Silambam Asia where silambam greatly influenced many fighting systems. The Indian community of the Malay Peninsula is known to have practiced silambam as far back as the period of Melaka's founding in the 15th century, and likely much earlier. The soldiers of Kings Puli Thevar, Dheeran Chinnamalai had Silambam army named "thadii pattalam", Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Maruthu Pandiyar (1760–1799) relied mainly on their Silambam prowess in their warfare against the British Army. Indian martial arts suffered a decline after the British colonists banned Silambam along with various other systems. They also introduced modern western military training which favoured fire-arms over traditional
Gatka students in north India. The traditional training hall for gatka is the akhara. Sikhs may train in a religious or semi-religious situation, such as in a gurdwara (Sikh temple). "Khel" (meaning sport or game) is the modern competitive aspect of gatka, originally used as a method of sword-training ("fari-gatka") or stick-fighting ("lathi khela") in medieval times. Competitors spar using sticks called "gatka", from which the sport derives its name. The gatka are about three handspans long, made from light wood or bamboo and covered in leather. It may be used on its own or paired with another stick but for