Jallikattu a.k.a Tamil Nadu’s Cattle Rearing Science
I am writing this article on Jallikattu with the backdrop of the basic agreement that man is right to domesticate animals, within reason.
Young calves are looked after as family members by farmers and villagers of Tamil Nadu. There are countless instances that people narrate and ancient Tamil Literatures immortalize where the animal, similar to a child, is pampered, indulged, humoured and adored.
Once they hit puberty, the strong and difficult-to-control male calves need to be domesticated. Even family members find it difficult to near the beast initially. One of the ways to domesticate the young bulls, like canines, is to make the animal exert physically i.e. make it run. The animal, in turn, plays along. Farmers, scientists as well as dog lovers will agree that if on a certain day the animal doesn’t get its exercise, it tends to come up to the owner and animatedly imply that it is exercise time. Similarly, when running-and-catching as an exercise is skipped on days, bulls themselves come up to humans and taunt them. During exercise time, if the bull races ahead and reaches the finish line, it wins. The human, who is biologically slower, needs to stop the animal. The only part of the animal that can be held with human hands is the hump. In time, holding on to the hump came to be known as bull-hugging. Almost like the slower elder brother holding the clothes of the faster younger brother to keep him from racing ahead. Thus are all the bulls in a village raised rugged, healthy and virile through the year.
To determine which of the bulls is the healthiest, Jallikattu is conducted at the beginning of what I’d call the farmer’s New Year. The bull that wins in that year’s Jallikattu, adjudged the healthier one, is made to mate with the cows of the village. Pongal, which marks the beginning of the earth’s rotation cycle around the sun ensures the right climate for insemination and timely lactation, later when the calf is born. Thus, the cows bear the calves of the village’s strongest bull which is good for the health of on-coming generations of the animal i.e. Selective Breeding. Those strong and healthy bulls that participated in Jallikattu, go back to working on the farm and renewing practice for Jallikattu. By this year-round practice for Jallikattu, the imminent health of the bull as well as the genetic health of village cattle, which is the backbone of an agrarian economy, is ensured.
Nowhere in the world, is cattle rearing so scientifically engineered while also so vibrantly woven into human tradition. Similar sporting traditions exist in AP, Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, etc. that tie back to the health and well-being of both cattle and the local agricultural economy.
Without these sports, bulls become less healthy — all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. An unhealthy bull means unhealthy cattle in the village leading to completely stripping the farmer of his basic endowments. Of course there are unnatural means of insemination, which are unnatural. Eventually, that entire breed becomes dormant or extinct. This would be the ideal scenario for imported not-so-rugged-cattle to work on imported fertilizer and machinated fields, soon driving farmers from their professions and opening up the entire country for private land-consolidation led by entitled business giants like Walmart, that would institutionalize what was once the way of life for the families of an entire race.
Jallikattu, down to the point where the cow is released into the running track, is heavily regulated by the presence of the District Panchayat Chairperson, District Collector, the Superintendent of Police, the Zilla Panchayat President and, most importantly, the human-parent of the animal. Suggesting that humans would hurt the bulls; by poking, by sprinkling chilli powder or by pulling its tail, is suggesting that parents generally do the same to their children just to amuse house guests. Contrarily, the animals in Rodeos of Central America or Bull Fighting Arenas of Spain are not part of the farmer’s family. In fact, players uses saddles, ropes, red colour clothes and sharp spears in these sports to incapacitate the animal.
However, just like psychotic parents exists, stray incidents do occur. To address these stray incidents, we must welcome a regulated Jallikattu but reject this over-reaction in the name of a complete ban on this integral part of Tamil culture, such as is happening in India right now.
