Editing Patanjali

{{short description|Ancient Indian scholar(s)}}
{{other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
[[File:Patañjali11.JPG|upright=1.15|thumb|Patanjali as an [[avatar]] of [[Adi Sesha|Shesha]]]]
{{Hindu philosophy}}
'''Patanjali''' ({{langx|sa|पतञ्जलि}},  {{IAST3|Patañjali}}, {{IPA|sa|pɐtɐɲdʑɐli}}; also called '''Gonardiya''' or '''Gonikaputra'''){{efn|These names of Sanskrit authors are generally identified with Patanjali. ''Gonardiya'' denotes someone from Gonarda, which has been identified by some with the [[Gonda district|Gonda]] in [[Uttar Pradesh]]. ''Gonikaputra'' means the son of a woman named Gonika.<ref>[[Monier Williams]] (1899). ''A Sanskrit–English Dictionary''. Oxford: [[Clarendon Press]].</ref><ref>Mahamahopadhyaya Kashinath Vasudev Abhyankar (1961). ''[[wikisource:sa:A Dictionary of Sanskrit Grammar|A Dictionary of Sanskrit Grammar]]''. [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]].</ref>}} was the name of one or more author(s), mystic(s) and philosopher(s) in [[ancient India]]. His name is recorded as an author and compiler of a number of [[Sanskrit literature|Sanskrit]] works.<ref name="britannica.com"/> The greatest of these are the ''[[Yoga Sutras]]'', a classical [[yoga]] text. Estimates based on analysis of this work suggests that its author(s) may have lived between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE.<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web |title=Patanjali {{!}} Hindu author, mystic, and philosopher {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Patanjali |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

An author of the same name is credited with the authorship of the classic text on Sanskrit grammar named ''[[Mahābhāṣya]]'', that is firmly datable to the 2nd century BCE, and authorship of medical texts possibly dating from 8th-10th centuries CE.<ref name=HIML /><ref name="White" /> The two works, ''Mahābhāṣya'' and ''Yoga Sutras'', are completely different in subject matter, and [[Indology|Indologist]] [[Louis Renou]] has shown that there are significant differences in language, grammar and vocabulary.<ref name="Renou"/> Before the time of [[Bhoja]] (11th century), no known text conflates the identity of the two authors.<ref name=HIML />

There has been speculation as to whether the sage Patañjali is the author of all the works attributed to him, as there are a number of known historical authors of the same name. A great deal of scholarship has been devoted over the 20th century to the issue of the historicity or identity of this author or these authors.<ref name="NCC">{{cite book |last=Raghavan |first=V. |title=New Catalogus Catalogorum |year=1968 |publisher=University of Madras |location=Madras |volume=11 |pages=89–90 |display-authors=etal}} lists ten separate authors by the name of "Patañjali".</ref> The view that these were likely different authors is now generally accepted by Western scholars, but "glorification" of Patanjali as singular author of the yoga, grammar, and medical texts "has become an oft-repeated article of faith" "in more traditional circles" and yoga culture.<ref name="White"/>

Patanjali is regarded as an avatar of [[Adi Sesha]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Vedic Yoga:The Path of the Rishi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rvQCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT147|page=147|author=David Frawley|year=2014|publisher=Lotus Press| isbn=978-0-940676-25-1 }}</ref>

