Raging bulls and the daring men! - grounds of Paalamedu – the touchstone of Tamil heritage, valour and pride...!

On the next day to the previous Pongal, I visited the bull taming sport event at Paalamedu village on the outskirts of Madurai with my friend Kannan. Paalamedu is one of the typical remote villages of the country, lying at the foothills of the Sirumalai Range amidst picturesque surroundings. 

It is one of the 3 villages on the outskirts of Madurai popular for bull taming sports practiced / celebrated with much fan fare since perhaps the days of yore. 

On approaching the Palamedu village, a charged atmosphere of enthusiasm and spirit of the event was becoming tangible and gradually started permeating into everyone around. The fervor was so discernible!   

 

‘Jallikkattu’ – is this a Telugu combo phrase?- ‘thisai chol’? – or the more literary Tamil expression ‘eru- thaluval’, or the colloquial one, ‘ Manju virattu’  is an ancient  bull taming game of valour – a sizzling benchmark sport of Tamil bravery popular and practiced with pomp and zeal particularly in the spartan agrarian villages surrounding Madurai - the ancient Pandya capital town during Pongal – the traditional and prime Tamil festivity of post harvest occasion.  

The enthusiasm in this village was so much pulsating that it clearly caught us up and we just descended automatically and unconsciously felt absorbed into the surrounding phenomena.

Raging bulls and daring youth of Madurai region – the testimony of the raw bravery and absolute confidence on virtual display;

We could see that the people of this locality take immense pride and are emotionally involved in this game with absolute zest. Next day, news papers estimated the crowd to be of 50 thousand plus.

 Another adjacent village Alanganallur is also World famous for this bull taming game of gallantry, celebrated on the next day to Paalamedu jallikkattu from time immemorial. Avaniyapuram is the other village among the 3 villages.

Alangaanallur jallikkattu grounds are in fact a street in the midst of that village;

Taming a bull or taking away the gifts tied between the horns or cloth tied to the bull’s neck was once considered as the winning point in the game. A recent press report tells about an ancient rock relief sculpture, found recently, depicting a bull tamer holding the horns from front.    

The rules of the game recently have been highly standardized due to interventions by a variety of agencies and vested groups who are bent on streamlining (?) this event to the extent of thwarting its sheen.

As per the present rules of the game, a bull’s ferocity is to be contained after it is released into the arena by any of the participants. 

If any participant is able to hold on the horns and / or hump for a particular duration, the bull is considered as tamed.

If the bull escapes the hold, it is declared as an untamed one, to the pride of its owner. The owners of untamed bulls are also rewarded.    

Bulls are released into the grounds one by one through ‘vaadi-vaasal’ – a narrow entrance.

If the bull is tamed by more than one person it is a fowl!

The bull should not be touched by its tail, or neck.

And the watchful jury of the village committee perched on the top of the vaadi- vaasal announces the proceedings and declares their verdicts instantly!  

The youth from the nearby villages participate with great confidence and with immense spirit in this game.

Bulls are reared especially for this purpose. A sort of social standing and pride is drawn from owning an indomitable bull! 

The bull tamer is rewarded with gifts ranging from dress, utensils, to cycle, steel bureaus and even gold coins.

There went many a bulls displaying raw strength and ferocity easily wriggling out of the approaching tamers to the pride of their owners. The owners are acclaimed their villages are mentioned and rewards distributed immediately to them by the jury of the village committee. Some 600 tamers participated. Injury or even death at times is common - which it seems never dampened the enthusiasm. 42 participants injured on that day.

Paalamedu Jalikkattu is traditionally organized and conducted by Sri Mahalingaswamy Temple Administrative Committee of the village. So the first bull which is allowed to enter into the arena is the Paalamedu temple bull which is revered and is allowed to go without taming.

Gifts of steel bureaus to the valiant tamers stored in the temple premises;

Every historical villages of Madurai country side rear a temple bull and such bull is reverentially treated. ‘Koil-kaalai’ is a common Tamil word with many colloquial connotations. The villages mourn the death of their village temple bulls and observe their funeral as if a member of the village community. There are memorials for them in several villages. Koil kaalais are first released through vaadi vaasal in many jallikkattus. They are revered and allowed to go and no one is permitted to tame them. Koil kaalai is a chosen one. It is 'eugenic' system of sustaining the best of the indigenous breeds. 
   
That is the depth of this single celebration wafted into the socio, economic and cultural streaks of Tamil country. 

Vaadi vassal i.e. the gate through which the bulls are sent into the bull taming ground one by one with proper introduction of the owner and his village.

The huge line of waiting bulls for their time behind the vaadi vaasal entrance to the grounds;

About 541 bulls reported to have participated;

Bravery is writ on the walls of Paalamedu…..Graffiti of the celebrated hero of Kongu Country - the invincible Tamil warrior, Chinnamalai, who fought against the British colonial army during the Tamil Country’s Revolt against the British in 1802.

Paalamedu is a tiny village near Madurai nestled on the foothills of Sirumalai range at the bosom of  mother nature.

 

The popular film ‘Murattukkaalai’, of ‘circa’ 1980 has aptly glorified the spirit of this game of gallantry and etched it's cultural background in the Tamil memory for ever. 

The recent film, ‘Virumandi’ has also vividly captured the electric atmosphere of jallikkattu and its deep rooted sylvan consciousness in the contemporary social milieu of Madurai.

An old fashioned house at Paalamedu; 

The Spanish Bull fighting - more aptly a horrible killing event (?) – I believe is an inferior one and not at all comparable with the gallant jallikkattu of the Tamil country as it involves just tactically spearing the bull to its unethical and eventual killing. 

