Jallikattu season begins in TN with Pudukottai leg

Pudukottai (Tamil Nadu), Jan 3 (PTI) Over 900 bulls and nearly 300 bull-taming participants on Saturday took part in the year's first Jallikattu event in the state in Thachankurichi village in this district.

Jallikattu is a bull-taming event held in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal festivities.

Several bulls hailing from nearby districts including Tiruchirappalli, Dindigul and Sivaganga participated.

Ministers S Regupathy and Siva V Meyyanathan and District Collector M Aruna formally inaugurated the event.

Motorcycles, bicycles, traditional cooking and storage pots for the successful bull-tamers and also for the owners of the bulls are up for grabs, the organisers said.

The event is being held under the banner 'Punitha Vinnerppu Annai Alaya Thiruvizha' here in which 300 bull-taming participants wearing uniforms enthusiastically turned up to tame the beasts charging out of Vadivasal (entry points) in to the sporting arena.

A bull-tamer is declared winner on how long he manages to hold on to the hump of the animal. The same yardstick is applied to pick the owner of a bull as victorious.

Tamil Nadu's unique sporting event 'jallikattu' is held coinciding with the Pongal festivities and the marquee event in Madurai's Alanganallur and Avaniyapuram during the Pongal week (mid-January) is a global attraction, drawing audience from different parts of the world. PTI VIJ VIJ SA