Bandara to promote ‘Angampora’

Chinthana WASALA

‘Viswaja Vinthera’, the martial arts training centre in Maharagama where the great Sri Lankan martial art ‘Angampora’ is taught, hosted a special session to demonstrate the art of ‘Angampora’ recently.

This was hosted by the proprietor of the institute, Vageesha Wickramawansha Bandara with the intention of popularising this art among the community and making the people know what this art really is.

The session included an introduction on the Yoga and meditation systems the `Angampora’ fighters have mastered, various kinds of fights, brief intro on the equipments used in `Angampora’ and a special demonstration with the swords performed by Bandara.

The game of Angampora is made to kill and the fighting art is based on the moves of a tiger. But now it is mainly focused on tough discipline, meditation and physical exercises which leads to a better society. This is the only place in Sri Lanka where Angampora is taught with Yoga techniques.

Some of the shots in Angampora are deadly and needs years of practice to master. The game based on the theme, ‘one shot for one.

These secrets were earlier taught only to selected men of Maruwalliya generation but for the sake of the game and because the game has to be long lasted, Bandara has decided to teach this game to a few selected men.

However not all the students are taught everything and strict discipline is needed to succeed. The finer part of the game is taught only to the most trusted and faithful students.

“In the early stages, the students are punished for even the simplest of mistakes. “There are more than 300 students currently under his guidance and about 20 students with the best spirit of the game under me” noted Bandara.

“We are very grateful if someone is willing for a sponsorship to get this to the world. The world must know that we have inherited such an important martial art that can challenge any other martial art. We are ready to perform in front of anyone, but we are not ready to be a commercial item” Bandara says.

For the sake of this true art, I would like to fight with anyone who challenges for a deadly fight in front of any crowd, he added.