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Jallikattu (or Sallikkattu), also known as Eru Taḻuvuṭal and Manju-virattu, is a traditional event in which a zebu bull ( Bos indicus), such as the Pulikulam or Kangayam cattle breeds, is released into a crowd of people, and many people attempt to grab the large hump on the bull's back with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape. They hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, they must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull's horns or cross a finish line.
Jallikattu is typically practised in some regions of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, particularly in southern Tamil Nadu, as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day, which occurs annually in January.
Because of incidents of injury and death associated with the sport, both to the participants and to the animals forced into it, animal rights organizations have called for a ban on the sport, resulting in the Supreme Court of India banning it several times over the past years. However, with protests from the people against the ban, a new ordinance was enacted in 2017 to continue the sport.
A cave painting in white Kaolinite discovered near Madurai depicting a lone man trying to control a bull is estimated to be about 1,500 years old.
An ancient tin coin discovered by a numismatist could be a fresh evidence of Jallikattu. R. Krishnamurthy, president of the South Indian Numismatic Society, estimated that the coin belongs to third or fourth century BCE. Since the coin was made of tin, which was then available only in South-East Asian countries.
Jallikkattus are very common between Thanjavur and Tiruchirappalli in the north and Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram in the south, a region centered around the city of Madurai and populated for the most part by the Mukkulathor castes, who are the main participants in this ritual sport. Other landowning intermediate caste groups also enthusiastically participate, many of them bull owners and bull tamers.
In the Pudukkottai State, the Jallikattu was considered as a quasi religious function to be conducted to propitiate the village deities, and was usually held on any day after the Thai Pongal when harvesting was over and before the commencement of the Tamil New Year.
| + !Venue !District | |
| Alanganallur | Madurai |
| Avaniapuram | Madurai district |
| Palamedu | Madurai district |
| Thammampatti | Salem district |
| Vanniyan Viduthy | Pudukkottai |
| Thiruvapur | Pudukkottai |
| Vendanpatti | Pudukkottai |
| Siravayal | Sivagangai |
| Kandupatti | Sivagangai |
| Araliparai (unique hillock view) | Sivagangai |
| Pallavarayanpatty | Theni district |
| Neikarapatti | Dindigal |
| Malayadipatty | Trichy district |
| Sooriyur | Trichy district |
| Allithurai | Trichy district |
| Madhakottai | Thanjavur |
| Thirukkanurpatti | Thanjavur |
| Alagumalai | Tirupur |
| Vellalore | Coimbatore |
| Pagalathampalayam | Erode district |
| Rachandar Thirumalai | Karur district |
| Thogaimalai | Karur district |
Bulls enter the competition area through a gate called the vadi vasal. Typically, participants must only hold onto the bull's hump. In some variations, they are disqualified if they hold onto the bull's neck, horns or tail. There may be several goals to the game depending on the region. In some versions, contestants must either hold the bull's hump for 30 seconds or for . If the contestant is thrown by the bull or falls, they lose. Some variations only allow for one contestant. If two people grab the hump, then neither person wins.
Animal rights and Animal welfare concerns are related to the handling of the bulls before they are released and also during competitor's attempts to subdue the bull. Practices before the bull is released include prodding the bull with sharp sticks or scythes, extreme bending of the tail which can fracture the , and biting of the bull's tail. There are also reports of the bulls being forced to drink alcohol to disorient them, or being rubbed in their eyes to aggravate the bull.
During attempts to subdue the bull, they are stabbed by various implements such as knives or sticks, punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground. In variants in which the bull is not enclosed, they may run into traffic or other dangerous places, sometimes resulting in broken bones or death. Protestors claim that jallikattu is promoted as bull taming, however, others suggest it exploits the bull's natural nervousness as prey animals by deliberately placing them in a terrifying situation in which they are forced to run away from the competitors which they perceive as predators and the practice effectively involves catching a terrified animal. Along with human injuries and fatalities, bulls themselves sometimes sustain injuries or die, which people may interpret as a bad omen for the village.
