Sanskrit still blooming in tiny Indian village

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Sanskrit still blooming in a tiny village in Karnataka

a.. by The Free Press Journal

Sheeghram Dhave" (run fast), shouts a little boy in chaste

Sanskrit to his fellow batsman while running between the wickets

holding the bat on a nondescript maidan in this village, where the

country's ancient language still remains alive and spoken among the

rustic folk, reports UNI. ..

 

Sanskrit still blooming in a tiny village in Karnataka

Author:

Publication: The Free Press Journal

January 30, 2003

Sheeghram Dhave" (run fast), shouts a little boy in chaste Sanskrit

to his fellow batsman while running between the wickets holding the

bat on a nondescript maidan in this village, where the country's

ancient language still remains alive and spoken among the rustic

folk, reports UNI.

 

At the sight of an outsider, the lad is suddenly subdued and gives a

nod to this correspondent: "Suprabhatam".

 

Sanskrit, touted as the mother of all languages, has overcome a

brief lull in its verbal existence and again started blooming in

this neat and tiny village located on the picturesque banks of the

river Tunga in Shimoga district. As had been the case during its

hoary past, a visitor to this place is greeted by a 'Good Morning'

in the Indian version and even with vedic chants sometimes.

 

Historically, the natives of this village are settlers from Sankote

located in Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border and had made Mattur their

home since almost five centuries ago following a largesse sanctioned

by Krishnadevaraya, the emperor of Vijayanagara in 1509-30. Known

for his penchant to encourage all manifestations of culture and

languages, he doled out 120 acres of land here for the migrants to

five by practising and preaching the Vedas.

 

The advent of English education in the early spans of the last

century did make some dent into Sanskrit-speaking habit of the

successive generations. Until erosion was stemmed in 1992 by Udupi

Pejawar Mutt pontiff Vishveshathirtha, who visited the village and

was impressed by its lush-green locale.

 

So moved was the swamiji at the sight of Mattur's tranquil and

pleasant ambience that he gave a clarion call to develop it as a

model 'Sanskrit village'. His exhortion to the natives to rekindle

the spirit of the ancient language eventually found results in all

ways of life and walks of people.

 

Coming to the current times, all children in local schools

invariably take Sanskrit as the optional language and display keen

interest in ensuring that it existed even outside classrooms.

Irrespective of caste and creed, the local people, totaling 3500,

converse In Sanskrit across the village, which has not experienced

any communal disturbance. Credit also goes to the Samskruta Bharati,

a 1982-founded organisation in the wake of some adverse comments

aired about Sanskrit language those days. Its functionaries took up

the daunting task of helping Sanskrit flourish by roping in the help

of pandits settled in the village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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