Saturday, December 18, 2010

MATTUR -A Distinguished village

     My Father  was frequently changing places due to transfers associated with bank posting and as a child,I enjoyed visiting new places and exploring the culture and traditions associated with those places.When I was in 2 nd grade ,(long back-20 yrs )we were staying in a place called Mattur,as a part of my Dad's rural posting.So just recalling those old days ,I thought I must write this note on the village.
         Mattur ,a small village with nearly 5000 odd people living ,is situated on the banks of Tunga river in Shimoga  district ,Karnataka.It is hardly 8 to 10 kms from the heart of Shimoga city. So what's so distinguished in this village ?Well ,this village have had many well known Sanskrit scholars since ages ,and also have been following 'vedic' traditions since many many years and also passed the legacy to the future generations.In 1982,when 'Pejavara mutt' pontiff /swamiji visited this place for a programme ,he was impressed by the way some of the residents conducted the entire programme in 'Sanskrit' language,including the welcome speech,thanks giving speech,songs etc.He expressed his wish to see the entire village nurture this language and use it as their regular language for communication and also further develop the Vedic tradition.So since then, there has been constant efforts to promote Sanskrit language ,and almost all the residents here have mastered the language .So their day to day life conversations happens in 'Sanskrit'.Sanskrit being a very ancient language ,is considered one of the toughest languages, due to its pronunciation.It is usually used only by priests for rituals and also in schools and colleges as a language for study purpose;but not as a spoken language.This village has Brahman residents mostly ,but even the people of other castes(including a few Muslims and Harijans /scheduled caste) are well versed in the language and also recite some shlokas/proses in Sanskrit and Mantras.They have a 'Vedic school 'which  teaches the 'vedas '/traditional texts of ancient India written in  Sanskrit language,and also a Sanskrit  school which exclusively teaches the Sanskrit language.The foundation to Vedas and Sanskrit is established right from the preschool age to the children.Many foreigners have also visited this place with their enthusiasm to learn the traditional language and also for research purpose.They have short crash courses to teach Sanskrit here.This village has been termed "Sanskrit village".
        The village had well organized homes built in an ethnic manner , and very traditionally dressed scholars and pundits .At those times,the kids wore the traditional long skirts,and the ladies in Saree,and gents ,the traditional Dhotis.The village has many temples which includes Ram Mandir,Shiva temple and many others.My faint memory tells me that there were seven temples there.There was one huge Ashvatha tree/sacred fig /'ficus religiosa' in the center of the village ,just in front of my house where my mother used to go for worship along with lot of other people.The people in Mattur follow rituals and traditions very well ,and do not forget to visit the temple regularly every day for poojas ,chant the vedic mantras in the evening,follow all the traditions for festivals special occasions,fasts etc.Oh ! it was so lovely everyday to visit the temple after school and also sit on the center rock at the banks of the river Tunga and have our evening snacks with friends. Such mannerisms and cultural extravaganza everyday, is rarely witnessed in these days anywhere.The colonies were Brahman's live ,are slightly isolated from the other houses.I remember there was a separate colony for 'Harijans'/scheduled caste and I used to go there to play with my school friends  ,and my Mother  used to warn me not to enter their houses,as it was not allowed in the village.Well ,I do not know about the situation today though!
          I read a lot of articles and found out that Mattur  has a few BPO organisations and around 150 software engineers produced from the village ,who are presently serving the silicon city of India and also living abroad.A well known software engineer named Dhruv Mattur,also has his own software firm in Bangalore.'Padmashree' awarded ,Mathoor Krishnamurti,famous scholar ,novelist,writer ,former director  of "Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavana"Bangalore,and also London branch,has also his origins from Mattur.I wish I had some photographs of the beautiful village;may be next time I happen to visit ,will definitely post it.


Some of the links giving facts about Mattur:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DHpDa6eERo&feature=related
watch this video to listen to a resident speaking in Sanskrit.

































19 comments:

Onkar said...

Very interesting. I never knew that such a village existed.

chitra said...

Raji ,
a very nice post. I understand Sanskrit a little. In fact my sis- in law was to visit this village in Dec 1st week and had invited me to join so that I can blog about it. But that trip is cancelled due to some personal problems. May be next trip towards Bangalore, I would visit this.
Thanks for the link. Now there is opportunity to learn Sanskrit on line.

Alka Gurha said...

Very informative..Having lived in Blore for 5 years I was not aware of such a place.

Amrit said...

Very informative. Good to know about other places.

Anonymous said...

Interesting Raji...I have not heard of such a village before.. Thank you...

Raji..just now i noticed..u too have word verification. I think i succeeded in taking out mine... Is it easy for you now to comment on my blog?

raji said...

@alka ,actually many people donot know about this village.even i would be unaware, if I had not personally stayed there .

@omkar,A, stranger thanks.

@chitra ,if you ever happen to visit this place ,don't forget to mail me the pictures.I really dont know if i would be able to visit this place again.I stayed there for 2 years ,had a lot of friends ,but ironically don't remember any of them.But strangely I have a homely feeling towards the village.

Rachna said...

Such interesting information. I live in Bangalore and have vaguely heard of Mattur, but thanks to you for revealing so much about this place.

Mangala said...

Nice and interesting...this village and the villagers habit of speaking sanskrit, has been mentioned in one of the motorbike ads recently.

raji said...

@thanks rachna and mangala.Yes ,I think even i vaguely remember seeing the add mangala.

Bikram said...

Interesting..
Thanks to blogosphere we get to learn a lot of new things , i did not know of this fact and now thanks to you i do :)

Bikram's

dr.antony said...

A coincidence. There is a Mathur in Kerala.My wife's place.

Anonymous said...

COMMUNICATION IS MUST FOR HUMAN BEINGS BUT WE CAN NOT TRUST THE WORDS!
NICE ARTICLE! HOPING FOR SOME MORE.

raji said...

thanks sher khan for visiting.Its true that words cannot be trusted .

DISGRUNTLED GENIUS said...

Pretty interestin post...

Amrit said...

Happy New Year Raji

Anonymous said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mayuri Raghoji said...

hey u knw thr was tht hero honda ad. abt ths village....evtym i saw tht ad. i use to remind myself tht i ll google abt ths place...but i always forgot....nnd u c..2day thru ur blog i knw it....thnkzz!!!

ushma said...

Hi

I am Ushma from Mumbai and i want to visit mattur to make a documentry.

can you help me with how do i get there and some contact details of how to go about it.

Thanks :)

ushma said...

hi

i want to go to place to make a documentry so can you pls help me with how do i get there from banglore or manglore and if you can suggest me with some place to stay also.

thank u