The International Day of Yoga was celebrated with fervour across the state on Tuesday.
Except for a few ministers of the Nitish Kumar government who skipped the yoga session organised at Gandhi Maidan, lakhs of people performed age-old postures.
An overcast sky formed the perfect setting for the early morning yoga session at most places, as people turned out in large numbers to practise asanas and mudras. With Ramdev as the brand ambassador for the mega event in the country, his Patanjali Yogpeeth was at the centre of making arrangements for Yoga Day in the city and 22 blocks in Patna, including Barh, Maner and Paliganj.
Thousands of people turned up at the sessions organised by Patanjali Yogpeeth at Gandhi Maidan and Patliputra Sports Complex in Kankerbagh. Union minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises Giriraj Singh led the session at Kankerbagh, while Union communications and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad led the session at Gandhi Maidan.
"We are delighted with the huge turnout of people at the yoga sessions held in all 22 blocks of Patna," said K.K. Singh, a representative of Patanjali Yogpeeth in Patna. "While the event was open for all, we had invited political leaders from ruling as well as opposition parties."
A number of private and government institutions also organised yoga sessions in the morning on their premises. Health experts, including doctors, also took part in a number of sessions.
The Bihar School of Yoga observed the second International Day of Yoga in a simple but pristine and dedicated manner. Though no special programme was held inside Ganga Darshan, the main building of the renowned yoga school, a 90-minute session was organised in its subsidiary building, Paduka Darshan, to mark the day.
Around 50 residential students of the yoga school, mostly foreigners, and sanyasis (hermits), joined about 100 residents of Munger in the yoga session held in the morning at Paduka Darshan at Kashtarni Ghat on the banks of the Ganga.
The session, moderated by Swami Tyagraj, started around 6.30am in the presence of various senior figures including Bihar Yog Bharati vice-chancellor Swami Shankaranand and Swami Shivdhyanam.
Swami Shivdhyanam said: "Swami Satyanand Saraswati, after establishing the Bihar School of Yoga in 1963, had stated that yoga would arise as the most powerful global culture in the 21st century. It was indeed acceptance of his statement in 2014 when 193-member countries of the United Nations accepted the proposal to declare June 21 as the International Day of Yoga."
The session started with Om-chanting, followed by shavasan, tadasan, triyak tadasan, kati chakrasan, surya namaskar, naadi shodhan and concluded with tratak.
An audio CD on yoga, made by the Bihar School of Yoga, was also released during the event.
Several volunteer wings of the school, including Bal Mitra Mandal (schoolchildren associated with the school), Yuva Yog Mitra Mandal (young volunteers associated with the school) and Ramayani Mandal organised yoga sessions at 108 places in Munger, including rooftops of houses.
Thousands of people, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, workers of Jamalpur railway workshop, took part in around 1,000 individual yoga camps at public places, government institutions and other places.
Around 2,000 workers of Jamalpur railway workshop, including senior officials, joined special yoga classes in Jamalpur. One hundred NCC cadets of Nand Kumar Singh School also performed asanas.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PIYUSH KUMAR TRIPATHI
