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.