About 5000 years age, Sieges age shier, a great devotee of lord Muruga, the Tamil god, lived in the hills of Pothigai in Thirunelveli District, which is situated in Tamilnadu in south India. It is said that it was Agasthiar who invented this art of Silambam. Later on the chera, Chozha and Pandiya kings introduced this art in their warfare and made it compulsory for all the soldiers in the five wings of their military. In the recent past, at the time of Pulidevan and Veera Pandiya Kattabomman (1760– 1799) this art was resurrected and was used in the fights against the British. So the British passed orders not to practice Silambam. As for the Tamils, Silambam is not only a weapon but also a traditional Martial art. So they practiced it for the sake of physical fitness. From the south India, Silamabm spread over the rest of India and it called in different name in different part of the country. Silambam is called as Nedu Vadi in Kerala; karra saamu in Andhra Pradesh; Dhanta Varisai in Karnataka, Lathi in Uttar Pradesh; Marithani in Maharashtra; Dhal Lakadi in Gujarat; Patta Pachi in Punjab & Haryana; Kathga in Jharkhand and Bihar depending upon their language spocken in their area. Nowdays, Silambam is played in festivals like Moharram, Ram Navami, etc.

SILAMBAM SPORTS ADMINISTRATION:

Over the period rules and regulations were framed for Silambam and so it developed into a martial sport. There are state, national, continental and International Federations are formed for silambam and annual competitions are being held as per norms. The All India Silambam Federation was duly registered in Government of Tamilnadu in 2004 and is functioning successfully. National competitions, Asian Silambam competition, World Silambam Competition are being held annually. The executive committee meeting in Kulalampur on 20th march 2009, decided to form the Asian Silambam Federation, having its head quarters in India. This Federation has been duly registered in India. The executive committee meeting in Nagercoil, TamilNadu on 17thAugust 2010 decided to form World Silambam Federation having its headquarters in India and subsequently registered in India.

Silambam Development

That “All India Silambam Federation” is a statutory body duly registered under the provisions of The We have taken effort to develop the sport of Silambam all over India and overseas. Therefore, several countries, States have joined hands with the All India Silambam Federation. The “All India Silambam Federation” more than 26 States are the affiliated members of our All India Silambam Federation. We are conducting State and National Championships and also participating South Asia, Asian and World Championship for the sport of Silambam periodically. We also maintain proper and audited accounts the same can be verified in our official website. That All India Silambam Federation taking into account our sincere effort to develop the sport of Silambam, The School Games Federation of India, had recognized the sport of Silambam as one the discipline at the National level SGFI and conducted National Games Championship. The All India Silambam Federation has provided the Technical support to conduct the above competitions.