The mysterious text
Ask any yoga teacher about the origin of yoga and you are likely to hear that yoga is an ancient tradition going back thousands of years. This is not untrue, but not the whole truth either. Recent research has revealed that the form of yoga we practice today would have been unknown in India prior to the twentieth century. At the time when yoga practices were first written down (about 400 C.E.) yoga was primarily about meditation and practiced almost exclusively by men. Physical postures do not appear in any text until approximately the 14th century, and even then they are few and basic. To understand yoga history we have to understand the culture, politics, and history of India—which is far beyond the scope of this post.
According to Mark Singleton in his book, The Yoga Body, the yoga that we practice in the west today originated between 1910 and 1930 and can be traced predominantly to one man, T. Krishnamacarya.
Krishnamacarya was a yogi from a Brahmin family who had trained with a master in Tibet in the late 1800’s. He was hired by the British government to develop physical training regimens for army recruits at a college in Mysore. He developed a series of poses which likely were influenced just as much by European gymnasts and weight-lifters as they were by Indian traditions. Singleton suggests that there were exercise regimens indigenous to India that also influenced yoga. One may have been a martial art, (practiced by Indian guerrillas trying to evict the British), and the other influence may have been travelling contortionists who used their athletic prowess to beg for alms. At the time, the yogis were said to have had great disdain for these “beggars.”
Krishnamacarya trained a number of teachers who went on to be extremely influential in the western world: BKS Iyengar (his brother-in-law), Pattabi Jois, TK Desikachar (his son) and Indra Devi. When asked to divulge the origins of his unique approach to yoga Krishnamacarya claimed that he had come into possession of an ancient text called the Yoga Kurunta and had studied and memorized its contents. When historians asked to view the text, Krishnamacarya claimed that unfortunately it had been “eaten by ants.”
To make a long story short, the history of yoga contains much mystery, conjecture, and a little fiction thrown in for good measure. Also it seems, that “the dog ate it” had an antecedent excuse (lol). Here is what I think the ants may have learned: Teamwork is crucial. Stay on the path. Queens are high-maintenance. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a child to raze a village. Stay in shape. When lost, retrace your steps. If it tastes really, really good— it’s probably poisonous. Life is short. There is beauty in being ordinary. It’s not just about you. image of Krishnamacarya is from yogaducoeur.com
