Pongal may be around the corner, but there will not be any jallikattu this year – at least not legally. The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Centre's notification from last week that would have permitted the Tamil tradition of bull-taming to be conducted during the festival. The court accepted petitions from several animal rights groups calling for the practice to be banned, and has asked the government to respond to these pleas in four weeks' time. Until the matter is settled, jallikattu has been banned.
The tradition is considered an age-old feature of Tamil tradition, one of the many animal-related practices that tend to go hand in hand with harvest festivals in many parts of the country. Jallikattu itself involves agitated bulls being released into enclosures, surrounded by men, who are expected to somehow attach themselves to the animal for at least a short period of time.
The name of the practice itself comes from jalli (coins) and kattu (package), referring to a bag of coins that was once tied to the horns of the bulls, which the bull-baiters tried to grab. Although these bags are no longer tied to the animals, the practice still involves baiters attempting to grab any part of the animal as it bucks around in the enclosure.
Age-old tradition
Those defending the practice insist it is an age-old tradition that is critical to Indian culture. Some have even attempted to spin the animal rights activists' efforts to stop jallikattu as being part of an overall narrative denying Hindus their traditions, even though bull-baiting is more Tamil than Hindu. Authorities, while seeking to permit the tradition – remember it is an election year in Tamil nadu – also insisted that there would be no "unnecessary" harm caused to the animals.
But the same was also said in 2011, when the Tamil Nadu government sought to permit the practice, later telling the Supreme Court that the authorities took appropriate safeguards to ensure the animals are not treated cruelly.
In 2013, the Animal Welfare Board of India, a statutory body that advises the government on animal rights, submitted three reports based on jallikattu events that took place in Avnlapuram, Palamedu and Alanganallur in Tamil Nadu.
Here are some excerpts from their reports, extracted from the Supreme Court's judgment in 2014 banning the practice.
Ear cutting/mutliation "At least 80% of the bulls observed had their ears cut, with three-fourths of the external ear pinna absent," the report said. Bull owners claimed they did this because it was important for the animals to hear sounds from the back, when in fact, this mutilation doesn't improve a bull's hearing while causing "intense pain and distress".
Fractured tailbones The bull-baiters frequently grab, pull and even bite the tails of the animals, causing dislocated and in some case amputated tails, which are extremely painful conditions.
Jabbing the bulls The report talks about the vadi vassal, a chamber hidden from the public view where bulls are kept before being let out. "Bulls are poked, beaten and deliberately agitated before they are forced into the jallikattu arena, where more than 30 “bull tamers” are waiting," the report said. Implements used included wooden spears, tiny knives, rope-cutting sickles and sticks.
Irritants and liquorThe report cited irritants rubbed into the eyes and noses of the animals to get them agitated before they are released. They are often kept without water and food, and then forced to drink liquids which the report said was "likely liquor."
One report from Palamedu bears quoting:
"Bulls were forcibly beaten, pushed and pulled into the vadi vasal. The reluctant bulls had their tails painfully twisted, broken and bitten. These abusive practices, though common, were particularly rampant in Palamedu. Bulls were hit and poked with wooden sticks. One of the organiser’s sole duty was to force bulls into the vadi vasal by striking and prodding them with a wooden stick. Shockingly, police in uniform blatantly hit and poked the bulls with their wooden lathis instead of stopping the abuse. On the sly, owners forced suspicious liquids, likely alcohol, down the throats of bulls in order to disorient them."
Indeed, many of these reports came in from places where there was plenty of media present and awareness of a particular scrutiny on the treatment, yet the "tale of torture remained the same what it has been for long," one Animal Welfare Board of India officer concluded.
