An entire village that talks in Sanskrit

An entire village that talks in Sanskrit
An entire village that talks in Sanskrit
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The News Minute | November 29, 2014 | 10.10 am ISTAn entire village that converses in Sanskrit today is hard to even believe. In Mattur, a small village in Shivamogga in Karnataka, one can see people wearing jeans and t-shirts, talking over a mobile phone but still speaking in Sanskrit. Every child in the village is taught the Vedas once they attain the age of ten, the Economic Times reported.The village with a population of 5000 is predominated by the Sankethi Brahmins who migrated from Kerala and Tamil Nadu over 600 years ago.Claims often made that Sanskrit is the most suited language for computer programming has been given some weight by people of this village. Every family has at least one software professional. Yadu, who works for the Hewlett Packard says that the daily chanting of Vedas has helped them excel in their career. "We naturally developed an aptitude for maths and logic as well," he feels.The school in Mattur also boasts of producing toppers every year. Learning Vedas and their chanting have helped the students to focus more and has also increased their memory. However, the village is orthodox when it comes to marriages. Inter-caste marriages are looked down upon and hardly any dares to do it. Bringing home friends of other castes itself brings frown on elders’ faces.A documentary ‘MATTU – Clinging to the roots of Sanskrit’ made by a few students takes one around the Mattur village. Sanskrit is not just popularly taught here, but is one of the main forms of communications. â€˜The best way to master a language is to first treat it as your mother tongue’, everything else will follow, says a Sanskrit tutor.After it was made compulsory for children to study the language in the primary level, the perspective of youth in the village has changed, said the documentary.

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