>Tom.Reding at 13:33, 2 May 2021

2021-05-02T13:33:05Z

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[[File:K._V._Iyer_as_Discobolos.jpg|thumb|upright|K. V. Iyer posing with a [[discus]]]]

'''Kolar Venkatesh Iyer''', known as '''K. V. Iyer''' (1897-1980) was a [[gymnast]], [[bodybuilder]], proponent of Indian [[physical culture]],{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=122–129}} and author of books including the 1930 ''Muscle Cult: A Pro-Em for My System''.<ref name="Waldron 2011">{{cite web |author=Waldron, Gil |title=Professor K.V. Iyer {{!}} 1900 - 1980 |url=http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/India/Iyer/iyer-index.html |website=Sandow Plus |date=2011 |access-date=10 March 2019}}</ref> He contributed to the development of [[modern yoga]] as a system of exercise.

He was "possibly the most high-profile Indian advocate of physical culture in the first half of the twentieth century."{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=122–129}}

==Life==

Kolar Venkatesh Iyer was born in the village of Devarayasmudra in [[Kolar District]], [[Karnataka]]. His mother died when he was ten, and he went to school in [[Mysore]], reaching the Intermediate level. Soon after that he began developing his own system of [[bodybuilding]].{{sfn|Bharathi|2015|pp=63-67}} He was a gymnast, bodybuilder, energetic and well-known proponent of Indian [[physical culture]], and a contributor, like other gymnastics teachers such as [[Krishnamacharya]], to the development of [[modern yoga]].{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=122–129}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balsekar |first1=R. S. |title=Presenting Professor K. V. Iyer |journal=Superman |date=April 1939 |page=186}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chapman |first1=David |title=Gallery of Ironmen: Professor K. V. Iyer |journal=Ironman |date=March 1991 |volume=50 |issue=3 |page=68}}</ref> He consciously combined [[hatha yoga]] with bodybuilding in his [[Bangalore]] gymnasium, around 1930.{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=122–129}}{{sfn|Goldberg|2016|pp=chapter 20: K. V. Iyer: Mixing Bodybuilding and Yoga at the Palace}} He helped, too, to present the sequence of yoga [[asanas]] called [[Surya Namaskar]], the Salute to the Sun, as a practical, modern, stretching exercise rather than as something spiritual.{{sfn|Goldberg|2016|pp=chapter 21: K. V. Iyer: Presenting Surya Namaskar as Stretching Exercise}} He toured India doing lecture-demonstrations, accompanied by the yoga guru [[Seetharaman Sundaram]].{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=126}}

This helped to change the perception of yoga from a magical technique intended for the medieval and magical transformation of the body into something immortal, by conquering the five elements, to a view of the body from the point of view of looking good and being physically fit.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alter |first1=Joseph S. |author-link1=Joseph Alter |title=Modern Medical Yoga: Struggling with a History of Magic, Alchemy and Sex |journal=Asian Medicine, Tradition and Modernity |volume=1 |issue=1 |date=2005 |pages=119–146}}</ref>{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=122}}

His first gymnasium was established in the Sultan's palace in Bangalore in 1922. He moved several times, finally in 1940 setting up the "famous"{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=122–129}} Vyayamsala on J. C. Road, Bangalore.{{sfn|Singleton|2010|pp=122–129}} He became "the most important Indian physical culture instructor of the time",<ref name="Chapman 1994">{{cite book |last=Chapman|first=David L. |title=Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79QappH54EYC&pg=PA213 |year=1994 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-02033-9 |page=213}}</ref> attempting "to blend Yoga, Hindu mysticism, and occidental physical culture into something uniquely his own".<ref name="Chapman 1994"/>

Iyer served also as physician to the [[Maharajah of Mysore]].<ref name="Waldron 2011"/> As well as promoting gymnastics, he vigorously promoted himself, appearing in magazines such as ''Health and Strength'' and ''The Superman'', and describing himself as "India's most perfectly developed man"{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=122}} with "a body which Gods covet".{{sfn|Singleton|2010|p=122}}

K. V. Iyer's close friends included [[T. P. Kailasam]] and [[V. Seetharamaiah]]. The humorous playwright [[T. P. Kailasam]], hearing from Iyer that he had not read anything by [[Oscar Wilde]], replied "Oh my! You are only into body-building, what about your brain? You should prove to the world that a well-built body can harbour a creative mind too." The effect was to encourage Iyer to become a novelist, publishing ''Roopadarshi'', ''Shantala'', ''Leena'', ''Mrischakitika'', ''Samudyata'', ''Ekalavya'', and ''Sayyada Mane'' in the Kannada language.{{sfn|Bharathi|2015|pp=63-67}}

==Works==

* {{cite book |last1=Iyer |first1=K. V. |title=Muscle Cult: A Pro-Em to My System |date=1930 |publisher=Hercules Gymnasium and Correspondence School of Physical Culture |location=Bangalore |pages=41–42 |oclc=37973753}}
* {{cite book |last1=Iyer |first1=K. V. |title=Perfect Physique: a Poem to My System |date=1936 |publisher=Bangalore Press |location=Bangalore |oclc=39147503}}
* {{cite book |last1=Iyer |first1=K. V. |title=Physique & Figure |date=1940 |publisher=Bangalore Press |location=Bangalore |oclc=949949106}}
* {{cite book |last1=Iyer |first1=K. V. |title=Physical training through correspondence Lessons 1-8 |date=n.d. |publisher=Hercules Gymnasium and Correspondence School of Physical Culture |location=Bangalore |oclc=743336221}}

==See also==

* [[Seetharaman Sundaram]] - Iyer's assistant and yoga specialist on his lecture/demonstration tours

== References ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book |last=Bharathi |first=Veena |title=Ordinary Feet, Extra-Ordinary Feat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yg-qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |year=2015 |publisher=Vij Books India |isbn=978-93-84318-78-9 |pages=63–67 }}
* {{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Elliott |title=The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CmEoDwAAQBAJ |year=2016 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-62055-568-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Singleton |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Singleton (yoga teacher) |title=Yoga body : the origins of modern posture practice | publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-539534-1 |oclc=318191988 }}

{{Modern yoga}}
{{Physical culture}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyer, K. V.}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian bodybuilders]]
[[Category:Modern yoga pioneers]]
[[Category:People associated with physical culture]]

K. V. Iyer - Revision history

>Tom.Reding at 13:33, 2 May 2021