Gatka Gatka Gatka ( Urdu: "") is the name of an Indian martial art associated with the Sikhs of the Punjab region. It is a style of stick fighting, with wooden sticks intended to simulate swords. The Punjabi name "gatka" properly refers to the wooden stick used. The word originates as a diminutive of Sanskrit "gada" "mace". The style originated in later 19th century, out of sword practice in the British Indian Army, divided in two sub-style, called "rasmi" (ritualistic) and "khel" (sport) from the 1880s. There has been a revival during the later 20th century, with an International Gatka Federation
Silambam has a variety of locks called "poottu". A fighter must always be careful while wielding the stick or they will be grappled and lose the fight. Locks can be used to disable the enemy or simply capture their weapon. Techniques called "thirappu" are used to counter the locks but these must be executed before being caught in a lock. Silambam also has many different types of avoiding an attack like blocking, parrying, enduring, rotary parrying, hammering, "kolluvuthal" (attacking and blocking simultaneously) and evasive moves such as sitting or kneeling, moving out, jumping high, etc. Against multiple attackers, silambam exponents do