This dating for the PДЃtaГ±jalayogaЕ›ДЃstra was proposed as early as 1914 by Woods and has been accepted widely by academic scholars of the history of Indian philosophical thought. Maas assessed PataГ±jali's PДЃtaГ±jalayogaЕ›ДЃstra's date to be about 400 CE, based on synchronisms between its arguments and those of Vasubandhu, on tracing the history of the commentaries on it published in the first millennium CE, on the opinions of earlier Sanskrit commentators, on the testimony of manuscript colophons and on a review of extant literature.

Furthermore, before the time of Bhoja (11th century), no known text states that the authors were the same. Yet the two works are completely different in subject matter and in the details of language, grammar and vocabulary, as was compellingly pointed out long ago by Louis Renou. The identity of PataГ±jali has been the subject of academic debate because an author of the same name is credited with the authorship of the classic text on Sanskrit grammar named MahДЃbhДЃб№Јya that is firmly debatable to the second century BC. The colophons of manuscripts of the Yoga Sutras attribute the work to Patanjali. It gained prominence as a classic in the 20th century. However, the appropriation - and misappropriation - of the Yoga Sutras and its influence on later systematizations of yoga has been questioned by David Gordon White, who argues that the text fell into relative obscurity for nearly 700 years from the 12th to 19th century, and made a comeback in late 19th century due to the efforts of Swami Vivekananda, the Theosophical Society and others. The contemporary Yoga tradition holds the Yoga Sutras of PataГ±jali to be one of the foundational texts of classical Yoga philosophy. Yet, Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta, as well as Jainism and Buddhism can be seen as representing different manifestations of a broad stream of ascetic traditions in ancient India, in contrast to the Bhakti traditions and Vedic ritualism which were prevalent at the time. It is closely related to Buddhism, incorporating some of its terminology. The Yoga Sutras built on Samkhya-notions of purusha and prakriti, and are often seen as complementary to it. However, its main aim is kaivalya, discernment of purusha, the witness-conscious, as separate from prakriti, the cognitive apparatus, and disentanglement of purusha from prakriti's muddled defilements. The Yoga Sutras are best known for its reference to ashtanga, eight elements of practice culminating in samadhi, concentration of the mind on an object of meditation, namely yama (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration of the mind), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption). The Yoga Sutras was compiled in the early centuries CE, by the sage Patanjali in India who synthesized and organized knowledge about yoga from much older traditions. The Yoga Sutras of PataГ±jali is a collection of Sanskrit sutras ( aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga - 195 sutras (according to VyДЃsa and Krishnamacharya) and 196 sutras (according to other scholars including BKS Iyengar). PataГ±jali Statue (traditional form indicating kundalini or incarnation of Shesha)

Patanjali maharshi