Mysore Yoga Traditions Part II - Kings and Yogis Documentary Project
Our passion is to learn as much as possible about the yoga we love to practice. We invite you to participate in the celebration and preservation of Mysore’s Yoga Heritage!
We are thrilled to bring this documentary to life! With nearly all the footage we need, we are closer than ever to sharing this extraordinary story. Throughout this journey, we have been honored to receive incredible support from Mysore’s Royal Family and the Sanskrit and yoga communities. Their enthusiasm reflects a simple truth—this is a story that deserves to be told. Your support can help us complete this project and share it with the world.
Below are some of the memorable moments from making our documentary so far.
His Highness Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the King of Mysore, speaking in Mysore Yoga Conference
Sri M. A. Alwar Acharya of Nathamuni Sampradaya, senior professor a the Maharaja's Sanskrit College in Mysore and organiser of Mysore Yoga Conference.
Andrew Eppler Director and Producer of Mysore Yoga Traditions part II Kings and Yogis
The King of Mysore honouring Dr. Satyanarayana, Principal of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College
Interview with Dr. TRS Sharma. At the age of 94 he still recalls the time Sri Krishnamacharya once stood upon in in Kapotasana in the famous photograph.
Interview with Dr. H. V. Nagaraj Rao, legendary Sanskrit Scholar.
Interview with Yogacharya Sridharan, chief mentor of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandir in Chennai.
Pranams with Yogacharya Sridharan
The King of Mysore honours renowned Sanskrit scholar Dr. M A. Narasimhan
The King of Mysore honours renowned Sanskrit scholar Dr. H. V. Nagaraj Rao
Andrew Eppler and Dr. Alwar at Lakshmi Narayana Temple
Andrew and renowned Sanskrit scholar and Ayurvedic Doctor Darshan Shankar
The traditional giving of the shawl in honor of the great Dr. M. A. Narasimhan
The ceremonial lighting of the lamp with the King of Mysore
The King of Mysore honors renowned Sanskrit scholar Dr. M. A. Jayashree
Andrew Eppler, Bryce Delbridge and Joey Paz, the original Mysore yYoga Traditions crew with our revered teachers Sri BNS Iyengar, Dr. Nagaraj Rao, Dr. M. A. Jayashree and dear friend Gayatri Devi
Our crew together with Mysore's King and Dr. M. A. Alwar
Andrew Eppler and Dr. Satyanarayana, the Principal of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College
Renowned scholar and oldest living teacher of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri BNS Iyengar
Dr. Satyanarayana Principal of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College
Traditional giving of the shawm with Dr. Nagaraj Rao
Kings and Yogis documentary film will be an extraordinary journey into the heart of Mysore, India, where the ancient meets the contemporary in the birthplace of modern yoga. Kings and Yogis is not just a documentary; it's a testament to the rich culture, tradition, and spirituality that define Mysore. We aspire to create the best documentary to date on the background of modern yoga. Our access to the yoga culture of Mysore has been unprecedented!
To bring this monumental project to life, we need resources. Every contribution helps us capture the essence of Mysore yoga legacy and preserve its cultural heritage for generations to come.
Your donation will directly fund the production, filming, editing, and distribution of this transformative documentary. By supporting Kings and Yogis, you're not just supporting a film; you're contributing to the preservation of a legacy.
10% of the proceeds of Kings and Yogis will go to the creation of the Sri Krishnamacharya Yoga Museum in the room where Sri Krishnamacharya once taught asana classes in the
Sanskrit College near Mysore Palace.
We are 100% committed to this project, and we will bring it to life no matter what! This is a labor of love, and we will make any sacrifices necessary to realize our dream. We are determined to do the best and most thorough job possible, and we definitely require resources to do this. Now begins the arduous task of editing and putting our amazing footage in order to tell the beautiful story of Mysore’s yoga legacy.
