Editing Patanjali (section)

====Metaphysics as grammatical motivation====
Unlike Pāṇini's objectives in the Ashtyadhyayi, which is to distinguish correct forms and meanings from incorrect ones (''shabdaunushasana''), Patanjali's objectives are more metaphysical.  These include the correct recitations of the scriptures (''Agama''), maintaining the purity of texts (''raksha''), clarifying ambiguity (''asamdeha''), and also the pedagogic goal of providing an easier learning mechanism (''laghu'').<ref name=watw/> This stronger metaphysical bent has also been indicated by some as one of the unifying themes between the Yoga Sutras and the Mahābhāṣya, although a close examination
of actual Sanskrit usage by Woods showed no similarities in language or terminology.

The text of the ''{{IAST|Mahābhāṣya}}'' was first critically edited by the 19th-century orientalist Franz Kielhorn, who also developed [[philological]] criteria for distinguishing Kātyāyana's "voice" from Patañjali's.  Subsequently, a number of other editions have come out, the 1968 text and translation by S.D. Joshi and J.H.F. Roodbergen often being considered definitive. Regrettably, the latter work is incomplete.

Patanjali is often stated as having claimed there was a hostility between the orthodox Brahminic (''Astika'') groups and the heterodox, ''nAstika'' groups (Buddhism, [[Jainism]], and atheists), like that between a [[mongoose]] and a snake.<ref>[[Romila Thapar]] (1992): ''Interpreting Early India'', Oxford University Press, p. 63</ref> [[Nathan McGovern]] argues Patanjali never used this mongoose-snake analogy.<ref>[[Nathan McGovern]] (2019): ''The Snake and the Mongoose. The Emergence of Identity in Early Indian Religion'', Oxford University Press, p. 3</ref>

Patanjali also sheds light on contemporary events, commenting on the recent Greek incursion, and also on several tribes that lived in the Northwest regions of the subcontinent.