Owners of bulls and bull tamers are preparing for the controversial Jallikattu, bull-taming sport, with a month to go for the Pongal festival when the sport is conducted annually in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district.
This year, however, there is uncertainty once again as the case is being heard in the Supreme Court where animal rights organisations have filed multiple petitions against Jallikattu, arguing that it amounts to cruelty, while the Tamil Nadu government has argued that it is part of the state’s culture and tradition. The harvest festival of Pongal will be celebrated from January 15 to 18 next year and Jallikattu is usually conducted on the first day.
“Only a few of us are concerned about the case, the remaining people are aloof and preparations are in full swing,” says P R Rajasekaran, president of Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Peravai, a body representing the taming sport participants. He is also a party to the case in the top court. Since the large-scale protests in 2017 in Tamil Nadu for the jallikattu ban to be lifted, people associated with the sport believe that it is now untouched, says Rajasekaran. “But, that’s the wrong way of thinking. We have to respect the law. We don’t know what the Supreme Court will decide.”
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court on December 8 reserved its judgement on petitions challenging three state laws that allow jallikattu in Tamil Nadu and bullock or buffalo races in Maharashtra and Karnataka. But, the stakeholders are ready to watch pouncing bulls and athletic tamers. Petitions are being filed with the Madurai district collector seeking permission to conduct the event in various places, such as Alanganallur, Avaniyapuram and Palamedu.
The bulls are given nutritious meals and regular exercises for their strength. Rajasekaran owns 12 jallikattu bulls and the cost of maintaining one bull a day is anywhere between ₹200 and ₹300. “A Jallikattu kaalai (bull) will not do any other work like other cows and bulls are made to do. They are specifically reared and taken care of only to participate in Jallikattu,” he says. Bull owners like him take the bulls walking for 4 km every evening and swimming once in two days in their nearby lakes. “The experienced and mature bulls will do 8 to 10 laps easily. We can assess their speed and strength from the way they swim,” Rajasekaran says, adding that he has two families and four men to feed and maintain these bulls.
“It costs all of us a huge amount of money and there is no return. We have been doing this from our childhood and we continue because it’s our pride and culture,” says Rajasekaran.
Meanwhile, the bull tamers are also on a strict diet regimen and exercise. They are concerned about the on-going case but hope that somehow the event will happen as always.
Vinod Kumar, a 30-year-old civil advocate practising in the Madurai high court and the lower courts, will only focus on preparing for Jallikattu in the next one month. He began participating since 2008 and has tamed about 70 bulls so far. “There is a slight fear that it may not happen this year because of the case but I also believe that the Tamil Nadu government will not give up on our culture,” says Kumar from Vadipatti in Madurai. “So I’m practising like the event is sure to happen. We will stay ‘clean’ like we are fasting to go to Sabarimala temple (in Kerala) by bathing in the mornings, staying away from non-vegetarian food and liquor.”
Vinod runs at least 10 kilometers a day besides swimming to keep up with the bulls.
Every year there are calls to ban jallikattu and it was banned between 2014 and 2016 in Tamil Nadu due to the Supreme Court’s order. This was before Tamil Nadu enacted the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules of 2017 to override the ban following the protests.
Political parties and sections of people in the state have contended that Jallikattu is part of Tamil Nadu’s tradition and culture and it should continue. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the state government has permitted Jallikattu with Covid-19 protocols, such as all participants undergoing a test at a government laboratory to produce a negative certificate 48 hours prior to the event. This year, the government is yet to come up with any conditions, which will also be subject to the top court’s order.
