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VANCHIPATTU: SONGS OF THE BOAT RACE IN KERALA

Vijayan Kannampilly

Vanchipattu, or the boat song, is a part of the folk song tradition of Kerala that covers all aspects of human life—birth, work, fertility, worship, myths, legends, festivals and death. It predates poetry but contains within its seemingly facile structure the essence of rhythm that distinguishes all great art. Invariably, the rhythm of a folk song arises from the activity that it celebrates. In turn, the rhythm of the words rooted in a material reality transforms the mundane into the magical. Thus, a lullaby in any language cannot but have a rhythm based on the tempo of an infant’s breath. Though the Vanchipattu and the lullaby fall in the genre of folk song, the rhythmic structure of the former is far more varied because boats come in different shapes for different uses in Kerala. To understand this aspect, a look at the topography of the state is essential.

There are 41 major west-flowing rivers in Kerala. Most of them flow into estuaries and a few directly into the Lakshadweep Sea. In the days when Kerala was divided into principalities and local kingdoms, the rivers were often official borders and acted as natural social boundaries. So much so that among the aristocracy a marital alliance from ‘the other side’ (of the river) was frowned upon, if not banned. Notwithstanding that the rivers acted as social barriers, they acted as a natural highway for transporting goods and people. This was especially true in the estuarine region, marked by a large mass of water and rimmed by settlements unconnected by roads but open to boats.

Though estuaries (kayal in Malayalam) are a distinctive part of the landscape of Kerala, the largest single estuary stretches from Cranganore, now Kodungallur (known as Muziris to the ancient Greeks and Romans), to Cochin, now Kochi, and from there to the southeastern parts of the Alleppey district. The estuary between Kochi and Alleppey is known as the Vembanad kayal. Five rivers discharge their waters into it, and it covers an area of approximately 205 sq km. Travel and transport of goods between the towns and settlements on the banks of the Vembanad kayal are dependent on boats even today. This is because at no point is the kayal wider than 15 km—and in some places it is as narrow as a few hundred metres—while the roads that intersect the region are forced to follow the convoluted path of geography.

The heartland of Vanchipattu is the rim of the Vembanad kayal. It is here that one sees a variety of boats used for different functions. The most famous is the chundanvallam, known as snake boat in English. This is not a translation; it is merely a fanciful description based on the fact that the stern rises from the water level like the hood of a snake. The word chunda in Malayalam means a large water body and chundan denotes an object that is sharply pointed. The word vallam means a boat. Hence, chundanvallam denotes a boat with a sharply pointed prow used in a large water body like the kayal or a wide river. The length of the boat is between 60 and 65 metres, and it can carry 110 people including oarsmen. The front end of the boat is high above the water level. This allows for speed while the high stern gives the rudder-men a clear view of the course ahead. The purpose of the chundanvallam then was to wage war. Today, as a snake boat, it entertains tourists.

Among the other types of boats are: the churullanvallam that acts as a ferry with a capacity of 40–45 people; the veppuvallam, with a high stern, which can carry 40–45 people and was earlier used to provision and feed the warriors in the chundanvallam; the iruttukuthy, designed for smaller and faster transportation needs; and the kettuvallam for carrying large quantities of goods, propelled by two or more poles men (now mostly being built to serve as houseboats); and lastly, there is the pallyodam, used in temple ceremonies or to transport royalty.

Each type of boat had a different use. This gave a rhythmic variety to the Vanchipattu. The Vanchipattu with the fastest beat is the one used in the chundanvallam where speed is of essence. With the advent of the annual Nehru Trophy boat race (either in August or September depending upon the Malayalam calendar), in which the chundanvallam predominates, this type of Vanchipattu has eclipsed all the others, especially the songs with a slower tempo sung by those who pole the kettuvallam.

Though it falls in the genre of folk song, the Vanchipattu has the unique distinction of having been enshrined in literature. The credit for this goes to Ramapurathu Variyar (1703–1753), a man of great learning who lived in abject poverty. One day, he heard that Marthanda Varma, the king of Travancore, was coming to the Shaivaite temple at Vaikkom on the rim of the Vembanad kayal. Variyar went to Vaikkom to present the king with a few verses of honour possibly in the hope that the king would grant him a pension. This did not happen. When the king was boarding the pallyodam to return to Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), he noticed Variyar in the crowd gathered to bid him farewell. He asked Variyar to get into the boat and accompany him to Trivandrum. Variyar did so. As the journey began, Marthanda Varma asked Variyar to compose a Vanchipattu to kill the tedium and stimulate the boatsmen. The Vanchipattu that Variyar composed was Kuchelavritham in a traditional metre that echoes the sure and steady pull of oars.

The story of Kuchelavritham Vanchipattu is from Hindu mythology. Kuchela was a close childhood friend of Lord Krishna living in dreadful poverty. One day, at the instance of his wife, he went to meet Krishna in order to ask for his help. But when Kuchela met Krishna, he was so overawed by Krishna’s godliness that he forgot the errand set by his wife. However, when Kuchela returned home after a few days without fulfilling his wife’s demand, he was overjoyed to see that his hovel had been transformed into a palace. The irony of Variyar’s choice of subject is that it mirrors his life and the relationship between a poor poet and a powerful patron. It is art using an archetype and life impinging on art.

Though Kuchelavritham is taught in schools, it does not connote the Vanchipattu to most Malayalis today. That categorisation they reserve for a song written by the poet and lyricist Vayalar Rama Varma, and set to music by G. Devarajan for the film Kaavalam Chundan (1967) directed by Sasi Kumar. K. J. Jesudas sang the song, Kuttanadan punchayile, set to a traditional metre. For quite some years, it has been the theme song of the Nehru Trophy boat race.

Kuchelavritham to Kuttanadan Punchayile marks not only the confining changes that the once-varied Vanchipattu is now imprisoned in, but also the growth of a one-dimensional popular culture in Kerala. It is also a reflection of the fact that mechanisation has made the oarsmen redundant in the daily life of the community. They are just participants in a sporting activity; they have no work to sing about.