History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.152

v7.c94.152

Dr. Radhakrishnan in 'Indian Philosophy' (vol. II. of the ed. of 1931 pp. 341-42) holds that the author of the Yogasūtra is not later than 300 A. D. Prof. S. N. Das Gupta in 'History of Indian Philosophy' (vol I. pp 226-238) is in favour of the identity of the two Patañjalis and therefore holds that the author of the Yogasūtra flourished in the 2nd century B C.²²⁸⁹ The Sanskrit paper of Pandit R. Rāmamūrtiśarmā in J. of Venkatesvara Institute of Tirupati (vol. II. pp. 289-294) and Mr. Govind Das's brief note in I. A. vol. 44 (for 1915 p. 24) may also be read in this connection. Jacobi and (following him) Keith hold that the Yogasūtra (I. 40), meaning at the most 'the mastery of the Yogin extends from the minutest particle to the greatest magnitude imaginable',²²⁹⁰ refers to the atomic theory of the world. This is a good sample of the way in which even great Western writers read in simple words later theories and try to give late dates to early works. The Upanisads speak of the self as more minute than what is *aṇu* and as greater than the great and the Mahābhārata also uses the same phraseology. There is no convincing reason to suppose that the Yogasūtra refers only to a theory of atoms propounded in the Vaiśeṣika system and is not paraphrasing the words of the Upaniṣad and the Mahābhārata.