Silent Valley In A Lagoon

Festivity has always been in the air at Perumbalam. Nestled between the Vembanad and Kaithapuzha backwaters, this small island in Alappuzha district is known as the village of temples— and for good reason. Spread across just 16.14 square kilometres, it is home to 72 sacred groves, more than 40 temples, 800 ponds and 76 canals that crisscross the island like a living grid. That works out to one pond for every 15 residents.

For centuries, the island’s identity has been shaped by water. Now, a 1.15km bridge across Vembanad Lake is set to connect Perumbalam to the mainland for the first time—and the island is bracing for change.

The bridge’s most immediate and visible impact will be felt during the temple festival season, which runs from Dec to March each year. Until about two decades ago, bringing elephants to the island for festival processions required considerable ingenuity. Villagers would lash two country boats together and lay heavy wooden planks across them, fashioning a makeshift watercraft sturdy enough to carry a tusker. Since 2004, jankars—flat-bottomed motorized vessels— have been used for the purpose.

“The making of the vallam by tying two country boats would start well before the festival season,” recalled NK Sajeevan, an employee of the Travancore Devaswom Board and a Perumbalam native. “Wooden planks that could bear the weight of tuskers were sawn from suitable trees. There were experts who specialised in making such crafts.”

That tradition is now set to become history. “For the first time, tuskers will be brought to the island via bridge,” Sajeevan said. The island’s isolation has, paradoxically, been its greatest ecological asset. Cut off from the mainland, Perumbalam escaped the pressures of large-scale development, and its sacred groves and water bodies survived largely intact as a result.

“This island is home to 72 sacred groves featuring trees like wild jack, palm and various other species, as well as birds such as the black-headed orioles, drongos and woodpeckers,” said Devaraja Panicker, a native and convenor of the biodiversity maintenance committee of Perumbalam grama panchayat.

The ecological significance of what has been preserved here is considerable. “In Alappuzha district, there are 1,128 sacred groves with 687 species of flowering plants, including two critically endangered tree species,” said Dr Kannan CS Warrier, director of the Kerala Forest Research Institute. “In Silent Valley, with a core area of 90 square kilometres, there are 960 species of flowering plants. Alappuzha’s sacred groves cover less than one square kilometre—just 0.84 square kilometres—yet contain 680 species. Their biodiversity potential is comparable to Silent Valley’s. And Perumbalam contributes heavily to that treasure.”

Sarppam Thullal, the serpent dance performed as part of serpent worship, and Kalamezhuthum Pattum—a ninth-century ritual form involving floor paintings made with coloured powder and devotional songs—continue to be performed at the island’s temples and sacred groves. Deities such as Ladan, Pattan and Kappiri are worshipped here, their origins reflecting the island’s layered history of contact with the outside world.

“Local tradition holds that the Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque and his army once arrived at Perumbalam, reputedly to plunder its temples,” said Panikcer.

A place called Padapparambu is identified in local memory as the Portuguese campsite. The skeletal remains of a lighthouse built in the backwaters during the Travancore kingdom period are still visible and the panchayat has plans to conserve it. The island also has a documented connection to the freedom movement. Amachadi Thevan, a native of Perumbalam, participated in the Vaikom Satyagraha—the landmark 1924 agitation demanding temple entry for those considered lower caste.

The bridge has already begun reshaping the island’s economy—even before it opens. When the govt announced the project in 2019, land prices in Perumbalam stood at around one lakh rupees for a cent. They have since quadrupled.

“Big sharks have already set foot on the island,” said Umesh VU, a former panchayat member. “Around 26 years ago, a private firm purchased about 27 acres, buying holdings from local residents. The land has changed hands several times but remains unused. Now that the bridge has come, many more such investors may follow.”
VV Asha, former president of the Perumbalam panchayat, confirmed the trend. The concern among residents and conservationists is that the land-use changes which spared the island for generations may now accelerate rapidly.

For most residents, however, the bridge’s arrival is simply a long-awaited relief. The absence of night boat services meant the island was effectively cut off after dark. “Some people died on the boat while being shifted to hospital,” said Sarala Pavithran, 71.

One story captures both the hardship and the strange poetry of island life. On June 3, 1996, Shyla VS, wife of Babu TV, went into labour at around2 am while being ferried to hospital. She delivered her son Venkitesh Babu aboard boat A-47 of the water transport department.

Nearly three decades later, Venkitesh Babu joined the same department—and was posted to the same boat, A-47, on the Alappuzha-Nedumudi sector. He reported for duty on Nov 14, 2025. As the bridge opens and the island prepares to meet the mainland, he is among those celebrating, a man whose life began on water, now watching Perumbalam step ashore.

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