On the great waterways of Kerala, fierce Vallom Kallies (boat races) and water carnivals erupt every year in a dramatic spectacle and hold tens of thousands of people spell-bound, cheering the action, laying bets, goading the boatmen to row faster.

At Aranmula on the Pamba River in the Kuttanad region, at Papiyad near Quilon, at Thayathangadi near Kottayam, the water carnivals and snake boat races herald the week of the great harvest festival of Onam. It is Kerala's most important celebration and in scores of villages spread across central Kerala, competitive races featuring the smaller churulans, oadis, and irrutukuthies provide expression to the spirit of an intrepid, athletic people, born and bread near water.

Over the years, roads, railways and aircraft have stifled the romance of river traffic and inland water warfare has passed into the annals of history. But for the boatmen of Kerala, the romance of the boat races during the boat festivals is still alive and they think in nostalgic term as their boats glide to some favorite shrine in the soft, muted light of the morning.

The stately snake boats of Aranmula form part of a hoary temple ritual. In days gone by, it is said, bandits once plundered a small boat carrying offerings to a Krishna temple. Lord Krishna, goes the legend, appeared before the distraught devotee in a dream and advised him to build larger boats which, when rowed by a hundred to hundred and fifty oarsmen, could glide swiftly and outstrip any pirate, and so the speedy chundan or snake boat was designed. This legend forms the basis for the snake boat races and boat festivals of Kerala.

The snake boats take shape in the skilled hands of inspired shipwrights or master boat builders - proud guardians of time honored boat-building techniques conscientiously passed on from father to son. Everything is handmade and crafted with great care by the shipwrights. Volunteers from the community are willing assistants and thousands throng the water's edge to watch the first critical trial run of a new boat.

For both the spectators and the boat crews of the snake boat races during the boat festivals of Kerala, the finishing moment of the boat race in Kerala is supreme. The snake boats, their pennants whipped by the wind, cut a shimmering swathe through