Thread by @shrikanth_krish

Patanjali is one of the most famous Indians from antiquity

The author of the Yoga Sutras - the most famous Yoga text
The commentator on Panini's grammar - the author of Mahabhashya

But was he a single man or many men?

The consensus in academia appears to be that Patanjali the grammarian and commentator on Panini, is an older figure possibly from the centuries prior to the common era, while the author of Yoga Sutras perhaps dates to Gupta times

This is something I read in Edwin Bryant's work

But Indian tradition has long held Patanjali to be a single figure - the man who perfected both Yoga philosophy as well as Grammar.

This is evident from the shloka that features in the great Malwa king Bhoja's commentary on the Yoga Sutras -

योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां।
मलं शरीरस्य च वैद्यकेन॥
योऽपाकरोत्तं प्रवरं मुनीनां।
पतञ्जलिं प्राञ्जलिरानतोऽस्मि॥

आबहु पुरुषाकारं।
शङ्खचक्रासि धारिणं॥
सहस्र शीरसं श्वेतं।
प्रनमामि पतञ्जलिम्॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॐ॥

I grew up listening to this shloka, as it was always sung at the beginning of the Yoga class I attended as a kid

At that point I didnt know this came from Bhoja's work - the 11th century king

Here's the translation

"Yoga for bringing quietness of mind;
Grammar for eliciting effectiveness of speech
And the healing arts for removing the ailments of the body

That most illustrious of sages who bestowed all these things
Patañjali to whom I make reverential obeisance."

"Spirit rendered into human form
Bearing the conch, the discus and the sword
Adorned with the cobra of one thousand heads—
I bow down before Patañjali.
Om shanti shanti shanti"

So this is interesting.

We are not sure if Bhoja composed this or he is quoting someone. But clearly in this invocatory verse used by Bhoja, obeisance is paid to Patanjali who has three great distinctions -

The master of Yoga
The elucidator of Grammar
The Ayurvedic expert

While we are familiar with the texts associated with the first two - Patanjali Yoga Sutras, and mahAbhAshya, we are not familiar with any Ayurvedic text associated with Patanjali (at least I am not)

And this verse is unequivocal in associating all three with the same figure

Then it follows up by associating the sage with the Lord Vishnu himself and in particular the Adisesha (the serpent guarding Vishnu in Vaikunta.

So Patanjali suddenly becomes this quasi-divine sage :)

One is not sure what to subscribe to

But clearly this was a great man who captured the imagination of many generations of learned Indians

Perhaps there were more than 1 Patanjali. But tradition chose to treat them as one. Either through historical memory or conscious conflation