203. Heskattur

Heskattur ( ‘tt’ pronounced as in third) is one of the strange or unfamiliar sounding place names. Heskattur village is located in the northern part of Udupi Taluk and can be approached by road from Barkur and Siriyara. Heskattur obviously is not related to 'Hesarkatte' (=mule) as there is another village known as Heskunda, suggesting that ‘hes’ or ‘hesa’ is an independent word. It is not related to ‘unpleasantness’ (‘hEs’ or ‘hEsige’) since the word under discussion ‘hes’ with short e as in yell.
The locals correct the pronunciation of the village as "Hesakutur" even though most of the Government records show it as Heskattur.
The term "Hesa" means Wild Jack (Pejakai or Hebbalasu) in Kundapura Kannada.
Hes(a)+ kutta + oor
 Hesa means wild jack or Hebbalasu ’.
Hesa = Wild Jack tree.
The Wild jack tree common in Karavali and Malnad regions is mostly known as ‘Peja’in Tulu (as in Pejamadi,Pejattadi,Pejagangur etc ) or Hebbalasu in Kannada. Regional variants of the word Peja during the olden days can be visualized as follows:
Peja> Pezha> Pesha> Pesa
With transformation of p >h from Old Kannada to Mideval kannada
Peja (Tulu , Old Kannada) > heja( mideval Kannada) and
Pesa> Hesa

 In the meanwhile it can be concluded that Heskuttur and Heskunda are places named after wild jack trees.
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