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!