"The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace" traces the developments in the yoga tradition that has led to the strongest yoga tradition practiced in the world today, from Krishna-macariar to Pattabhi Jois' Astanga yoga system and the Iyengar system. The spread of these yoga systems all over the modern world is unparalleled in the history of yoga; it partakes of the nature of a mass movement. The introduction traces the development farther back by looking into a history of asanas itself, garnering evidence from different periods in Indian history and relating this to the basic texts of yoga philosophy. The book requires us to view the history and development of yoga from an entirely new perspective. The introduction centres around a translation of the yoga section of the SRITATTVANIDHI, the oldest text available at present substantiating a developed asana practice. This text, written in 1880's, foreshadows our own period.

The author, Dr. N. Sjoman, is a Sanskritist trained in traditional Sanskrit schools as well as in Universities in North America, Europe and India eventually taking a Vidyavacaspati degree from Pune University. Initially, he learned yoga from B.K.S. Iyengar and continued as a student during an eighteen year sojourn in India. He has taught yoga with Sri Dattatreya all over the world. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Yoga from the Nippon Yoga Gakkei in 1982. He has published academic articles, articles on art and culture and a book with Sri Dattatreya entitled "An Introduction to South Indian Music". He is a visual artist, a painter, sculptor, and textile artist.