The art of the fictional sucker punch

In The Day the Earth Bloomed (translated by J Devika), Manoj Kuroor imagines jallikattu, the sport of taming bulls in Tamil Nadu, as it took place in the Sangam era, which stretched from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE.

- Akankshya Abismruta

Kuroor's novel is dedicated to the community of performers of those times, and the presence of this sport implies the importance it holds in the history of south India.

In this 2,000-year-old tradition, bulls with rewards hung between their horns are let into an arena through the vaadivaasal (gate).

Whoever subdues the bulls, snatches the reward.

Appupen and Perumal Murugan have adapted Vaadivaasal by C S Chellappa into a graphic novel for contemporary readers.

A renowned Tamil writer, journalist and Gandhian, Chellappa participated in the Indian freedom struggle, founded the literary magazine Ezhuthu, and published over 109 short stories and 50 articles.

His novella, published in 1949, is a modern classic.

This first fictional account of the jallikattu was earlier translated from the Tamil, as The Arena, by N Kalyan Raman in 2013, amid discussions around the sport with regard to animal cruelty and loss of human life.

At first glance, this seems to be a tale of man versus beast.

Pichi, the protagonist, attends the jallikattu in Chellayipuram to defeat Kaari, the untamed bull who killed his father a couple of years earlier.

If he manages to do it, Pichi will fulfil his father's last wish and restore the family's honour.