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Published: February 13th 2006
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A humpy ride
A one-day matador clings to the hump of an untamed bull to claim his prize at the annual festival in Madurai in India. The white bull waits impatiently before a closed gate. He has a red garland tied to his horns and vermillion on his forehead - applied by the priest at the Muniyandisami temple. Behind the privileged temple bull stands a winding line of edgy beasts, reined in by their keepers.
Beyond the gate, young men in kabbadi jerseys wait for their hour of glory. Some of them will carry home their prize while some will be carried home dead or injured. The announcer says the sport would start 10 am sharp. The matadors are drunk with excitement. The less adventurous climb the makeshift galleries after paying the gatekeepers.
Jallikattu, the bull run that marks the end of Pongal festivities in Tamil Nadu in India, is about to start in this village near Madurai. Many surrounding villages celebrated the ancient sport on the previous day - Mattupongal - inviting bulls and bull tamers from every village with this tradition. But Alanganallur Jallikattu has an open invite and a fixed day - third day of the Tamil month of Thai. The youth from this village, however, are not allowed to participate in the most crucial revelry in their own backyard.
The
Grasping glory
Participants struggle to rein in a rampaging bull at the annual Jallikkattu festival in Madurai in India. announcer welcomes the tourists and reminds the participants of the rules. The prizes are ushered in by the sponsors - local politicians, sports teams and pump set companies. Even before the bulls are set out, the situation is riotous. Policemen retreat to a safer place as the final warning comes. Matadors rub their palms with sand.
The magnificent white bull creates a channel through the shouting mob and fleets to freedom, unmindful of the many hands trying to grab its oiled hunch and sharpened horns. Another temple bull follows him. The third one is trapped. Men scramble on top of it, two men clinging from either side of its hunch. But the prize goes to the village committee. This sport of valour recognises only one-to-one duels.
The raw energy given vent before a demanding audience could turn fatal at every spin and turn of the bull. This year, nine people, four of them in Alanganallur, fell to the ferocious animals and frenetic mob in villages across Tamil Nadu. As many died the previous year. Yet Jallikkattu remains the ultimate sport among rural masses. They wait for the big day as they toil in the fields through the rest
Calm before the storm
Bulls queued up before the Jallikkattu in Alanganallur in Madurai. Hours later these beasts will rampage through a waiting crowd. of the year. What await the winner are the deadly thrill and prizes ranging from a cock or pot to a bicycle or television.
Jallikkattu bulls are specially reared for the event. All through the rest of the year, they enjoy their protein-rich diet -- red rice, pulses, jaggery, eggs -- while their less-privileged cousins till fields and pull carts. Some households raise the bull in quarantine to make it more ferocious. They are ushered in to the arena with two men holding the ropes from either side. Some bulls have to be blindfolded to control it till it is released to the mob. To add to the fury, the animals are intoxicated with liquor and blinded by lime juice and urine in the narrow corridor where they are let loose.
Many men leap over a huge bull, but only one holds on. He survives the shakes and leaps to claim the accolades of the fellow matadors. He runs to the blue gate to receive his prize. Others wait for the next chance. Behind the seemingly mob behaviour, there are professionals waiting for the right time and the right bull. No one dares to face a big beast
Battle ready
As participants wait beyond the gate, bull trainers oil the sharpened horns so that their bull remains untamed. without observing its antics at an earlier event. Naive adventurers, often onlookers caught in the bulls' trajectory, are the ones to succumb. There is even an association of bull tamers in this village.
There are professionals among the animals too. Experienced audience wait for those thrillers when the bull takes up the challenge and stands its ground. A spin, a turn and a threat with the horns...and the animal is untouched and out of bounds. It cuts an unexpected route through the mob waiting to whack it from a safe distance. Animals like these are invaluable in Tamil Nadu. After each untamed run, these bulls boost their value in the market. When arena decides the price, underhand deals between merchants and matadors are common, insiders say.
Old-timers can't remember a year when bulls were not set out in Alanganallur. Every year, adventurers gathered in this arena built on myth and death. Malairaj Daivasikhamani, the priest of the local temple, insists the bloody sport is a form of worship. At least it started so during the time of the Jameens, the landlords. When an oracle prescribed human sacrifice for the well-being of the village, the adventurers invented a sport
Basic instincts
A youth takes on a rampaging bull as it cuts a trajectory through the maddening crowd in Alanganallur. which spilled blood on the courtyard of the Kali temple.
Screeching ambulances shuttle between the venue and Rajaji government hospital in Madurai. But nobody cares, except the bereaved families. As young men, and even boys, challenged the rampaging bulls, three sisters were still mourning their brother. Senthil's garlanded photo and his jersey with a hole in its centre are the only legacy left behind by the teenager who was gored to death by a bull last year. The 15-year-old was among the ten men from this village of legendary bullfighters who acted in Virumandi, a recent Tamil flick that cashed in on the living lore of the land.
In the arena, Senthil's killer shovels up an adversary with its horrific horns. It sends the men clinging to its tail up in the air with a sudden swirl. By noon, the battlefield is packed and more and more people are sent to the hospital. No rest, no respects…a struggle without compromise. The untamed bulls, with their keepers in pursuit, rampage the roads lined with sugarcanes and cutouts of politicians. This day, this village submits itself to the mercy of more than 500 angry animals. The next day, it is business as usual and the blood-soaked wasteland is again forgotten for a year.
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