Patanjali
Patañjali is the ancient compiler of the Yoga Sutras, a major work compiling in aphorisms the philosophical wisdom in the practice of Yoga till his time.
Patañjali also wrote commentary on Panini's Sanskrit grammar (aShTAdhyAyI) which is called 'mahAbhAShya'. He is also the author of various ayurvedic texts.
 Not much is known about the life and times of Patanjali. Various references suggest he lived between 500 BC and 200 BC. Patanjali has the following legend associated with him: One day, the old woman Gonikâ, who was barren, desired a son of her own. She fervently prayed to God Vishnu, who was greatly moved by her devotion. With his permission the cosmic serpent Ananta, who serves Vishnu as an eternal couch and who had been meaning to incarnate on Earth, resolved to become Gonikâ’s son. As she was stretching her hands, with upturned palms, in prayer toward Heaven, a minute fragment of Ananta’s infinite body dropped straight into her palms.
She immediately knew her prayers had been answered, and she lovingly nursed the heavenly seed until it had grown into a young man. Because her hands had been in the prayerful gesture called anjali and because her son had fallen (pat) from Heaven, she called him Patanjali.
The Yoga Sutras probably date from around AD 200. They give us the earliest reference to the popular term Ashtanga Yoga which translates literally as the eight limbs of yoga. They are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi
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