The Vallamkali was first originated in Assyria, on a New Year day in BC.300. The history also reveals that, the Vallamkali (Boat Race) also took place in some other countries like The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Combodia, Bangkok, Burma, Britain etc. In ancient India the boat race was conducted by so many States

Vallam Kali (or Vallamkali) literally means boat game (boat race) in Malayalam. It is the traditional boat (paddled longboat) race in Kerala.

It is mainly conducted during the season of the harvest festival Onam in Autumn. Vallam Kali include races of many kinds of traditional boats (paddled longboat) of Kerala. The race of Chundan Vallam (snake boat) is the major event. Hence Vallam Kali is also known in English as Snake Boat Race and now in recent years has become a major tourist attraction

In the 14th century, there was a war occurred between Kayamkulam and Chembakasseri. During that time the king Chembakasseri Devanarayana had decided to build a suitable war boat and he gave the responsibility to the famous “Thachan” (Carpenter) in that period.

The technical methods about creating these Snake Boats have atleast 650 yerars old. By considering the current snake boats, the "Parthasarathi" Chundan is the oldest one.