Yoga day venue shifted from Mysuru palace to racecourse | The Hindu
The venue of International Yoga Day on June 21 has been shifted from Mysuru palace to Mysore Racecourse (MRC) on the foothills of the Chamundi to facilitate a Guinness record attempt.
Mysuru is aiming to set a new Guinness world record by putting up the world’s biggest yoga demonstration and the district administration had accordingly planned a mass demonstration on the palace premises and in surrounding areas for accommodating around 60,000 yoga enthusiasts.
Since the yoga session in different places is not considered a single venue for the record-breaking attempt, the organisers had been advised to look for a solitary venue.
The expansive campus of MRC was zeroed in as the new venue. A Guinness record for the largest mass yoga demo in multiple venues was achieved in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi a few years ago. The district administration, with the support from the departments of Tourism and AYUSH, Nehru Yuva Kendra, Yoga Networking Organisations, and Mysuru Travels’ Association, is planning to mobilise around 50,000-60,000 yoga enthusiasts. Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep said the new venue will accommodate over 70,000 yoga enthusiasts and a rehearsal will be held at this venue on June 18 instead of the palace.
With the change in venue, the record-breaking longest yoga chain formation, which was earlier planned for June 21, will be attempted on June 19 on the palace premises. About 5,000 yoga enthusiasts will stand in a sequence to break the previous record of a giant yoga chain set at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu in 2014. The rehearsal for the longest yoga chain will be performed on June 17 on the premises of the palace, he added.
Deputy Director for Tourism Janardhan said around 71 acres of the MRC land will be made use for the yoga demo and parking locations around the new venue have been identified. “The new venue will facilitate us to organise and supervise the show better since it is a single venue,” he said. Vehicles can be parked at the Dasara expo grounds, Karanji Lake Nature Park, Mysuru zoo, Racecourse, and surrounding places. More venues for parking will also be identified and announced in the coming days. The Tourism Department has promised ₹25 lakh for the mega event while the Mysuru Palace Board has offered ₹10 lakh for the arrangements. Donations have also come in from businesses for the preparations.
