Page 42 - Martial Science Magazine Special Edition 2015

GOLDEN EDITION 2014

• Attacking to make ill for an extend period of A well trained illangam swordsman has ability to battle
time. with a large group of enemies.
• Striking to induce the creation of bodily excre-
ment The special relationship between a sword and it’s owner
is signified by the age old ritual where the weapon is
Likewise, this kind of technique is unique to angam. forged according to the horoscopic auspicious time of
its owner, an also seasoned using oil and poisons which
Along with the art of striking pressure points, it also re- are also made out of herbs that are selected according
lated to its medical application for curative results. to the owners horoscope. A custom made sword of this
kind is considered as guardian of its owner and will not
When training, master and students alike take care to let him/her be harmed by another weapon, nor can that
be very cautious. And in the case of an injury during sword it’s self be used to harm it’s owner.
practice, the medical applications are used to treat the
injury. Experts in the art can treat ailments by applying According to folk lore, expert sword fighters of medie-
the right amount of pressure to the right pressure points. val sri lanka were able to attack while somersaulting
over enemy heads.
ILLANGAM PORA ARMED COMBAT
BELT SWORD
Ilnampora is another special part of Angam. This is
known as the armed combat techniques of Angam. To A unique and most prominent weapon used in illangam
be complete and competent Angam practitioner, the is the welayudaya. It can be known as the belt swords. It
knowledge of Illngam is essential. Normally illangam is is mainly used to attack a large number of surrounding
taught to a student after at least two years in to his tra- enemies at once. It is called “wela yudhaya”, because it is
ining. Learning this requires a lot of discipline and de- used while swirling around one’s own body. It is made
dication. Generally students are taught the techniques of steel blades that are about 1 inch in width and 6 feet
pertaining to all weapons; one can only “master” two in length.It comes in single blade, tri blade, six blade
or three weapons according to one’s physical prowess. variations. When it is played with both hands, with two
Most of the weapons used for practicing are cleansed weapons in each hand, no one can approach close enou-
with specialized rituals. A student must be granted per- gh to attack. But the user must be extremely careful as it
mission from the guru in order to learn particular wea- will cause serious injury if not done correctly after care-
pon, and this is signified by performing a special ritual ful practice. This has been used normally as a last resort,
where the weapon is handed over to the student by the when a single fighter has to take on a large number of
guru. surrounding enemies at once.

This art consists of 21 weapons. There are 4 main cate- KNUCKLE DUSTER
gories in this
Knuckle duster is an important weapon. It is used sin-
1. Curved weapons gle and twin movement techniques. This weapon is
2. Circular weapons made using the horns of bulls. This mostly causes bone
3. Long weapons shattering, the strike may heal from the outside, but the
4. Blunt weapons venom of the bulls’ horn makes inflammation from the
inside.
SWORD TECHNIQUES
In illangam there are a lot of techniques For the Dagger,
The sword is the most superior and prominent weapon the Horn Dagger, the battle axe. Angam practitioners
used in angam, and for centuries Angam practitioners are honed in, any defensive techniques that are taught
have been famous all over the Asia for their sword play. in order use when an enemy attacks using any of the-
se weapons. The specialty of the battle axe is that once
There are 110 varied techniques in terms of illangam attacked and lodged in to an opponent’s flesh, it will be
sword play, and 28 types of swords. Here single sword, difficult to remove, and cause more damage if an at-
twin swords, and four sword sword play is prominent. tempted to remove.

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