Pulikulam Cattle breed

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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