Alleppey

Quaint Kerala town called Venice of the East

The quaint little town of Alappuzha (Malayalam name for Alleppey) is called the Venice of the East. Nowhere else will you find, spread out across the center of town, a unique crisscrossing network of canals & lagoons on which thatch covered country boats punt (houseboats) along leisurely. The proximity of lakes adds to the Venetian ambience.

But when Raja Kesavadasan, the Dewan of Travancore (king), founded the town in 1762, there was just one canal through the strip of sand between the backwaters and the sea. This soon grew into a bustling waterway, with shops, factories and commercial establishments springing up on either bank of the canal. This attracted merchants from other parts of the country from Europe, America and some other business countries.

By the mid-19th Century, the sea had receded a mile, offering more land along the sand strip. Trading vessels soon began to call on Alleppey. In 1859 the first organized coir factory & other products was started here and began producing matting from coir yarn on a loom developed by an English sea captain. Soon other British company-owned weaving establishments followed.

Meanwhile, in 1816, the Church Missionary Society set up its local headquarters ‘Christ Society of India’ and three years later the first Anglican Church was built. In 1851 Alleppey had the honor of housing the first post office in the erstwhile Travancore State (Kerala). The commercial importance of Alleppey began to decline after the late 1920s with the development of Cochin (Queen of Arabia) into a major port.

However, today Alleppey is still a major center for trade in coir products, copra (dried coconut meat) and coconut oil for cooking and Ayurvedic products. Thanks to its long beach coast, Alleppey is also a center for fishing and marine products processing activities, have a good beach and looking to development for tourist ships.

For tourists Alleppey is the pivotal point for trips into Kerala’s famed backwaters (houseboats & motor boats) and the state’s lush rice bowl, Kuttanad, between Quilon to the south and Kottayam to the east lie some of the most entrancing scenery of palm-lined banks, islands, quiet water-bound villages and little boats taking the local people to and fro-everything framed in green.

Apart from the boat trips through the town’s many canals and lakes, and the Mullackal Bhagavathi Temple in the heart of town, Alleppey offers glimpses of the coir manufacturing process-from the coconut husk to the final rope/coir yarn stage. There are also several shops selling coir matting and carpets, often at prices cheaper than elsewhere.

The long sandy beach at Alleppey has a lighthouse and a pier jutting out into the sea, once active in the unloading of goods from cargo ships. Children can romp in the Vijay Beach Park.

Snake boat race

The not-to-be-missed spectacle in Alleppey is, of course, the Nehru Trophy Boat Race which began in 1952 on the occasion of the visit of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. It is now a major event held on the second Saturday of every August and features the gigantic snake-boats of Kerala, the chundans, once the battleships of the Malayalee kings of yore.
Today the Boat Race has grown into Alleppey’s single most important tourist event, with each boat being sponsored by a different village. Competition is severe as the boats, with over 120 rowers in each, race to the finish to the accompaniment of rousing music.

Houseboats construction

Alleppey is becoming famous for houseboat building. More than 50 houseboats are built every year. One houseboats cost Rs.25,00,000.

A traveler can use Alleppey as a base to make excursions to nearby historical sites and scenic spots. Pathiramanal, (near Kumarakom) a beautiful little island in the Vembanad Lake; it is the largest lake in the Asia, which can be reached only by boat, is set to be developed as a major tourist spot.

The Sri Krishna temple at Ambalapuzha, 14 km from Alleppey, is among Kerala’s more famous ones, boasting the typical temple architectural style of the state. It is equally famed for its palpayasam, a sweet milk porridge offered to the diet. The temple’s main festival occurs in March/April. It was in this temple that the 16th century poet Kunjan Nambiar staged his first Ottan Thullal, a solo dance performance with a high social content.

Close to Ambalapuzha, the village of Karumadi is famous for its Karumadi Kuttanm a black granite figure of Buddha, said to belong to the 9th or 10th century. During his visit to Kerala in 1965, the Dalai Lama worshipped at this shrine.

Arthinkal, known for the St. Andrews Church established by Portuguese missionaries in 1951, is near Sherthallai, 25km north of Alleppey. The feast of St. Sebastian is held here every January.

On the Pamba river is Chambakulam, (Rajiv Gandhi snake boat race) the site for the famous boat regatta held during August/September that has traditionally involved the participation of all communities.

The 18th Century Krishnapuram Palace (45 km from Alleppey), built during the reign of the Travancore monarch, Marthanda Varma, is a double-storied structure, which displays typical characteristics of Kerala architecture-gabled roofs, dormer windows, and narrow corridors. It houses one of the largest mural paintings in Kerala, called the Gajendra Mokshm.

It measures 14 feet by 11 feet and is at the western end of the ground floor, a walking distance from the palace pool. Inside is also a museum of antique sculptures, painting and bronzes. Situated 45 km from Alleppey, on the way to Quilon, Krishnapuram is easily accessible by bus from Alleppey.

A short distance from Alleppey is Punnapra, a village that has gone down in history as the scene of a battle between the Communists and the Travancore State Police in the Punnapra-Vayalar Communist Uprising of 1946.

Mannarasala, 32 km from Alleppey is a very important center of serpent worship in Kerala. Built in a cool grove of trees and shrubs, this temple is said to contain 30,000 images of snake-goods, which line the path to the temple.