The Animal Welfare Board had filed a Special Leave Petition in July 2007, seeking a ban on the sport, alleging that the “bulls were subjected to enormous cruelty before and during the sport”. In its petition, the Board said the bulls were made to drink arrack (alcohol) and their eyes rubbed with chilli powder just before the event to make them ferocious.

A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court stayed the operation of a High Court order, that had permitted the sport, but with some restrictions, including capping of the horns of the bulls, directing a team of veterinarians “to screen” the animals before the event and erection of double barricades to protect spectators. Scores of people, including young bull tamers, were either killed or injured during the bloody sport played in village squares and roads every year.

Representing the Tamizhaga Veeravilayaatu Kuzhu (Committee for the valiant sport of Tamil Nadu), at least 10 affluent bull owners from the southern districts, who have impleaded in the case, are congregating in Delhi to listen to the verdict which might well take the spirit out of the Pongal season in Tamil Nadu this year.

“This is a sport which has been going on for centuries. How can we stop the event which reflects a culture of Tamil Nadu?” asked T Rajasekaran, president of the committee. The bull owners have threatened to take their bulls in a procession to the Secretariat in Chennai if they were not allowed to go ahead with the sport.

With looming uncertainty over the popular sport, normally held between January 13 and 17, tension gripped the southern districts, particularly Madurai villages where huge crowds gather to take part in the bull carnival. Bull owners and tamers are organising special prayers in temples at Alanganallur, Palamedu and Avaniyapuram, the more famous venues for the bull sport, to seek divine intervention.

“If the sport is not held, it augurs bad things. We have a lot of respect for the bulls which are reared like our own children. We don’t treat them cruelly. No one does that,” said D Reghupathy, former president of the Alanganallur town panchayat.

District administrations too have been hooting for the event, fearing trouble if the villagers were prevented from going ahead. In January 2007, for the first time in Alanganallur, several surgeons and veterinary staff conducted clinical and lab checks of the bulls, analysing saliva for cocaine, nicotine and strychnine besides sniffing their mouth for odour of country arrack and alcohol before allowing them to take part in the jallikattu. Last year, the bull tamers were merely allowed to grab the hump of the bull and hang on for about 100 metres before letting go, reducing risk to life of both man and animal.

In Tamil Nadu, Jallikattu dates back several centuries when the strength of one man was put to test against a fierce bull. The bull tamers have to grab the kattu (bundle) of salli (coins) tied between the horns of the bull. The veeran (the valiant) who manages to grab the bundle also wins the hand of the most eligible village belle.