The lotus leaders

"YOGA has the key to all that ails us in our lives," gushed an American enthusiast for the spiritual exercise practice, interviewed on Indian television on the banks of the River Ganges. She went on to praise the "wonderful vision and charisma" of India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, who last year persuaded some 190 countries to recognise June 21st as the first-ever International Yoga Day. (Disappointed conservationists had wanted to designate it as the World Day of the Giraffe.) In Delhi, from dawn onwards, Mr Modi led a throng of over 37,000 people (pictured), each with a mat and a uniform, who prostrated themselves in unison as a calm voice urged them to "dissolve your thoughts". They had gathered on Rajpath, the massive avenue that connects the archway of India Gate to the government buildings. Mr Modi bent, twisted and posed with dexterity. One television news channel redubbed the crowded space "Yogpath".

Mr Modi gave a talk about the benefits of doing yoga, which he is said to practise daily, and claimed the practice was "training the human mind to begin a new era of peace". Perhaps that was a dig at his defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, who recently lamented that India's army has not fought a proper war for decades. At both government and private events across India and abroad, tens of thousands of yoga enthusiasts joined in with measured breathing, lifting their bottoms skywards and standing artfully on one leg. The sight of India's prime minister demonstrating different positions before the crowds was striking; one does not often get to see national leaders lying flat on their backs in public.