Nagamalla

Nagamalla is a martial arts style and philosophy that originated in Gaja. Nagamalla was made for and by elephant-lahks. It is grounding style that favors strong blocking moves over evasion. Because Nagamalla was created as a self defense for elephant-lahks to protect themselves from other people, most of whom are smaller, more flexible and more numerous than they are, Nagamalla incorporates stances that lower practitioners center of gravity to better engage multiple opponents. The style is very much about controlling the space. The moves and exercises take full advantage of the comparative low flexibility and high strength of elephant-lahks. Common moves involve using the hands and body to travel quickly on the ground from a low stance. Because elephant-lahks are capable of storing vast amounts of information, including muscle memory, imagination plays a large part in Nagamalla. Practitioners learn not to rely on a small set of moves no matter how effective they are in one instant so that they do not become predictable. Opponents almost always expect attacks from practitioners that are the most deadly, but because elephant-lahks are so strong, any successful attack from them does damage, and by mixing up their strategies they keep their opponents off balance which is a key philosophy of the practice.