The city known to be a yoga hub saw thousands of yoga practitioners spreading the mat and performing various asanas to mark International Day of Yoga in front of the iconic Mysuru Palace, on June 21.
The district administration had made arrangements for nearly 10,000 people to take part in the event in front of the palace where, in 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led the main yoga day programme.
Mysuru is a major destination for learners of yoga with not less than 120 institutions imparting lessons in the ancient Indian discipline.
Also read: Mangaluru City gears up to celebrate 10th International Day of Yoga
The credit for reviving yoga goes to the patronage extended to the discipline by the maharajas of Mysuru and Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, who ruled for the greater part of the 19th century, and also compiled a treatise called Sritattvanidhi with description and sketches of 120 yoga asanas.
In later years Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, who ruled from 1902 to 1940, invited yoga guru T. Krishnamacharya to Mysuru. T. Krishnamacharya’s disciples included B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and others who were instrumental in popularising yoga across the globe.
The event on June 21 was inaugurated by district in-charge minister H.C. Mahadevappa who underscored the importance of yoga and the imperatives to inculcate it as a habit for ensuring good health and warding off lifestyle diseases. He said yoga provides not only physical fitness but mental well-being as well.
Mysuru MP-elect Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar recalled the contribution of his forefathers to popularisation of yoga. He said that the International Day of Yoga is being celebrated in a big way in Mysuru ever since its inception. During the forthcoming Dasara, yoga enthusiasts of Mysuru should prepare for a mass event to set a Guinness record.
Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra said that the district administration would extend all support for the mass yoga event to be organised during Dasara. Members of Yoga Federation of Mysuru, Mysuru District Yoga Foundation, Yoga Shikshana Samshodhana Samsthe and others took part in the event on June 21.
