The Yoga Sutras Historical Context
PATANJALI — Codifier of The Yoga Sutras SANSKRIT — A sacred language designed to convey subtlety and communicate spiritual insights SUTRA — Summary of teachings About Patanjali Patanjali, who lived “somewhere around 250 BCE” codified (arranged in a systematic collection) the Yoga Sutras. Yoga existed long before Patanjali. It was referred to in The Vedas, estimated to have been written between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago.
Kofi Busia says, “Almost everything about Patanjali is unknown. Even his most basic biographical details are disputed.” Others claim that Patanjali was a revered yogi and scholar of many subjects. Those predecessors thus acquired an exaggerated longevity… Given that the knowledge in Patañjali’s most widely recognized work, the Yoga Sutras, is presented through a series of terse aphorisms, a date for him of somewhere between the fourth and second centuries BCE becomes highly likely… Give or take a century, therefore, somewhere around 250 BCE seems the best bet.
– Kofi Busia PATANJALI’S ROLE Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras, lived somewhere between 500 BCE and 200 CE, a time that possibly overlaps the life of Buddha and a period of intense philosophical activity in India. Patanjali was revered as an outstanding scholar and wise man who wrote significant commentaries on Sanskrit grammar and Ayurveda… The Patanjali yoga tradition is a later expression of older teachings based on the source texts of India known as the Vedas.
