Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/180

 148 Biill-baiting, Bull-racing, Bull-fights.

and bleeding, again spring on the bulls. A few who succeed in capturing the animals are declared the victors of that day's fight. The wounded are carried out of the enclosure and attended to immediately ; while the victors and the brides-elect repair to an adjoining grove, and there, form- ing into groups, dance joyously before preparing for the marriage." ^^

This account, taken from ancient Tamil literature, agrees with the custom practised at the present day. " In the villages, especially in villages inhabited by the Kalla or robber tribes," a good native authority states that " the maiden chooses as her husband him who has safely untied and brought to her the cloth tied to the horns of the fiercest bull. The bullocks are let loose with their horns carrying valuables, amid the din of tom-toms and harsh music which terrify and bewilder them. They run madly about, and are purposely excited by the crowd. A young Kalla will declare that he will run after such and such a bullock — a risky pursuit — and recover the valuables tied to its horn, and he does so often in a dexterous manner. These tamashas [shows] take place on a grand scale in villages about Madura and Tinnevelly, where Kallas live in large numbers. Accidents are very common, but they are not allowed to interfere with the festivities. Besides, the Kalla considers it a great disgrace to be injured while chasing a bull." 2°

This may be one of the tests, common in folklore, in which the bride is allotted to the suitor who performs some special act of gallantry, such as slaying a dragon and the like. But the selection of a bull-baiting contest and the date at which it is performed seem to imply some special connexion with fertility rites.

There are other indications leading to the same con- clusion. Thus, in a contest of a similar kind among the

^* V. Kanakasabhai, The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago, 57 ct seq. ^^ Pandit S. M. Natesa Sastri, Hindu Feasts, Fasts and Ceremonies, 20 et seq.