Assess the Importance of the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra in the History of Yoga
James Dylan Russell, Graduate Student, SOAS, May 2022
jamesrussellyoga.com
Published 29th August 2022 - Updated 2nd March 2024
Acccessed: https://www.jamesrussellyoga.com/blog/was-patanjali-important-in-the-history-of-yoga
Assess the importance of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in the history of yoga
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra - 'Patañjali's Authoritative Exposition of Yoga' is a Sanskrit treatise
composed by Patañjali in approximately 400 CE (Maas 2020:1). The Pātañjalayogaśāstra is
the foundational text for the yoga darśana (viewpoint) of Indian philosophy, and
Pātañjalayoga has become synonymous with 'Classical Yoga'. The Pātañjalayogaśāstra
comprises two layers of text: one consisting of 195 aphorisms commonly referred to as
yogasūtras, or the Yoga Sūtra, and another consisting of an explanatory auto-commentary.
The yogasūtras and their auto-commentary are often presented as two separate works, with
the commentary titled the Yogabhāṣya and attributed to an author named Vyāsa. However,
Philipp Maas (2013) has demonstrated convincingly that both layers were, in fact, authored
by Patañjali and constitute one unified text. This essay will, therefore, treat the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra as a whole and will investigate its composition and status in premodern
India. The Pātañjalayogaśāstra's reception will be examined, as well as its influence on other
yogic traditions. In this way, the significance of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra within the broad
context of yoga's history will be assessed.
Mythologisation
Patañjali was a Brahmin who lived in India between 350 and 450 CE, possibly in the west of
the province today known as Madhya Pradesh (Maas 2020:1). Patañjali's command of
Sanskrit and philosophy suggests that he was a scholar rather than a yogi. In the centuries
following his death, Patañjali became credited with the authorship of two additional texts he
could not possibly have composed: the Vyākaraṇa-mahābhāṣya, a second-century work on
grammar and the Carakasaṃhitā, a first-century work on Āyurveda. Thus, in the conclusion
of Śaṅkara's eighth-century1 Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa, Patañjali is lauded as a guru of
yoga, grammar and medicine (Bühnemann 2018:580). The Naṭarāja Temple in Chidambaram
ascribes five additional texts to Patañjali, and twelfth-century statues at the temple depict the
author as a demi-serpentine nāga and devotee of Śiva (Bühnemann 2018:582). The
mythologisation of Patañjali has become enshrined within his quasi-historical legacy and has
continued until the present day. In the 1980s, the influential haṭhayoga teacher T.
Krishnamacharya linked Patañjali with the snake god, Ādiśeṣa, and it has become a custom
of Krishnamacharya's lineage to commence yoga practice by invoking Ādiśeṣa and reciting
1
Legget 2017:1.
1
Śaṅkara's eighth-century homage (Bühnemann 2018:578). Patañjali's wider acclaim, beyond
the yoga tradition, is attested by India Post's 2009 release of a commemorative stamp
depicting Patañjali as an authority on yoga, grammar and Āyurveda.
Hybridity
Patañjali was primarily influenced by a strand of Sāṃkhya philosophy, with similarities to
the now-extinct Ṣaṣṭitantra2 (Maas 2017). The Pātañjalayogaśāstra reveals Patañjali's
additional familiarity with Mīmāṃsā and Vaiśeṣika philosophies, as well the influence of the
early Purāṇas (Maas 2020:9-10). The influence of the Mahābhārata is also demonstrated in
Patañjali's advocacy of mental control through abhyāsa (practice) and vairāgya (detachment)
(1.12), which echoes Bhagavadgītā 6.35.3 Patañjali's systematisation of aṣṭāṅgayoga (2.29)
may also be inspired by the Mahābhārata, which alludes to an eightfold yoga in the Vedas
(12.304.7) and posits two further eightfold doctrines, containing elements that resemble parts
of Patañjali's aṣṭāṅgayoga (Mallinson and Singleton 2017:8). It is noteworthy that Patañjali's
third auxiliary of aṣṭāṅgayoga is the first textual source to list a variety of twelve meditative
postures (1.46).
