Patanjali
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Patanjali (
He is believed to be an author and compiler of a number of
Identities
Amongst the more important authors called Patañjali are:[4][5][6]
- 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.[7][8][9][10] 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.[11][12]
- The compiler of the Yoga sūtras, a text on Yoga theory and practice,[13] and a notable scholar of Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.[14][15] 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. [16][13][17] The Yogasutras is one of the most important texts in the Indian tradition and the foundation of classical Yoga.[18] It is the Indian Yoga text that was most translated in its medieval era into forty Indian languages.[19]
- 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.[21]
- Patanjali is one of the 18 siddhars in the Tamil siddha (Shaiva) tradition.[22]
Patanjali continues to be honoured with invocations and shrines in some forms of
Name
According to Monier Monier-Williams, the word "Patañjali" is a compound[25] name from "patta" (Sanskrit: पत, "falling, flying")[26] and "añj" (अञ्ज्, "honor, celebrate, beautiful") or "añjali" (अञ्जलि, "reverence, joining palms of the hand").[27][28]
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.[29][30] In 1914, James Wood proposed that they were the same person.[31] 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.[32]
The view that these were likely two different authors is generally accepted,[33][34] but some Western scholars consider them as a single entity.[35][36]
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:[37]
योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां मलं शरीरस्य च वैद्यकेन। योऽपाकरोत्तं प्रवरं मुनीनां पतञ्जलिं प्राञ्जलिरानतोऽस्मि॥
Yōgēna cittasya padēna vācāṁ malaṁ śarīrasya ca vaidyakēna. Yōpākarōttaṁ pravaraṁ munīnāṁ patañjaliṁ prāñjalirānatōsmi
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[20] 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.[38]
The sage Patañjali is said to have attained Samadhi through yogic meditation at the Brahmapureeswarar Temple located at 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.[citation needed]
Grammatical tradition
In the grammatical tradition, Patañjali is believed to have lived in the second century BCE.[39] 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.[7] The dating of Patanjali and his Mahabhasya is established by a combination of evidence, those 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.[40][41] Of the three ancient grammarians, the chronological dating of Patanjali to mid 2nd century B.C. is considered as "reasonably accurate" by mainstream scholarship.[42]
The text influenced Buddhist grammatical literature,[43] as well as memoirs of travellers to India. For example, the Chinese pilgrim I-tsing mentions that the Mahabhasya is studied in India and advanced scholars learn it in three years.[44]
Yoga tradition
Self study
Practice self study,
to commune with
your chosen divinity.
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.[47]
Radhakrishnan and Moore attribute the text to the grammarian Patañjali, dating it as 2nd century
Tamil Saivite legend
Regarding his early years, the
Nandhi arulPetra Nadharai Naadinom
Nandhigal Nalvar Siva Yoga MaaMuni
Mandru thozhuda Patañjali Vyakramar
Endrivar Ennodu (Thirumoolar) Enmarumaame
Translation[52]
We sought the feet of the God who graced Nandikesvara
The Four Nandhis,
Sivayoga Muni, Patañjali, Vyaghrapada and I (Thirumoolar)
We were these eight.
Works
Whether the two works, the Yoga Sutras and the
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
The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali are 196 Indian sutras (aphorisms) 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.[19] 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.[54]
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.[55] Scholars consider the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali formulations as one of the foundations of classical Yoga philosophy of Hinduism.[56][57]
Mahābhāṣya
The
Sphota
Patanjali also defines an early notion of
Patañjali's writings also elaborate some principles of 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).[58] 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 Mahābhāṣya was first critically edited by the 19th-century orientalist Franz Kielhorn, who also developed
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.[59] Nathan McGovern argues Patanjali never used this mongoose-snake analogy.[60]
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.[20][61] 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.[20] 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.[20]
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.[21] 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.[21]
Legacy
Patanjali is honoured with invocations and shrines in some modern schools of yoga, including
See also
- Bhartrihari
- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
- Yoga Vashista
- Yoga Yajnavalkya
- Vedanga
References
- ^ a b "Patanjali | Hindu author, mystic, and philosopher | Britannica". britannica.com. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
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- ^ Raghavan, V.; et al. (1968). New Catalogus Catalogorum. Vol. 11. Madras: University of Madras. pp. 89–90. lists ten separate authors by the name of "Patañjali."
