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The Jallikattu Premier League (JPL), is a league in Tamil Nadu, which focusses on the importance of Jallikattu. JPL was inaugurated this year and two editions have been held so far in Thanjavur district.

Jallikattu is an ancient sport which is almost 5000 years old and it has been a part of Tamil culture for a long time. There were about 150 native breed varieties in Tamil Nadu, but now it has been reduced to 37. Jallikattu promotes native breeding of cows and also leads to preservation of animal biodiversity. Jallikattu is the only way to preserve native breed bulls. The bull which “wins” in Jallikattu is considered as the strongest among bulls and is treated as the common heritage of the village. It also appears that the said bull is allowed to mate with cows in the village thereby producing a healthy second generation of those cows. The absence of Jallikattu would lead to a decline in the population of native breeds of Tamil Nadu, and also will benefit beef exporters and slaughtering house. The native livestock is in a threatened stage as there are imports of foreign breeds and cross breeds. Due to the technology improvements in agriculture and tractors, native bulls are not commonly used in farming, which is the sole reason for people to have bull is Jallikattu. The foreign companies import high quantities of cross breeds (or genetically modified cows) milk, which leads to diabetics and other diseases.

History
Jallikattu or Bull Taming or Eru Thazhuvuthal or Manjuvirattu is an ancient practice of ensuring the genetic reinforcement of Man’s ancient friend and companion, the Bull. Cattle have long supported the progress of Mankind on the whole and domestication of cattle has had a major influence on the very evolution of man’s cultural advances. Man has long held cattle in high esteem over millennia and several ancient artifacts and scriptures from all major civilizations are proof of the same. In India, the hotbed for human civilization’s rapid growth across various fields, cattle hold special significance and the Bull holds top respect. Basic incomes of farmers who remain the backbones of all successful civilizations have long been bolstered by the trade of cattle and cattle products. Bulls from healthy genetic strains have played important roles in ensuring the same.

To ensure the cattle multiply with the same vigor over longer periods and to ensure the virility of the gene pool stays intact, our forefathers took various steps to ensure that the best breeds or genes went forward. This sort of intervention was required to replace the loss of natural selection which would have happened by way of passage of only the genes of the really healthy top notch animals due to rigorous election processes for mating rights in the natural world. The various rutting rituals ensure an exemplary muscular health and overall physical fitness. Animals which eventually win the fights that erupt for mating rights during the rutting season are the ones which get to pass on their genes to the next generation. It must be noted that several animals are heavily injured or may even die during the hardcore gory fights that break out during this natural process. This can be seen even today with wild cattle worldwide and other species of wild animals.

This along with the need to prepare a generation of young men for the hard toils of ancient life including the fierce battlefields of yore amalgamated the selection of Bull and Man alike. Young men who could tame the hardy bull where encouraged by the chance to stake a claim for the best brides (The women had the last say in choosing their suitor in ancient India) and the Bulls that could not be tamed were chosen to be used for development of the next line of cattle as Studs. It was a win-win situation and went on for thousands of years until it was disrupted by colonization by foreigners who knew the importance of breaking up our ancient practices in order to bring forth the collapse of the Indian System of living.

Importance of Jallikattu
“Bull Taming” is not just a sport, it is an Tamiian Identity which has been slowly weaned away from Tamilians. Internationally, the breeders community is extremely strong as an outcome of multi-billion dollar businesses due to high demand for meat and impressive rates globally. But the lack of rearing capabilities in the developed nations due to lack of pasture/climatic conditions is pushing them to ensure India turns into a mass production house for beef and have succeeded in their attempts too, since as of today India is the largest exporter of beef in the world. This in turn will increase the demand for meat specific cattle to be given preference among the millions of farmers who grow cattle too for additional income and as source of manure.

Now once this vicious cycle is started Indian breeds will fall into the least wanted category and the resulting demand for imported bloodlines will result in cutting down the indigenous gene pool and resulting in huge foreign overload. The very fact that India is now importing embryos/frozen semen of India's very own indigenous cattle from Brazil is a very clear example that India is on the verge of losing all our indigenous cattle.

An exemplary example of the strength of India's native breeds is the fact that the Worlds most “in-demand” breeds, the American Brahman Bull is the outcome of interbreeding the Kankrej, the Ongole and the Gir bloodlines from India among others in Zebu cattle.

Over the past few decades the production of milk might have surged in India but the yield per cow has gone down drastically. This increases the need for cross breeding with foreign breeds to improve yields which starts of the cycle of demand for better cattle holding area as these hybrids are not hardy require special care and special veterinarian drugs to sustain health and boost produce. This is just the opposite of what is required for India's hardy and high yielding Indian varieties. While India imports breeds to increase yield of so called Indian strains, it would be shocking for some to know that Indian Pure Breeds which have been reared successfully in Brazil for decades now are being imported back into India in a desperate move to save our bloodlines. What is even more shocking is that while our national average for milk yield per cow is at around 2.3 kilos, whereas the Pure Indian breeds in Brazil are yielding as high as 60 kilos of milk.

According to the government of India, the milk production estimate from indigenous/non-descript cows in all India was 29484.53 thousand metric tons during 2014-15. The total cow milk production in India was 66423.45 thousand metric tons during 2014-15. Thus, the percentage share of milk production estimate from indigenous/ non-descript cows in total cow milk production estimate in All India was 44.39 % during 2014-15. In conclusion, India has wiped out the usage of over 55% of indigenous cows for their own consumption.

An in-depth analysis of the present international effort to cut short the availability of pure Indian breeds to the Indian farmer and cattle rearer is a must to go forward and protect Indian cattle for future generations. This must include efforts to protect the age old practices of Jallikattu and other bull taming events which ensure that the cattle rearers get revenue in return for protecting the bloodlines and ensuring a healthy genepool. Any short-sighted bans in the name of animal rights would endanger future Indian breeds.

Editions
Jallikattu Premier League has hosted two editions:

Objectives of JPL

 * To encourage conducting sports and cultural activities more specifically relating to bull fighting.
 * To encourage Jallikattu event participated bulls are used as studs for increasing a quality breeding.
 * To encourage our nature bull of cattle will be saved from extinction.
 * To encourage Jallikattu sport which would infuse courage and strength in the mind of the youth.
 * To encourage, promote, sponsor, conduct and/or undertake any activity related to bull Sports.
 * To encourage, promote, sponsor, conduct and/or undertake programmers and schemes in the field of cultural activity, education, social welfare, etc.
 * To organize, co-operate, co-ordinate and hold concerts, competitions, programmers, work-shops, seminars, conferences, etc. related to bull Sports and to achieve the above objectives.
 * To create and maintain the necessary infrastructure to achieve the above objectives.
 * To get National level Sports approval for the jallikattu (Bull Taming sport).
 * To conduct the game District / State / National Level game.
 * To created medical facilities for District level – Hospitals Ambulances for cattle.
 * To encourage recognizing bull farmer & bull fighter in the district and state level.