Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/179

 Biill-baiting\ Bull-racing, Bull -fights. 147

discourage it as far as possible. One writer, however, remarks : " Seeing that no one need run any risk unless he chooses, existing official opinion inclines to the view that it is a pity to discourage a manly amusement which is not really more dangerous than foot-ball, steeple-chasing, or fox-hunting." ^^

In dealing with a custom like this the date of the per- formance is of vital importance. In this case it is practised on the Mattu-pongal day, the day after the Pongal festival which is held on the Tamil New Year's Day, approximately on 1 2th January. This is a season at which we might naturally expect that rites for the promotion of fertility would take place. This is confirmed by the connexion of the rite of bull-baiting with marriage.

Among the Tamils in ancient times the Ayar or cowherd caste observed the custom of selecting husbands for their girls by the result of a form of bull-fight. Ferocious bulls were brought into an enclosure surrounded by palisades. The girls watched the proceedings from a platform, while the youths prayed to images of the gods placed under sacred trees or at watering-places, and decked themselves with red and purple flowers. " At a signal given by beating of drums, the youths leap into the enclosure and try to seize the bulls, which, frightened by the noise of the drums, are now ready to charge any one who approaches them. Each youth approaches a bull which he chooses to capture. But the bulls rush furiously with tails raised, heads bent down, and horns levelled at their assailants. Some of the youths face the bulls boldly and take hold of their tails. The now wary young men avoid the horns, and clasping the neck, cling to the animals till they force them to fall on the ground. Many a .luckless youth is now thrown down. Some escape without a scratch, while others are trampled on or gored by the bulls. Some, though wounded

'"E. Thurston, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, v. 43 et seq. (with u photograph of the bull bearing the cloth on his horns).