Yoga originated in Nepal not India: Nepal PM

Kathmandu: Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has stoked yet another controversy by claiming that Yoga originated in his country, not in India, a view not shared by a leading expert here.

Speaking at a function organised to observe the International Yoga Day on June 21 at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar, Oli said that India was not even born as a separate country when Yoga originated in “this part of the world”.

“Yoga originated from this part of the globe. It originated from Uttarakhand, in particular, Nepal was the place of origin of Yoga,” he said. Some



15,000 years ago, Shambhunath or Shiva propounded the practices of Yoga. Later on, Maharshi Patanjali developed the philosophy of Yoga in a more refined and systematic manner, he said.

“Yoga doesn’t belong to any particular religion or religious sect,” Oli said.

“Shiva started the practice of Yoga on the longest day on the Earth, which lies on June 21 as per the Gregorian calendar. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi proposed to observe International Yoga Day on the same day, for which we all should be pleased,” Oli said.