The massive protests for jallikattu that rocked the State in January came to its logical conclusion on Friday with the conduct of the bull taming sport at the famed Alanganallur.
Thousands of spectators from not only Madurai district but across the State started gathering since the early hours of Friday at Alanganallur, which played a pivotal role in intensifying the protests and remained its focal point throughout.
A total of 549 bulls and 1,050 bull tamers participated in the day-long event in which 73 persons and four bulls were injured. Officials, however, said that none was grievously injured.
“Fifty injured persons and all the four bulls just needed first-aid. Though 23 persons were referred to the hospital, they are all stable and likely to be discharged soon,” Madurai Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao told mediapersons.
Although a large portion of a gallery partially collapsed during the event, people who had gathered in the gallery were swiftly evacuated without anyone getting seriously injured.
Compared to Avaniyapuram and Palamedu, the other two places famous for jallikattu in Madurai, a significantly large number of bulls managed to enter the jallikattu arena.
A car for top bull
Expensive prizes were also presented this year at Alanganallur with the top two bull tamers receiving Royal Enfield bikes and the top performing bull receiving a car.
Around 50,000 people visited but the police said that only around 20,000 could watch the event owing to limited availability of space near the arena. As the event came to a closure, hundreds of spectators jumped into the arena and erupted in cheer.
As in the case of Palamedu, the jallikattu organising committee in Alanganallur had erected a separate gallery for the students and youngsters, who had participated in the pro-jallikattu protests in the village and elsewhere leading to revoke of the ban on the sport.
