Chowdhury (surname)

Chowdhury is a surname and title originating in the Indian subcontinent. It is also alternatively spelled as Chaudhry, Chawdhury, Chowdary, Chaudhury, Choudhury, Choudhry, Chaudhuri, Choudhuri, Chaudhary, Chaudry, Chaudri or Choudhary. A historic female variant is Chowdhurani.

Meaning and significance

According to one theory, the name is an ancient Sanskrit title denoting the head of a community or caste. It is the amalgamation of the terms "Chow" (four-way) and "Dhuriya" (burden of responsibility). Chowdhurys were the heads of villages and landed estates. The Rajput kings and later some Mughal emperors conferred the title to local chiefs and officers of eminence, including zamindars and jagirdars. Women were conferred the title "Chowdhurani" (Lady Chowdhury). In India & Pakistan land owner castes like Ahirs,Gujjars and Jats were granted this title.

Similar lordships existed in other parts of the Eastern world, including in the Ottoman Empire (Malik) and Persia (Arbab).

Bikram Choudhury

Bikram Choudhury (born February 10, 1944) is an Indian yoga teacher and the founder of Bikram Yoga, a form of hot yoga performed in a series of 26 hatha yoga postures done in a hot environment of 40 °C (104 °F).

Life and work

Born in Calcutta, India, Bikram Choudhury began learning Hatha Yoga poses at the age of three. At five, he began studying with Bishnu Ghosh (Paramahansa Yogananda’s brother) and claims to have won the National India Yoga Championship for three consecutive years in his teens.

Bikram created a 26 posture series, which he claims restored his health. The 105 degree Fahrenheit heat in which Bikram yoga is practiced is, according to Choudhury, meant to mimic the climate of India.

At age 20, Bikram claims he was in a crippling weightlifting accident. Although he claims that he was told he would never be able to walk again, with the help of Ghosh, he claims to have fully recovered within 6 months. Choudhury emigrated to the United States in the 1970s and founded yoga studios in California and Hawaii. In the 1990s, he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses. Certified instructors now number in the thousands with Bikram Yoga studios all over the world.