Hosahalli is situated across the bank of the Tunga River. These two villages are almost always referred to together. Mattur and Hosahalli are known for their efforts to support Gamaka art, which is a unique form of singing and story telling in Karnataka. These are two of the very rare villages in India where Sanskrit is spoken as a regional language. Sanskrit is the vernacular of a majority of the 5,000 residents of this quaint, sleepy hamlet situated a little over 4 km from Shimoga.