Sourashtra or Sorathi is one of the
Indo-Aryan languages, akin to
Gujarati. The language is spoken in parts of
Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and
Andhra Pradesh, especially in
Salem,
Thanjavur,
Kumbakonam and
Madurai. The alphabets of this language are very similar to
Tamil alphabets. However, the language is also written in
Devanagari and
Telugu scripts. Though the origin of the language is uncertain, scholars believe that it was originally spoken by people living in southern
Gujarat and that it is a pre-Gujarati language. In fact, this language preserves many archaic features of Gujarati and at the same time shows influence of
Konkani and
Marathi.
There are several theories as to how the language was brought to South India. The most popular one being that during the reign of the
Vijayanagar Empire, weaver families from Sourashtra or southern Gujarat were brought to Madurai and many of these families settled down here. These families spoke the Sorathi language. Later, they spread around to other surrounding areas.
