Claiming that
yoga gurus in Europe and the United States are stealing
asanas, the Indian government recently announced plans
to create a digital database to house 1500 yoga postures
that appear in ancient Indian texts.
The asanas being digitized appear in texts
going back thousands of years and include the writings
of Patanjali, who is credited with being the first to
“codify” the art of yoga. Officials in the
Indian government are accusing yoga gurus across the
world of patenting and copyrighting poses and yoga techniques
that originally appeared in the texts. The biggest pirate?
Salty Uncle Sam, aka the United States, where yoga has
grown to become a $30 billion-a-year fitness force.
The yoga database, once completed, will
be made available to patent offices around the world.
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