Jallikattu

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project © Naveen P M - Bull handlers, R. Karthick (left) & ‘Malai’ Vicky, prime their prized bull at a pond on the outskirts of Alanganallur. © Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project View all images ↓
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  • Dates
    2018 - 2018
  • Author
  • Topics Sports, Documentary, Editorial
  • Location Tamil Nadu, India
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Jallikattu, the ancient sport of bull embracing, pervasive across the hinterland of Tamil Nadu, southern India, enjoyed a resurgence in 2018 after a brief ban.

Jallikattu, the ancient sport of bull embracing, pervasive across the hinterland of Tamil Nadu, southern India, enjoyed a resurgence in 2018 when the government, after statewide protests, intervened and lifted the Supreme Court ban that had come into effect in 2014, the previous year. The ban was enforced on grounds of animal cruelty after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) moved the apex court citing various instances of alleged barbarity inflicted upon the participating bulls.

The images below were captured at three jallikattu events that were held during the time of the harvest festival of Pongal last year. A friend and I embedded in a tight crew of bull handlers/tamers and travelled with them to a few jallikattu events around the city of Madurai. There's been so much negative coverage about this tradition in the press in light of the PETA allegations that I decided to "see" the subject matter through the lens of an objective insider to give the big picture.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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Sindhu, a veteran Jallikattu bull, strikes a pose with his handler at Pappinaicken Patti, a nondescript village near Madurai. This massive cross-bred creature has, reportedly, maintained a clean sheet in all the Jallikattu events he's ever participated in.

© Naveen P M - Bull handlers, R. Karthick (left) & ‘Malai’ Vicky, prime their prized bull at a pond on the outskirts of Alanganallur.
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Bull handlers, R. Karthick (left) & ‘Malai’ Vicky, prime their prized bull at a pond on the outskirts of Alanganallur.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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A veterinary doctor scrutinises the identification papers of local bull owners/handlers who have come to register their bulls for the Alanganallur Jallikattu 10 days before the event. Alanganallur Jallikattu is arguably the most popular of all Jallikattu events and draws a crowd of thousands every year.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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K. Veera Raghava Rao, then district collector of Madurai, reads aloud the Jallikattu pledge amidst the organisers, chief guests, and other stakeholders before the start of the Palamedu Jallikattu. 1,000 bulls were registered three days prior to the event. After medical screening, only 446 bulls bolted through the vaadivasal during the event.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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A bull is being honoured during a vatam manjuvirattu (jallikattu) event at Thiruppuvanam. Despite not being as popular as vadi manjuvirattu (the version that most of us have come to associate with jallikattu), spectators came in droves to witness the action. The rules of the game are simple: A bull is fastened to the centre of a circular (vatam translates to ‘circle' in Tamil) playing field with a 50-feet rope. A team comprising nine bull tamers has to subdue the bull in under 30 minutes to win.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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One of the volunteers unwinds before the start of the event in Palamedu. 446 bulls and 700 bull tamers participated in last year’s edition which began at 8am and lasted more than seven hours.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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Bulls and their owners/handlers wait in line to enter the vaadivasal (the entryway through which the bulls are let loose into the playing arena) at Palamedu. The queue packed to the hilt, reportedly stretched to a kilometre.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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One of the temple bulls (a bull that belongs to a local temple; a calf in this instance) charges through the jallikattu arena in Palamedu. It is customary to begin proceedings by releasing temple bulls through the vaadivasal and into the playing field (without anyone attempting to catch them as doing so would be considered sacrilege).

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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Bulls and their attendants wait in a jam-packed queue to reach the vaadivasal. A majority of them had been waiting in the queue since the previous night.

© Naveen P M - A bull handler tries to rejuvenate an exhausted bull with a bottle of glucose water.
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A bull handler tries to rejuvenate an exhausted bull with a bottle of glucose water.

© Naveen P M - A bull is being ushered into the playing field by his caretakers at a vatam manjuvirattu event in Thiruppuvanam.
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A bull is being ushered into the playing field by his caretakers at a vatam manjuvirattu event in Thiruppuvanam.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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A veterinary doctor measures the size of a bull’s horns at the veterinary centre in Alanganallur. A fitness certificate is issued if the animal’s age, height and other physical attributes are in line with the stipulated standards. The fitness certificate holds good for six months and a bull is barred from competing without one.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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Spectators at a vatam manjuvirattu event in Thiruppuvanam boo and heckle a team of bull tamers from a neighbouring district as they make their way to the playing field.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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A team of nine bull tamers from Alanganallur grapple with the bull during the vatam manjuvirattu event in Thiruppuvanam. Within seconds after this shot was captured, they brought the bull to submission amid raucous cheers from the gathered audience.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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A scarecrow is an oft-used prop to prep bulls for jallikattu. On the other hand, bull tamers often start training with a calf before moving on to adult bulls.

© Naveen P M - Image from the Jallikattu photography project
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A few enterprising spectators improvise to catch a glimpse of the action during the vatam manjuvirattu event in Thiruppuvanam.