In his 2012 book Animal Rights Without Liberation, which analyses the use of animals in cultural practices and concerns about alleged hypocrisy, political theorist Alasdair Cochrane argues that culture cannot outweigh animal rights or outweigh animal interests in not being killed, even if this entails the destruction of cultures "defined entirely by the grave harm they to animals" and cites jallikattu as an example to argue that culture or human interests cannot outweigh animal interests in not suffering. An investigation by the Animal Welfare Board of India concluded that "jallikattu is inherently cruel to animals".
Animal welfare organisations such as the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) and PETA India have protested against the practice. The Indian Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi denied the claim by jallikattu aficionados that the sport is only to demonstrate the "Tamil love for the bull", citing that the Tirukkural does not sanction cruelty to animals.
On 27 November 2010, the Supreme Court permitted the Government of Tamil Nadu to allow jallikattu for five months in a year and directed the District Collectors to make sure that the animals that participate in jallikattu are registered to the Animal Welfare Board and in return the Board would send its representative to monitor the event. The Government of Tamil Nadu ordered that be deposited by the organizers in case of an accident or injury during the event and enacted a rule to allow a team of veterinarians be present at the venue for certifying the bulls for participation in the event and to provide treatment for bulls that get injured.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a notification in 2011 that banned the use of bulls as performing animals, thereby banning the event, but the practice continued to be held under Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009. On 7 May 2014, the Supreme Court of India struck down the State law and banned jallikattu altogether. The Supreme Court noted that any flouting of the ban should result in penalties for cruelty to animals under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The court also asked the Government of India to amend the law on preventing cruelty to animals to bring bulls within its ambit. The Supreme Court also ruled that cruelty is inherent in these events, as bulls are not anatomically suited for such activities and making them participate is subjecting them to unnecessary pain and suffering, so such events were outlawed.
On 8 January 2016, the Ministry of Environment and Forests permitted the continuation of the tradition under certain conditions, effectively ending the ban. However, on 14 January 2016, the Supreme Court of India issued a stay on this order, upholding the ban, after a petition filed by the Animal Welfare Board of India and PETA India, leading to protests all over Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court refused to review its decision on 26 July 2016.
On 16 January 2016, the World Youth Organization (WYO) protested at Chennai against the stay on the order overturning ban on conducting jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. The WYO also demanded a ban on PETA in India.
On 8 January 2017, several hundreds of protesters conducted a rally at the Marina Beach in Chennai opposing the ban on jallikattu. The participants walked from the lighthouse to the labour statue bearing posters saying "save jallikattu". A few churches openly conducted prayer mass and rally against the Supreme Court ruling. Following the protests at Chennai, many students started rallies in various towns of Tamil Nadu.
After hearing the petitions which were led by the Animal Welfare Board of India challenging central government's notification, the Supreme Court of India on 12 January ordered a stay, issued notices to the central government and the Tamil Nadu government and later refused to lift the stay. Numerous jallikattu events were held across Tamil Nadu in protest of the ban, and hundreds of participants were detained by police in response. The Supreme Court has agreed to delay its verdict on jallikattu for a week following the centre's request that doing so would avoid unrest.
Due to these protests, on 21 January 2017, the governor of Tamil Nadu issued a new ordinance that authorized the continuation of jallikattu events. On 23 January 2017 the Tamil Nadu legislature passed a bipartisan bill, with the accession of the Prime Minister, exempting jallikattu from the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960). The first legal jallikattu under this exemption took place on 1 February in Alanganallur, Madurai district.
The legal situation surrounding jallikattu is as yet not clearly resolved. Some, such as ex Ministry of External Affairs cabinet minister Salman Khurshid, have stated that the matter will only be truly resolved if the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is amended as local ordinances and state laws cannot trump Indian federal law. According to The Hindu, many other Indian legal experts agreed with Khurshid's view, as federal laws such as the PCA are always more powerful than state laws, and in that respect the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 2017 is not much different from the state law overturned in 2009. For its part, PETA India has said that it will "study" the new ordinance, and has not ruled out a challenge to the new law on the same grounds as it challenged the 2009 law. On Jan 25, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) started the legal process towards another ban by formally challenging the new law before the Supreme Court, but they withdrew the petition on Jan 26. According to the AWBI's acting chairperson, AWBI does not plan to re-file the petition, but he claimed no knowledge of what other organizations, such as PETA, may do.
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