Mattur

A tiny village in the Shimoga district of Karnataka, the quaint little Mattur, along with its twin village Hosahalli, is famous across the world for being one of the few existing locations where the ancient language of Sanskrit is used colloquially and in routine conversation. Despite the regional language of Karnataka being Kannada, the inhabitants of Mattur are fluent in Sanskrit and use it to on their signboards and in their daily life. The Vedas, one of the oldest texts in the world, are taught at the schools here. Not only are the villagers committed to maintaining their traditional way of living, they are also more than willing to impart this knowledge on anyone who is interested, a fine method of preserving India's oldest language, spoken by less than 1% of the country's population.

Apart from the unique way of life practised here, the village is also home to a small group of temples, situated at a distance of 800 metres from the main village square. This temple complex houses a temple of Lord Rama, a Shivalaya and a Someshwara temple. The premises of the complex is well decorated, with a cute garden and a small freshwater stream flowing near it.The beautiful Mattur lake, with its lovely blue waters, is located close to the village. Across the river Tunga is a bridge built to connect with the village Hosahalli.