Villagers in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu hope to celebrate the New Year harvest festival later this month with traditional "bull-taming" contests once more. "Jallikattu" is a sport that has been practiced in southern India for thousands of years, but was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014 following objections from animal rights activists. For the first time in centuries no events were held last year.
Now, political parties and supporters of Jallikattu hope the government in Delhi will promulgate a special act to bring back the contests in time for the 2016 season in mid-January. This was a typical scene until 2014. Here a bull has been let loose at a "Manju Virattu" contest. In recent years, regulations were imposed to improve safety for bulls and spectators, as well as contestants.
In Manju Virattu, the bull roams freely in the crowd, while contestants try to pluck money or other prizes from its horns.
Last year, villages across the state celebrated Pongal, a New Year festival that coincides with the rice harvest, without the running of the bulls.
"Bull fighting has been part and parcel of our cultural tradition for centuries. Despite agreeing to the rules imposed by the court earlier, the event has been banned. We are terribly upset," says P Rajasekaran, president of Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Association, from the city of Madurai.
He denies accusations that the bulls were tortured and ill-treated. "We implemented strict rules regarding welfare of the bulls and bull fighters after the court intervened in 2008. We have no idea why the Supreme Court decided to impose the ban." Since the ban was imposed, protesters in Tamil Nadu have been demanding the central government allow them to continue the sport.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Delhi has promised to look into their demands sympathetically, much to the annoyance of animal rights activists.
It's far from certain that bulls will be part of the festival this year - the government and legal opinion are at odds on the issue - but hopes in Tamil Nadu are high as their New Year approaches.
