The ancient Tamils paid a great deal of attention to physical care and development of the body. They believed that looking after the body was a very important aspect of life and if the body was not carefully tended to, all the education and wealth gathered in life was of little use. Hence, in the olden days, tamil people encouraged youth to get involved in games, sports and various kinds of physical activities.

During Sanga period, there were many exercise centres similar to today's gymnasia. They were known as Poravai, Murankalari etc. Kalari is a word used to denote physical training centres and martial art training centres in Kerala, even today. The teachers who train students in these arts are known as 'Kalaripanickar'.

These physical training activities were mostly popular with the young men. Men had the duty to protect the motherland and hence needed to be well informed about martial arts. During times of peace, they kept their pysical fitness at optimum level by involving in competitions and tournaments of all sorts.

During the Pallava and Chola period, there was a revival of interest in developing the martial arts. The Pallava reign saw a great improvement in the art of wrestling. Narasimhavarman, a Pallava king was an expert in this art and had the title 'Mamallan', meaning a great wrestler.