The Sanskrit Village

Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages in the world. Dating back to almost 3,500 years ago, Sanskrit was spoken throughout the Indian subcontinent. Despite its prominent past, Sanskrit's use in day-to-day life has almost disappeared completely. Today, the language is primarily used for religious purposes, as many sacred texts from Hinduism were originally written in it. However, there is one village in India where Sanskrit is still spoken as the everyday vernacular.

The village of Mathoor in Karnataka is one of the only remaining places where the language is still spoken daily. Yet, this wasn’t always the case. Before speaking Sanskrit, the villagers spoke Sankethi, a blend of Sanskrit and other regional South Indian languages such as Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. Due to the presence of a large number of Brahmins in the village, a local priest requested that Mathoor become a Sanskrit-speaking village. Thanks to their familiarity with the language and its use in religious ceremonies, within a short period, many villagers began to converse in the language regularly. This was supplemented by the teaching of Sanskrit as early as nursery school, leading it to be the first language for many kids in the village.

Sanskrit’s revitalization in Mathoor is an excellent example of language revitalization. Perhaps the main reason for Sanskrit's success in Mathoor was the religious use of the language. Many Hindu texts, including the Vedas, were written in Sanskrit, meaning there was an extensive database of vocabulary and grammar. Additionally, the significant presence of Brahmins in the village, who would have used Sanskrit during religious ceremonies, meant a familiarity with the language and a desire to learn and grow the language's use. Language revitalization efforts worldwide can take some critical learnings from this example. Success can be achieved if they can build a large volume of language samples, encourage the use of language to tell stories and songs and create a grassroots movement to use language in everyday life.