Tamil Nadu: After authorities review arrangements, bull-taming sport Jallikattu kicks off in Madurai

The bull-taming sport Jallikattu is in full swing after it kicked off in the temple town of Madurai on Wednesday.

Three villages-Avaniyapuram, Alanganallur and Palamedu are hosting the sport in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu.

''A total of 21 ambulance vans have been kept ready to provide medical facility to the injured players. Players have been divided into batches,'' retired Principal District Judge C Manickam, chairman of a committee constituted by the Madras High Court to oversee the conduct of Jallikattu.

He said, “We've divided the players into a batch of 75 each, 60 bulls will be released one by one in one go. Top police officials are present at the spot to deal with any situation.”

12 closed-circuit television cameras are placed in the venue where the sport is being played, and a total of 730 bulls in Avaniyapuram, 700 bulls in Alanganallur, and 650 bulls in Palamedu are participating in the event. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the bull-taming sport played in Tamil Nadu. 

The SC order comes after the Madras High Court ruling, allowing the sport of Jallikattu to be played in Avaniapuram and Alanganallur, Palamedu in Madurai district under the organising committee constituted by the division bench hearing the case.

Jallikattu was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014 owing to the aggressive nature of the sport in Tamil Nadu. The injury caused by the sport to humans as well as animals was the reasoning behind the Supreme Court ruling.

However, after wide-scale protests in the state to protect its age-old tradition, and many supporters of the sport arguing that it helps them to identify strong bulls for breeding, a new ordinance was brought in 2017 in order to continue the tradition.

Jallikattu is a sport played in the third day of the four-day-long harvest festival of Pongal. On this day, the cattle are given importance as it is beneficial to the process of farming. Temple bulls from different villages are released into a field, while the participants of the sport try to embrace the raging bull's hump in an attempt to tame it.