Krishna Pattabhi Jois

Published on Thursday 21 May 2009 19:22

Leading expert in yoga

Died: 18 May, 2009, in Mysore, India, aged 93.

KRISHNA Pattabhi Jois was a prominent and influential yoga teacher who drew a global following that included Western celebrities like Madonna and Sting.

Known to his followers simply as guruji, a term of respect for teachers, Jois had an ulcer in his throat that made it difficult for him to swallow food, according to Sharhat Rangaswamy, his grandson and the director of his yoga institute. In the days before he died, Jois was also struck by a urine infection and pneumonia, Mr Rangaswamy said in an interview.

Long before yoga studios sprang up in shopping centres and gyms throughout the West, Jois (pronounced Joyce) began teaching yoga at the Sanskrit University of Mysore in the late 1930s, according to a biography on his website. He eventually opened his own school, the Ashtanga Yoga Institute, which has drawn students from around the world.

The son of a Brahmin priest and astrologer, Jois was inculcated in ancient Hindu teachings from an early age. He was first exposed to yoga when he was 12. He learned from Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, a guru who also taught another famous Indian yogi, B S Iyengar.

Jois popularised the school of yoga known as Ashtanga, which literally means eight limbs and is characterised by fast-paced exercises that involve pronounced, but controlled, breathing while holding varying postures. Unlike some other forms of yoga, Ashtanga is meant to induce profuse sweating, which Jois said was necessary to cleanse the body.

Though he enjoyed success and international acclaim in recent decades, Jois had a difficult early life. According to his biography, he left the village of Kowshika, in Karnataka State, with two friends and two rupees (the equivalent now of a few pence) when he was 14. He hoped to attend the Sanskrit University in Mysore, which is about 90 miles east of Bangalore.

In a chance encounter, he reconnected with his yoga guru, Krishnamacharya. Later he met the ruler of Mysore, who made it possible for him to teach yoga at the Sanskrit University.

While there, he married Savitramma, with whom he had three children. His wife died in 1997.

Jois's following in the West brought him fame and influence, but people close to him say that it did not appear to have changed him much. He never altered his early morning prayer rituals and put all of his students, including the celebrities, through the same tough regimen, Mr Rangaswamy said.

"Everybody got the same training," he said. "There was no difference, even for me. Even his own grandson had the same training that his students had, maybe a little tougher."

Jois's first exposure to the West came in the form of a student from Belgium, Andr Van Lysebeth, whose 1967 book Yoga Self-Taught highlighted Jois. Since then, westerners have sought him out and have come to his institute by the hundreds.

Jois was never fluent in English, but he knew enough that most of his students could understand what he wanted them to do or focus on, Mr Rangaswamy said. "He could teach us what he wanted to teach."

Krishna Pattabhi Jois is survived by two children, a son who now lives in California, and a daughter who lived with him in Mysore. A second son, Ramesh, was killed in an accident. He is also survived by three grandchildren, including Mr Rangaswamy, and four great-grandchildren.