, gadai and karla kattai, with Adimurai uniforms and Varma thailam, from the Lemuria Shop.
• Manuscripts & distance learning: Palm-leaf manuscripts and oral teachings are recorded through the Ekalaivan programme, which also supports study between visits to Thaikalam.