Jallikattu turns violent, 29 injured
Arup Chanda
Tribune News Service

Alanganallur (TN), January 17
The famous bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu, "jallikattu" today turned violent as angry spectators pelted stones on the police and 29 men were severely injured as they were gored by ferocious bulls.

Trouble broke out as the police tried to prevent spectators from entering the arena with the people turning violent and started pelting stones. Five policemen were injured.

Large number of foreigners who had turned in this village, around 40 km from Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu, were scared as human beings instead of the bulls turned out to be more ferocious.

The bulls were queued up through a narrow, barricaded aisle after being subjected to medical and veterinary examination, for signs of intoxication or infliction of pain to make them more ferocious. After the vets cleared them, revenue officials and policemen, along with local organisers, regulated their entry into the arena through a manually operated gate that was drawn up at regular intervals to let the animals through.

Many foreigners as well as domestic tourists lined up along the arena, while the more enterprising took up vantage positions atop neighbouring houses to watch the spectacle of bulls rampaging through a clutch of ‘tamers’ whose role was to try and stop the bulls from getting past them. As it turned out, few were tamed or controlled, as the bulls, in obvious panic rather than ferocity, ran through flailing human hands only to be received as ‘winners’ in the contest between man and animal.

In a couple of instances, young men managed to hold on to the humps or horns of the bulls for a distance of 50 metres, which signals that they had won that round. They were rewarded with a gold coin each and other smaller gifts.

Thrice in the first few hours, screeching ambulances ferried the wounded, as young men wearing identical t-shirts (as instructed by the Supreme Court which wanted participants to be clearly distinguishable from spectators) were carried away with blood flecking their uniform.

Madurai district collector S. Hawahar said, "We are abiding by the Supreme Court order. We have put double barricades. The animals are being rested after being brought in from different parts of the State.". He along with animal activists were monitoring the proceedings from a specially erected elevated dais to ensure that no cruelty was inflicted on the bulls.

The DC said as many as 40 veterinarians headed by the joint director of the Department of Animal Husbandry were checking the animals to ensure they were not fed with arrack or drugs or laced with chilli powder in a bid to make them more ferocious. The vets were also looking at the bulls’ horns and their tips were lightly sawed off if they too sharp.

Whatever one may think of the sport, the people who had gathered in thousands were clearly happy that their Pongal had not been dampened by a judicial ban on an event they enjoy.