Physical Exercise
Most of the aasanas in the procedure themselves have documented in old literature.
"Sashtang dandavat", which is the central aasana of the surya namaskar, was followed from time immemorial in India as a form of showing respect and complete surrender to God. "Bhujangasana" was described as one of the 32 important aasanas in "Gheranda Samhita" (dated around 1802 A.D.) which describes the yoga prevalent in north-east India. "Sarpasana" (Bhujangasana), "Gajasana" (Adhomukh Swannasan), "Uttanasana" and series of postures done in tandem, similar to surya namaskar are all described in Sritattvanidhi which was written by the order of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (1799–1868) to capture the Hindu knowledge of his time.
The use of surya namaskar for physical exercise is also not modern. Bhagavat Simhaji on Page 61 in the book A Short History of Aryan medical science published in 1896 says "There are various kinds of physical exercise indoors and outdoors. But some of the Hindoos set aside a portion of their daily worship for making salutations to the Sun by prostrations. This method of adoration affords them so much muscular activity that it takes to some extent the place of physical exercise".
Historically it is widely believed in the state of Maharashtra that Shivaji Maharaj, Sage Samarth Ramdas and the Marathas have performed surya namaskar as a physical exercise to develop able bodies. This is not surprising since 'vyayama' (physical exercise in Sanskrit) traditionally has been influenced by spirituality. Many physical practices have ingrained spiritual values in them. In addition spiritual training is considered as a part of physical training from ancient times in India.
Recent academic research details documentary evidence that physical journals in the early 20th century were full of the postural shapes that were very similar to Krishnamacharya's asana system. In particular, the flowing surya namaskar which later became the basis of Krishnamacharya's Mysore style, was not yet considered part of yogasana.
Read more about this topic: Surya Namaskar Origins
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