BULL TAMING SPORT IN TAMILNADU, INDIA

When I was a small boy, on the second day after Pongal, i.e. on the 3rd of Makara (as per Tamil almanac), we used to have a celebration of the cattle helping the farmer in the fields and also giving milk to the family which was and continues to be an essential nutrient. The cattle will be taken to the rivers and given a bath and brought back home. After extensive polishing with a soft brush/cloth, the cattle will be decorated with turemeric, kumkum, sandal paste and garlanded with flowers and also with a garland made of a plant called Netti. This plant used to grow on the river banks. The people used to cut it,dry it and color it to make lovely colorful garlands. The cows and bulls will have a sumptuous feast made of cooked rice, jaggery and will be fed with bananas. The cattle will be worshiped as demigods as they provide enough nutrients and also help the farmer in his cultivation activities. The dung and the urine of the cows and the bulls will be collected along with the waste hay in a pit at the end of the house to prepare a good manure which will be used at the time of ploughing the land for cultivation. Then on the next day, the boys and young men in the village will assemble at around 3 PM in the village streets. First a bull called a temple bull (கோவில் மாடு) will be let lose from the temple premises at the western end of the street. The entire village will be assembled in the streets either on the Thinnais or on the streets to witness the event. The temple bull will be allowed to go without any one trying to capture it. Then one after the other the bulls from the houses will be brought out and let out (after removing the ropes tied to their noses and also the neck - மூக்கணாங்கயிறு மற்றும் தும்பு). The young men will try to capture the bulls and the bulls will be running helter skelter to escape. Slowly during my youth I learnt that this is a major tourist attraction and done professionally with lots of prize money on the bulls. There are many persons in central and western part of the state who reared bulls only for this purpose. The Kangeyam town is known for the bulls which are reared for this sport. The Kangeyam bulls also known for their ability to work hard and also the uncastrated bulls were used for mating to produce the best bulls and cows. This was during the days of my school and college days. 

Slowly the work culture absorbed me into the world of its own. Now in the last few years, I read that the association called PETA called for a ban and was awarded one by the highest court of India. What this PETA is doing is an extensive damage to the local cattle variety of India and especially South India. The Kangeyam bulls, Nandyal bulls and the Punganoor Cows are all highly priced possessions which are being reared with utmost care and love. I had seen a young boy of about 3 or 4 controlling the ferocious bull very easily and it followed him everywhere like a domesticated dog. Be that as it may, the decision to ban this sport has a very serious repercussions to the local cattle variety. If this sport is not there, the young male calves will be sent to slaughter house for meat and hide and the young female calves will have no local stud bull for mating. This over a period of time will erase the entire local cattle population. 

Once upon a time India did have five times the number of humans as cattle. Possessing cattle was considered wealth. Even in scriptures, there are enough references to cattle, where the kings donated cows to the brahmins for their upkeep and rearing as the milk and ghee made of the milk from the cattle were used in the daily chores of the brahmins. Now with the local cattle on the threshold of extinction, it is for the government of the day at the center and the state to act with alacrity to save them. When the same PETA in Spain objected to their matadorian festival bull fight,the government of Spain dismissed the charge and no court of the country came to the help of the PETA. The bull fight continues even today in Spain. Forget it being a national sport. The cattle breed is to be saved from extinction and this Jallikattu is one form of keeping the male calves alive.