Know all about Alappuzha

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Alappuzha (Allepppey) is a tourist paradise. Most tourists visit the town for viewing the popular Nehru Trophy snake boat race (Second Saturday of August every year), boating in houseboats and for visiting the nearby tourist places.

Alappuzha has a large network of canals and is the centre of backwater cruiseas in Kerala. Aso known as the 'Venice of the East', it's famous for it's beaches, marine products and coir product industry.

Boat races

Alappuzha district can be proud of being the cradle of boat races. All the important boat races, namely the Nehru Trophy boat race at Punnamada, the Pulinkunnu Rajiv Gandhi boat race (August Last Saturday), the Champakkulam Moolam boat race, the Payippad Jalotsavam, the Thiruvandoor, Neerettupuram (Onam in August-Sep), Karuvatta (at Haripad) and Thaikkottom boat races are held on or around the Onam holidays at different places in the district. Thousands of people from all parts of the world come and witness these races.

Other Boat Races are Tourism Boat Race: Connected with Great Elephant on March- 11th January, Pamba Boat Race: Thiruvalla, and Mannar Boat Race.

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Alappuzha beach

A 137 plier, which extends into the sea and an old lighthouse are the attractions here. Entertainment faciliteis at the Vijaya beach park include boating, toy train and bicycles. Open from 1500 - 2000 h. An ancient Jewish synagauge, CSI church and Cathedral are the other attractions in the town.

Kuttanad

Known as the 'Rice Bowl of Kerala', Kuttanad is at the very heart of the backwaters. This is perhaps the only region in the world where farming is done 1.5 to 2 m below sea level. Inland watrerways which flow above land level are an amazing feature of this region. The boat trip to Changanacherry passes through this beautiful and fertile region.

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Pathiramanal island

This is a small beautiful uninhabited island in the Vembanad lake and is accessible only by private boat from Muhamma (nearest) and Kumarakom. The enchanting island on the backwaters is a favourite haunt of hundreds of rare migratory birds gfrom different parts of the world. One can enjoy tender coconuts and lime juice here in day time.

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Arthunkal feast

Arthunkal is a major Christian pilgrim centre in Alappuzha district of Kerala. The St. Sebastian's church feast at St Andrew's Forane Church is celebrated from 10 to 27 Jan. The procession of the saint in a palanquin, on 20 Jan, by hundreds of devotees from church to beach chapel and back attracts a huge crowd of devotees. More than two lakh pilgrims visit the church during the festival. The octave is on 27 Jan with a procession of the saint's statue to the beach. Sabarimala pilgrims too visit the church during their pilgrimage. The belief is that Loard Ayyappa and St Sebastian are brothers.

The church was established by Portuguese missionaries four centuries ago. The church is 7 km from Cherthala and 22 km from Alappuzha. The main days of the festival are 20 & 27 th Jan.

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Krishnapuram palace

The 18th century palace built during the reign of 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 Moksham. It measures 14 ft by 11 ft and is at the western end of the ground floor, walking distance from palace pool. Inside is a museum of antique sculptures, paintings and bronze.

Located 47 km Alappuzha, near the Kayamkulam bus stand.

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Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple, is a Hindu temple in Ambalappuzha, Alapuzha district of Kerala, in south India. The temple is believed to have been built in the in the year AD 790 by the local ruler Chembakasserry Pooradam Thirunal-Devanarayanan Thampuran. The Puthumana Thanthri family of Namboodiri Brahmins are the priests of the Temple.
This temple is directly associated to the Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple. During the raids of Tipu Sultan in 1789, the idol of Sri Krishna from the Guruvayoor temple was brought to the Ambalappuzha temple for safe keeping.

The pal payasam served in the Ambalappuzha Temple is famous among Hindu devotees. The sweet broth made of milk, sugar and rice, otherwise known as ‘Ambalapuzha palpayasam’ is well-known because of its speciality. No other sweet broth of any kind is as delicious and melodious as this payasam. This sweet pudding made of rice and milk has an interesting mythological legend behind it.

Legend

According to the legend, Lord Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region and challenged him for a game of chess (or chaturanga). The king being a chess enthusiast himself gladly accepted the invitation. The prize had to be decided before the game and the king asked the sage to choose his prize in case he wins. The sage told the king that he had a very modest claim and being a man of few material needs, all he wished was a few grains of rice. The amount of rice itself shall be determined using the chess-board in the following manner. One grain of rice shall be placed in the first square, two grains in the second square, four in the third square, eight in the fourth square and so on. Every square will have double the number of grains of its predecessor.

Upon hearing the demand, the king was unhappy since the sage requested only a few grains of rice instead of other riches from the kingdom which the king would've been happy to donate. He requested the sage to add other items too to his prize but the sage declined. So the game of chess started and needless to say the king lost the game. It was time to pay the sage his agreed-upon prize. As he started adding grains of rice to the chess board, the king soon realised the true nature of the sage's demands. By the 20th square, the number had reached one-million grains of rice and by the 40th square, it became one-trillion. The royal grainery soon ran out of grains of rice. The king realised that even if he provides all the rice in his kingdom and his adjacent kingdoms, he will never be able to fulfill the promised reward. The number of grains was
increasing as a geometric progression and the total amount of rice required to fill a 64-squared chess board is (2^64 - 1) which is equal to 18446744073709551615 grains (about 18 * 1018, or 18 billion billion grains). This amount of rice would weigh about 461 * 1012 kg, or 461 billion tonnes (1,000 grains of rice weigh about 25g).

Upon seeing the dilemma, the sage appeared to the king in his true-form, that of lord Krishna. He told the King that he doesn't have to pay the debt immediately but can pay him over time. The king shall serve paal-payasam (made of rice) in the temple freely to the pilgrims every day until the debt is paid off.

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Ambalapuzha Sree Krishna temple

The main gate of the temple is on the western side. The golden tope dome, a single-stone mandapam, the architectural stone images and the golden flag staff in front are a few signs of its eminence and splendour. The temple has neither a gate tower, nor shrines for gods outside the main sanctum sanctorum. The divine image is about 3 feet high. Each day the holy face is adorned with gold when the rituals are being performed. In the right hand the divine holds a lash and in the left a conch which proclaims that the deity is none other than Parthasarathy himself.

The Aaraattu festival commences with the flag hoisting ceremony on the Atham star in Meenam (March-April). The important Aaraattu festival takes place on the Thiruvonam day of the same month. In this temple 'Pallipana' is performed by 'Velans' (sorcerers) once in twelve years. Human sacrifice was conducted in ancient times. However, cocks have now replaced humans on the sacrificial altar. Kalakkaththu Kunchan Nambiar(1705-1770) also spent his youth at Ambalappuzha.

The famous Champakulam boat-race is celebrated on ‘Moolam’ astericism in ‘Midhunam (June/ July).

The St. Mary's Church, Chambakulam is one of the oldest church in Kerala. It is said to be one of the seven churches established by St.Thomas. The annual feast is held on the 3rd Sunday of October. The feast of St. Joseph is celebrated on March 19th.