preface to patanjali's yoga sutras

Patanjali is not the inventor of yoga, but rather yoga's most popularly known scribe. What has become known simply as the "Yoga Sutras" (sutra means thread) or almost equally as common, as the "Yoga Darshana" (the vision of Yoga), is actually a compendium of an ancient pre-existing oral yoga tradition consisting of both practical advice and theoretical context. The most accepted format of the Yoga Sutras consists of four chapters (called padas) written in the Sanskrit language approximately 2000 years ago in Northern India while utilizing the terminology of the time, i.e., Samkhya philosophical trappings. The dates ascribed to the Yoga Sutras vary widely from 250 BC to 300 AD. 250 AD is very improbable based on comparative analysis with similar texts, grammar, and concurrent philosophical ideas of the era. This latter date is a conjecture based on the lack of any prior commentaries on the Yoga Sutras before this date. What can be said is that Patanjali's era was proto-tantric, Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and eclectic. Because authentic yoga has been mainly an oral tradition (versus a written tradition), the practices of course precede the texts, but it is impossible to say how far ahead, because of the lack of prior literature.