== Identities ==
Amongst the more important authors called Patañjali are:<ref>Ganeri, Jonardon. ''Artha: Meaning'', Oxford University Press 2006, 1.2, p. 12</ref><ref>Radhakrishnan, S.; Moore, C.A., (1957). ''A Source Book in Indian Philosophy''. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, ch. XIII, Yoga, p. 453</ref><ref name=gavin>{{harvnb|Flood|1996}}</ref>
* The author of the ''[[Mahābhāṣya]]'', an ancient treatise on [[Sanskrit grammar]] and linguistics, based on the Aṣṭādhyāyī'' of [[Pāṇini]]. ''This Patañjali's life is dated to mid 2nd century BCE by both Western and Indian scholars.''<ref name="Banerji1989p233" /><ref name="Scharf1996p1">{{cite book |last=Scharf |first=Peter M. |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=1–2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cardona |first=George |title=Pāṇini: A Survey of Research |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=adWXhQ-yHQUC&pg=PA267|year=1997 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-1494-3 |pages=267–268}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Approximate Chronology of Indian Philosophers|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/language-india/chronology.html|access-date=2022-02-21|website=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref> ''This text was titled as a ''[[bhashya]]'' or "commentary" on [[Kātyāyana]]-Pāṇini's work by Patanjali, but is so revered in the Indian traditions that it is widely known simply as Mahā-bhasya or "Great commentary". As per Ganesh Sripad Huparikar, actually, Patanjali (2nd century BCE), the forerunner among ancient grammatical commentators, "adopted an etymological and dialectical method of explaining in the whole of his 'Mahābhāshya' (Great Commentary), and this has assumed, in the later commentary literature the definite form of 'Khanda-anvaya'." So vigorous, well reasoned and vast is his text, that this Patanjali has been the authority as the last grammarian of classical Sanskrit for more than 2,000 years, with Pāṇini and Kātyāyana preceding him. Their ideas on structure, grammar and philosophy of language have also influenced scholars of other Indian religions such as Buddhism and [[Jainism]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scharfe |first=Hartmut |title=Grammatical Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_VbnWkZ-SYC&pg=PA152 |year=1977|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-01706-0 |pages=152–154}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Harold G. Coward|author2=K. Kunjunni Raja|title=The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 5: The Philosophy of the Grammarians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLd9BgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7270-1|pages=3–11}}</ref>''
* The compiler of the ''[[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali|Yoga sūtras]]'', a text on [[Yoga]] theory and practice,<ref name=maas-sama>{{cite book |last=Maas |first=Philipp A. |title=Samādhipāda: das erste Kapitel des Pātañjalayogaśāstra zum ersten Mal kritisch ediert |year=2006 |publisher=Shaker |location=Aachen |language=de |isbn=978-3832249878}}</ref> and a notable scholar of [[Samkhya]] school of [[Hindu philosophy]].<ref>Dasgupta, Surendranath (1992). [https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC&pg=PA229 A History of Indian Philosophy], Volume 1, p.229 Motilal Banarsidass Publications. {{ISBN|8120804120}}</ref><ref name="phillips">Phillips, Stephen H.,(2013). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cRg2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT368 Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy], Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0231519478}}</ref> He is variously estimated to have lived between 2nd century BCE to 4th century CE, with many scholars narrowing this period down to between 2nd and 4th century CE.{{Sfn|Bryant|2009|pp=xxxiv, 510 with notes 43–44}}<ref name=maas-sama/><ref>Michele Desmarais (2008), [https://books.google.com/books?id=EXHF0lkL7MAC Changing Minds: Mind, Consciousness and Identity in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra], Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120833364}}, pages 16–17 with footnotes</ref> The ''Yogasutras'' is one of the most important texts in the Indian tradition and the foundation of classical Yoga.<ref name="Desmarais2008p15">{{cite book |last=Desmarais |first=Michele Marie |title=Changing Minds : Mind, Consciousness And Identity in Patanjali'S Yoga-Sutra And Cognitive Neuroscience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EXHF0lkL7MAC&pg=PA15 |year=2008 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-3336-4 |pages=15–16}}, '''Quote:''' "The YS is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important texts in the Hindu tradition and is recognized as the essential text for understanding classical Yoga".</ref> It is the Indian Yoga text that was most translated in its medieval era into forty Indian languages.{{Sfn|White|2014|p=xvi}}
* The author of a medical text called ''Patanjalatantra''. He is cited and this text is quoted in many medieval health sciences-related texts, and Patanjali is called a medical authority in a number of Sanskrit texts such as ''Yogaratnakara'', ''Yogaratnasamuccaya'' and ''Padarthavijnana''.<ref name=HIML>{{cite book|last=Meulenbeld|first=G. Jan|title=History of Indian Medical Literature, vol. I part 1 |year=1999| isbn= 978-9069801247 |publisher=E. Forsten|location=Groningen|pages=141–44}}</ref> There is a fourth Hindu scholar also named Patanjali, who likely lived in 8th-century CE and wrote a commentary on ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' and this text is called ''Carakavarttika''.<ref name=meulenbeld143>{{cite book |last=Meulenbeld |first=G. Jan |title=History of Indian Medical Literature, vol. I part 1 |year=1999| isbn= 978-9069801247 |publisher=E. Forsten |location=Groningen|pages=143–144, 196}}</ref> According to some modern era Indian scholars such as P.V. Sharma, the two medical scholars named Patanjali may be the same person, but completely different person from the Patanjali who wrote the Sanskrit grammar classic ''Mahābhashya''.<ref name=meulenbeld143/>
* Patanjali is one of the 18 [[siddhar]]s in the Tamil [[siddha]] ([[Shaivism|Shaiva]]) tradition.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Feuerstein |first1=Georg |author-link=Georg Feuerstein |title=Yoga of the 18 Siddhas by Ganapathy |url=http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com/2011/07/yoga-of-the-18-siddhas-by-ganapathy/ |website=Traditional Yoga Studies |access-date=17 March 2019 |archive-date=23 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923121334/http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com/2011/07/yoga-of-the-18-siddhas-by-ganapathy/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Name==
According to [[Monier Monier-Williams]], the word "Patañjali" is a [[Sanskrit compound|compound]]<ref>Monier Monier Williams, [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0600/mw__0615.html Patañjali], Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 582</ref> name from "patta" (Sanskrit: पत, "falling, flying")<ref>Monier Monier Williams, [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0600/mw__0613.html pata], Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, pages 580–581</ref> and "añj" (अञ्ज्, "honor, celebrate, beautiful") or "añjali" (अञ्जलि, "reverence, joining palms of the hand").<ref>Monier Monier Williams, [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0000/mw__0044.html añjali], Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 11</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=B.K.S. Iyengar|title=Yoga: Wisdom & Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqaXqs_M2hcC&pg=PA71|year=2009|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-7566-5953-0|page=71}}</ref> It means, flowing from reverence.

