Modi, clad in loose kurta and trousers with a scarf depicting the colours of the Indian flag, also joined in the demonstrations, working on various parts of the body such as the neck and the spine. It ended with some light meditation.
"This programme is only about human welfare, about freeing the universe from stress and about spreading the message of love, peace, unity and goodwill," Modi said in a speech before the 35-minute session that was being marked across the country.
Tens of thousands of schoolchildren, bureaucrats, homemakers, soldiers and ordinary folk took part in the exercise, which was repeated in all state capitals. In Modi's home state of Gujarat, public yoga events were organized at nearly 30,000 places, state officials said.
Enthusiasm was also visible in other states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and almost all across India as people joined the celebrations by performing the different asanas.
Many top leaders of the country, cutting across party lines, including the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and governor Najeeb Jung took part in the celebrations on Rajpath which PM Modi described as 'Yogpath'. "This is about the mind and the body. Let us not play politics with yoga," Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and a bitter Modi foe, said after taking part in the Delhi event.
The Indian Army also celebrated the inaugural International Yoga Day at Siachen Glacier, the world's highest military base. The day was also celebrated by military personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Kargil and other locations along the border with Pakistan.
"Yoga day was celebrated at the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen Glacier," said SD Goswami, spokesman with the army's Udhampur headquartered Northern Command.
Celebrations across the globe
More than 170 countries including the United States and France are expected to join in mass yoga gatherings. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead the event in New York's Times Square.
In Taipei, more than 2,000 participants rolled out mats and performed 108 rounds of the "sun salutation" — the sequence of yoga poses often practiced at the beginning of a routine as the sun rises.
Total of 47 Islamic nations among the 177 countries of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that officially co-sponsored with India a resolution to establish June 21 as "International Day of Yoga" also joined in the celebrations.
In Melbourne, over 500 people gathered at the Springers Leisure Centre to kick off the day with 'Surya Namaskar'.
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