Indonesian martial arts Indonesian martial arts Indonesian martial arts refers to the variety of fighting systems native to or developed in the archipelago of Indonesia, both the age-old traditional arts, and the more recently developed hybrid combatives. In the Indonesian language the term "bela-diri" (lit. self-defense) is used to mean martial art, and in essence the Indonesian fighting arts are meant as one's defence against perceived threat and assault. Other than physical training, they often include spiritual aspects to cultivate inner strength, inner peace and higher psychological ends. Today, Indonesian fighting styles are synonymous with pencak silat. Indeed, the term was coined as
Silat at least the fifteenth century in Malacca. The preset forms of silambam are known as "silatguvarisai". The most popular theory in Malaysia is that it derives from "sekilat" meaning "as (fast as) lightning." Other theories derive silat from the Sanskrit "sīla" meaning morality or principle, or the Southern Chinese "saula" which means to push or perform with the hands. The Sanskrit theory is particularly popular in Thailand, as "sila" is an alternate form of the word silat in that country. Other similar-sounding words have been proposed, but are generally not considered by etymologists. One example is "si elat" which means