==Life==

Many scholars including [[Louis Renou]] have suggested that the Patañjali who wrote on Yoga was a different person than the Patanjali who wrote a commentary on Panini's grammar.<ref name="Renou">{{cite book|editor=Narendra Nath Law|title=Louis de La Vallée Poussin Memorial Volume|year=1940|location=Calcutta|pages=368–73|author=Louis Renou|chapter=On the Identity of the Two Patañjalis}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sharma|first=P. V.|title=चरक-चिन्तन (चरकसंहिता का ऐतिहासिक अध्ययन) (Carak-cintan. Carakasaṃhitā kā aitihāsik adhyayan)|year=1970|publisher=Caukhamba Saṃskṛt Saṃsthān|location=Vārāṇasī|pages=23–43}}; {{cite book|last=Sharma|first=P. V.|title=History of Medicine in India|year=1992|publisher=Indian National Science Academy|location=New Delhi|pages=181–82}}; {{cite book|last=Tripāṭhī|first=Yogendra Kumār|title=न्यायसूत्र एवं चरक-संहिता|year=1987|publisher=Trividhā Prakāśan|location=Vārāṇasī|pages=26–27}}; {{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/yogasystemofpata00wooduoft |last=Woods| first=James Haughton|title=The Yoga-system of Patañjali: or, the ancient Hindu doctrine of Concentration of Mind Embracing the Mnemonic Rules, called Yoga-sūtras, of Patañjali and the Comment, called Yoga-bhāshya, attributed to Veda-Vyāsa and the Explanation, called Tattvaiçāradī, of Vāchaspati-miçra|year=1914|publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=xv–xvii}}.</ref> In 1914, James Wood proposed that they were the same person.<ref>{{cite book |last=Woods |first=James Haughton |title=he Yoga-system of Patañjali: or, the ancient Hindu doctrine of Concentration of Mind Embracing the Mnemonic Rules, called Yoga-sūtras, of Patañjali and the Comment, called Yoga-bhāshya, attributed to Veda-Vyāsa and the Explanation, called Tattvaiçāradī, of Vāchaspati-miçra|year=1914|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=introduction}}</ref> In 1922, [[Surendranath Dasgupta]] presented a series of arguments to tentatively propose that the famed Grammar text and the Yoga text author may be identical.<ref>{{cite book |author=Surendranath Dasgupta|title=A History of Indian Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC&pg=PA230|year=1992|publisher=Reprint: Motilal Banarsidass (Original: Cambridge University Press, 1922)|isbn=978-81-208-0412-8|pages=230–238}}</ref>

The view that these were likely two different authors is generally accepted,<ref name=lochtefeld506>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch|url-access=registration |year=2002 |publisher =The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8239-3180-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/506 506]–507}}</ref><ref name="White">{{cite book |author=David Gordon White |title=The "Yoga Sutra of Patanjali": A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZGrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34| year=2014| publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn= 978-1-4008-5005-1 |pages=34–38}}</ref> but some Western scholars consider them as a single entity.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Diane Collinson|author2=Kathryn Plant|author3=Robert Wilkinson|title=Fifty Eastern Thinkers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4JCEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-63151-3|pages=81–86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Michael Edwards |title=The Oxford Handbook of Civil Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qeASDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA273 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-933014-0|pages=273–274}}</ref>

