The History
Shri Mahesh Ghatradyal
Born in Timapur on July 11th, 1924. Passed away in Paris on August 21rst, 2007.
« Love is my law, Truth is my fight »
Orphan, he practices yoga since the age of five and follows the teachings of Swamy Mrityunjava at Shiva Yoga Mandir Ashram.
Shri Mahesh Ghatradyal receives an education respectful of traditional Indian values and open to the world. He practices yoga consistently and rigorously, making this body and soul discipline his own. At fourteen year old, he shows amazing dispositions for athleticism and especially for running.
In 1947, he takes part in the University World Olympic Games. He then gets offered a scholarship to study at the Ecole Supérieure d’Education Physique in Joinville, near Paris.
With a degree from the Medical School of Geneva under the aegis of Professor Fritz Baumann, he starts working as a doctor in the 1960s both at the hospital Percy in Clamart and at the hospital Necker in Paris, which specializes in childcare.
In 1959, he creates the Centre de Relations Culturelles Franco-Indien (CRCFI), with the support of many French personalities, among whom André Malraux (Secretary of culture), Jeannine Auboyer (Curator at the Guimet museum), professors Jean Filliozat and Paul Mus (experts of India), doctors Françoise Dolto (psychiatrist) and François Creff (nutritionist), and Robert Salmon (Director of France Soir). His goal consists of favoring a better knowledge of Indian culture in France. This is to be done through the organization of cultural and artistic events and by spreading the teaching of traditional Hatha Yoga, with the publication of the journal Yoga et Vie from 1974 on.
He is the first one to provide a structure to the teaching of yoga in France with the creation of the Fédération Française de Hatha Yoga in 1969, whose goal is to disclose this practice to a wider audience. In 1971, he creates the Ligue Francophone de Hatha Yoga in Belgium. He extends his influence to Guadeloupe and Polynesia. The International School of Traditional Yoga (EIDYT) opens in 1981. These two structures train future teachers to this practice, with the obtention of a certificate after a four-year period.
France pays him a tribute for his initiatives:
In 1996, he receives the award of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite
In 2005, he receives the award of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
In 2008, after he passed away, the FFHY and the EIDYT merge.
The association France Inde Karnataka
1994 : Creation of the association
1995 : First medical consultations in one of the rooms at Halligudi’s school
1995 : The construction of the hospital starts
1997 : Official opening and first consultations at the hospital
2002 : Construction of a temple dedicated to Ganesh, in the respect of local culture
2003 : Construction of a canteen, converted into a reception room during awareness campaigns
2007 : Death of the founder Shri Mahesh Ghatradyal
2008 : Construction of the founder’s memorial, on the campus of the hospital, and first anniversary of his disappearance
2008 : Juliette Sushila Ghatradyal, his eldest daughter, is elected president of the association
2008 : Specialist medical camps and awareness raising campaigns are developed, with the support of French volunteer nurses
2010 : Opening of a site manager position for a French national working at the hospital
2012 : Renovation work to upgrade infrastructures and meet international standards. New batteries enable the hospital to improve its autonomy and decrease power cuts, prevalent in the region, thanks to Air Liquide’s support
2013 : making of a reportage about F.I.K. and access to healthcare by the association « Tournons le Monde » (ESSEC)
2014 : project « Health to All » : renovation of the medical test laboratory and acquisition of a new ambulance in order to break inhabitants’ isolation and to ensure regular tours in the poorest villages of the region
2015 : 20th anniversary of the hospital and its first consultations, and 200.000th patient treated at the healthcare center
