The Way of the Brush & the Sword Sacred Fist Karate International Ken To Fude No Ryu Kenshu Kai Karate Solly Said's Solly Said's Karate,Kickboxing & Gym
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LATHI लाठी

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Aki Kiti Angampora Bandesh Bothati But Marma Atti Cheena Adi
Chi Hsuan Men Gatka Inbuan Wrestling Kalarippayattu Kushti Kuttu Varisai
Lathi Malyutham Marma Adi Muki Boxing Mukna Nata
Shastar Vidiya Silambam Thang-Ta Vajra Mushti    

The word Lathi means stick or cane in Hindi, Bengali and some other Indian languages. It is basically a 6 to 8-foot (2.4 m) long cane tipped with an optional metal blunt. It is the Indian Police's most used crowd control device.

When referring to the weapon itself, a lathi could be considered the world’s oldest weapon.Although Lathi shares many principles with other martial arts, it is totally unique in a way. Most armed martial arts of Asia have one thing in common – they use the dan-tien as their energy center. The dan-tien is two fingers below the navel and corresponds to the solar plexus. This relatively low center of gravity causes these martial arts to be mostly performed out of a knees-bent crouch, which is called horse stance.

The energy center of Lathi is the heart chakra. This higher center of gravity allows the Lathial (practitioner of Lathi) to practice from a higher, longer, more extended posture. Practitioners feel this provides a natural alignment with gravity that balances, orders and aligns the body with the earth’s gravity field, and believe this means that Lathi can be used as a powerful therapeutic tool to heal the human body of all kinds of chronic and acute structural troubles.

It is worth noting that in dan-tien-centered martial arts, belly breathing is the predominant pattern. In Lathi, the higher heart center allows for the breath to flow into the high chest. The high chest breath moves energy, nourishes the heart and lifts the body structure into a natural and therapeutic alignment with gravity.

Wielding the lathi involves giving quick lethal blows to the opponent and defending opponent attacks by using the lathi as a shield. A lathial needs to be quick and precise. Lathi blows are powerful and sometimes even fatal. A good lathial must be able to fight with lathis of different lengths and thicknesses.

Lathi became popular among villages of India, especially eastern and southern India. Other than fighting lathi was often used to control domestic animals. A common Hindi saying goes "Jiski lathi, uski bhains" meaning, "he who wields the lathi gets to keep the buffalo" ("bhains" in Hindi).

Local warlords and landlords often raised armies of lathials for settling disputes and for security purposes. Lathial armies were also used to oppress and punish common people. The size of the army was also an indication of the power of a warlord or landlord. At the same time lathi had also evolved as a sport. Tournaments involving lathi duels often took place in Indian villages.

The Zamindari System was introduced by the Mughals in India and continued during British rule of India. The Zamindar raised lathial armies to forcefully collect taxes from people. The British introduced lathi as a weapon for the Indian Police. This gave birth to the lathi charge, a military-style rush (or charge) that uses lathis to disperse crowds. Lathis were now often used by Indian Police to control riots and also as a secondary weapon. Lathi charges were a common way to suppress marches and protests for independence by freedom fighters and common people.

MALYUTHAM மல்யுத்தம்
Malyutham is the ancient Dravidian style of combat wrestling practiced in south India and Sri Lanka. The word malyutham is a cognate of the Sanskrit term mallayuddha, meaning "wrestling fight". It is pronounced "mal-yu-tee-ham".

Malyutham as it is practiced in North India today has borrowed some of its material from Mughal wrestling or pehlwani.

In competition, the wrestlers grapple while trying to push their opponent to the ground. During a tournament wrestlers travel far and wide challenging local wrestlers. If they win, the name and fame of their hometown or area is multiplied hundredfold.

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