Guinness Record Expected:India International Yoga Day

India expects Guinness record on mass Yoga Day

  

The heart of India’s capital will transform into a sea of colorful mats June 21 as thousands perform the camel, cobra and other postures for the first International Yoga Day championed by Narendra Modi.

Shortly after dawn on a New Delhi boulevard, some 35,000 bureaucrats, students, soldiers and others are to take part in the 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session, hopeful of qualifying for the Guinness Book of Records.

Yoga enthusiasts in other countries are also expected to stretch and bend for the celebration of the ancient Indian practice, including in Britain where mats will be rolled out along the banks of the River Thames.

İndia’s Prime Minister, a vegetarian who practices the craft daily, has made Yoga Day a key initiative of his Hindu nationalist government since he took office 13 months ago. Preparations in India have been getting pace since the United Nations agreed to the day, with schools, military barracks and even jails encouraged to participate in their own sessions on June 21.  Posters and other advertisements have also been published throughout the country encouraging residents to descend on their local park for “yoga for harmony and peace”.

Starting at 7 a.m. instructors will teach the session, to be beamed on giant screens along the historic avenue. Modi wants to reclaim yoga as an historical part of Indian culture which has been lost to the West.

Scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence and refrences to yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.

When the world embraced International Yoga Day with Narendra Modi

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led thousands in a mass yoga programme in the capital, Delhi, on the first ever International Yoga Day.

Mr Modi did stretches, bends and breathing exercises with 35,000 school children, bureaucrats and soldiers.

Security was tight in the city with thousands of police and paramilitary deployed for Sunday morning's event.Millions of others are expected to do yoga at similar events planned in hundreds of Indian cities and towns.Mr Modi, a yoga enthusiast who says he practises the ancient Indian art daily, lobbied the United Nations to declare 21 June International Yoga Day.Thousands of colourful mats were laid out on Rajpath - King's Avenue - where the main event was held.Officials had earlier said the prime minister will attend the event and address the gathering, but not do yoga.But Mr Modi surprised participants by joining in with the exercises.

Modi enlists yoga for 'brand India'

On glacier and at sea

Authorities said 35,000 people attended the 35-minute yoga session on Rajpath, aimed at setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest yoga class at a single venue.Guinness officials said they would announce the results in a few hours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised participants by joining in with the yoga exercises

Participants arrived early in the morning for the session on Rajpath in Delhi

Indian army soldiers are also taking part in the yoga day celebrations

Yoga was also being performed on the Siachen glacier and the high seas, the defence ministry said.

The day is also being celebrated around the world and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj says "tens of millions" will do yoga on Sunday.

Yoga enthusiasts have been practising for months before the event

Ms Swaraj herself will be in New York where she will attend the celebrations with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In Times Square, 30,000 people are expected to do yoga.But the day, being billed as one to promote "harmony and peace", has hit a controversial note with some Muslim organisations saying yoga is essentially a Hindu religious practice and is against Islam.

Many others say Mr Modi's Hindu nationalist government has an agenda in promoting the ancient Indian discipline.However, the authorities deny the charge - they say participation in the yoga day is not mandatory and reports that Muslims are opposed to yoga are exaggerated.

International Yoga Day in numbers:

35,000 officials, soldiers and students attend the main event on Rajpath in Delhi, including PM Narendra Modi

300m rupees ($4.67m; £2.97m): Cost of Delhi event

650 of India's 676 districts participating

Of the 193 UN member countries, celebrations will be held in 192 countries - the exception is Yemen, because of the conflict there

Events being held in 251 cities in six continents

30,000 people to perform yoga in Times Square in New York