22 Injured As Season's First Jallikattu Contest Begins In Tamil Nadu

At least 22 people suffered injuries as the season's first Jallikattu or taming the bull festival being held in Tamil Nadu's Pudukottai district today.

Around 350 bulls and 250 bull tamers would participate in the event being held at Thatchankurichi village in the district amid concerns of animal cruelty ahead of the harvest festival of  Pongal.

The event originally scheduled for the 6th of this month was postponed by the district collector Kavitha Ramu over non-compliance of the guidelines issued by the administration.

The Tamil Nadu Government has put in place safety measures to ensure the safety of the bulls and spectators including double barricading, and screening of the bulls by veterinarians besides monitoring by animal welfare board nominees.

The administration has also made it necessary for bull tamers to produce vaccination certificates as a pre-condition to participation in the event.

The bigger event, however, would be held at the world-famous Alanganallur in Madurai district on January 17.

For the event, the district administration has imposed several restrictions to control the spread of the virus, including the participation of only 150 bull tamers and 50 % of the seat occupancy in the galleries. Spectators too are required to produce vaccination and negative test reports.

Jallikattu would be held at Madurai's Avaniapuram on January 15 and at Palamedu on the 16th.

Over the decades the rural sport has seen many being gored to death or maimed by bulls. Bulls too have been subjected to several forms of cruelty and torture including intoxication, squeezing lemon into eyes of the bull to make them aggressive, pulling the animal by tail, poking them with spear besides multiple tamers clinging on the hump of the beast.

The Supreme Court had earlier banned the sport. However, the law was amended following massive protests in the state in 2017 arguing the event is a religious and cultural tradition The issue is still being fought in the top court.

Huge amount of money is splurged during the festival with winners receiving gold coins to motorbikes and even a car. The value of untamed bulls also soar exponentially. The event, in ancient times was held to preserve native cattle breeds and these were so popular, ancient women loved to marry bull tamers, according to Tamil literature.