Patanjali was an ancient Indian philosopher, likely a single person with potentially conflicting identities, credited with authoring the Yoga Sutras, a foundational text for Yoga philosophy. While the Yoga Sutras themselves date from the 2nd–4th centuries CE, the identity of their author remains debated, as the name Patanjali is also associated with a 2nd century BCE grammarian who wrote the Mahabhashya and potentially a medical text on Ayurveda. Modern scholarship tends to date the Yoga Sutras to the later period (2nd or 3rd century CE), differentiating the yoga sage from the earlier grammarian.