Chennai: It was a somber day in Muduvarpatti when hundreds of villagers gathered in their tidy garms for a special farewell for Mooli, a beloved bull that has won medals and awards at Jallikattu events in the hinterlands of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, leading to violation of social-distancing norms amid COVID-19 pandemic.
The final goodbye had all the bells and whistles typical of a Tamil celebration with a horde of mourners bidding a tearful adieu to the beast as firecrackers soared high into the sky.
Not far from Madurai’s Alanganallur town, one of the areas famous for Jallikattu, rests the blissful village of Muduvarpatti. With almost all economic and cultural activity linked to the nucleus of the Sellayi Amman Kovil, the bull attached to the temple was part of every household in many ways.
Over the years, a slow and steady reinforcement of pop culture in movies like Virumaandi and a large protest for the bull sport Jallikattu in 2017, the love for bulls have grown manifold. The demise of Mooli, thus, left the small town shaken.
Having garnered a host of friends and admirers, the bull had a steady stream of gifts: Veshtis, towels, garlands and bundles of cash.
Village elders had arranged for a final display of the bull right outside the temple and the event drew people in droves. The final procession was an extravagant affair with firecrackers bursting into the sky.
The Tamil Nadu police have filed multiple cases under relevant charges against at least 3, 000 people who took part in the procession on charges of violating rules of the lockdown.
Madurai is one of the cities that are badly-hit by coronavirus infections in Tamil Nadu. As on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu’s total cases stood at 1242 with 14 dead. The state’s health department maintains that there has been no community transmission.
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