Varma adi or Marma adi ("hitting vital spots") is a part of the art of healing and harming Varma Kalai Marma Vidhya, It is a component of adi murai "law of hitting" which is a martial art that teaches methods to attack pressure point

Pressure point

A pressure point in the field of martial arts refers to an area on the human body that may produce significant pain or other effects when manipulated in a specific manner...

s of the human body.
This system of marmam is part of Siddha Vaidhyam, attributed to the Tamil sage Agastya

Agastya

Agastya was a Tamil/Vedic Siddhar or sage. Agastya and his clan are also generally credited with uncovering many mantras of the Rig Veda, the earliest and most revered Hindu scripture, in the sense of first having the mantras revealed in his mind by the Supreme Brahman...

 and his disciples.

It is practiced in the Travancore

Travancore

Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...

 region in Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 and almost all parts of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

.