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One day [Chattambi Swamigal] was on his way from Kollur to Alwaye with
two disciples. When he had reached the spot in front of the church at Edappali,
his progress was interrupted by a band of young men who were drunk.
Asking his companions to hold him by the back, he held his stick horizontally
in front of him and with bated breath he bounced forward. Those who felt
the touch of the stick fell to the ground. Thus he continued his journey without
difficulty. It was only the next day on his way back, after he had administered
the counter stroke that the ruffians were able to get up and move
away. (Menon 1967, 134)
The knowledge of the vital spots remains a highly secretive, as well as controversial,
subject among contemporary practitioners of both varma ati
and kalarippayattu.
Phillip B. Zarrilli
See also India; Kalarippayattu; Religion and Spiritual Development: India;
Written Texts: India
References
Arunachalam, Thur M. 1977. “The Siddha Cult in Tamilnad.” Bulletin of
the Institute of Traditional Cultures (January–June 1977): 85–117.
Ganapathy, T. N. 1993. The Philosophy of the Tamil Siddhas. New Delhi:
Indian Council of Philosophical Research.
Menon, K. P. K. 1967. Chattambi Swamigal. The Great Scholar-Saint of
Kerala, 1853–1924. 1985. Reproduced in Ananda E. Wood, Knowledge
before Printing and After. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nadar, K. Koccukrishnan. 1986. Marmmasastrasamharam. Thiruvananthapuram:
Redyar Press (Malayalam script of Tamil texts).
Nadar, M. Kunnakrishnan. n.d. Marmmasastraphithika. Thiruvanantapuram:
Upasana Books (Malayalam script of Tamil texts).
Raj, J. David Manuel. 1977. “The Origin and the Historical Development
of Silambam Fencing: An Ancient Self-Defense Sport of India.” Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Oregon.
Selvaraj. S. John. 1984. Varma Cuttiram (Tamil). Madras: International
Institute of Tamil Studies.
Templeman, Dennis. 1996. The Northern Nadars of Tamil Nadu. Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Tilak, Moses. 1982. Kalaripayat and Marma Adi (Varmam). Madras: Neil
Publications.
Wood, Ananda E. 1985. Knowledge before Printing and After. Delhi:
Oxford University Press.
Zarrilli, Phillip B. 1998. When the Body Becomes All Eyes: Paradigms,
Practices, and Discourses of Power in Kalarippayattu, a South Indian
Martial Art. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Zvelebil, Kamil. 1973. The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of
South India. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Vovinam/Viet Vo Dao
Vovinam (later renamed Viet Vo Dao) is a Vietnamese martial arts system
that was founded by Nguyen Loc (1912–1960) in the late 1930s. The sys-
Vovinam/Viet Vo Dao 651