A Video of BKS Iyengar Performing Yoga is Going Viral as PM Modi’s ‘Rare’ Clip

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong proponent of yogasanas and videos of him performing various asanas can be found on the internet often. Now, a black and white video of a man performing extremely difficult yoga steps is now going viral that claims the person to be PM Modi during his youthful days.

BJP leader Manoj Goel had shared the video which is captioned in Hindi as: "The rare video of PM Modi performing yoga." He even went on to add that the video highlighted PM Modi's 'Yogi Roop'. Many followers of Goel originally believed the video to be of PM Modi and reacted similarly.

Many others also shared the video across several other social media platforms.

But a fact check into the video soon revealed that the video is not of PM Modi but acclaimed yoga guru and founder of Iyengar Yoga, BKS Iyengar. The video is from 1938 and was originally uploaded on Youtube back in 2006. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is 70 years old, making his birth year 1950, a good 12 years after the video was actually shot.

Several users also corrected Goel and pointed out that the video is of Iyengar and not Modi's.

The video's caption reads, "This is a film made by McPetruk in 1938 showing and shows Iyengar demonstrating yoga. Here we see a young Iyengar (still alive, well, and doing yoga, BTW) doing advanced poses that constitute the advanced A & B astanga series. This is obviously well before Iyengar dropped the vinyasa aspect from his practice and rebranded it as "Iyengar Yoga", putting greater emphasis on alignment." Watch:

Iyengar is termed as the founder of the 'Iyengar Yoga' style and is widely considered as one of the foremost yogasana teachers in the world. His yoga teacher was Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, often identified as the father of modern yoga and is credited with making the exercise form popular across India and abroad.

Oxford Dictionary has described his form of yoga as "a type of Hatha yoga focusing on the correct alignment of the body, making use of straps, wooden blocks, and other objects as aids in achieving the correct postures."

The longer and original version of the video also reportedly featured Iyengar’s teacher, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, but that part has been removed from the viral clip.