45. Who was Patañjali?
Yoga Studies in Five Minutes - Theodora Wildcroft
Karen O'Brien Kop [+]
King's College London
Karen O’Brien-Kop is Lecturer in Asian Religions at King’s College London and acquired
her PhD from SOAS University of London. She researches philosophy of mind, asceticism, and Sanskrit texts in Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Her books include: Rethinking ‘Classical Yoga’ and Buddhism: Meditation, Metaphors and Materiality (2022, Bloomsbury) and The Philosophy of the Yogasutra (2023, Bloomsbury) and the co-edited volume The Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies (2021, Routledge).
Description
The Yogasūtra, also known as Pātañjalayogaśāstra or Yogaśāstra, was composed around the 2nd century CE. What is unclear, however, is whether the Yogasūtra was the work of one ‘author’ or, more likely, several composers and editors over some centuries, all grouped under the credible name of ‘Patañjali’.