Early life Krishnamacharya was born on 18 November 1888 in Muchukundapura, in the
Chitradurga district of present-day
Karnataka, in South
India, to an orthodox
Telugu Iyengar family. His parents were Tirumalai Srinivasa Tatacharya, a well-known teacher of the
Vedas, and Ranganayakiamma. Krishnamacharya was the eldest of six children. He had two brothers and three sisters. At the age of six, he underwent the educational sacrament of
upanayana. He then began learning to speak and write
Sanskrit, from texts such as the
Amarakosha and to chant the Vedas under the strict tutelage of his father. At the age of twelve, he went to
Mysore, then the largest city in
Karnataka, where his great-grandfather, Srinivasa Brahmatantra Parakala Swami, was the head of the
Parakala Matha. He continued his studies under his great-grandfather's guidance and at Mysore University.
Education Krishnamacharya spent much of his youth traveling through India studying the six
darśana or Indian philosophies:
Vaiśeṣika,
Nyāya,
Sāṃkhya,
Yoga,
Mīmāṃsā and
Vedānta. In 1906, at the age of eighteen, Krishnamacharya left Mysore to attend university at
Banaras, also known as Vārānasī, a city of hundreds of temples and a highly regarded North Indian center of traditional learning. While at university, he studied logic and Sanskrit, working with Brahmashri Shivakumar Shastry, "one of the greatest grammarians of the age". He stated that he learned the Mimamsa from Brahmasri Trilinga Rama Shastri. He stated that his stay in Banaras lasted 11 years. He further claimed that he studied with the yoga master Sri Babu Bhagavan Das and passed the Samkhya Yoga Examination of Patna, For this venture, Krishnamacharya had to obtain the permission of the Viceroy in Simla, Lord Irwin, who was then suffering from diabetes. At the request of the Viceroy, Krishnamacharya travelled to Simla and taught him yogic practices for six months. The Viceroy's health improved and he developed respect and affection for Krishnamacharya. In 1919, the Viceroy made arrangements for Krishnamacharya's travel to Tibet, supplying three aides and taking care of the expenses. After two and a half months of walking, Krishnamacharya arrived at Sri Brahmachari's school, supposedly a cave at the foot of
Mount Kailash, where the master lived with his wife and three children. Under Brahmachari's tutelage, Krishnamacharya claimed to have spent seven and a half years studying the
Yoga Sūtras of
Patañjali, learning
asanas and
pranayama, and studying the
therapeutic aspects of yoga. He was supposedly made to memorize the whole of the
Yoga Korunta in the
Gurkha language, though no evidence of that text exists. As tradition holds, at the end of his studies with the guru, Krishnamacharya asked what his payment would be. The master responded that Krishnamacharya was to "take a wife, raise children and be a teacher of Yoga". According to the tale, Krishnamacharya then returned to
Varanasi. The Maharaja of Jaipur called him to serve as principal of the Vidyā Śālā in Jaipur; but as he did not like being answerable to many people, Krishnamacharya shortly returned to Varanasi. In accordance with his guru's wish that he live the life of a householder, Krishnamacharya married Namagiriamma in 1925. After his marriage, Krishnamacharya was forced by circumstance to work in a coffee plantation in the Hasan district. It was after a lecture on the
Upanishads in Mysore Town Hall in 1931 that he attracted attention as a learned scholar that eventually led to his employment at the palace.
Mysore years In 1926, the
Maharaja of Mysore,
Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV (1884–1940), was in
Varanasi to celebrate his mother's 60th birthday and heard about Krishnamacharya's learning and skill as a yoga therapist. The Maharaja met Krishnamacharya and was so impressed by the young man's demeanor, authority, and scholarship that he engaged Krishnamacharya to teach him and his family. Initially, Krishnamacharya taught yoga at the
Mysore Palace. He soon became a trusted advisor of the Maharaja, and was given the recognition of Asthana Vidwan — the intelligentsia of the palace. During the 1920s, Krishnamacharya held numerous demonstrations to stimulate popular interest in yoga. These included suspending his pulse, stopping cars with his bare hands, performing difficult asanas, and lifting heavy objects with his teeth. Palace archive records show that the Maharaja was interested in the promotion of yoga and continually sent Krishnamacharya around the country to give lectures and demonstrations. In 1931, Krishnamacharya was invited to teach at the Sanskrit College in Mysore. The Maharaja, who felt that yoga had helped cure his many ailments, asked Krishnamacharya to open a yoga school under his patronage and was subsequently given the wing of a nearby palace, the
Jaganmohan Palace, to start the Yogashala, an independent yoga institution, which opened on 11 August 1933. , hand-drawn illustration in
Sritattvanidhi, 19th century Mysore Palace manuscript. The scholar
Norman Sjoman suggests that Krishnamacharya was influenced by the yoga poses in the manuscript.
Mark Singleton argues that he was influenced by the 20th century yoga pioneers
Yogendra and
Kuvalayananda, and that all three "seamlessly incorporate[d] elements of
physical culture into their systems of 'yoga'." Krishnamacharya, unlike earlier yoga gurus such as
Yogendra, "severely criticized his students" including his young brother-in-law, B. K. S. Iyengar. He was equally bad-tempered at home with his family. In the view of the historian of yoga
Elliott Goldberg, Iyengar "would never recover from or anywhere near comprehend the damage inflicted on him by Krishnamacharya's abuse" during his teenage years. In 1940, Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV died. His nephew and successor,
Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (1919–1974), who was less interested in yoga, no longer provided support for publishing texts and sending teams of teachers to surrounding areas. Following political changes in 1946, around the time that
India gained independence, a new government came into being and the powers of the maharajas were curtailed. Funding for the yoga school was cut off, and Krishnamacharya struggled to maintain the school. At the age of 60 (1948), Krishnamacharya was forced to travel extensively to find students and provide for his family. The Yogashala in Mysore was ordered to be closed by
K.C. Reddy, the first Chief Minister of Mysore State, and the school eventually closed in 1950.
Madras years After leaving Mysore, Krishnamacharya moved to
Bangalore for a couple of years and then, in 1952, was invited to relocate to
Madras (now Chennai), by a well-known lawyer who sought Krishnamacharya's help in healing from a stroke. By now, Krishnamacharya was in his sixties, and his reputation for being a strict and intimidating teacher had somewhat mellowed. In Madras, Krishnamacharya accepted a job as a lecturer at Vivekananda College. He also began to acquire yoga students from diverse backgrounds and in various physical conditions, which required him to adapt his teaching to each student's abilities. For the remainder of his teaching life, Krishnamacharya continued to refine this individualized approach, which came to be known as
Viniyoga. Many considered Krishnamacharya a yoga master, but he continued to call himself a student because he felt that he was always "studying, exploring and experimenting" with the practice. Throughout his life, Krishnamacharya refused to take credit for his innovative teachings but instead attributed the knowledge to his guru or to ancient texts. Although his knowledge and teaching have influenced yoga throughout the world, Krishnamacharya never left his native India.
Yoga Journal wrote: By developing and refining different approaches, Krishnamacharya made yoga accessible to millions around the world. == Approach ==