Montosh Choudhury: Honoring the life of a Great Yogi

Montosh Choudhury in Standing Head to Knee (courtesy of Montosh Choudhury and family)

Today we mourn the passing of yet another important figure in the Ghosh yoga family. Montosh Choudhury was a lifelong yogi, a performer, a teacher, a husband and a father. He will be missed tremendously. 

I had the chance to spend some time with him over the past few years. I will share some stories along with some details about his life. 

In 1944, Choudhury was born in Burma (present day Myanmar). As a young man, he sent a letter to Bishnu Ghosh. He requested that Ghosh teach him and Ghosh agreed. Choudhury then went to India and began his training. He trained in stunt work like bending iron rods and mastered difficult yoga asanas.

As a young performer, Choudhury won bodybuilding awards and was recognized for his physical abilities. He was part of Bishnu Ghosh's performance troupe that went to Japan in 1968. There he was recognized by Fuji Telecasting as a very popular performer.

Montosh Choudhury & Ida (April 2019)

History in the form of photos and documents is easily lost in Kolkata. The heavy rains and humidity make preservation difficult. It is rare that someone is a good record keeper who has held onto photos.

Luckily, Choudhury was this rare exception. He had scrapbooks and boxes of well kept photos. Furthermore, he was a generous, patient and kind person and eagerly shared his treasures. He shared photos of his stunts and asanas like the one pictured above. 

​In 1986, Choudhury founded the Swasthyasri Yoga & Physical Culture Center. Until very recently, he was still writing yoga prescriptions and running the center. As I sat with him, our discussion would occasionally be interrupted by yoga patients coming to see him. I would immediately get up to leave to give him privacy. He would say, "No, no, just a minute." One one occasion, a woman carrying a young toddler walked in. I sat, eating the sweets he had given me, while he examined the toddler's legs. They were slightly bow-legged and the mother was concerned. He wrote a list of exercises for the child to do and tore the list off of his prescription pad. Choudhury's assistant then took the mother, child and list of yoga exercises and away they went. He was knowledgeable and confident. He had likely written thousands of prescriptions by that point. 

---

From left to right: Mukul Dutta, Montosh Choudhury, Jerome Armstrong (April 2019)

Though he was nearly 80 years old, he was still quite strong. On one meeting, he requested that we "test his abdominal strength." I was visiting with Jerome Armstrong, author of Calcutta Yoga, and Mukul Dutta. Choudhury asked Jerome to press on his abdomen. As he did, the roller chair Choudhury was sitting in slid back. Mukul Dutta came and held the chair in place. They were all laughing and enjoying the playful and boyish moment. Dutta and Choudhury had not seen each other in many years. It was a lovely reunion. 
​
Like many from his era, Choudhury worked tirelessly throughout his life. He promoted yoga in West Bengal through competitions, seminars and shows. He did not show any sign of slowing down or that he felt his work was done. After one meeting, he asked that we shake hands for a picture. He wanted to stay in contact so that he could visit America and continue spreading his knowledge of yoga. 

---

Ida with Montosh Choudhury (April 2019)