PATAÑJALI THE GRAMMARIAN (fl. c. 140 BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian and author of the Mahābhāṣya, the major commentary on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī. Patañjali's bhāṣya ("commentary") focuses on Pāṇini's work both directly and indirectly, for it evaluates both Pāṇini's verses and those of Kātyāyana's Vārttika, the first notable commentary on the Aṣṭādhyāyī. Pāṇini, Kātyāyana, and Patañjali have often been grouped together in a kind of grammatical lineage; Pāṇini and Patañjali, however, remain by far the foremost authorities on the Sanskrit language.

Scholars vary in opinion as to Patañjali's purpose in composing his Mahābhāṣya. Most agree, however, that the very fact that Patañjali chose to fashion his observations not in an independent grammar but in a...