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
Indian martial arts flexible sword. The Marathas developed their fighting style based on the state's hilly geography. [[Mardani khel]] today teaches armed techniques for use in single combat as well as defense against several opponents. Other weapons include the sword, shield, spear, dagger, kukri, double deer horns, and bow and arrow. The Manipuri art of "huyen lalong" was once practiced by the state's indigenous hill tribes who would engage in duels governed by strict rules of conduct. The armed component called [[thang-ta]] is named after the system's main weapons, the "thang" (sword) and "ta" (spear). Practitioners spar through "cheibi gatka" in which a