NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 6, 2011: In order to stop yoga gurus from claiming copyright to ancient asanas, like Bikram Choudhury’s Hot Yoga — a set of 26 sequences practiced in a heated room — India has completed documenting 1,300 asanas which will soon be uploaded on the country’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), making them public knowledge.
According to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( CSIR) and Union health ministry’s department of Ayush, ‘once the database is up online, patent offices across the world will have a reference point to check on every time a yoga guru claims patent on a particular asana.’
CSIR’s Dr. V. P. Gupta, who created TKDL, said, ‘All the 26 sequences which are part of Hot Yoga have been mentioned in Indian yoga books written thousands of years ago.’ He added, ‘However, we will not legally challenge Choudhury. By putting the information in the public domain, TKDL will be a one-stop reference point for patent offices across the world. Every time, somebody applies for a patent on yoga, the office can check which ancient Indian book first mentioned it and cancel the application.’
Nine well known yoga institutions in India have helped with the documentation. ‘The data will be up online in the next two months. In the first phase, we have videographed 250 asanas — the most popular ones. Chances of misappropriation with them are higher. So if somebody wants to teach yoga, he does not have to fight copyright issues. He can just refer to the TKDL. TKDL will have photos and explanation of the postures. Dr Gupta said, ‘A voice-over will also point out which text mentions the posture.
Till now, it is estimated that the US patent office alone has issued over 200 yoga-related copyrights. Experts say yoga has become a $225 billion market in the West. The TKDL, which has 30 million pages of information, has been created to prevent those living abroad from claiming patent for existing knowledge.