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
India part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans. In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such as "kabaddi", "kho kho", "pehlwani" and "gilli-danda". Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as "kalarippayattu", "musti yuddha", "silambam", and "marma adi", originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as "chaturaṅga", is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian grandmasters. "Pachisi", from which parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar. The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis