Call is strengthening in Kerala for the resumption of Kalavayal, the famous bull racing event at Kakkoor in Thirumaradi Panchayat, some 55 kilometres east of Kochi, in Ernakulam district and similar events in other places in the State following the agitations in Chennai and other places of Tamil Nadu over Jallikattu.
The Maramadi bull race, part of the four-day Kalavayal cattle fair, an annual post-harvest festival in Kakkoor, had stopped in 2014 following the ban on Jallikattu.
A demonstration calling for the resumption of Maramadi associated with the fair was held the other day by the local residents of Kakkoor and nearby town Piravom.
Along with the strengthening call for resumption of bull race at Kakkoor, similar demands have come up from other part of the State where ox and buffalo races and parades used to be held as part of post-harvest festivals. However, Kakkoor residents vouch that they are not prepared to launch agitations like those held in Tamil Nadu to demand permission for conducting Jallikattu.
Sociologists expect calls for resumption of similar events involving bulls and buffaloes to come up from other parts of the State as well. Similar post-harvest festivals – like Kalayottam (bull race) and Pothottam (buffalo race, not strictly in the form of a race) – used to be held till recently at places like Anandappalli in Pathanamthitta district, Kottayi and Chithali in Palakkad district and several parts of the Thrissur district.
“Maramadi, Kalavayal and the associated events are part of our culture and tradition just like Jallikattu is an integral part of Tamil culture. Unlike in the case of Jallikettu, allegations of torture of animals participating in Maramadi have never been raised. However, we hope our wished to be fulfilled through legal means,” said former Piravom MlA, MJ Jacob.
Maramadi, which farmers of Thirumaradi say is a centuries-old festival, used to be held in freshly ploughed, muddy Kandams (pieces of land for cultivating paddy) of the size of a soccer ground after the paddy harvest in the Kumbham (February-March) month of the Malayalam calendar. This year, if the race is to be held, it should take place from March 2.
The bulls participating in Maramadi used to be specially bred, specially grown and specially trained and they would be guided and controlled in the race that happens in the flowing, ankle-deep mud by expert bull-racers. The pair of animals and the men form a team. No coercion, force-feeding of intoxicants or torture of animals is inflicted on the participating bulls.
“There is no need of such cruel approaches. The bulls and buffaloes taking part in races are participants just like the farmers who race them. The belief is that the bulls themselves feel the thrill of the race. For us, the animals are not sports implements but ‘sportspersons’ craving to win,” said Thankappan Nair, a rice farmer in Thirumaradi.
Kakkoor used to see thousands of spectators lining up the embankments of the paddy fields on the particular day after the Kumbham harvest to behold the spectacle of Maramadi in the freshly ploughed, muddy Kandams in full glare of television cameras that would live-feed visuals to millions of homes.
The two bulls of a team, fully decorated with sandal paste and rice dough would be yoked together over their necks. About 30 such teams would take part in the race and they would be guided and controlled by expert racers, two men normally. “The bull race has strict rules just like any other modern game,” says the farmer.
The Kakkoor Kalavayal has a religious content as well as it is related to two local Hindu shrines, the Ambasseri temple in Kakkoor and Edapara temple of Thirumaradi. The goddesses worshipped in these shrines are said to be sisters and Kalavayal coincides with the festival denoting their once-in-a-year meeting.