Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Tulu, the mother language!

Last weekend, I had been to the Kudremukh national park from the Karkala side. Its the heart of the Tululand. Was mighty embarrassed to have missed the obvious until I reached there. Kudremukh is Kudhirai Mukham (குதிரை முகம்) in Tamil. Named for the tallest peak that resembles the horse face.

Tulu sounds a pretty mixture of Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. I can understand why Tulu is considered a candidate for the mother language of the Dravidian family. Probably even including Tamil!

Couple of people in our gang and the forest officials spoke in Tulu and I could very much understand their conversations.

Karkala, famous for its Gomateshwara temple atop a black stone hill, is again Kaarkal (கார் கல்) meaning not surprisingly, black stone!

Jainism btw is my favorite religion. So nice to visit the cradle of Jainism in South India!

No comments: