Language of Karnataka

Language was the basis for the formation of the Indian states after independence and the present day Karnataka was formed by unifying Kannada speaking regions from the many districts of erstwhile Madras State (present day Tamil Nadu), erstwhile Bombay presidency (present day Maharashtra) and the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad (present day Andhra Pradesh) to the former Kingdom of Mysore, known as the Mysore State (post independence) around the years 1950-1957.

In 1973, the Mysore State was officially christned as Karnataka. There are a total of 27 districts. The languages of Karnataka are Kannada, Kodava Thakk, Tulu and Sankethi. Kannada is the official language of the state. Other languages also spoken by linguistic minorities are Marathi, Konkani, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam. There is also a village in the Shimoga district of Karnataka called Mattur where the spoken language is Sanskrit