Whereas jallikkattu involves testing the mettle of hearts, caliber of minds, assessment of timing, agility and strength of brawn all put together apart from the reverential treatment to the bull. More importantly the jallikkattu is warped and interwoven into the agro - social heritage, culture and civilizational consciousness of Tamil country. 

Jallikkattu, Rekla race and other such sports events are common to the post harvest mirth and celebrations throughout the Eastern rice belt of India. such celebrations are deep routed in the social consciousness and thanks giving peasantry believes to the nature that they form part of the heritage capital as the farming communities believe that such celebrations are important for the subsequent successful cropping.   

Pray legal vistas be reopened for the sustenance and continuity of this unique gallant sport of our ancestry, a symbol of Tamil cultural heritage.

It was reported that on the next day’s jallikkattu at Alanganallur, a man of match was selected – based on the number of bulls an individual had tamed. A young cop from the locality emerged as the man of the match and was rewarded with a two wheeler!

The Indian Army can conduct a recruitment camps on these events. I am sure, several of these brave young bull tamers could make out valiant commandos of our Army.   

Bull motifs are one of the iconic symbols found in ancient civilizations and in history – such as Egyptian and Indus civilizations.

It is interesting and pertinent to note the Semitic denigration of the ‘Apic’ bull symbol of the Egypt and other similar ancient cultures and promotion of goat iconography instead. Examples are the 'golden calf' of the book of Exodus and the biblical, 'adoration of the holy goat'.   

The revered Apis bull of the Egypt;

Awal [bull], the traditional symbol of Bahrain;

That perhaps explains the compulsion of a neo - religion growing over an ancient heritage against the connected insignia of the region.

Cattle stock varieties were once carefully nurtured in the Tamil country which was epitomized as wealth as they ensured mobility, transportation, agricultural force apart from dairy to the common households. The Tamil word, ‘Maadu’ [a common word for bull and cow] simply and directly connotes wealth. Old time, Tamil word, ‘Maattuppen’ denotes the daughter –in-law who is welcomed as a lakshmi i.e. harbinger of luck to the family. The grand guru of Tamil lands, Tiruvalluvar uses the word ‘maadu’ to denote wealth.

Bull was the ancient symbol of Pandya country before its replacement by fish emblem. Tamil word, 'Pandu' meaning the 'ancient' is the root word of 'Paandi'. However, the word, 'Paandi' also denotes the bull. The Pallava country also was symbolized by bull before the insignia was changed to the lion logo during the reign of Emperor Narasimma varma. 

Bull symbolizes toughness and raw strength. However it also represents ‘Saadhvik’ i.e. matured composure among the three gunaas [nature] of ‘Sath, Rajo and Thamas’. The bull symbol denotes amicability while at the same time ferocity if disturbed. Thus bull symbolizes the potent power of ancient civilizational heritage systems which are constructive, self -sustaining and cohesive. 

 The personality traits comparison of the zodiacal ‘Taurus’ would be an interesting match! Taurus represents the element of Earth 'Prithvi' or lands and thus indicates ownership over lands and stability.

Perhaps bulls preceded lions to denote the nobility. 

Bull represents the ancient civilizational traits whereas the lion the later institutionalized imperialism. 

A self sacrificing Leadership over a domineering one...!

From real character to outwardly charm...! 

From the beauty of civilization to brute cunning colonialism...!

It is interesting to note that the lions stand over the pedestal with an image of bull on the Saranath pillar.  

Bull is the prime force behind the ancient organic mode of agriculture in the Tamil country.  Bull is also a principal symbol of Tamil Saivite tradition. 

Bull or Nandhi denotes an evolved soul which becomes the seat of Lord Shiva. The Word ‘shivam’ is interpreted as ‘mangalam’ i.e. all the positivity - Good - noble. Interestingly all the above coherent ideas are built in the symbol of Bull. 

                              
Traditional agrarian Tamil communities revere and celebrate bulls by dedicating a special day of Maattu Pongal. Though almost all the traditional Tamil communities are non vegetarian and partake red meat, beef still remains a taboo in the Tamil psyche. That is one reason, why the neighboring Kerala state offers an attractive market for the distress sale of cattle by Tamil farmers. 

A Tamil family photo of  past era.....! 

  

The symbol of bull now has been reduced just to denote the way it charges – an upward stock price movement! 

It is a pity that the rich genetic wealth of our cattle stock bequeathed to us by our ancestors is at threat due to myriad reasons – perhaps the prevailing ban on the  jallikkattu is one among them. The offer of shelter by a Coimbatore institution to Madurai - Dindigul based abandoned bulls and the way the people welcomed them en-route has recently been reported in the press and was indeed heartening. 

Above all, the bull symbolizes ‘selflessness’ which is the root trait of every ancient civilization. For example the Paandya territory has thousands of meticulously planned and ingeniously built ancient irrigation systems/ water bodies now almost in the verge of ruin. Our ancestors built systems for the forthcoming generations to sustain. What we have made out of them is obvious..... Ah!... perhaps we live in the 'present' and follow the wisdom of the great American economist JM Keynes, who's one famous canon is that ‘in the long run we are all dead’!

India is the only country in the entire globe with such a rich diverse varieties of indigenous cattle breed; the rearing of which is interwoven into the social, cultural, economic and religious fabrics of our life. It seems exactly this is what targeted by the alien forces backed by MNC-economic and missionary interests.   

May Lord Shiva restore the wisdom of this land which is the real wealth of this Country.