Varmam

AT THE PERIOD OF THOLKAPIAR VARMA HEALING & VARMA KALAI IS PRACTISED BY VARMA AASAN IN THE PLACE KANIYAKUMARI DIST (MUNCHIRAI)

The Indian subcontinent, with its many rich civilizations which kept sprouting and shifting over the ages, has made valuable and major contributions to healing and life sciences, since time immemorial. 'Varmam' is an integral part of the ancient Tamil literature and practice that originated in the land of Tamilians. It is also believed to be the mother of many other martial art forms present today in other parts of India, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Japan, and other parts of the world. This resulted when the kings of dynasties in the Sangamand medieval era, like Raja Kesari Varman(popularly known as Raja Raja Chozhan) and Suryavarman Il(credited with building the Angkor Wat group of temples), themselves believed to be proponents of forms of this art, spread their empire to various parts of the world.

The origin of the science of 'Varmam', however, is believed to be coterminous with the origin of human existence and although the related literary works are dated around 6th Century CE, the oral traditions of Tamil language are much older, and Tamil as such is celebrated.

Varmam as a healing system can remove dis-ease in the body by allowing the prana to move to all the organs and check enough life energy is passing through the body to maintain balance in the Dasa Vayu and Dasa Naadi to create well being. If the Varmam practitioner is very well trained by the Varma Aasan who has attained a good expertise, the practitioner will be able to assess the needed healing instantly on the very appearance of the patient. The assessment of the individual is done by the attitude he carries, the odour that the body produces, posture of walking and sitting, seeing the face, breath, the facial features, etc. Every inch of the expression can be used for analyzing, diagnosing and healing.

Methods applied to relieve the Varmam created by some hit or injury in the process of relieving an individual is known as Tlakkumurai. This may involve one or more sittings depending on the tenure before which the injury has occurred. The stimulation of simultaneous varmam locations in a proper pattern gives an impression that it's a massage but in fact it's a series of therapeutic touch and stimulation that resembles a massage. Most of the ailments created due to injury are relieved with treatment of 1 to 3 sittings. This is done by eliminating the blocks created in the flow of life energy. More sittings may be required based on the intensity of the injury, the duration of the disease and the attitude of the person towards the treatment.