Chief Minister presents gold rings, coins to bull tamers and owners at Alanganallur jallikattu

A tamer being charged menacingly by a bull at the jallikattu in Alanganallur on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
G. MOORTHY

Alanganallur jallikattu, the last of the major jallikattu events held during the Pongal season in Madurai district, on Saturday passed off largely incident-free barring minor injuries to around 60 people that included bull tamers, spectators and police personnel.

A few bulls were also injured during the event. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin attended the event. He presented gold rings and gold coins to the bull tamers and bull owners.

The event began at around 7 a.m. with Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration P. Moorthy flagging off the jallikattu in the presence of Madurai Collector K.J. Praveen Kumar, Madurai Superintendent of Police B.K. Arvind, Sholavandan MLA A. Venkatesan and others.

As many as 1,002 bulls and 497 bull tamers participated in the 11 rounds of the jallikattu event that concluded at around 7 p.m.. The participants underwent medical checkups and the bulls underwent fitness tests to take part in the event.

Karthi of Karuppayurani was adjudged the best bull tamer. He won the first prize, a car, for taming 19 bulls. Abi Sithar of Poovanthi was adjudged the second best bull tamer for taming 17 bulls. He received a motorcycle. Sridhar of Pasingapuram, the third best bull tamer, received an e-motorcycle. He tamed 11 bulls.

The bull belonging to AVM Babu of Pudukkottai district, was adjudged the best bull. The bull owner received a tractor as first prize. The bull belonging to Tamil Selvan also from Pudukkottai district was adjudged the second best bull and the bull owner received a motorcycle. The bull belonging to Kennedy of Madurai district was adjudged the third best bull. An e-motorcycle was given to the bull owner. Other gifts given to the winners and participants at the event included gold coins, silver coins and household items.

People from far and near started pouring into the jallikattu venue at Alanganallur as early as 5 a.m., hoping to get the best seat in the galleries to witness the event. People were also perched on rooftops in order to watch the bull-taming event. Tourists from other States and even foreigners made a beeline for the jallikattu venue to have a whole new experience.