Yoga: India's Nation-Branding Strategy

Why is yoga important for India’s identity? Why is yoga being promoted by India as its cultural identity? How can this promotion be understood through the concept of nation-branding?

Yoga gained international recognition in 2014, when the United Nations declared 21 June as the International Day of Yoga. The Prime Minister of India said in the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly that ‘yoga is an invaluable gift from our ancient tradition’.Yoga has been a popular practice in the western world even before 2014. On 11 September 1893, at the World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago, Swami Vivekananda spoke about Karma Yoga. This speech has been credited to have popularised yoga in the western world.

This paper will study the popularisation of yoga and how the Indian state is using it as a part of its nation-branding strategy. This paper will analyse India’s strategy in promoting yoga as its identity through the aesthetics and and the promotion of wellness (or spiritual) tourism. Novel concepts like nation-branding would be explored here. Nation-branding is a strategy applied by a country to promote its ‘identity’ with what it is already known for. Through yoga, this paper will amalgamate the cultural history and the cultural diplomacy of India.