Editing Patanjali (section)

===Grammatical tradition===

In the grammatical tradition, Patañjali is believed to have lived in the second century BCE.<ref name="arapv">{{cite thesis |type=PhD | first=Giridhar | last=Mishra | author-link=Rambhadracharya | title=अध्यात्मरामायणेऽपाणिनीयप्रयोगाणां विमर्शः |trans-title=Deliberation on non-Paninian usages in the Adhyatma Ramayana | publisher=Sampurnanand Sanskrit University | place=Varanasi, India | language=sa | year=1981 | chapter= प्रस्तावना |trans-chapter=Introduction | chapter-url=http://jagadgururambhadracharya.org/works/arapv/prastavana.php | access-date=21 May 2013}}</ref> He wrote a ''Mahabhasya'' on Panini's sutras, in a form that quoted the commentary of [[Kātyāyana]]'s ''vārttikas''. This is a major influential work on Sanskrit grammar and linguistics.<ref name="Banerji1989p233">{{cite book|author=Sures Chandra Banerji|title=A Companion to Sanskrit Literature: Spanning a Period of Over Three Thousand Years, Containing Brief Accounts of Authors, Works, Characters, Technical Terms, Geographical Names, Myths, Legends and Several Appendices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JkOAEdIsdUsC&pg=PA233|year=1989|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0063-2|page=233}}</ref> The dating of Patanjali and his ''Mahabhasya'' is established by a combination of evidence: that from the Maurya Empire period, the historical events mentioned in the examples he used to explain his ideas, the chronology of ancient classical Sanskrit texts that respect his teachings, and the mention of his text or his name in ancient Indian literature.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Bart Dessein|author2=Weijin Teng|title=Text, History, and Philosophy: Abhidharma across Buddhist Scholastic Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzBRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA32|year=2016|publisher=Brill Academic|isbn=978-90-04-31882-3|pages=32–34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=George Cardona|title=Pāṇini: A Survey of Research |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=adWXhQ-yHQUC |year=1997|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1494-3|pages=262–268}}</ref> Of the three ancient grammarians, the chronological dating of Patanjali to mid 2nd century B.C. is considered as "reasonably accurate" by mainstream scholarship.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter M. Scharf|title=The Denotation of Generic Terms in Ancient Indian Philosophy: Grammar, Nyāya, and Mīmāṃsā |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh4LAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |year=1996|publisher=American Philosophical Society|isbn=978-0-87169-863-6|pages=1 with footnote 2}}</ref>

The text influenced Buddhist grammatical literature,<ref>{{cite book|author=Hartmut Scharfe|title=Grammatical Literature|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2_VbnWkZ-SYC&pg=PA163|year =1977|publisher= Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-01706-0|pages=163–166, 174–176 with footnotes}}</ref> as well as memoirs of travellers to India. For example, the Chinese pilgrim [[Yijing (monk)|I-tsing]] mentions that the ''Mahabhasya'' is studied in India and advanced scholars learn it in three years.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hartmut Scharfe|title=Grammatical Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_VbnWkZ-SYC&pg=PA153|year=1977|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-01706-0|pages=153–154}}</ref>