Onam and the Snake Boats

People believed that many years ago a Brahmin used to live near Aranmula temple whose name was Katoor Mana. He was a good person. He used to visit the Aranmula temple and Pamba river for worship daily. One day after finishing his prayers he decided to do a noble thing. He decided to find a poor person whom he can feed. After waiting for many days he was not able to find one.

He continued going to the temple to offer his prayers. One day after finishing his prayers he opened his eyes. He saw a poor boy standing right in front of him. He was happy. He went to the boy and asked him to have a meal with him. When they finished eating he started searching for the boy. He could not find him anywhere. The boy disappeared. He decided to search the boy in his locality but there were no traces of him.

A strange thing started to happen with Katoor Mana. Whenever he used to visit the temple he used to see the glimpses boy. He started searching for the boy around the temple but he could not find him.

He had full faith in God. He thought that God has appeared to him in the human form. The moment he thought that his faith in God became stronger. He made a promise to him. He decided to offer food to the poor people in Aranmula temple every year at the time of Onam.

The food has to be transported to the temple through the Pamba river. It was dangerous because the sea robbers were always ready to snatch the food from the people. He went to the people who owned the snake boats. He told them about his noble cause and requested to accompany his to the temple.

After listening to him many people decided to help him so that this noble cause is accomplished. This was the start of the snake boat race which became a national sport in 1961.