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
Vajra-mushti wrestlers with decades of experience. As a variant of wrestling, vajra-musti shares its training methodology with malla-yuddha. The sun salutation (Surya Namaskara), shirshasana, Hindu squat ("bethak") and the Hindu press-up ("danda") are all used to strengthen the body and improve stamina. The only attire is a kowpeenam or loincloth. The actual vajra-musti is not used for training due to the risk of injury. Instead, wrestlers substitute the weapon with a cloth woven between the fingers. The cloth is dipped in red ochre so that hits may be confirmed. On the day of a match, the combatants' heads are shaved, leaving