S-VYASA golden jubilee: Modi launches Thiruvananthapuram campus at Prashanti Kutiram

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part in the golden jubilee celebrations of Prashanti Kutiram, the Bengaluru campus that is home to the yoga university S-VYASA, on Friday, 13 November 2026, and launched the university's off-campus centre at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. According to the Prime Minister's Office, he also laid the foundation stone of a Golden Jubilee Administrative Block. The event, held along with the birth centenary commemoration of RSS leader and author H.V. Sheshadri, opens celebrations that run from 13 to 23 November on the theme "Towards Viksit Bharat 2047". In his address, Modi said yoga had become a way for people around the world to come to know India.

Yoga is one of the best-known parts of India's traditional knowledge, and it sits where philosophy, practice and the body meet. S-VYASA's stated purpose, as the PMO described it, is to study this tradition with the tools of modern science: to run research on yoga, teach it at university level and train teachers and researchers. That makes the institution part of a wider effort in India to place traditional knowledge inside universities, where claims can be tested and taught, rather than leave it only to belief or custom.

In his speech, Modi praised S-VYASA for spreading yoga, for carrying out scientific research on its benefits, and for training practitioners, teachers, trainers, doctors and researchers. He said that when people abroad come to know yoga, their wish to know India grows too, and he linked the worldwide observance of International Yoga Day to India's initiatives. He also said Saudi Arabia had recognised yoga as a sporting activity. These are the Prime Minister's own descriptions; the research findings of the university are a separate matter that rests on its published studies.

The second part of the day honoured H.V. Sheshadri. Modi said Sheshadri understood that taking the country to the top would need dedicated, capable and disciplined citizens, and credited him with work on character-building and nation-building. H.R. Nagendra, president of the VYASA society, had said before the visit that the Thiruvananthapuram campus would be launched during it.

The new off-campus centre takes S-VYASA beyond Bengaluru to Kerala. For students there who want to study yoga at a university, it brings the institution's teaching closer to home.

Peepals calculation: Prashanti Kutiram was set up in 1975 and S-VYASA became a deemed-to-be university in 2002, so the institution worked for 27 years before gaining university status (2002 - 1975 = 27) and has held that status for 24 years (2026 - 2002 = 24). The jubilee celebrations, 13 to 23 November, last 11 days. Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: The jubilee programme continues at Prashanti Kutiram until 23 November, and the Thiruvananthapuram centre begins as S-VYASA's off-campus site in Kerala.

Long-term: A second campus and a new administrative block point to growth in the academic study of yoga, which could mean more courses, more trained teachers and more research on the tradition.

Who is affected: Students and researchers of yoga, yoga teachers seeking formal qualifications, and people in Kerala who gain a nearer campus.

What to watch next: The golden jubilee celebrations end on 23 November 2026.

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