#565 Silambam

 Fun Fact #565

Silambam

The Year 300 AD The Sangam Triumvirate would face a new threat as a former criminal hill tribe in the Vellalar region rose up in rebellion. This was the rise of The Kalabhras Warriors and of The Dark Dawn of Their Empire. Its often referred to as “The Dark Dawn” or “Dark Period”  of Southern India, because of the Kallabhas execution of all scribes they discovered, resulting in very few surviving records. The only records known come from The Romans, who tried to restore The Triumvirate shortly after its fall but failed, The Han Chinese Dynasty who maintained trade, and a handful of legends passed down the generations through oral History. 

Among these legends lies one about a group of warriors who eventually rose up to defeat the Kallabras and bring in the The Twin kingdoms of Pandyas and Cholas, known as Silambam. Their name refers to their weapon of choice: The Bamboo Staff, but they invented so many unique weapons and styles of combat that in 2019 they were officially recognized as their own combat sport with Silambam Asia being set up by The United Nations to run The World Silambam Association (WSA).

To be frankly honest I first heard of them because when I was reading about The British East India, some Silambam attacked them from cliffs using balls of oil soaked cloth light on fire: Better known as Fireballs which are thrown from a specially made Silambam called a “FireStaff”. . .
As a fan of DnD I had to investigate their weapons further and thus I am bringing you along for the ride. I hope you enjoy and please have a wonderful day.

In other News, Wednesday September 4th, In the building attached to The Coronado Performing Arts Theater, from 5:30pm-7pm will be the Start of First Challenge Lego Robotics Season, then meeting regularly every Wednesday after that. The Goal of the program is to teach 9-14 year olds: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), along with Team work and problem solving skills as they work together to design build and Program a Lego Robot to compete in this year's game "Into The Deep".   If this sounds like something you'd like to get your kid(s) involved in then please send me a message. 

Rockford Robotics also has other programs such as out FRC Team (Highschool Robotics) run out of the ARCO Machinery Movers Building, whose season starts January 4th , and FIRST Discover (Pre-K) who technically don't have a season but 10 yearly challenges, designed to harness a kid's natrual curiosity to teach them the basics of STEM and problem Solving.