Yoga Sutras

History glossary

Topic: Post-Mauryan India: Shungas to Kushanas · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"

Meaning

The Yoga Sutras are a Sanskrit text of short sayings called sutras. They are traditionally said to have been compiled by Patanjali, and the NCERT places them in the Shunga period (c. 185–73 BCE). The text puts the ideas and practice of Yoga into a clear order. It sets out the eight limbs (ashtanga yoga) as steps towards controlling the mind.

It matters because it became the basic text of the Yoga school, one of the six orthodox (astika) schools of Indian philosophy. It is also a key example of Sanskrit becoming the language of philosophy in the post-Mauryan age.

Explanation

Background: why this text appeared in the Shunga age

  • Pushyamitra Shunga founded the Shunga dynasty in about 185 BCE after killing Brihadratha, the last Mauryan ruler. [2]
  • Under the Shungas there was a revival of Vedic rituals, such as the ashvamedha yajna (horse sacrifice). Royal support helped Brahmanical learning grow.
  • Sanskrit became a preferred language of philosophy and literature. Earlier, Prakrit had been the main language of royal inscriptions, as in Ashoka's edicts.
  • Buddhism, Jainism and other schools kept growing at the same time. The Yoga Sutras belong to this busy, many-sided world of ideas.

Main features: what the text says

  • Form: It is written as sutras. A sutra is a very short, packed saying that is easy to memorise. Teachers explained these sayings in longer commentaries.
  • Aim: The text says yoga means chitta-vritti-nirodha. In simple words, this is stopping the restless movements of the mind.
  • Four books (padas): Samadhi, Sadhana, Vibhuti and Kaivalya. The final goal is kaivalya (freedom, when the self stands apart from matter).

  • The eight limbs (ashtanga yoga): 1. Yama: rules for how to treat others, e.g. ahimsa (non-violence) and truthfulness 2. Niyama: personal discipline, e.g. cleanliness and contentment 3. Asana: a steady sitting posture 4. Pranayama: control of the breath 5. Pratyahara: pulling the senses back from outside things 6. Dharana: fixing the mind on one point 7. Dhyana: meditation, an unbroken flow of attention 8. Samadhi: complete absorption

  • Key point: In the Yoga Sutras, asana is only one of the eight limbs. The text is mainly about the mind, not physical exercise.

How the text grew over time

  • Britannica's view: the Yoga-sutras seem to have been written over several centuries. [3]
  • The first three books date to about the 2nd century BCE. [3]

  • The last book dates to about the 5th century CE. [3]

  • So the text may have grown in layers, and not been written all at once.

  • For the exam: keep the NCERT link of Patanjali, Yoga Sutras and the Shunga period.

Results and legacy

  • It became the classical foundation of Yoga philosophy. Later teachers wrote their commentaries on it.
  • It showed Sanskrit being used for systematic philosophy, which fits the wider rise of Sanskrit in this age.
  • Its ideas of self-control, such as ahimsa, overlap with Buddhist and Jain ethics. This is one more sign that the schools of the period shared ideas and did not simply compete.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: Post-Mauryan India, Shunga dynasty (c. 185–73 BCE). [2]
  • Region: the Shunga kingdom in north and central India.
  • Key person: Patanjali. Britannica dates him to the 2nd century BCE. Another view puts a Patanjali in the 5th century CE. [3]
  • Same name, other work: Patanjali is also credited with the Mahabhashya ("Great Commentary"). It defends the grammarian Panini against his critic Katyayana. [3] Scholars debate whether the grammarian and the yoga teacher were the same person.
  • How we know:
  • The text itself, passed down in Sanskrit.
  • The NCERT chapter, which links the Yoga Sutras to the Shunga period.

  • Scholarly study of the text, which gives the multi-century dating. [3]

  • There is no inscription or archaeological find that dates the Yoga Sutras directly. Its date is worked out from the text and from tradition, so it remains approximate.

Don't confuse with

  • Mahabhashya: also credited to Patanjali, but it is a work on grammar, a commentary that defends Panini. [3] The Yoga Sutras are about philosophy and mind-control.
  • Ashtadhyayi: Panini's Sanskrit grammar, which the Mahabhashya comments on. Do not mix up Ashtadhyayi ("eight chapters") with ashtanga ("eight limbs") of yoga.
  • Buddha's Eightfold Path (Ashtangika Marga): a Buddhist path with eight parts, from right view to right concentration. Patanjali's ashtanga yoga belongs to the orthodox Yoga school.
  • Asana-based modern yoga: in the Yoga Sutras, asana is just one of eight limbs and simply means a steady seat. The final aim is samadhi and kaivalya, not fitness.

Prelims Hooks

  • Patanjali → Yoga Sutras (NCERT places it in the Shunga period).
  • Patanjali → Mahabhashya, a defence of Panini against Katyayana. [3]
  • The eight limbs, in order: yama → niyama → asana → pranayama → pratyahara → dharana → dhyana → samadhi.
  • Britannica dates Patanjali to the 2nd century BCE. The Yoga-sutras' first three books are dated to about the 2nd century BCE and the last book to about the 5th century CE. [3]
  • Trap: the Yoga Sutras were written in Sanskrit, not Prakrit. Sanskrit became the preferred language of philosophy in the Shunga age.
  • Trap: the Shunga dynasty was founded by Pushyamitra Shunga (c. 185 BCE), not by Patanjali. [2]

Mains Points

  • Revival is not replacement.
  • The Shunga age saw a Vedic revival and a classical Yoga text in Sanskrit.
  • Buddhist art was being made at Bharhut in the same century.

  • Use the Yoga Sutras to argue that thought in this age was layered and shared. Ahimsa and meditation appear in Yoga, Buddhism and Jainism alike.

  • A text built over centuries.

  • The view that the Yoga-sutras span the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE [3] shows that early Indian texts often grew in layers through teacher and student.

  • This is why dating ancient works needs care. It also explains why the identity of "Patanjali" is still debated.

  • Living heritage.

  • The Yoga Sutras are the classical root of a practice that India now presents to the world. For example, the UN declared 21 June as the International Day of Yoga in 2014.
  • In a GS-I answer on Indian heritage, use this to show how an ancient system of thought continues as soft power today.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation" (primary)
  2. 2Shunga dynastybritannica.com · tier 3
  3. 3Patanjali | Yoga Sutras, Sanskrit Grammarianbritannica.com · tier 3