A Biography of BKS Iyengar (4)
Navigation menu
| Contents | (1) A good time to be born?; (2) The five duties of the Iyengars; (3) His parents and his birth; (4) His childhood; (5) Krishnamachayra: the Guru; (6) First steps in yoga; (7) The supremely diligent student; (8) The first classes; (9) The beginning of "Iyengar yoga"; (10) The news begins to spread; (11) The blessings of marriage; (12) The maestro and the queen; (13) Light in Europe; (14) "Light On Yoga"; (15) Light in Inner London; (16) Becoming a global phenomenon; (17) Ramamani remembered | ||
| (4) His childhood | |||
| BKS Iyengar was born into a large but poor family. The omens for his survival were not good. As he put it: 'I looked sickly with thin arms and legs, a protruding stomach and a heavy head. My appearance was not prepossessing'. He was weak and sickly, and his childhood was marked with one bout of ill health after another. Most notably, he was a victim of malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis. The general malnutrition caused by poverty merely exacerbated the situation, and sometimes he would have more than one of these ailments to contend with. At one point, the doctors predicted that he would not live past 20. The constant bouts of ill health kept him away from school for long periods, and his education suffered. Fortunately, however, the school he attended taught English, a subject that would stand him in extremely good stead later. | |||
| Next Page | Contents | Previous Page | |||
| © 2005 Kofi Busia | |||
| Top↑ | |||
| Please go here if you would prefer to read the entire biography in one scrollable page in your browser |