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`Jallikattu' is only an exhibition of a person's skill to tame bull

Staff Reporter

Says Collector in his counter-affidavit filed before the court

A SAGA: Youths displaying their valour. — A file photo

MADURAI: Madurai Collector T. Udhayachandran has come out in support of `jallikattu,' a bull taming sport conducted in view of the Pongal festival across the State in mid-January.

In his counter affidavit filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on a batch of cases on Tuesday, he said the sport was only an exhibition of a person's skill to tame a bull, and not a confrontation between them.

Tracing the sport's history, the Collector said it had found a place in the calendar of the `Pandyas' and a legend showed the game played a crucial role in selecting courageous grooms for spinsters. Ancient literature was filled with the heroic deeds of youth, who considered love and valour as virtues.

Unlike the bull fights conducted in Spain, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, in which the animals would be killed at the end of the game, "jallikattu was only a spectator sport, in which brain, more than brawn, plays a pivotal role," he said.

Pointing out that only human beings, and not bulls, were the sufferers, the Collector said: "It would not be gainsaying that `jallikattu' was totally part of the people in this rural area and that it would be an uphill task to deprive the people of this one grand finale to the Pongal celebrations. Both the law of the land as well as the United Nations' Covenant on Cultural and Social Rights, 1948, recognises upholding such customary practices."

On several occasions, he said, the horses that participated in the equestrian event in the Olympics had been detected of being administered performance-enhancing drugs.

"On the other hand, bulls trained for `jallikattu' were never injected with any banned substance."

Hence, he requested the court to consider the people's religious and cultural rights and the age-old custom of the State.

After perusing the counter affidavit, a Division Bench of Justice Dharma Rao Elipe and Justice P.P.S. Janarthana Raja passed interim orders permitting the sport and posted the case for further hearing to the first week of February.

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