Some in the Indian tradition have held that one Patañjali wrote treatises on grammar, medicine and yoga. This has been memorialised in a verse by [[Bhoja]] at the start of his commentary on the Yogasutras called ''Rājamārttanda'' (11th century), and the following verse found in Shivarama's 18th-century text:<ref>{{Cite book | year=1914 | title=The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali | author1=Patañjali | author2=James Haughton Woods (transl.) | publisher=Published for Harvard University by Ginn & Co. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fc4oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP18 | pages=xiv–xv }}</ref>
{{Blockquote|<big>योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां मलं शरीरस्य च वैद्यकेन। योऽपाकरोत्तं प्रवरं मुनीनां पतञ्जलिं प्राञ्जलिरानतोऽस्मि॥</big>}}
{{Blockquote|Yōgēna cittasya padēna vācāṁ malaṁ śarīrasya ca vaidyakēna. Yōpākarōttaṁ pravaraṁ munīnāṁ patañjaliṁ prāñjalirānatōsmi}}
{{Blockquote|English translation: I bow with my hands together to the eminent sage Patañjali, who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine.}}

This tradition is discussed by Meulenbeld<ref name=HIML /> who traces this "relatively late" idea back to [[Bhoja]] (11th century), who was perhaps influenced by a verse by [[Bhartṛhari]] (ca. 5th century) that speaks of an expert in yoga, medicine and grammar who, however, is not named. No known Sanskrit text prior to the 10th century states that the one and the same Patanjali was behind all the three treatises.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chandramouli S. Naikar|title=Patanjali of Yogasutras|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdZWRs3bWpwC&pg=PA13|year=2002|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-1285-5|pages=13–14}}</ref>

The sage Patañjali is said to have attained [[Samadhi]] through yogic meditation at the [[Brahmapureeswarar Temple]] located at [[Thiruppattur, Tiruchirappalli|Tirupattur]], Tamil Nadu, India. Jeeva Samadhi of sage Patanjali, which is now an enclosed meditation hall, can be seen near the [[Brahma]]'s shrine within [[Brahmapureeswarar Temple]] complex.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maharshi Patanjali Siddhar Jeevasamadhi, Brahmapureeswarar temple, Thirupattur, Tamil Nadu |url=https://sannidhi.net/sannidhi/maharshi-patanjali-siddhar-jeevasamadhi-brahmapureeswarar-temple-thirupattur-tamil-nadu/ |website=Sannidhi.net |access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref>

===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>

===Yoga tradition===
{{Quote box
 |quote  = '''Self study'''
<poem>
Practice self study,
to commune with
your chosen divinity.
</poem>
 |source = — Patanjali, ''Yogasutras II.44''<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Carpenter|author2=Ian Whicher|title=Yoga: The Indian Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8M-PAgAAQBAJ |year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79606-8|page=34}}</ref><ref>Stephen Phillips (2009), ''Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy'', Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0231144858}}, pages 151, 209, 215, 263</ref>
 |bgcolor=#FFE0BB
 |align  = right
}}

In the Yoga tradition, Patañjali is a revered name. This Patañjali's oeuvre comprises the sutras about Yoga (''Yogasūtra'') and the commentary integral to the sutras, called the ''Bhāṣya''.  Some consider the sutras and the Bhaṣya to have had different authors, the commentary being ascribed to "an editor" (Skt. "vyāsa").  According to Phillipp Maas, the same person named Patanjali composed the sutras and the ''Bhāṣya'' commentary.<ref>{{cite book|last=Maas|first=Philipp. A.|title=Samādhipāda: das erste Kapitel des Pātañjalayogaśāstra zum ersten Mal kritisch ediert| year= 2006|publisher= Shaker|location= Aachen|isbn=978-3832249878}}</ref>

Radhakrishnan and Moore attribute the text to the grammarian Patañjali, dating it as 2nd century [[BCE]], during the [[Maurya Empire]] (322–185 BCE).{{Sfn|Radhakrishnan|Moore|1957|p=453}} Maas estimates Patañjali's Yogasutra's date to be about 400 CE, based on tracing the commentaries on it published in the first millennium CE.<ref name=maas-sama/> Edwin Bryant, on the other hand, surveys the major commentators in his translation of the ''Yoga Sūtras''.{{sfn|Bryant|2009|p={{page needed|date=December 2021}}}} He states that "most scholars date the text shortly after the turn of the Common Era (circa first to second century), but that it has been placed as early as several centuries before that."{{sfn|Bryant|2009|p=xxxiv}} Bryant concludes that "A number of scholars have dated the ''Yoga Sūtras'' as late as the fourth or fifth century C.E., but these arguments have all been challenged", and late chronology for this Patanjali and his text are problematic.{{sfn|Bryant|2009|p=510, notes 43–44}}

===Tamil Saivite legend===
[[File:Patanjali.jpg|right|upright=0.8|thumb|A garlanded Patanjali statue]]