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra is also indebted to Buddhism and contains numerous Buddhist
Hybrid Sanskrit terms (Wujastyk 2018). Patañjali's four stages of mental absorption (1.17)
and four means of realisation (1.20) both closely resemble Buddhist soteriology, and
Patañjali's views on suffering (2.15 - 2.17) echo the Buddha's four noble truths (Bronkhorst
2009:188, Maas 2020:9, Dasgupta 1922:237). Furthermore, as demonstrated by Maas (2014)
and O'Brien-Kop (2018), the Pātañjalayogaśāstra is informed by the fourth-century4
Buddhist work, the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. Jain influences are present too, and Patañjali's
yamas (restraints) comprise five ethical precepts (2.30), which mirror the five mahāvratas
(great vows) of Jainism (Ācārāṅga-sūtra 2.15). Patañjali's four realms of rebirth (3.18) are
identical to the gatis of Jain cosmology (Kalpa-sūtra 121), and Patañjali's four categories of
karma (4.7) are similar to the Jain leśyās (Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 34.1-34.9). The
Pātañjalayogaśāstra is thus a synthesis of ideas drawn from earlier sources and is an
example of Brahmanical appropriation of Śramaṇa teachings, which are repurposed within a
2
As summarised in the fifth-century Sāṃkhyakārikā (Maas 2017).
The Bhagavadgītā forms a part of the Bhīṣma parvan of the Mahābhārata.
4
Wujastyk estimates 350 - 430 CE (2018:38). Maas' 2020 estimation of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra at 400 CE,
means the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya is approximately 350-400 CE.
3
2
Sāṃkhya paradigm. T.S. Rukmani has noted: 'The greatness of Patañjali lies in the skill with
which he fitted these various traditions into a framework having as its ultimate goal kaivalya
or liberation' (Rukmani 1981:213).
Initial Reception
From the fifth century onwards, references to the Pātañjalayogaśāstra occur in diverse
literary sources, e.g., a fifth-century commentary of Bhartṛhari's Vākyapadīya and the sixthcentury Viṣṇudharmottara-purāṇa (Freschi and Maas 2017:55-56, White 2019:35).
Patañjali's Yogaśāstra also became known within Buddhist circles, and the fifth-century
author Buddhaghosa is chronicled as following Patañjali before his conversion to Buddhism
(Freschi and Maas 2017:56). Although initially well received by Sāṃkhya authors such as
Gauḍapāda and Māṭhara, the Pātañjalayogaśāstra subsequently attracted critique from
authors with alternative philosophical affiliations, such as Vātsyāyana and Bhartṛhari (Maas
2020:10). By the ninth century, dissemination of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra had moved beyond
specialist philosophical circles. The Vaiṣṇava poet Māgha's epic poem, the Śiśupālavadha
(c.750 CE),5 makes several references to the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, as does the Śaiva poet
Ratnākara in his Haravijaya (c.830 CE).6 These references demonstrate the reception of the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra within both Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava milieus. In the tenth century,
Vallabhadeva's Saṃdehaviṣauṣadhi acknowledges and expands on the Śiśupālavadha's
earlier references, suggesting widespread recognition of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra during this
period (Freschi and Maas 2017:47-56). Phillip Maas has concluded: 'This indicates the PYŚ
[Pātañjalayogaśāstra] was known as an authoritative work on yoga even outside yogic or
philosophical circles for several centuries after its composition' (Freschi and Maas 2017:55).
The Yoga School
Pātañjalayoga is classified as one of the six darśanas (viewpoints) of Indic philosophy. Each
darśana denotes an intellectual school with a commentarial tradition based upon a
foundational sūtra text. However, the colophon of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra refers to itself as
a work on Sāṃkhya, indicating that initially, yoga was considered a subsidiary of Sāṃkhya
rather than a distinct philosophical school. Consequently, Haribhadra's eighth-century7
Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya does not include a yoga school within its taxonomy of six darśanas.
5
Freschi and Maas 2017: Maas, 50.
ibid.
7
Nicholson 2014:81.
