Virabhadrasana

The name is from the Sanskrit वीरभद्र Vīrabhadra, a mythical warrior, and आसन āsana, a yoga posture or meditation seat.

[5] Still, these poses are not attested in the hatha yoga tradition until the 20th century with the practices of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and his student Pattabhi Jois, who was photographed in Warrior I in about 1939.

Poses close to Virabhadrasana were described independently of yoga in a European source early in the 20th century, namely in Niels Bukh's 1924 Danish text Grundgymnastik eller primitiv gymnastik (known in English as Primary Gymnastics).

[7] Mark Singleton suggests that these standing poses in 20th century India were most likely influenced by the tradition of physical culture including Bukh-style gymnastics.

[8]One version of the myth of Virabhadra is that the powerful priest Daksha made a great yagna (ritual sacrifice) but did not invite his youngest daughter Sati and her husband Shiva, the supreme ruler of the universe.

Filled with sorrow and compassion, Shiva finds Daksha's body and gives it the head of a goat, which brings him back to life.

[14] Virabhadrasana has been called "easily one of the most iconic and recognizable postures" in yoga as exercise,[15] as well as "one of the most foundational" and most widely practised.

The pose is not found in B. K. S. Iyengar's 1966 textbook Light on Yoga, and may have been created as recently as the start of the 21st century.