We have already filmed many powerful, in-depth interviews with key figures such as the King of Mysore, His Highness Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Her Highness Trishika Kumari Wadiyar, the Queen of Mysore, the Principal of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College, the Superintendent of Jaganmohan Palace, as well as Dr. M. A. Alwar who is an Acharya or spiritual leader of Nathamuni Sampradaya, the spiritual tradition to which Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, the father of modern yoga, belonged. In this captivating documentary, we aim to unravel the intricate history and connection between Mysore's great kings, who were also yogis, and their ancient spiritual traditions. We will explore Mysore's rich cultural heritage as we explore the background of the yoga legacy that has touched millions of lives around the world.
We will tell the history of modern yoga through the hearts and minds of Mysore’s Royal Family and Sanskrit community, including its foremost scholars, philosophers, and asana teachers. While our initial documentary, Mysore Yoga Traditions, dealt primarily with 19th-century yoga history, Kings and Yogis explores several hundred years before that and provides the international yoga community a glimpse of the rich and beautiful yoga tradition, or parampara as it is called in Sanskrit.
Join us in exploring the roots of modern yoga and the timeless wisdom of Mysore, India! The scope of our project is vast. Any help we receive will be greatly appreciated as we work to shine a light on the cultural treasures of the yoga tradition of Mysore, which has directly influenced at least half of all asana practices in the world today, touching millions of lives through Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Viniyoga, and countless derivative forms of yoga.
Donating to the Kings and Yogis Documentary Project is a tangible way to give back to a yoga tradition that has touched your life and millions of others. Donate today and be a part of this extraordinary cinematic journey. Thank you for your generosity and commitment to funding a project that will bring us closer to the yoga we love to practice.
More about Mysore Yoga Traditions
In 2017, we produced our first documentary, "Mysore Yoga Traditions," which shed light on the vibrant Sanskrit community of Mysore as we asked them to tell the story of yoga in their community. It was then that we recognized a pressing need to safeguard and document the profound wisdom passed down by the great scholars and teachers in Mysore, who embody the essence of Yoga and Indian Knowledge Systems. It became evident that their wealth of knowledge, steeped in history and tradition, is at risk of being lost with time.
We were astounded by the remarkable recollections and profound insights shared by the elders, underscoring the urgency to preserve this heritage. Moreover, we discovered that the ancient palm leaf manuscripts which contain many of India's yoga texts are deteriorating rapidly, posing a threat to the preservation of vast volumes of yoga literature in the near future. Since 2016, we have been actively engaged with the Sanskrit community in Mysore.
In 2019, we initiated the Mysore Yoga Conference to provide a platform for the global yoga community to interact with the brilliant scholars of Mysore. Additionally, we launched the Mysore Yoga Traditions Online Studies Program, aiming to make the yogic knowledge of Mysore accessible to individuals worldwide.
Our mission is to honor the Yoga Community of Mysore. We are deeply committed to our own learning journey and we enjoy sharing our discoveries with the international yoga community. As a token of appreciation for any help we receive with our project we will be delighted to share some of our courses.
Rewards for your donations to Kings and Yogis Documentary Project
Donate $50 or more and get a free download of Mysore Yoga Traditions.
Donate $200 or more and get a free download of our Katha Upanishad Course which includes 9 hours of lectures by Dr. Nagaraj Rao. This course goes deep into the foundations of Indian philosophy and deals with the nature of death, the essence of the soul, and the means of liberation.
Donate $500 or more and get our Pranayama the Next Step course which dives deep into the essence of Hatha Yoga and gives the complete pranayama system of Sri B. N. S. Iyengar
Donate $1000 or more and get our philosophy of Ashtanga Yoga 100hr Training which includes lectures by many of Mysore’s brightest scholars.
Donate $5000 or more and get a free 200Hr Online training with Mysore Yoga Traditions that has been created with the help of many of the Sanskrit scholars of Mysore. Our training is recognized by Yoga Alliance and Samskriti Foundation in Mysore.
Donate $10,000 or more and have your name mentioned in the credits of the film as a coproducer as well as having your choice of any of the rewards mentioned above.
