The Tamil writer C. S. Chellappa (1912-1998)
was a great fan of jallikattu. His novel
Vadivasal is the story of a
youth who tames a bull at the Pongal festival. In 1954, he went to the bull
taming in Madurai armed with an Agfa 11 that he had bought for `150 to capture the scene. The result was one
of the earliest photo essays on an enduring rural pastime of Tamil Nadu.
After returning to Chennai he set up a dark room and learnt how to
develop photos. I met him in 1998 and spoke to him
was a Tamil writer and journalist. An English translation of his novel on jallikattu Vaadivaasal: Arena (OUP) was published in 2013.
