[INDOLOGY] Patanjali and Vishnu

[Valerie Roebuck]

The Kalki Avatāra of Viṣṇu is depicted with a sword.

Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK



> On 22 May 2017, at 08:37, Edwin F. Bryant via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am away from my desk and do not have my Bhoja commentary at hand, but I
> am assuming Bhoja is quoting those two verses, yes, rather than composing
> them  (in other words they preexisted him)? Or is this not clear from the
> Sanskrit?  If Bhoja is quoting an older reference then this is the
> terminus ad quem of the notion of the 'three Patanjali's' howsoever
> ghostly the Ayurvedic one turns out to be.
> 
> While on the topic, zeSa in the Vaishnava literature is a derivative form
> of Vishnu. So the second of the two Patanjali verses can be seen as
> pointing to an association of Patanjali with Vishnu going back at least
> that far. A couple of questions here: given that while Vishnu bears a
> zaNkha and cakra, he does not hold a sword, asi, in  normative
> iconographical representations, does anyone know of any Vishnu forms
> bearing one (I assume only these three items (zaNkkacakrAsi dhArinam) are
> mentioned in the verse due to metrical considerations).  And, secondly,
> are there any  Saivite references at this time  associating zeSA WITH
> ziva?.
> 
> Thanks.  Edwin Bryant
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Further to the idea about the mythical "three patanjalis", please,
>> *please*
>> everyone note that *there is no medical Patanjali.  **There does not exist
>> a major author of a medical treatise in Sanskrit who is called Patanjali*.
>> 
>> If you wish to pursue the details, the name has been investigated in
>> detail
>> by Meulenbeld in his *History of Indian Medical Literature* (especially
>> IA:
>> 141-44, 196).  As a person's name in medical literature, "Patanjali" lives
>> a ghostly life as a name cited by others, as a legendary authority, as a
>> person after whom recipes are named, etc. etc.   Most of these occurrences
>> are from the second millennium of our era, and after the first "three
>> Patanjalis" assertion by Bhoja Deva.  But even with these "Patanjali"
>> whispers, it remains the fact that there does not exist an identifiable
>> medical treatise by an author called Patanjali.
>> 
>> I'm sorry to shout.  But it baffles me to see the continuing repetition of
>> the idea that there was a medical Patanjali when there simply wasn't one.
>> Never has been.  Fake News!
>> 
>> Best,
>> Dominik
>> 
>> 
>> ​
>> --
>> Professor Dominik Wujastyk <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
>> ​,​
>> 
>> Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
>> ​,​
>> 
>> Department of History and Classics
>> <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
>> ​,​
>> University of Alberta, Canada
>> ​.​
>> 
>> South Asia at the U of A:
>> 
>> ​sas.ualberta.ca​
>> ​​
>> 
>> 
>> On 15 May 2017 at 23:00, Ashok Aklujkar via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>> 
>>> Not taking the subject specification above rigidly, I would like to make
>>> three points:
>>> (a) Even in studying stories one should try to ascertain if they pertain
>>> to Vyākaraṇa Patañjali, Yoga Patañjali or ̄ Āyurveda Patañjali.
>>> (b) The tradition of the identity of these three Patañjalis may be
>>> older
>>> than it is usually taken to be.
>>> (c) In three interlinked articles published in the book mentioned below,
>>> I
>>> have made a case for taking the Vyākaraṇa Patañjali as a person
>>> belonging
>>> to Kashmir. I have also pointed out that the epithet Gonardīya (<—
>>> Gonandīya) definitely applies to this Patañjali and that the epithet
>>> Goṇikā-putra may also contain historical information about him. Much
>>> history can be gleaned if the stories are cautiously handled.
>>> 
>>>        Aklujkar, Ashok. 2008. (a) “Pata~jali’s Mahābhāṣya as a
>>> key to
>>> happy Kashmir.” (b) “Gonardīya, Goṇikā-putra, Patañjali and
>>> Gonandīya.” (c)
>>> “Patañjali: a Kashmirian.” Pp. 41-87, 88-172 and 173-205,
>>> respectively in
>>> Linguistic Traditions of Kashmir,  (eds) Kaul, Mrinal; Aklujkar, Ashok.
>>> New
>>> Delhi: D.K. Printworld.
>>> 
>>> a.a.
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> 
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