Want to see the work we have already done? Check out our first film,
Mysore Yoga Traditions!
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His Highness Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Maharaja of Mysore, honours the eminent Sanskrit scholar Dr. H.V. Nagaraj Rao at the Mysore Yoga Conference.
Kings & Yogis
A documentary on the kings, scholars, and yoga traditions of Mysore.
The world of Mysore that shaped Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya — its Royal Family, its Sanskrit College, the scholars and teachers who carry it today — is alive, and on film. We are finishing the work.
Support the FilmA story told from inside Mysore — not from the outside looking in.
Most yoga practised in the world today traces back through one teacher: Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya. He was formed by Mysore — by its kings, by the Parakāla Maṭha, by the Sanskrit community of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College, where he himself once taught āsana.
That world is still here. The Royal Family is still here. The Sanskrit College is still here. The senior scholars who know these texts in the way they have always been known are still teaching. Kings & Yogis is the documentary record of all of it — with the people of Mysore telling the story themselves.
Filming is nearly complete. What remains is the editing, the translation work, the music, the colour, and the cost of finishing a film at the level this material deserves.
Moments from inside the work.
A small selection from years of filming in Mysore — with the Royal Family, the scholars of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College, and the oldest living teachers of the tradition.
The voices.
Among those who have given long-form interviews for Kings & Yogis:
Several centuries, told through the people who carry them.
Our first documentary, Mysore Yoga Traditions (2017), looked at the 19th-century background of the practice. Kings & Yogis reaches further back — into the long relationship between the Wadiyar kings and the yoga traditions they studied, patronised, and embodied.
The Royal Family of Mysore were not bystanders to yoga. They were students of it. They were the patrons of the Sanskrit College where Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya later taught. They commissioned manuscripts. They built institutions whose work continues today.
The story is told entirely through the people of Mysore — the King and Queen, the scholars of the Sanskrit College, the teachers who hold the textual and practical knowledge of this place. It is their account, in their words.
of proceeds from Kings & Yogis go directly to the creation of the Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya Yoga Museum — sited in the actual room of the Maharaja's Sanskrit College where he once taught āsana.
The knowledge is intact. The people are aging. The manuscripts are deteriorating.
We made our first documentary in 2017 because we kept meeting scholars in Mysore whose knowledge was extraordinary, completely intact, and entirely undocumented for the outside world. Many were already in their eighties and nineties.
The palm-leaf manuscripts that hold much of India's yoga literature are also deteriorating — and quickly. There is a window here, and it is closing.
In 2019 we launched the Mysore Yoga Conference, bringing international students into direct contact with these scholars. The Online Studies programme followed, so the teachings themselves could travel. Kings & Yogis is the next piece of that work — the visual and cultural record of where it all came from.
Contribute — and receive the work we've already made.
Every tier of support comes with a thank-you in the form of access to our existing courses and films. Higher tiers include a co-producer credit in the finished documentary.
Mysore Yoga Traditions
A digital download of our 2017 documentary — the foundation of everything that came after.
Kaṭha Upaniṣad Course
9 hours with Dr. H.V. Nagaraj Rao — death, the soul, and the means of liberation, at the foundation of Indian philosophy.
Prāṇāyāma — the Next Step
The complete prāṇāyāma system as taught by Śrī BNS Iyengar. Deep work, on film, in full.
Philosophy of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga · 100hr
Our 100-hour training, with lectures from many of the Sanskrit scholars of Mysore.
200-hour Online Teacher Training
Our complete 200hr training, built with the scholars of Mysore. Recognised by Yoga Alliance and the Saṃskṛti Foundation.
Credit in the Film
Your name in the credits of Kings & Yogis, plus your choice of any reward above.
Help us finish the film.
There is one chance to put this on record. We are taking it.
Every contribution goes directly into production, editing, translation, and distribution — and 10% to the Śrī Kṛṣṇamācārya Yoga Museum at the Maharaja's Sanskrit College.
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