Birthplace of yoga guru Patanjali awaits proper facilities

When yoga is all the rage across the world, the native place of Maharshi Patanjali, considered to be the compiler of the text on yoga theory and practice, still lacks basic amenities like safe drinking water.
Kondar village, the birthplace of the sage, is about 150 kilometres from Lucknow.
While UNESCO has declared June 21 as International Yoga Day, efforts are needed to improve medical and public transportation facilities in the village of Patanjali, who systematised the practices of yoga in 400 BC, says Bhagvadacharya, chairman of the Patanjali Janambhoomi Nyas.
Yoga, as it now performed, is derived from his 196 sutras or aphorisms.

"We are working to develop the birthplace of the maharshi as a heritage site. A number of letters have been written to the Centre, and we are awaiting a response," he says.
Bhagvadacharya says he had also written to UNESCO demanding that the village be declared a world heritage site.

Patanjali called himself a "Gondariye" -- a resident of Gonda. A minister in the previous SP government, Yogesh Pratap Singh, built a polytechnic institute in his memory.
The former district magistrate of Gonda, Ashutosh Niranjan, tribute to Patanjali by building a sports complex, he says.
The Patanjali Janambhoomi Nyas is a not-for-profit organisation working for the development of Kondar as a heritage site.