- ^ Ganeri, Jonardon. Artha: Meaning, Oxford University Press 2006, 1.2, p. 12
- ^ Radhakrishnan, S.; Moore, C.A., (1957). A Source Book in Indian Philosophy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, ch. XIII, Yoga, p. 453
- ^ a b Flood 1996
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- ^ Bryant 2009, pp. xxxiv, 510 with notes 43–44.
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- ^ a b White 2014, p. xvi.
- ^ ISBN 978-9069801247.
- ^ ISBN 978-9069801247.
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg. "Yoga of the 18 Siddhas by Ganapathy". Traditional Yoga Studies. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Invocation to Patanjali". Iyengar Yoga (UK). Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Sharath Jois". Kpjayi.org. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ Monier Monier Williams, Patañjali, Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 582
- ^ Monier Monier Williams, pata, Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, pages 580–581
- ^ Monier Monier Williams, añjali, Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 11
- ISBN 978-0-7566-5953-0.
- ^ Louis Renou (1940). "On the Identity of the Two Patañjalis". In Narendra Nath Law (ed.). Louis de La Vallée Poussin Memorial Volume. Calcutta. pp. 368–73.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Sharma, P. V. (1970). चरक-चिन्तन (चरकसंहिता का ऐतिहासिक अध्ययन) (Carak-cintan. Carakasaṃhitā kā aitihāsik adhyayan). Vārāṇasī: Caukhamba Saṃskṛt Saṃsthān. pp. 23–43.; Sharma, P. V. (1992). History of Medicine in India. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy. pp. 181–82.; Tripāṭhī, Yogendra Kumār (1987). न्यायसूत्र एवं चरक-संहिता. Vārāṇasī: Trividhā Prakāśan. pp. 26–27.; Woods, James Haughton (1914). 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. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. xv–xvii..
- ^ Woods, James Haughton (1914). 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. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. introduction.
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- ^ Patañjali; James Haughton Woods (transl.) (1914). The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. Published for Harvard University by Ginn & Co. pp. xiv–xv.
- ISBN 978-81-260-1285-5.
- ^ Mishra, Giridhar (1981). "प्रस्तावना" [Introduction]. अध्यात्मरामायणेऽपाणिनीयप्रयोगाणां विमर्शः [Deliberation on non-Paninian usages in the Adhyatma Ramayana] (PhD) (in Sanskrit). Varanasi, India: Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-90-04-31882-3.
- ISBN 978-81-208-1494-3.
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- ISBN 978-3-447-01706-0.
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- ISBN 978-1-135-79606-8.
- ISBN 978-0231144858, pages 151, 209, 215, 263
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- ^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 453.
- ^ Bryant 2009, p. [page needed].
- ^ Bryant 2009, p. xxxiv.
- ^ Bryant 2009, p. 510, notes 43–44.
- OCLC 557998668.
- ^ The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, ed. James Haughton Woods, 1914, p. xv
- ^ White 2014, p. xvi–xvii.
- ^ White 2014, p. xvi–xvii, 20–23.
- ISBN 978-0791438152, page 49
- ISBN 978-9004212145, page 195
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-562515-8.
- ^ Romila Thapar (1992): Interpreting Early India, Oxford University Press, p. 63
- ^ Nathan McGovern (2019): The Snake and the Mongoose. The Emergence of Identity in Early Indian Religion, Oxford University Press, p. 3
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- ^ White 2014, p. 4.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0865477360
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- ISBN 978-81-208-3349-4.
- ISBN 978-0-691-01958-1. Princeton paperback 12th printing, 1989.
- White, David Gordon (2011). Yoga, Brief History of an Idea (Chapter 1 of "Yoga in practice") (PDF). Princeton University Press.
- ISBN 978-0691143774
External links
- Works by Patanjali at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Patanjali at Internet Archive
- Works by Patanjali at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.