Remote Sensing GIS and Artificial Intelligence Based Identification and Conservation of Ancient Yoga and Pranayam Heritage Landscapes in India

India possesses one of the oldest and most diverse cultural heritage systems in the world, where Yoga and Pranayam occupy a central role in spiritual development, traditional healthcare, ecological harmony, and philosophical thought. Ancient yogic traditions evolved through sacred landscapes including Himalayan caves, monasteries, temples, forests, riverbanks, and meditation centers distributed across the Indian subcontinent. Recognizing its universal significance, the United Nations declared 21 June as the International Day of Yoga in 2014, while UNESCO inscribed Yoga on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. However, rapid urbanization, climate change, environmental degradation, tourism pressure, and natural disasters increasingly threaten these heritage landscapes and associated cultural traditions.

Recent advancements in Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), LiDAR, hyperspectral imaging, and drone technologies provide innovative scientific approaches for identifying, documenting, monitoring, and preserving ancient yogic heritage sites. This article presents a comprehensive geospatial framework for the exploration and conservation of Indian cultural heritage associated with Yoga and Pranayam. The study demonstrates how GIS and Remote Sensing can be utilized to identify ancient yogic centers, sacred ecological corridors, meditation caves, pilgrimage routes, and environmental settings that favored the evolution and flourishing of yogic traditions. Furthermore, the work highlights the potential of AI-driven predictive conservation, digital heritage databases, and GeoAI approaches for sustainable heritage management.

The major scientific contribution of this work lies in establishing an interdisciplinary framework that integrates traditional Indian knowledge systems with advanced geospatial intelligence for reconstructing ancient yogic landscapes and supporting their long-term conservation. By extending the application of Remote Sensing and AI beyond conventional monument preservation toward the identification and environmental characterization of ancient yoga heritage sites, this study advances the state-of-the-art in digital cultural heritage and GeoAI-based heritage research.