He's a yoga guru, who fashions himself after a 'yoddha sannyasi' or warrior monk. Born as Ramkrishna Yadav in Ali Saiyadpur village in Mahendragarh district of Haryana in 1965, Ramdev's earliest influences, apart from yoga, were revolutionary writings on the lives of Ram Prasad Bismil and Subhas Chandra Bose. He learnt the value of pranayam when it cured him of the disabling effects of a paralytic stroke he got as a child.