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Patanjali : contemporary of King Pushyamitra (q.v.); though many of the compositions mentioned by Patanjali existed long before the Mauryas, some of them may have been products of the Maurya epoch. He knew the epics as also ākhyānas by Yavakrita, Yayāti, Vāsavaduttā, & others, mentions a Vārarucha Kāvya, a Yavana overlord of the lower Indus valley & his compatriot Dattāmitra, possibly Demetrios. He authored the Yogasutras, a categorisation of Yogic thought arranged in four volumes, & the Mahābhāśya, which is both a defence of Pāṇini’s Ashtādhyāyi against his chief critic & detractor Katyāyana & a refutation of some Sutras of Pāṇini’s. [Bhattacharya; s/a Maurya(s)]