Description

About the Village:

Matta village is located in Kishtwar tehsil of Kishtwar district in Jammu & Kashmir, India. It is situated 5km away from Kishtwar, which is both district & sub-district headquarter of Matta village. As per 2009 stats, Matta B is the gram panchayat of Matta village. The total geographical area of village is 421.3 hectares.

Population

Matta has a total population of 3,114 peoples, out of which male population is 1,556 while female population is 1,558. Literacy rate of matta village is 72.67% out of which 81.36% males and 63.99% females are literate. There are about 660 houses in matta village. Pincode of matta village locality is 182204.

When it comes to administration, Matta village is administrated by a sarpanch who is elected representative of the village by the local elections. As per 2019 stats, Matta village comes under Kishtwar Vidhan Sabha constituency & Udhampur┬á Lok Sabha constituency. Kishtwar is nearest town to matta village for all major economic activities, which is approximately 1km away.

Principal Attraction

Chowgan is a large ground and tourist attraction in Kishtwar town of Jammu and Kashmir, surrounded by chinar, cedar and other trees. It measures about 165 acres (66.77 ha). This ground is also used as a grazing ground for livestock like cows and goats.

The Chowgan ground is used for Eid and Muslim funeral prayers, and by the Hindus of Kishtwar town for Dussehra and Rama Navami. Every year, cricket tournaments are organized on the ground, and other games like football, lawn tennis, and baseball are played here throughout the year.

Saffron Safari : A place of attraction for the tourists are the saffron fields of Kishtwar located mainly in Pochhal, Matta villages nearby Kishtwar town. Saffron (GI Tag) flowers are in full blossom in the months of October and November every year, so this time is the best for visit to Saffron Safari. The view of purple colored Saffron flowers, spreads like a blanket over the fields, early in the morning is, really, enthralling and mesmerizing. The fragrance scattered by this blossom in the atmosphere gives a heavenly touch to the environment.

Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Cultural heritage includes tangible culture (such as buildings, monuments, landscapes, books, works of art, and artifacts), intangible culture (such as folklore, traditions, language, and knowledge), and natural heritage (including culturally significant landscapes, and biodiversity).

Cuisine

The town of Kishtwar serves up traditional Kashmiri & Jammu cuisine at its best. There are some restaurants which serve Chinese and North Indian Food both Vegetarian & Non- Vegetarian. There is a lot of use of fresh spices like cinnamon, saffron, cloves and cardamom (Kishtwar is known for its Saffron fields) so the food here has a rich aromatic flavor. If you want to opt for Kashmiri vegetarian dishes then try out Aloo in yoghurt, Lotus root curry, fried paneer in red sauce etc. In non vegetarian dishes (served only in a few restaurants) you will find Rogan Josht (tender leg of lamb), Rista, Yakhni , Tabak Maz and Chicken preparations. Kishtwar is famous for Local Rajma and rice, Gucchi Pulaow, Anar danay ki Chutney, Sticky white Meetha Bhaat and Kasrod. There are few traditional dishes like Bhothray (Khamera) & Sabzi, Makki ki Roti & Sagg and Namkeen Chai with local Kulcha.

Lifestyles

Lifestyles of the people is simple with little diversity. Nomads settled here and have brought their traditional practices along with them. The culture exhibits distinct lines of demarcation as well as areas where influences merge and people today have developed tolerance as well as acceptance of Islam ,Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist philosophies.

Economy

The economy of the area is not regularized with no visible investment from the government. The area is rural in nature has an agricultural-based economy. Due to the dry nature of the climate, the village peasant population usually grows wheat and barley in Rabi (winter) season and Rajma (kidney bean) and maize in Kharif (rainy) season. Kishtwar has the distinction of producing world-class blue Diamond Sapphire.

Rural households are also abundantly gifted by nature through cash crops of edible mushrooms and morchella called guchhi in the local language. Some families have been reported to earn more than Rs. 100,000 per year by just selling the dried Morchella in local markets.