6
3
Likewise, Mādhava's fourteenth-century8 Sarvasiddhāntasaṃgraha also does not feature a
yoga school. Mādhava does, however, distinguish between atheistic and theistic Sāṃkhya
and aligns Pātañjalayoga with the latter (Nicholson 2014: 82). The twelfth-century
Sarvasiddhāntasaṃgraha does classify Pātañjalayoga as a darśana and the twelfth-century
Sarvadarśanakaumudi9 and the sixteenth to seventeenth-century10 Sāṃkhyapravacanabhāṣya
also both acknowledge Pātañjalayoga as a philosophical school (Mallinson and Singleton
2017:xxxvi, Nicholson 2014:81-82). The classification of Pātañjalayoga as a distinct
philosophical school is thus a comparatively recent and contested development. Therefore,
the current canonical status of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra does not necessarily indicate its
recognition as a foundational philosophical text in premodern India.
Irrespective of Pātañjalayoga's autonomy from Sāṃkhya, numerous authors composed
commentaries on the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, of which these have been the most influential:
•
The Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa - Śaṅkara (c.700 CE)11
•
The Tattvavaiśāradī - Vāscaspatimiśra (c. 950CE)12
•
The Rājamārtaṇḍa - Bhojarāja (c.11th century)13
•
Yogavārttika - Vijñānabhikṣu (c.16th century)14
With the exception of Bhojarāja, all the leading commentators position themselves as
outsiders to Patañjali's system rather than advocates of Pātañjalayoga. Śaṅkara has been
linked, albeit inconclusively, to the Advaita Vedāntin, Śaṅkarācārya (Maas 2020:11).
Vāscaspatimiśra composed commentaries on numerous philosophical treatises and was able
to argue convincingly from a variety of conflicting standpoints (Burley 2007:85,86).
Vijñānabhikṣu authored commentaries on several darśanas and attempted to reconcile their
views through the lens of Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy (White 2019:45). Only Bhojarāja was an
actual proponent of Pātañjalayoga. Commentaries on the Pātañjalayogaśāstra were thus
produced predominantly by philosophical specialists rather than members of an actual yoga
8
ibid.:82.
Vidyabhusana 2016: i-vii.
10
Nicholson 2014:6.
11
Legget 1990:1.
12
Maas 2020:11.
13
ibid.
14
ibid.
9
4
school. Therefore, the proliferation of commentaries could be the result of scholarly tradition
and does not necessarily reflect the significance attributed to the text by those actively
engaged in yoga practice.
Transcultural adaptation
In the eleventh century, the Perso-Muslim scholar Al-Bīrūnī composed an Arabic translation
of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra titled the Kitāb Pātanğal (c.1017-1030 CE),15 which he later
references in his Kitāb al-Hind (1030 CE).16 Rather than a purely literal translation, the Kitāb
Pātanğal is a work of naqlu - a term denoting the transmission of ideas from the vernacular
of one language to another (Maas & Verdon 2018:286). Al-Bīrūnī takes many liberties with
the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, which he furnishes with a rich new dialogue, replete with Arabic
metaphor. Al-Bīrūnī rejects the Sāṃkhya-orientated duality of the original text and equates
liberation with absorption in god. The Kitāb Pātanğal is a creative elaboration on the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra, which breathes new life into many of Patañjali's dry aphorisms. The
impact of the Kitāb Pātanğal remains uncertain. Georg Feuerstein states that the work 'may
well have had a lasting influence on the development of Persian mysticism' (2008:235).
However, Carl Ernst points out that both the Kitāb al-Hind and the Kitāb Pātanğal survive
today in single manuscripts, indicating their limited readership (Ernst 2016:405).
Nonetheless, the Kitāb Pātanğal is the first known translation of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra
into a second language and is the product of an early encounter between yoga and Islam.
Additionally, the Kitāb Pātanğal demonstrates the Pātañjalayogaśāstra's potential for
adaptation and transcultural dissemination.
