Pongal is the harvest festival of Tamil Nadu and its celebration include a number of social and cultural events. One of these is a sporting event called Jallikattu which involves young men competing against bulls. In it men try to hold onto a bull as it runs through the pathway of an arena. The young men engaged in the contest try to catch a running bull’s hump in order to secure a pouch of coins/reward hung around the bull’s horn.
Historical Connotation of the Festival: The term Jallikattu is a compound word derived from two Tamil words—sallikaasu (coins) and kattu (a package)—which gained currency during the colonial period. Jallikattu is a facet of the culture of around 20 out of the thousands of villages in Tamil Nadu. It is also described as one of the ancient living sports in the modern era.
Jallikattu sport has been followed for generations in the villages of Tamil Nadu. The bulls used for the sport are traditional breeds of bulls that are revered and respected. The native cattle breeds used for the Jallikattu sport include Kangayam, Pulikulam, Umbalachery, Barugur and Malai Maadu. These bulls are characterised as strong and vigorous. They have well-developed hump and more resistant to communicable and parasitic diseases.
The image of the bull and ritualistic activities, such as bullfighting have also featured in the ancient seals dating back to 2300-1700 B.C. Several rock paintings dating back over 3,500 years found at Karikkiyur, a remote village in Tamil Nadu, show men chasing bulls with big humps and long, straight horns. The iconography dating back refer to human figures interacting with bulls indicating a form of sport. It also has figures of men or women wearing knee-length tunics and bangles. ‘Yeru Thazhuvuthal’ (embracing the bull), has many references in ancient Tamil literature asserting that the support for the sport denotes intimacy with the bull and their domestication in Tamil culture rather than showmanship or male chivalry.
The preservation of the sport is directly linked to the conservation and sustainability of these specific Indian breeds. Historically, one of the key uses of these native breed bulls is only for the Jallikattu sport.
Controversies: There have been incidents of injury and death associated with the sport, both to the participants and to the participating bulls. This led to animal rights organizations calling for a ban to the sport. Animal conservation activists in India as well as around the world have recently started pointing out that the numbers of these indigenous native breeds of bulls have decreased considerably. This resulted in the courts banning it several times over the past years.
In January 2017, a 15-day pro-Jallikattu demonstration was held on Marina Beach in Chennai. The protest was against the ban on Jallikattu on the grounds of animal cruelty by the Supreme Court of India in 2014. Similar protests were held across the state of Tamil Nadu including, Madurai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Kanchipuram, Erode, Tirunelveli, etc. The protest also received international support from Tamil diaspora communities in UK, Australia, Ireland, China, Russia and the US.
However, with protest from the people against the ban, a new ordinance was made by the state government in 2017 to continue the sport. The Tamil Nadu people opined that legal discussions over animal rights did not view the cultural setting, symbolic significance of cattle to Tamil identity and heritage. They felt that connecting Jallikattu with violence and abuse was seen as a misrepresentation of Tamil values and historical traditions. Since 2017, Jallikattu has become more regulated and organised. Rigorous methods of care taking of the bulls have evolved to prepare the bull for the festival.