Thousands of people, young and old, on Thursday celebrated the fourth International Yoga Day in Karnataka by participating in yoga sessions held in cities and towns across the state.
Prominent among those who performed yoga aasanas included 85-year-old former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, his son and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B.S. Yeddyurappa and Union Minister for Programme Implementation D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
While Deve Gowda performed yoga at his residence in the city, Yeddyurappa took part in the Yoga Day activities held at his party office in Bengaluru.
In Bengaluru, hundreds flocked to Kanteerava Stadium in the city centre where the main event was held from 7 a.m. in its circular ground. Kumaraswamy was present at the venue.
“Yoga Day provides a glimpse into India’s rich and ancient heritage… Yoga is dear to me. My family, including my father (Deve Gowda) and wife (Anita), too are ardent followers of yoga and practice it daily,” the Chief Minister said in a statement.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar also joined in the Yoga Day celebrations along with students at a private university here.
Several public venues across Mysuru, Dharwad, Hubballi and Mangaluru among other cities and towns were also filled with enthusiastic people performing “surya namaskaras” (sun salutation, a yogic practice) and other yogic poses.
Hundreds gathered in front of the iconic royal Mysore palace in Mysuru to perform yoga, making for a delightful spectacle as they performed the exercises in unison.
Mysuru had entered the Guinness World Records for holding the largest yoga lesson in the world in 2017, when 55,506 participants performed yoga at one venue.
The Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, one among the yoga forms, is said to have been popularised in the country by a yoga teacher from the state K. Pattabhi Jois, who had set up a yoga research institute in Mysuru (then Mysore) in 1948.
