w examples I may refer
to the gu@na theory (1. 2. 64, 4. 1. 3), the Sa@mkhya dictum of ex
nihilo nihil fit (1. 1. 56), the ideas of time (2. 2. 5, 3. 2. 123), the
idea of the return of similars into similars (1. 1. 50), the idea of
change _vikara_ as production of new qualities _gu@nantaradhana_
(5. 1. 2, 5. 1. 3) and the distinction of indriya and Buddhi (3. 3. 133).
We may add to it that the _Mahabha@sya_ agrees with the Yoga
view as regards the Spho@tavada, which is not held in common
by any other school of Indian philosophy. There is also this
external similarity, that unlike any other work they both begin
their works in a similar manner (_atha yoganus'asanam_ and
_athas'abdanus'asanam_)--"now begins the compilation of the
instructions on Yoga" (_Yoga sutra_)--and "now begins the compilation
of the instructions of words" (_Mahabha@sya_).

It may further be noticed in this connection that the arguments

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[Footnote 1: Patanjali's _Mahabha@sya,_ 1. 2. 64.]

233

which Professor Woods has adduced to assign the date of the
_Yoga sutra_ between 300 and 500 A.D. are not at all conclusive,
as they stand on a weak basis; for firstly if the two Patanjalis
cannot be identified, it does not follow that the editor of the
Yoga should necessarily be made later; secondly, the supposed
Buddhist [Footnote ref 1] reference is found in the fourth chapter which,
as I have shown above, is a later interpolation; thirdly, even if they
were written by Patanjali it cannot be inferred that because
Vacaspati describes the opposite school as being of the Vijnana-vadi
type, we are to infer that the sutras refer to Vasubandhu or
even to Nagarjuna, for such ideas as have been refuted in the sutras
had been developing long before the time of Nagarjuna.

Thus we see that though the tradition of later commentators
may not be accepted as a sufficient ground to identify the two
Patanjalis, we cannot discover anything from a comparative
critical study of the _Yoga sutras_ and the text of the _Mahabha@sya,_
which can lead us to say that the writer of the _Yoga
sutras_ flourished at a later date than the other Patanjali.

Postponing our views about the time of Patanjali the Yoga
editor, I regret I have to increase the confusion by introducing
the other work _Kitab Patanjal_, of which Alberuni speaks, for
our consideration. Alberuni considers this work as a very famous
one and he