Regarding his early years, the [[Tamil people|Tamil]] [[Saiva Siddhanta]] tradition from around 10th century AD holds that Patañjali learned Yoga along with seven other disciples from the great Yogic [[Guru]] [[Nandi (Hinduism)|Nandhi Deva]], as stated in [[Tirumular]]'s ''[[Tirumandiram]]'' (Tantra 1). His Samadhi is said to be at [[Rameswaram]] Shiva temple and a shrine for him still exists in the temple.
<blockquote>
''Nandhi arulPetra Nadharai Naadinom''<br />
''Nandhigal Nalvar Siva Yoga MaaMuni''<br />
''Mandru thozhuda Patañjali Vyakramar''<br />
''Endrivar Ennodu (Thirumoolar) Enmarumaame''
</blockquote>
Translation<ref>{{cite book |title=Tirumantiram = Holy hymns : with introduction, synopsis, and notes |language=en |last=Natarajan |first=Balasubrahmanya (trans.) |year=1979 |publisher=ITES Publications |location=Madras |oclc=557998668}}</ref>

<blockquote>
We sought the feet of the [[God]] who graced Nandikesvara<br/>
The [[Four Kumaras|Four Nandhis]], <br/>
Sivayoga Muni, Patañjali, Vyaghrapada and I (Thirumoolar)<br/>
We were these eight.
</blockquote>

==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/>

==Legacy==

Patanjali is honoured with invocations and shrines in some modern schools of yoga, including [[Iyengar Yoga]]<ref name="IY">{{cite web |title=Invocation to Patanjali |url=https://iyengaryoga.org.uk/resources/sounds/ |publisher=Iyengar Yoga (UK) |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> and [[Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga]].<ref name="AVY">{{cite web |url=http://kpjayi.org/the-practice/opening-prayer |title=Sharath Jois |website=Kpjayi.org |access-date=31 August 2019 |archive-date=10 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110042436/http://kpjayi.org/the-practice/opening-prayer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The yoga scholar [[David Gordon White]] writes that [[yoga teacher training]] often includes "mandatory instruction"{{sfn|White|2014|p=1}} in the ''Yoga Sutra''. White calls this "curious to say the least",{{sfn|White|2014|p=1}} since the text is in his view essentially irrelevant<!--"as relevant to yoga as it is taught and practiced today as understanding the workings of a combustion engine is to driving a car"--> to "[[modern postural yoga|yoga as it is taught and practiced today]]",{{sfn|White|2014|p=1}} commenting that the ''Yoga Sutra'' is "nearly devoid of discussion of postures, stretching, and breathing".{{sfn|White|2014|p=4}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Hinduism|India}}
*[[Bhartrihari]]
*''[[Yoga Sutras of Patanjali]]''
*''[[Yoga Vashista]]''
*''[[Yoga Yajnavalkya]]''
*[[Vedanga]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===

* {{citation |last=Bryant |first=Edwin F. |author-link=Edwin Bryant (author) |title=The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation and Commentary |year=2009 |publisher=North Point Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0865477360 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/yogastrasofpataj0000brya }}
* {{cite book | last=Flood |first=Gavin |author-link=Gavin Flood | year=1996 | title=An Introduction to Hinduism | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-43878-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo| url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last=Larson |first=Gerald James |author-link=Gerald James Larson |title=Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning |publisher=Motilal Banarasidass |year=1998 |location=London |ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih2aGLp4d1gC |isbn=978-81-208-0503-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Larson |first=Gerald James |author-link=Gerald James Larson |title=The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Vol. 12 Yoga: India's philosophy of meditation|ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p6pURGdBBmIC |year=2008 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-3349-4 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Radhakrishnan | first1=S. | author-link=Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan | last2=Moore | first2=C. A. | year=1957 | title=A Source Book in Indian Philosophy | publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton, New Jersey | isbn=978-0-691-01958-1 | url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/sourcebookinindi00radh }} Princeton paperback 12th printing, 1989.
* {{Cite book | last=White | first=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White | year=2011 | title=Yoga, Brief History of an Idea (Chapter 1 of "Yoga in practice") | publisher=Princeton University Press |ref=none| url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i9565.pdf}}
* {{Citation | last=White | first=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White | year=2014 | title=The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A Biography | publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691143774}}
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=950}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Patañjali}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3088}}
* {{cite IEP |url-id=yoga/ |title=The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali}}

{{Yoga}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Sanskrit grammarians]]
[[Category:Philosophers of mind]]
[[Category:Sanskrit-language names]]
[[Category:Yoga]]
[[Category:Indian Sanskrit scholars]]