The fifteenth-century Dharma Pātañjala (1450 CE)17 is an Indo-Javanese treatise containing
a presentation of Pātañjalayoga, which shares many details with Al-Bīrūnī's work,
suggesting that both authors may have worked from a similar source commentary. The
existence of the Dharma Pātañjala establishes that by the fifteenth century, knowledge of the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra had extended as far as Southeast Asia (Acri 2016:260). In the sixteenth
century, the A'in-i Akbari ('Institutes of Akbar') by Abu al-Fazl contains a section on yoga
that includes a synopsis of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra. Al-Fazl combined the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra with haṭhayoga and transposed the text into an Islamic idiom (White
15
Maas & Verdon 2018:286.
Maas & Verdon 2018:286.
17
Acri 2016:260.
16
5
2019:149-150). Abu al-Fazl's reference to the Pātañjalayogaśāstra demonstrates the text's
continued recognition in sixteenth-century Mughal India as a credible source of information
on yoga.
Tantra and haṭhayoga
From the sixth to thirteenth century, tantra emerged as India's dominant religion,
incorporating within its vast praxis, mantra, ritual and yoga. Tantric yoga typically adopts a
framework of six auxiliaries and involves methods of interior visualisation, which share some
general concerns with Pātañjalayoga, such as contemplation and breath control. However,
tantric yoga remains essentially distinct from Pātañjalayoga. As David Gordon White has
noted: 'very few tantric schools or sects have ever explicitly linked their theory or practice to
Patañjali's legacy' (White 2019:6). Patañjali's influence is, however, discernible in some early
haṭhayoga manuals such as the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (c.13th century),18 Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā
(c.13th century)19 and Yogayājñavalkya (c.13th -14th century).20 The authors of these works
adopt the framework of eight auxiliaries, expand on the yamas and niyamas and overlay the
remaining auxiliaries with tantra and haṭhayoga practices. All three texts equate samādhi
with absorption in Brahman.21
Later haṭhayoga manuals continue to adopt the eightfold formula, and Hargreaves and Birch
(2016) have located numerous examples of quotations from the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in the
Yogacintāmaṇi (c.16th century)22 and the Yuktabhavadeva (c.17th century).23 Hargreaves and
Birch conclude: 'In fact, generally speaking, the eightfold system of Aṣṭāṅgayoga became the
dominant paradigm for the majority of yoga texts composed after the fifteenth century'
(Hargreaves and Birch 2016:9).
Sundaradeva's eighteenth-century24 Haṭhatattvakaumudī contains numerous references to
Pātañjalayoga and also adopts eight auxiliaries, stating that 'aṣṭāṅgayoga should be
considered in the mainstream of knowledge itself' (1.25.2, Gharote 2007:9). Sundaradeva
18
Mallinson and Singleton 2017:xl.
ibid.
20
Birch 2018:7.
21
E.g. Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā 4.61.
22
Hargreaves and Birch 2016:5.
23
ibid.:9.
24
Mallinson and Singleton 2017:xl.
19
6
demonstrates extensive knowledge of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra and paraphrases Patañjali in
numerous verses. The Haṭhatattvakaumudi's conceptions of saṃprajñāta, asaṃprajñāta, and
dharmamegha samādhi25 all borrow extensively from the Pātañjalayogaśāstra and
Sundaradeva directly quotes from the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in his summaries of pratipakṣabhāvana (6.5)26 and dhyāna (49.2-3).27
Brahmānanda's nineteenth-century28 Jyotsnā29 commentary on the Haṭhapradīpikā is also
indebted to the Pātañjalayogaśāstra. Brahmānanda borrows numerous concepts from
Patañjali, e.g. the five kleśas (3.14) originate in Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.5, and the vāsanās
(4.22) originate in Pātañjalayogaśāstra 4.8. The fourth chapter makes multiple references to
Patañjali, and nine verses contain direct quotations from the Pātañjalayogaśāstra.30 It is
noteworthy that Brahmānanda equates samādhi with Patañjali's definition of yoga,
'samādheścittavṛttinirodhasya' (4.63). Brahmānanda later similarly equates rājayoga with the
controlling of all the mental vṛittis: 'rājayogasya manasaḥ sarvavṛttinirodha-lakṣaṇasya'
(4.102). This semantic parallel is an early correlation between rājayoga and Pātañjalayoga.
