Nehru Trophy Boat Race

The Nehru Trophy Boat Tri Race is one of the most popular snake boat races (Vallam kali) in Kerala, the southernmost state of India. The event is held at the Punnamada Lake, near Alappuzha, a district in Kerala. The race got its name from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who visited Alappuzha in 1952. A race was conducted without any previous planning in honour of pandit Nehru. He became so impressed that he later donated a silver trophy the model of which was that of a snake boat, with his signature. During the race, Chundan vallams (snake boat) compete with each other and this is the crowd puller event in the race; hence, it is called Snake Boat Race. There are different categories of boats, such as Churulan vallam, Iruttukuthi vallam, Odi vallam, Veppu vallam, Vadakkanody, and Kochu vallam which participate in the different events of the race. Even small country rafts are present. It is one of the biggest nautical sport events in Kerala and is held every year on the second Saturday of August. Boats, nearly 100 feet long, fiercely racing through the waters, accompanied by the old boat song tunes, is worth watching. Other than this, there are water processions as well as water floats which are really beautiful. This is a form of art and an opportunity for expert oarsmen to display their talents.