Braving the winter morning, people started pouring into the jallikattu venue at Alanganallur as early as 4 a.m., hoping to get a seat in the gallery. For some, even this was late as the line was already growing big.
Madurai district administration had issued guidelines on the total number of spectators to be permitted in the gallery at a time in order to maintain physical distance. There were time limits in place in order to allow the maximum number of people to watch the event.
People were also seen sneaking into other makeshift galleries installed at the venue. The police had a tough time managing and regulating the crowd. They had to keep away those breaching guidelines. People could also be seen perched on rooftops in order to watch the world famous bull-taming event.
Not just the local people, even foreigners and those from other States made a beeline for the venue to have a whole new experience. The Department of Tourism had organised events for them to enable them to get the taste of the Pongal festivities, of which watching jallikattu was one.
J. Dorothea, a student of Philosophy and History from Germany, said she found the bull-taming sport interesting, and frightening at the same time. She had not witnessed anything of this kind back home, she said.
She said she grew tense as the event progressed with young men trying their luck at taming the bulls bolting from the vadivasal. Though not sure about coming back to witness the tension-filled event, she said she would come back to celebrate Pongal as she loved the festivities.
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It was raining gifts at the jallikattu. The winning bull tamers and bull owners were given prizes — cars, motorcycles, gold and silver coins, almirahs, utensils and other household items. They had to collect the prizes within seconds as the next bull was released from the vadivasal in no time.
Alanganallur jallikattu is like Deepavali celebration for the people here, said S. Selvam and V. Nagarajan, two residents of Alanganallur. It was that time of the year when people invited their friends and relatives for a grand feast at their homes, they added.
Even if there was no invitation, people did not hesitate to come to the homes of their relatives and friends at the village to witness the grand event and enjoy the celebrations associated with it, they said.
Published - January 18, 2023 08:14 am IST