Jainism
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra also helped to shape the development of Jainayoga. Haribhadra's
eighth-century Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya (c. 750 CE)31 expounds an eightfold yoga that links the
guṇasthāna stages of Jainism with Patañjali's aṣṭāṅgayoga. Haribhadra sought to attract
Jainayoga to a wider audience by locating it within a well-established Brahmanical
intellectual tradition. Śubhacandra's eleventh-century32 Jñānārṇava and Hemacandra's
Yogaśāstra (c.1150 CE)33 are also both influenced by Patañjali and, in the seventeenth
century, Yaśovijaya composed a Jaina commentary on the Pātañjalayogaśāstra (Chapple
25
The Haṭhatatvakaumudi:49.5, 49.23-24, 49.40.
This mirrors Pātañjalayogaśāstra 2.33.
27
This verse quotes Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.2.
28
Mallinson and Singleton 2017:95.
29
Jyotsnā 2.48 advises prostration before Ādiśeṣa, but does not explicitly mention Patañjali. This may be a
source for Krishnamacharya's reference in Yoga Makaranda (Krishnamacharya 2011[1934]).
30
Jyotsnā (J) 4.1= Pātañjalayogaśāstra (PYŚ) 1.26, J 4.6 = unknown, J 4.7 = PYŚ 1.51, J 4.12 = PYŚ 1.2, J
4.15 = PYŚ 1.49, J 4.93 = PYŚ 3.2, J 4.107 = PYŚ 1.3, J 4.108 = PYŚ 4.30, J 4.114 = PYS 2.2 and 1.23.
31
Chapple 2017:126.
32
ibid.:22.
33
ibid.:126.
26
7
2017:27). In the modern period, Prekṣā meditation is a popular form of Jainayoga that
combines Patañjali's aṣṭāṅgayoga with several other doctrines.
Modernity
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra first received attention from European scholars in the early
nineteenth century and was discussed in essays by William Ward (1810) and Thomas
Colebrook (1823). David Gordon White has credited Colebrook with rediscovering the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra, which White claims had fallen into obscurity for several hundred years:
'The yogasūtra had for all intents and purposes been lost until Colebrooke found it' (White
2019:60). White's claim is primarily based on early Indologists' difficulty in locating pandits
familiar with Patañjali and an alleged scarcity of Pātañjalayogaśāstra manuscripts at this
time (White 2019: 73,77). However, White's assertion is contradicted by the fact that Indian
scholars were still producing commentaries on the Pātañjalayogaśāstra at this time, e.g. the
eighteenth-century Yogasudhākara and the nineteenth-century Patañjalicarita (Burley
2012:31). As noted by Seth Powell, the Descriptive Catalogue of Yoga Manuscripts
(Kaivalyadham 2005) contains information on several hundred Pātañjalayogaśāstra related
manuscripts composed between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries (Powell 2018:353).
Furthermore, Phillip Maas has located over 120 Pātañjalayogaśāstra manuscripts copied
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Maas 2020:2), affirming the text's continued
relevance during this period.
The first English translation of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra was authored by James Ballantyne,
initially as a partial translation in 1852. Later, having been completed by Govinda Shastri
Deva in 1871 (White 2019:92), the work was published in its entirety by the Theosophical
Society in 1885. The Theosophists championed the Pātañjalayogaśāstra as authoritative
Indian spirituality and generated considerable interest in India as well as Europe and the
U.S.A. Rājendralāl Mitra of the Asiatic Society also published a translation of the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra in 1883, which included a translation of Bhojarāja's commentary. The
most influential work on Patañjali at this time was undoubtedly Swāmi Vivekānanda's Rāja
Yoga (1896). Vivekānanda uncoupled the yogasūtras from their auto-commentary, allowing
him to reinterpret Patañjali's broad aphorisms more creatively. Scores of translators would
later employ this same formula in the twentieth century. Vivekānanda's self-styled
commentary projects Pātañjalayoga through the lens of Neo-Vedanta, fused with psychology
and esoterica. Vivekānanda unequivocally presents Pātañjalayoga as the definitive and
8
superlative form of yoga. Rāja Yoga was wildly successful, and its first edition sold out
within the first year (De Michelis 2008:125). It is the first work on Indian philosophy to
receive widespread international interest and has been described by Elizabeth De Michelis as
'the first fully-fledged formulation of Modern Yoga' (De Michelis 2008:50).
