PATAJALI

flourished 2nd century BC, or 5th century AD also called Gonardiya, or Gonikaputra author or one of the authors of two great Hindu classics: the first, Yoga-sutras, a categorization of Yogic thought arranged in four volumes with the titles Psychic Power, Practice of Yoga, Samadhi (transcendental state induced by trance), and Kaivalya (liberation); and the second, the Mahabhasya (Great Commentary), which is both a defense of the grammarian Panini against his chief critic and detractor Katyayana and a refutation of some of Panini's aphorisms. The Yoga-sutras seems to span several centuries, the first three volumes apparently written in the 2nd century BC and the last book in the 5th century AD. Authorities therefore tend to credit more than one author writing under this name, although there is wide variance in opinion. There is a possibility that many men used this name, as it was used by the authors of a number of other works on such diverse subjects as medicine, metrics, music, and alchemy. The name itself is obviously a pseudonym, since it denotes no caste and implies divine descent from the Great Serpent, Sesa.