Kerala's iconic backwaters snake-boat race represents unity of local communities

Champakulam snake boat fielded by Kumarakom Town Boat Club.

The Veeyapuram snake boat took four minutes and 21 seconds to cross the finish line, a time that announced the team winners of the famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race in Kerala's majestic backwaters. It was the fourth consecutive victory for Alappuzha's more than four-decades-old Pallathuruthy Boat Club, which rowed the Veeyapuram snake boat with 97 players onboard the 140ft-long vessel whose stern rises 15ft above water.

Veeyapuram snake boat rowed by Pallathuruthy Boat Club, Alappuzha crossing the finish line to win the coveted Nehru Trophy Boat Race on August 12.

"We had a better time in the preliminary round," says Vinod Pavithran, head coach of the Pallathuruthy Boat Club referring to the four minutes 18 second the boat took in the heats for the marquee snake boat race of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race, named after India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a huge fan of Kerala's spectacular water sports and its slick vessels.

First held in 1952 to honour a visit to Kerala by Nehru, the Nehru Trophy Boat Race on August 12 this year drew teams from the Kuttanadu backwaters region of the state in categories like snake boat, veppu vallam, odi, churulan and thekkanodi, the last only for women rowers. "All these categories of boats were part of the naval fleet of local kings dating back to four centuries," says Pavithran, an eleven-time national champion in kayaking who represented India at the 1994 Hiroshima and 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

For nearly a century, communities in Kuttanadu, for whom boats are the only form of transport between the hundreds of small islands, have embraced water sports as their major pastime. "Snake-boat race is a traditional event that highlights the culture and unity of the backwaters communities," says Baby Chacko, head coach of the United Boat Club in Kainakiri village of Alappuzha, a hugely successful boat club in the region.

Besides oarsmen a snake boat has drummers and singers onboard.

Kerala's jaw-dropping water sports herald the famous Onam festival held during August 20-31 this year. The first in the race calendar was the Champakulam Moolam Vallamkali (vallam means boat in Malayalam) on July 3. Several major and smaller races follow, all organised by local communities in Kuttanadu. "Earlier families from the vicinity would come together to feed the oarsmen of the local clubs for days during their training," says Chacko, who won gold in canoeing at the 2002 National Games in Andhra Pradesh.

Even though the months-long races represent the relationship between Kuttanadu's communities and the water, a spirit of competition runs through events like the Nehru Trophy Boat Race. The snake boat, which requires more than one crore rupees to build a new one, symbolises the competitive spirit like nothing else. Each snake boat has about 80 oarsmen, along with more than ten others for controlling the vessel balance, beating drums, ringing bells and singing the traditional community boat songs.

Snake boats lining up for a march past at the Nehru Trophy Boat Race.

With a hundred players perched on a single snake boat, rhythm is an important factor in the race to the finish line lying at a distance of a little over 1 km. There is also a rigorous selection process and training. "We had a residential training camp that lasted one-and-half months this year," says Pavithran, a retired Indian Army captain and former coach of the Services teams in kayaking and canoeing. "Practice is the main element for success," he adds.

Rules have been relaxed recently to allow each team to select up to a quarter of players from outside the state. The Pallathuruthy Boat Club recruited kayaking and canoeing professional players from Delhi for the Nehru Trophy race this year. The United Boat Club selected all its oarsmen from the local community. "We don't traditionally depend on professionals," says coach Chacko. "Our players are club members and ordinary farm workers and office-goers from the local community," he adds.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI)'s National Centre for Excellence in Water Sports in Alappuzha fielded a women's team for the first time at the Nehru Trophy race. The SAI professionals raced to victory in the thekkanodi boat category for women with a time of six minutes and four seconds. "It was our first team in the Nehru Trophy race," says Treesa Jacob, a national-level kayaking player born in Cherthala, a town near Alappuzha. "We had a 35-member team with 29 oarswomen," says Jacob, a kayaking gold medal winner at the 2015 National Games in Kerala, who captained her thekkanodi team at the Nehru Trophy race.

A snake boat measuring 140ft-long has over 100 players in one team.

"The Nehru Trophy Boat Race is the biggest event for Kuttanadu's communities," says Adarsh P Anilkumar, a national-level kayaking player and proprietor of Mayuram Cruise, a houseboat and water-sports events company in Alappuzha.

Kerala has also added a Champions Boat League to its annual boat race calendar. Launched in 2019, the Champions Boat League, presented by Kerala Tourism department, is held across 12 venues across the state with the Nehru Trophy race doubling as a selection trial for the participating teams. Several major boat races in the state are now part of the league format. This year, the league will kick off at the Marine Drive in Ernakulam on September 9 and end at the Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam on November 25.