A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1343

c5.1343

PATANJALI. The founder of the Yoga philosophy. (See Darsana.) The author of the Mahā-bhāshya, a celebrated commentary on the Grammar of Pānini, and a defence of that work against the criticisms of Kātyāyana. He is supposed to have written about 200 B.C. Rām Krishna Gopāl Bhandarkar, a late inquirer, says, “He probably wrote the third chapter of his Bhāshya between 144 and 142 B.C.” Weber, however, makes his date to be 25 A.D. He is also called Gonardīya and Gonikā-putra. A legend accounting for his name represents that he fell as a small snake from heaven into the palm of Pāṇini (pata, ‘fallen;’ anjali, ‘palm’).