website death_date teachers birth_name birth_place religion imagesize title birth_date residence image article_title name occupation
-lsb- http://www.kalaripayatt.plus.com/simhala-kalari.html simhala kalari -rsb- 5 march 2004 balan gurukkal kunhuvarkkypulla simhalan cochin , േകരള , भारत गणराज्य -rrb- , kerala , india -lrb- ക ച ചി buddhism , hinduism , christianity , islam 150px kalari gurukkal , marma adi gurukkal 1930 pynkulam , chennai , india simhalan-panicker-1 . jpg simhalan madhava panicker
 simhalan madhava panicker dancer , martial artist , actor
simhalan madhava panicker

simhalan madhava panicker was a well known south asian martial artist and actor of film and theater .
born into a family of plantation farmers in kerala in 1930 , he left home at the young age of 8 and traveled to all corners of india .
he found his passion in the martial arts and acting .
he was an expert and authority in varma kalai , the art of hitting pressure points in kalaripayat .
simhalan panicker learned the northern and southern styles of kalaripayat during 18 years of training under many teachers , and specialized in varma kalari which he learned from balan gurukkal .
from then on , he practiced the art , improvising and developing his own version of it .
using his background as a trained dancer , boxer and street fighter , he carried the art form into its highest level of expression .
he created simhala kalari in 1975 .
he was associated with contemporary martial artists like chandrashekharan gurukkal and vallabhatta vishwanathan gurukkal .
notable disciples are moses thilak , master manoharan and karate mani .
panicker was secretive about his varma kalari skills and has taught very few students , all of them renowned masters in southern india .
in 1983 he was featured as a ` most dangerous man ' in chennai in `` the way of the warrior : martial arts and fighting styles from around the world '' , a book that was the basis for a tv documentary released by the bbc which presents various martial art forms of the world .
simhalan panicker 's interests extended beyond martial arts .
he was also an actor of theater and film , with more than 175 movies to his credit .
he taught at the film and tv institute of tamil nadu , chennai .
he moved back to kerala in 1998 , where he continued practicing simhala kalari .
he died in march 2004 .
he is survived by his wife chinnamma and daughter jasmine simhalan , a noted kalaripayat and silambam exponent living in the uk .
they both continue his vision of the dissemination and popularization of kalari .
