ARANMULA BOAT RACE

The Aranmula Boat Race the oldest river boat fiesta in Kerala, the south western State of India is held during Onam (August-September) . It takes place at Aranmula, near a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Krishna and Arjuna. The snake boats move in pairs to the rhythm of full-throated singing and shouting watched by an exciting crowd. In 1972, snake boat races were also added to the programme of the festival. Thousands of people gather on the banks of the river Pampa to watch the snake boat races. In 2009 forty one snake boats or 'chundan vallamshad participated in the festival. The oarsmen sing traditional boat songs and wear white mundu and turbans. The golden lace at the head of the boat, the flag and the ornamental umbrella at the center make it a show of pageantry too.

Aranmula is about 128 km from Trivandrum, capital city of Kerala. It is situated on the banks of the river Pampa. The famous temple at Aranmula is dedicated to Sree Parthasarathy of Lord Krishna as the divine charioteer of Arjuna. A rough estimate puts the age of this temple to 1700 years.

Architecture

Constructed according to specifications taken from the Sthapathya Veda, an ancient treatise for the building of wooden boats, these boats are anywhere from 100 to 138 ft in length. With the rear portion towering to a height of about 20 ft. and a long tapering front portion, it resembles a snake with its hood raised. Its hull is built of planks precisely 83 feet in length and six inches wide.

Aries Punnamada Chundan, an initiative of the Aries Group of Companies, is widely acclaimed to be the longest Snake Boat with a length of 144 ft.

'Aries Chundan', the first ever snake boat made of steel, entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest canoe crew accommodating 141 people on board.It is also the first Snake Boat to be constructed in steel. This `chundan' has found place in the Limca Book of Records for the longest snake boat made of steel. Mr.Sohan Roy S.K was the master brain behind this innovative project. K Surendrababu from Kainakari was the chief architect of this 'chundan'.

This innovative steel snake boat had a scientific design which was based on the latest scientific methods in naval architecture. The boat’s shape and stability had been designed using the famous ‘Autoship’ software. The strength had been analysed by a finite element method, an overhanging test was conducted to analyse the longitudinal strength and a sinking test was conducted to prove its ‘unsinkability.’

Thanks & Regards

KRISHNA KUMAR

DOHA,QATAR.

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