The Ancient Fighting Arts of the Tamil People

Ask most people where martial arts come from and you'll hear Japan, China, maybe Korea. Rarely does anyone mention the Tamil-speaking lands of southern India — and that's a strange gap, given how old and how far-reaching the fighting traditions of ancient Tamilakam actually were. These weren't just combat techniques passed between warriors. They were living systems that wove together medicine, movement, philosophy, and devotional practice, carried forward through family lineages, temple festivals, and the kind of palm-leaf manuscripts that take a scholar's patience to decipher. The world hasn't paid much attention to Tamil martial arts. It probably should have.