The Aranmula Uthrattathi Vallamkali is the boat festival of the Sree Parthasarathy temple at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district, often called the oldest river boat festival in Kerala. Some fifty palliyodams, snake boats dedicated to Krishna, come down the Pampa with their crews singing, and then race in heats; it is a temple rite first and a sport second. It falls on the Uthrattathi star a few days after Onam: next, 17 September 2027 (expected).
The day follows the Malayalam almanac; the Pathanamthitta collector declares a local holiday for the race a few days ahead, and the press reports the arrangements in the week before.
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Legend says Arjuna was carrying an image of Krishna when the Pampa flooded, and a poor man ferried him across on a raft of six bamboos. The race remembers him.
The race is a rite of the Parthasarathy temple, Krishna as Arjuna's charioteer, and is called the oldest river boat festival in Kerala.
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In 1978 the state declared it a sports event, but the religious rites were restored in 2000. Rhythm and song still matter here as much as speed.
The boat song
The snake boats move down the Pampa in pairs to vanchipattu, the Malayalam boat song, oars striking in time.
Temple offerings
Before the race the oarsmen offer paddy and betel leaves to Parthasarathy and walk round the temple singing.
Valla sadya
Through the season the temple feeds the crews a banana-leaf feast, and the oarsmen sing for each dish they want.
What you see on race day
The palliyodams are not ordinary racing boats. They belong to the villages around Aranmula and are dedicated to the temple, and they are bigger and taller than the chundan vallams (snake boats) of Kuttanad: up to fifteen people can stand in the middle of one, with the oarsmen along its length. They are graded A and B.
The afternoon begins with a water procession. The boats come down the Pampa, oars striking in time to vanchipattu, the Malayalam boat song. Aranmula has its own songs in the form, Kuchelavritham, Bheeshmaparvam and Santhanagopalam among them, and the eastern style of singing is the one accepted here. Only after the procession do the heats begin, in the two grades, with the fastest boats of each going through to the finals for the Mannam Trophy. A separate prize rewards rhythm, song and style of rowing, which matter here as much as speed.
Before the race the crews go to the temple, offer paddy and betel leaves to Parthasarathy, Krishna as Arjuna's charioteer, and walk around it singing. Kerala Tourism describes the race as closely linked to the rituals of the temple.
The temple and its story
The Uthrattathi day is also the anniversary of the installation of the deity at Aranmula. In the temple legend told by Kerala Tourism, Krishna appeared in a dream to a Bhattathiri (a Brahmin) of the Kattoor Mangadu household and asked him to bring a feast to the temple every Thiruvonam. On one journey the feast boat, the Thiruvonathoni, was attacked by bandits, and people from the villages came out in their boats to protect it. From then on snake boats escorted the Thiruvonathoni, and the race on Uthrattathi was added later. How old the race itself is, sources do not agree.
The festival runs through Onam season. The Onam page covers the wider festival, and on Janmashtami the palliyodams that race on Uthrattathi come to Madhukadavu, the temple's ghat, for the Ashtami Rohini feast.
Facts checked: 21 October 2026. Prices and hours are approximate; check locally.
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