Early twentieth-century publications from Aleister Crowley (1913,1939) and Ernest Woods
(1932) on Pātañjalayoga reflect the subsequent popularity of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in
Western occultism. The Pātañjalayogaśāstra also received attention from academic authors
at this time, most notably James Haughton Woods (1914). Meanwhile, in India, T.
Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (1934) linked haṭhayoga with aṣṭāṅgayoga in a similar
vein as earlier works such as the Yogayājñavalkya. Two of Krishnamacharya's students,
B.K.S. Iyengar and K.Pattabhi Jois, would later go on to popularise haṭhayoga linked with
Pātañjalayoga. B.K.S. Iyengar revered Patañjali as the "Father of Yoga" (Iyengar 1966), and
his postural yoga system includes the mandatory chanting of Śaṅkara's homage to Patañjali.
Iyengar later published a translation of the Yogasūtras in 1994 and, in 2004, inaugurated a
shrine to Patañjali at Bellur, Karnataka. K.P. Pattabhi Jois' Yoga Mala (1962) combines
haṭhayoga with three auxiliaries of aṣṭāṅgayoga, and Jois' postural system later became
popularly known as 'Ashtanga Vinyasa'. In the 1960s, the Beatles' association with Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi generated a fresh wave of interest in yoga, which coincided with the
burgeoning growth in modern postural yoga led by teachers such as B.K.S. Iyengar. By the
late twentieth and early twenty-first century, scores of translations and adaptations of the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra had been produced, largely adopting a creative approach not unlike that
of Al-Bīrūnī in the tenth century and Vivekānanda a thousand years later. The
Pātañjalayogaśāstra has now been translated into over 40 languages (White 2019:xvi) and,
in contemporary globalised yoga, is regarded as the authoritative text for the philosophy of
yoga.
Conclusion
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra is primarily a collation of earlier works from Brāhmaṇa and
Śramaṇa milieus. Patañjali's distinctive contribution to yoga is his synthesis of disparate
teachings through a filter of salvific dualism. Doctrines of Jainism, Buddhism and Sāṃkhya
combine in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra to become indelibly associated with yoga. The
Pātañjalayogaśāstra was initially well-received, and numerous literary references between
the fifth and eleventh centuries attest to its status as an esteemed work on yoga. The
9
Pātañjalayogaśāstra was also translated into Arabic and Old Javanese, indicating its
widespread dissemination.
The Pātañjalayogaśāstra was not, however, considered the foundational text of a
philosophical school until at least the twelfth century - suggesting both its close association
with the Sāṃkhya school and its subordinate position to the foundational texts of rival
philosophical schools. Although a commentarial tradition evolved, most commentaries were
authored by scholars rather than yogis or proponents of Patañjali's system. From the sixth to
thirteenth centuries, the religious landscape in South Asia became dominated by tantra, in
which yogic methods remained distinct from Pātañjalayoga. However, the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra did contribute to the development of Jainayoga at this time, as Jain
authors sought to attract followers through assimilating ideas from the Pātañjalayogaśāstra.
Pātañjalayoga also influenced haṭhayoga, as evinced by numerous works which adopt
aṣṭāṅgayoga. Although Patañjali's practical systematisation of aṣṭāṅgayoga has been highly
influential, particularly within haṭhayoga, other theoretical elements of the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra have proven to be less enduring. Patañjali's dualistic soteriology has
often been omitted in favour of nondual Vedantic conceptions of liberation.
In the modern period, the Pātañjalayogaśāstra directly influenced the early formulation of
Modern Yoga. The subsequent global popularisation of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in the
twentieth century, combined with Patañjali's mythologisation, has resulted in the
Pātañjalayogaśāstra enjoying a prestige far beyond its stature in premodern India.
Nonetheless, the fact that one short text comprising 195 aphorisms and a commentary is still
relevant after 1600 years attests to its enduring significance. Having been published globally
and translated into more than 40 languages, millions of people continue to glean meaning and
draw fresh inspiration from this enigmatic yet incredibly versatile text.
10
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