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https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/on-jallikattu/
Top four reasons why Jallikattu must be encouraged.
1. Jallikattu is not only an ancient Tamil sport, it also has hindu religious significance.
There is strong sentiment amoung the people that a year without Jallikattu will bring famine, cholera, and other disease to that area. Now, this might get the super-scientific atheist types worked up, still this religious folk sentiment has to be respected. This is similar to the Ram Sethu issue, where you balance economic benefits against religious sentiment. In this case, you balance animal rights concerns against religious sentiment. In both cases the secular state must tread carefully. I am disappointed the BJP has not taken a strong stand on this issue, could be presumably due to their lack of familiarity.
2. It is cruelty to .. humans.
The bull is almost never hurt, leave alone killed. The issues raised by the Blue Cross can be addressed by regulation. The cruelty to humans part is moot, because it is a voluntary sport like boxing and car racing. Can facing Shaun Tait at Perth be construed to be cruelty to humans ?
3. The murattu kaalai (angry bull) is important for livestock.
If cattle could talk, almost all of them would say, “I want to be a jallikattu bull instead of hauling load all over town as a bullock”. The amount of care the owners give to these bulls need to be seen. These bulls do almost no work, they get fed the best food and typically loiter all over the village. Almost everyone leaves them alone, because they know this is a bad un with a foul temper. As they acquire reputation every Pongal, they become highly sought after for stud services. This process is iterated over the years and thereby enhances the genetics of the livestock. The bulls in turn have to prove themselves at precisely this event, only once a year, every Pongal.
In other words, if you are a bull – this is as good as it gets !!
Not every bull can be a good jallikattu bull. Even as calves, some bulls acquire a reputation for being uncontrollable. They like to be left alone and sometimes attack without provocation. These calves can then be picked up and trained to be a jallikattu bull (translation : no hard work). Due to the nature of these bulls, it takes very little to anger them. There is no need for chilli powder. The challenge is to keep them calm. The problem happens only when unprofessional owners try to work up ordinary bulls. Due to the calm nature of ordinary cattle, they need more than crowds, noise, and drum beats. Enter chilli powder, punches to genitals, etc. You can already see a case for regulation here. Only registered owners must be allowed. There is also a case for registering individual bulls with the government officials after vetenary doctors examine them (maybe they can be branded by the vets).
4. A unique martial sport with great economic potential
We dont have many of these valour sports in India. A well organized and regulated event will draw thousands of foreign tourists to southern Tamilnadu in the pleasant month of January. The prizes to the winning youth will increase from pots and pans to cash, bikes, and even cars. The winning bulls can also make the bull owners rich and feed into a positive economic cycle enhancing the entire livestock. You can even have top corporates tying up with bull owners and opening up more job opportunities. Why would we Indians want to let go of a treasure like this ?
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SO killing bulls is ok but racing them is not ok!!
Top four reasons why Jallikattu must be encouraged.
1. Jallikattu is not only an ancient Tamil sport, it also has hindu religious significance.
There is strong sentiment amoung the people that a year without Jallikattu will bring famine, cholera, and other disease to that area. Now, this might get the super-scientific atheist types worked up, still this religious folk sentiment has to be respected. This is similar to the Ram Sethu issue, where you balance economic benefits against religious sentiment. In this case, you balance animal rights concerns against religious sentiment. In both cases the secular state must tread carefully. I am disappointed the BJP has not taken a strong stand on this issue, could be presumably due to their lack of familiarity.
2. It is cruelty to .. humans.
The bull is almost never hurt, leave alone killed. The issues raised by the Blue Cross can be addressed by regulation. The cruelty to humans part is moot, because it is a voluntary sport like boxing and car racing. Can facing Shaun Tait at Perth be construed to be cruelty to humans ?
3. The murattu kaalai (angry bull) is important for livestock.
If cattle could talk, almost all of them would say, “I want to be a jallikattu bull instead of hauling load all over town as a bullock”. The amount of care the owners give to these bulls need to be seen. These bulls do almost no work, they get fed the best food and typically loiter all over the village. Almost everyone leaves them alone, because they know this is a bad un with a foul temper. As they acquire reputation every Pongal, they become highly sought after for stud services. This process is iterated over the years and thereby enhances the genetics of the livestock. The bulls in turn have to prove themselves at precisely this event, only once a year, every Pongal.
In other words, if you are a bull – this is as good as it gets !!
Not every bull can be a good jallikattu bull. Even as calves, some bulls acquire a reputation for being uncontrollable. They like to be left alone and sometimes attack without provocation. These calves can then be picked up and trained to be a jallikattu bull (translation : no hard work). Due to the nature of these bulls, it takes very little to anger them. There is no need for chilli powder. The challenge is to keep them calm. The problem happens only when unprofessional owners try to work up ordinary bulls. Due to the calm nature of ordinary cattle, they need more than crowds, noise, and drum beats. Enter chilli powder, punches to genitals, etc. You can already see a case for regulation here. Only registered owners must be allowed. There is also a case for registering individual bulls with the government officials after vetenary doctors examine them (maybe they can be branded by the vets).
4. A unique martial sport with great economic potential
We dont have many of these valour sports in India. A well organized and regulated event will draw thousands of foreign tourists to southern Tamilnadu in the pleasant month of January. The prizes to the winning youth will increase from pots and pans to cash, bikes, and even cars. The winning bulls can also make the bull owners rich and feed into a positive economic cycle enhancing the entire livestock. You can even have top corporates tying up with bull owners and opening up more job opportunities. Why would we Indians want to let go of a treasure like this ?
#################################################
SO killing bulls is ok but racing them is not ok!!
Blue Cross should go back to Canada and try to civilize those filth meat munching savages, first.
