can intuitively unlock the secrets of a text and apply them in locating, at-
tacking, and/or healing the vital spots (personal communication).
Varma ati practitioners usually agree that 108 is the actual number of
vital spots first identified by the sage Agasthya. Unlike the 107 vital spots
identified in Susruta’s medical treatise as the total number of spots identi-
fied by forty-three names, 108 is actually the number of names of the vital
spots in this tradition. Since some names identify single spots, and others
are double, the number of vital spots may total more than 200. In the
varma ati tradition, of the 108 spots, 96 are classified as minor spots
(thodu varmam) and 12 as the major deadly vital spots (padu varmam).
These most deadly spots are those that, when penetrated enough, cause in-
stant death. The more numerous minor spots are not as dangerous when
penetrated, but penetration does cause pain and incapacitation.
Varma ati techniques include a variety of methods of attacking the vi-
tal spots with the hands, fingers, elbows, and similar natural weapons.
Some masters even provide esoteric explanations of the potentially deadly
significance of each part of the hand: “The thumb is the mother finger of
the hand. The right index finger is the guru. The second [middle] finger is
Saturn, god of death. The third finger is directly connected to the heart, and
the fourth is for tantric practice.... When you want to kill an opponent
use the second finger of death. If you only want to incapacitate your op-
ponent use Saturn supported by the guru finger so that you only penetrate
halfway” (personal communication).
When a vital spot is penetrated, the internal wind, or vital energy, is
understood to be stopped. As in kalarippayattu, emergency revival tech-
niques for penetration or injury to a vital spot exist, functioning as coun-
terapplications; however, the main revival technique in this system makes
use of one of twelve to sixteen adangal—methods of massage and stimu-
lating the revival spots. Since all the vital spots are understood to be con-
nected through the internal channels (nadi) of the subtle-body to these
twelve (or sixteen) revival spots, stimulating the appropriate vital spot
through application to an adangal, according to one traditional text
(Varma ati Morivu Cara Cuttiram), “straightens the channel” so that the
internal wind moves freely again, and “brings [the injured] back to con-
sciousness” (unpublished manuscript).
In the popular imagination, especially in the Kanyakumari region of
the south, a martial master’s powers of attack and revival using the vital
spots can appear miraculous. Stories and lore abound. An account of the
life of Chattambi Swamigal, the great scholar-saint of southern Kerala
(1853–1924), records how this great holy man was known as a master of
many traditional arts—wrestling, healing, yoga, and the “art” of the vital
spots. The following narrative illustrates his reputation.650 Varma Ati