Unveiling how the first yoga book was written by S. Sundaram

Which is the first Yoga book on modern yoga?

The first Yoga book Yogic Physical Culture is written by S. Sundaram, and is detailed in the book The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice by Elliott Goldberg © 2016 Inner Traditions. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com

“Wherever I went [to promote asana practice on the tours with bodybuilder K. V. Iyer in the early and mid-1920s],” S. Sundaram recounted, “persons asked for a book of instructions, a guide or text-book on the subject.” After the publication of my articles on ‘Yoga in Physical Culture’ in the Brahmacharya [a monthly English-language magazine published in the late 1920s], the demand for a book increased. My profession [as a lawyer] and its dry-as-dust duties claimed most of the time and attention. My ambition to popularise Yogic Physical Culture and make the sons and daughters of India partners in the enjoyment of its benefits, remained unfulfilled. Then the indefatigable Editor of the Brahmacharya, Sjt. Ramachandra, found the ways and means for the publication of a work on this subject. All that remained for me was to write it up.”

This is how S. Sundaram (Yogacharya Sundaram) decided to write the first yoga book.

The first yoga book by Yogacharya Sundaram: How did Yogic Physical Culture happen?

Sundaram worked on his manual in 1928 after studying and practicing and becoming an expert on yogic health cure. The first yoga book titled Yogic Physical Culture or the Secret of Happiness was published in English in 1929. It is the first yoga book covering modern hatha yoga. This pioneering book is fully illustrated with photos of Sundaram demonstrating asanas. It places asana practice at the center of hatha yoga and health cure as its raison d’être.

Sundaram realised that publishing the first yoga book on hatha yoga was just as critical to modernizing hatha yoga. Previously, gurus, secretive and reclusive, had made yogic health practices available only to a select few. However, Sundaram believed that the yogic system of physical culture is the ideal “system of Physical Culture intended for masses.” Therefore, his mission in publishing Yogic Physical Culture as the first yoga book was to make yogic physical culture indiscriminately available to anyone who cared to take it up. The book covers all critical aspects of asana, pranayama and purificatory techniques.

“Our duty in this World is to work and leave the results in His hands. May He who is All-powerful infuse enthusiasm in the readers and enable them to reap the rewards of Yogic Physical Culture in benefits enduring and substantial! Om!”. Sundaram closes the preface to this incredible first yoga book with the above invocation.