St. Pius X Chundan | The 'Saint & Team' of Kuttanad

If St George Chundan is called the 'Saint', St Pius X Chundan is known as 'The Saint & Team' by the people of Kuttanad. The snake boat was built by the members of the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM) unit at St Pius X church in Mankombu, Alappuzha.

After tasting back-to-back victories in the veppu vallam (a smaller traditional boat that was used to carry food for soldiers travelling on snake boat) races at the Nehru Trophy from 2009 to 2013, motivated the team to enter the snake boat race.

After failing to procure a snake boat for a race, the club members decided to build one of their own. The new St Pius X Mankombu Chundan was launched on July 18, 2014.

The snake boat is 123-feet long and five feet wide. It can hold 87 paddlers, 5 steersmen and 7 choristers. St Pius X reached the Nehru Trophy finals in 2015 and won in the losers’ final clash in 2016.

Other Snake Boats

Thalavady Chundan

Thalavady is a village in Upper Kuttanad Panchayat in Alappuzha. A group of boat race obsessed residents, decided to build a snake boat to represent the village. The initiative led by the Thalavady Boat Club received support from various sources including NRIs from the village.The 127-feet long, 5 feet wide Thalavady Chundan has the capacity to carry 83 paddlers, 5 steersmen and 9 choristers. The boat was launched on January 1, 2023. The chundan vallam's front end is shaped like a racehorse. The horse sculpture made of teak wood was mounted on the boat after being consecrated at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.Thalavady Chundan has proved to be a dark horse in the circuit in its inaugural year by winning the Neerattupuram race.

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Jawahar Thayankari

Jawahar Thayankari Chundan made its grand entry into the snake boat race circuit on July 31, 1973. 52 years later, the vessel continues its dominance on the backwater arena, amassing victories and adulation. The vessel is the pride of the people of Thayankari - a village in Alappuzha district.The boat was named Jawahar Thayankari in the honour of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The boat has the capacity to hold 92 people on board, and it’s co-owned by 250 shareholders based in Thayankari. The boat is fondly called 'Vellikkoomban' (Silver-tipped) owing to the silver tip on its front end. In the past 50 years, Jawahar Thayankari has emerged victorious in almost all major snake boat events in Kerala. It won the first Nehru Trophy in 1977 and became champions in 1978, 1985, 2010 and 2015. The boat also finished second in the Nehru Trophy finals 14 times. Today, the Jawahar Boat Club regularly supplies rowers to the Thayankari Snake boat.

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Niranam Chundan

The Niranam Chundan is the first snake boat from Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. Launched on August 17, 2022, the Niranam Chundan was the product of the concentrated efforts of an entire village.Renowned as the land of palliyodams (a type of snake boat), the idea of building a snake boat originated from a question raised on a Facebook page named Niranam Vartha in 2021. The positive response to the query led to the formation of a society. The residents of Niranam village invested money and took stakes in the boat. The boat was completed in 168 days and it can hold 97 people.

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Nadubhagam Chundan

The Nadubhagam Chundan was the winner of the inaugural Nehru Trophy race in 1952. And it also has an intriguing origin story - rife with rivalry, hurt pride and competitiveness.Nadubhagam and Amichakary were two villages in Champakulam at Alappuzha district's Kuttanad area. Both villages had boat clubs and they used to take turns rowing the Champakulam Chundan for local competitions. But in 1927, Amichakary denied Nadubhagam the chance to compete in the Champakulam Moolam Boat Race. Humiliated and enraged, Nadubhagam villagers complained to the Travancore Diwan M E Watts. He assisted them in buying a palliyodam (a type of snake boat). After a few refurbishments, the Nadubhagam Chundan was ready for the backwater battles.In 1940, Nadubhagam retired the old boat and built a new one. After their victory in 1952, Nadubhagam Chundan failed to lift the cup despite reaching the finals 36 times. The boat was refurbished in 1986 and 1996, but victory still eluded them. As the ageing vessel had lost its edge, Nadubhagam residents decided to build a new one in 2014.The new snake boat was able to break the jinx and it lifted the Nehru Trophy title in 2019. The new Nadubhagam Chundan continues its winning streak in other major events.

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