पृष्ठम्:पातञ्जलयोगसूत्रभाष्यविवरणम्.pdf/15

पुटमेतत् सुपुष्टितम्
xi

 Very convincing and indubitable evidence of Patañjali's authorship of Carakapratisaṁskṛta appears from quite an unexpected quarter, from the Laghumañjūṣā of Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa. The unambiguous statement of Nāgeśa that Patañjali is the author of Caraka practically stills further controversy, and is almost the last word on the question. In the context of बौद्धार्थस्य वाच्यत्वनिरूपणं he says--

"तदुक्तं चरके पतञ्जलिना --
'सेन्द्रियं चेतनं द्रव्यं निरिन्द्रियमचेतनम् ।' "

Further on while expounding the varieties of sphoṭa, he again cites from Caraka twice.

"चरकेऽप्युक्तम् --'सामान्यमेकत्वकरं विशेषस्तु पृथक्त्वदृक् ।' इति । "एतद्बीजमप्युक्तं तत्रैव --'तुल्यार्थता हि सामान्यं विशेषश्च विपर्ययः।' इति ।"

A word may be added here on the special significance of this reference by Nāgeśa, an avowed protoganist of the author of the Mahābhāṣya. When he takes the name of Patañjali, it is as good as proved, that the reference is to the original Patañjali and not to any pseudo-Patañjali of a later age. So deep­-rooted is the reverence of Nāgeśa for Patañjali that he has extracted quotations from all his known works, the Mahābhāṣya, the Yogasūtra and the Caraka, not to mention his profuse citations from the Paramārthasāra, to which we shall refer in greater detail in the following pages. It is however true, that the statement in the Laghumañjūṣā appears to indicate that Caraka is the name of the work and not of the author, and on this question, we shall choose not to dogmatise. It must however be remembered that, any number of instances can be cited to prove that very often it is customary to refer to the writings of a man by the name of the author, and it is therefore possible that Caraka is really the name of the author, here identified with his work. That he is the author of a treatise in Vaidyaand is associated with the so called Carakasaṁhitā is however beyond doubt.

 Rāmabhadradīkṣita in his Patañjalicarita also observes that Patañjali is a sūtrakāra, bhāṣyakāra and vārtikakāra in one, as he has composed the sūtrasin Yoga, the bhāṣyain Vyākaraṇa and the vārtikāin Vaidya.

"सूत्राणि योगशास्त्रे वैद्यकशास्त्रे च वार्तिकानि ततः ।
कृत्वा पतञ्जलिमुनिः प्रचारयामास जगदिदं त्रातुम् ॥ "