Editing Patanjali (section)

==Works==
[[Image:Patanjali Statue.jpg|Patañjali – Modern art rendering in [[Patanjali Yogpeeth]], Haridwar|thumb|right]]
Whether the two works, the Yoga Sutras and the [[Mahābhāṣya]], are by the same author has been the subject of considerable debate. The authorship of the two is first attributed to the same person in Bhojadeva's ''Rajamartanda'', a relatively late (10th century) commentary on the Yoga Sutras,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/yogasystemofpata00wooduoft The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali], ed. James Haughton Woods, 1914, p. xv</ref> as well as several subsequent texts. As for the texts themselves, the Yoga Sutra iii.44 cites a sutra as that from Patanjali by name, but this line itself is not from the Mahābhāṣya. This 10th-century legend of single-authorship is doubtful.  The literary styles and contents of the Yogasūtras and the Mahābhāṣya are entirely different, and the only work on medicine attributed to Patañjali is lost.  Sources of doubt include the lack of cross-references between the texts, and no mutual awareness of each other, unlike other cases of multiple works by (later) Sanskrit authors.  Also, some elements in the Yoga Sutras may date from as late as the 4th century C.E.,<ref name=gavin/> but such changes may be due to divergent authorship, or due to later additions which are not atypical in the oral tradition. Most scholars refer to both works as "by Patanjali", without meaning that they are by the same author.

In addition to the Mahābhāṣya and Yoga Sūtras, the 11th-century commentary on [[Charaka]] by the Bengali scholar [[Chakrapani Datta]], and the 16th-century text ''Patanjalicarita'' ascribes to Patañjali a medical text called the ''Carakapratisaṃskṛtaḥ'' (now lost) which is apparently a revision (''pratisaṃskṛtaḥ'') of the medical treatise by Caraka.  While there is a short treatise on yoga in the medical work called the Carakasaṃhitā (by Caraka), towards the end of the chapter called śārīrasthāna, it is notable for not bearing much resemblance to the Yoga Sūtras, and in fact presents a form of eightfold yoga that is completely different from that laid out by Patañjali in the Yoga Sūtras and the commentary Yogasūtrabhāṣya.

===Yoga Sūtra===
{{main|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali}}
The ''Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali'' are 196 Indian sutras ([[aphorism]]s) on [[Yoga]]. It was the most translated ancient Indian text in the medieval era, having been translated into about forty Indian languages and two non-Indian languages: [[Old Javanese]] and Arabic.{{sfn|White|2014|p=xvi}} The text fell into obscurity for nearly 700 years from the 12th to 19th century, and made a comeback in late 19th century due to the efforts of [[Swami Vivekananda]] and others. It gained prominence again as a comeback classic in the 20th century.{{sfn|White|2014|p=xvi–xvii}}

Before the 20th century, history indicates the Indian yoga scene was dominated by other Yoga texts such as the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', ''[[Yoga Vasistha]]'' and ''[[Yoga Yajnavalkya]]''.{{sfn|White|2014|p=xvi–xvii, 20–23}} Scholars consider the ''Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali'' formulations as one of the foundations of classical [[Yoga (philosophy)|Yoga philosophy]] of Hinduism.<ref name=ianwhicher49>Ian Whicher (1998), The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791438152}}, page 49</ref><ref name=stuartsarbacker195>Stuart Sarbacker (2011), Yoga Powers (Editor: Knut A. Jacobsen), Brill, {{ISBN|978-9004212145}}, page 195</ref>

==={{IAST|Mahābhāṣya}}===

The {{IAST|[[Mahābhāṣya]]}} ("great commentary") of Patañjali on the {{IAST|[[Aṣṭādhyāyī]]}} of {{IAST|[[Pāṇini]]}} is a major early exposition on Pāṇini, along with the somewhat earlier ''Varttika'' by [[Katyayana]]. Patanjali relates to how words and meanings are associated – Patanjali claims ''shabdapramâNaH'' – that the evidentiary value of words is inherent in them, and not derived externally<ref name=watw/> – the word-meaning association is natural. These issues in the word-meaning relation ([[symbol]]) would be elaborated in the [[Sanskrit grammarian|Sanskrit]] linguistic tradition, in debates between the [[Mimamsa]], [[Nyaya]] and [[Buddhist]] schools over the next fifteen centuries.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

==== Sphota ====
Patanjali also defines an early notion of [[sphota]], which would be elaborated considerably by later Sanskrit linguists like [[Bhartrihari]].  In Patanjali, a ''sphoTa'' (from ''sphuT'', spurt/burst) is the invariant quality of speech.  The noisy element (''dhvani'', audible part) can be long or short, but the sphoTa remains unaffected by individual speaker differences. Thus, a single letter or 'sound' (''varNa'') such as ''k'', ''p'' or ''a'' is an abstraction, distinct from variants produced in actual enunciation.<ref name=watw>{{cite book | title =        Bimal Krishna Matilal | author =        The word and the world: India's contribution to the study of language | publisher =        Oxford | year =        1990 | isbn =        978-0-19-562515-8 | url-access =        registration | url =        https://archive.org/details/wordworldindiasc0000mati }}</ref> This concept has been linked to the modern notion of [[phoneme]], the minimum distinction that defines semantically distinct sounds.  Thus a phoneme is an abstraction for a range of sounds.  However, in later writings, especially in Bhartrihari (6th century CE), the notion of ''sphoTa'' changes to become more of a mental state, preceding the actual utterance, akin to the [[Lemma (psycholinguistics)|lemma]].

Patañjali's writings also elaborate some principles of [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (''prakriyā'').  In the context of elaborating on Pāṇini's aphorisms, he also discusses [[Kātyāyana]]'s commentary, which are also aphoristic and ''sūtra''-like; in the later tradition, these were transmitted as embedded in Patañjali's discussion.  In general, he defends many positions of Pāṇini which were interpreted somewhat differently in Katyayana.

====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.

===Patanjalatantra===

Patanjali is also the reputed author of a medical text called ''Patanjalah'', also called ''Patanjala'' or ''Patanjalatantra''.<ref name=HIML/><ref>{{cite book|author=Surendranath Dasgupta|title=A History of Indian Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC&pg=PA231|year=1992|publisher=Reprint: Motilal Banarsidass (Original: Cambridge University Press)|isbn=978-81-208-0412-8|page=231}}</ref> This text is quoted in many yoga and health-related Indian texts. Patanjali is called a medical authority in a number of Sanskrit texts such as ''Yogaratnakara'', ''Yogaratnasamuccaya'', ''Padarthavijnana'', ''Cakradatta bhasya''.<ref name=HIML/> Some of these quotes are unique to ''Patanjala'', but others are also found in major Hindu medical treatises such as ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' and ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]''.<ref name=HIML/>

There is a fourth scholar also named Patanjali, who likely lived in 8th-century and wrote a commentary on ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' and this text is called ''Carakavarttika''.<ref name="meulenbeld143"/> The two medical scholars named Patanjali may be the same person, but generally accepted to be completely different person than the Patanjali who wrote the Sanskrit grammar classic ''Mahabhasya''.<ref name=meulenbeld143/>