Loading…
Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan inaugurated the Aranmula Uthrittathi Vallamkali on the Pamba river, calling the snake-boat festival a symbol of Keralam's cultural heritage.
He linked the festival to the Sree Parthasarathy Temple at Aranmula and to the GI-tagged Aranmula Kannadi metal mirror, and pressed for the preservation of traditional crafts and knowledge systems.
He also greeted the state on its recent renaming as Keralam, recalling that he presided over the passage of the renaming Bill as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Vallam Kali is the generic Malayalam term for Kerala's boat races, rowed on the backwaters and rivers during the Onam season. The competitive races use the Chundan Vallam (snake boat). Aranmula's boats are a distinct class called Palliyodam — 'the boat of the temple' — associated in legend with Sree Krishna and shaped to resemble Sheshanaga, the serpent on which Vishnu reclines; they are built larger and taller than ordinary snake boats. The Aranmula legend traces the race to the Thiruvona Thoni, the boat that carried the offerings for the Onam feast to the Parthasarathy Temple: when it was once attacked, neighbouring villages sent their boats to escort it, and the escort hardened into an annual offering rowed on Uthrittathi day. This is why Aranmula is described as an offering rather than a contest, unlike the Nehru Trophy.
Simple Analogy: Think of the difference between a temple procession and a sports league. Aranmula is the procession — the boats are ritual objects owned by village karas and rowed as worship. The Nehru Trophy is the league — the same craft, raced for a silver trophy.
One of the 108 Divya Desams — the Vishnu temples glorified by the Alvar saints in the Divya Prabandham. Dedicated to Krishna as Parthasarathy, the charioteer of Arjuna. Built in the Kerala style, it stands on the southern bank of the Pamba and is counted among the five Kerala shrines linked to the Pandavas, this one attributed by legend to Arjuna.
Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan is the 15th Vice President of India, sworn in on 12 September 2025. The Vice President is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, which is why he presided over the passage of the Bill renaming the state.
Registers and administers GI tags in India under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. It granted the GI to Aranmula Kannadi.
India's GI statute, enacted to meet the country's obligations under the WTO's TRIPS Agreement. It received assent in December 1999 and came into force on 15 September 2003; the GI Registry sits in Chennai. Only authorised users from the defined geographical territory may use the registered name. Darjeeling tea was India's first registered GI (2004-05); Aranmula Kannadi followed as the second Indian GI and the first from Kerala.
Empowers Parliament by law to form new states and to alter the area, boundaries or NAME of any existing state. The renaming of Kerala as Keralam was carried out under this article by amending the First Schedule.
The high-yield companion fact: a law made under Article 3 that amends the First Schedule (the list of states) or the Fourth Schedule (Rajya Sabha seat allocation) is NOT deemed to be an amendment of the Constitution for the purposes of Article 368. So a state is renamed by an ordinary law passed by simple majority, not by a constitutional amendment.
| Aspect | Aranmula Uthrittathi Vallamkali | Nehru Trophy Boat Race |
|---|---|---|
| Water body | River Pamba, Aranmula | Punnamada Lake, Alappuzha |
| District | Pathanamthitta | Alappuzha |
| Boat type | Palliyodam (temple boat) | Chundan Vallam (snake boat) |
| Character | Religious offering to the Parthasarathy Temple deity | Competitive race for a silver trophy |
| Origin | Traced to the escorting of the Thiruvona Thoni carrying Onam offerings | First held in 1952 after Jawaharlal Nehru's visit; permanent venue at Punnamada from 1955 |
| Timing | Uthrittathi asterism in the month of Chingam | Traditionally the second Saturday of August |
Aranmula Kannadi sits alongside Nilambur Teak — the first forest produce in India to receive a GI tag — Marayoor Jaggery (from the Marayoor and Kanthalloor panchayats, Idukki) and Chendamangalam Dhoties. Expect questions pairing a Kerala product with its craft or district.
Launched in 2019, the CBL is an IPL-style professional snake-boat league that strings together Kerala's traditional races — beginning with the Nehru Trophy — into a single season. It is the modern commercial layer over a tradition the Vice President described as needing preservation.
Kerala's change to Keralam joins earlier renamings — Orissa to Odisha, Pondicherry to Puducherry, Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand. The Kerala Legislative Assembly passed resolutions in August 2023 and June 2024 seeking the change; the Union Cabinet approved it on 24 February 2026 and Parliament cleared the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 in August 2026.
The harvest festival of Keralam, celebrated in the month of Chingam, whose Thiruvonam day anchors the Vallasadya feast and the Aranmula offering. Boat races across central Kerala cluster in this season.
The Pamba rises in the Western Ghats on the Peerumedu plateau, flows west-north-west through Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts, past Sabarimala's approach point and Aranmula, and drains into the Vembanad backwater system in the Kuttanad region. Aranmula lies on its southern bank; Alappuzha's Punnamada Lake, home of the Nehru Trophy, lies downstream in the same backwater complex.
GS Paper 1 > Indian Heritage and Culture > Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from Ancient to Modern Times
General Awareness > Art and Culture, Indian Geography
General Awareness > Static GK: Festivals, GI Tags
Kerala boat races and GI tags recur in SSC and state PSC general awareness; Article 3 renaming recurs in UPSC Prelims polity.
The temple snake boat of Aranmula, larger and taller than the standard Chundan Vallam, rowed as an offering to the Parthasarathy Temple deity.
One of the 108 Vishnu temples glorified in the Divya Prabandham by the Alvar saints; Aranmula Parthasarathy is among them.
The ceremonial feast offered to the oarsmen and the deity in connection with the Aranmula boat tradition.
A sign identifying goods as originating from a definite territory where a given quality or reputation is essentially attributable to that origin; protected in India by the GI Act, 1999.
'Southern Ganga' — an epithet of the Pamba river.