Pulikulam Cattle breed

About Pulikulam Cattle breed

• It is a popular draught and game breed of Tamil Nadu.
• The cattle originated from Pulikulam, a village located in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu.
• It is also known as Palingu maadu, Mani maadu, Jallikattu maadu, Mattu maadu and Kilakattu maadu.
• These are maintained as migratory herds, and its draught and manure capabilities play a significant role in the rural livelihood of the communities rearing them for draught and organic agricultural production.
• This breed of cattle is famous for a local game called Jalikattu where bulls are used as a bull-taming sport.
• It is commonly seen in Salem and Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu and part of Bangalore district of Karnataka.
• Pulikulam / Alambadi bulls are dark grey, almost black and cows grey or white.

Other cattle breeds of India

• India has three kinds of cattle.
• There are milch animals in northern India. Middle India has dual purpose animals while southern India has the Mysuru-type animal, mostly used for draught purposes.
• Maharashtra has the Killari, Karnataka has the Amrit Mahal and the Hallikar. 
• Tamil Nadu: Pulikulam, Umbalachery, Kangayam Bargur and Alambadi.

Q1) What is Jallikattu?

It is also known as eru thazhuvuthal and mañcuvirattu. The bull-taming sport is popular in Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Theni, Pudukkottai and Dindigul districts — known as the Jallikattu belt. Jallikattu is celebrated in the second week of January, during the Tamil harvest festival, Pongal.

Source: Interest in indigenous cattle breeds like the Pulikulam is reviving: Karthikeya Sivasenapathy

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