Mattur

A Village Where People Communicate in Sanskrit

How many of us have heard the name of the village called Mattur? Well not much of us. Mattur is a village in Karnataka on the banks of river Tunga. Question is what is about that about the village that makes us talk about it? The village is a Sanskrit speaking village. Here everybody, even the vegetable vendors speak in Sanskrit. People not only use Sanskrit to during holy rituals but they use it for day to day conversation.

Sanskrit is the mother of all languages, we all know this and we all accept it. But how many of us can speak Sanskrit? The answer is very few, as few as you can count them on fingers. Sanskrit is also called as Deva Bhasha, but unfortunately the language is dying in its own country. Well thanks to the Mattur village people, here language is kept alive. As one enters the village he is greeted with “bhavatha nam kim?” (What is your name?), “coffee va chaayam kim ichchhathi bhavan?” (What will you have, coffee or tea?). The pronunciation of “Hari Om” instead of ‘hello’ and “katham asti” instead of ‘how are you?’ are common here.

Every person in the village irrespective of his or her education, he/she speaks in Sanskrit fluently. The language is not only used by Hindus but also by the Muslim families residing in the village. Sanskrit is used as local language here. Kids playing cricket or while fighting are seen conversing in Sanskrit. What surprises you more is that even the grocery stores provide bottle and bag with Sanskrit labels on it.

History:

The legacy of the village is handed down to them by the Vedic scholars, who settled here from Palghat, Kerala. The Vedic scholars were moving to north via Cauvery and Tunga river banks, but as they were moving the emperor of Vijayanagar gifted Mattur and Hosahalli to the Vedic scholars to make them the center of learning Vedas and Sanskrit. Slowly and gradually the language was introduced in school at junior as well as senior level. This is how the whole of village started speaking Sanskrit.

Isn’t it amazing Mattur is in Karnataka and people speak sanskrit instead of Karnataka’s local language Kannada. That’s the reason we call our country as “Incredible India“.

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