Aranmula Boat Race -- August 30, 2007.

Venue: River Pampa, Aranmula, Chengannur

The Aranmula Vallamkali is held during the Onam season. The regatta, celebrated as a grand social event today, has a religious origin. In the olden days, vegetables, cereals and other food materials required for the Thiruvonasadya (the grand Onam feast), prepared as a ritual offering at the Aranmula Sree Parthasarathy Temple, were brought in a procession of snake boats. It is to commemorate this ritualistic journey that the famous Aranmula vallamkali is conducted.
Before the grand procession, the snake boats assemble near the Sree Parthasarathy Temple. Each boat is 100 feet long and accommodates four helmsmen, 100 oarsmen and 25 singers. The boats move in pairs to full-throated singing and shouting, watched by a crowd of hundreds.

Getting there:
Nearest railway station: Chengannur, about 10km away.
Nearest airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, about 117 km away