Yogasutra 1.10, 1.21-23, and 2.9 in the Light of the Indo-Javanese Dharma Patañjala

This paper discusses a series of s?tras of Patañjali's Yogas?tra, namely 1.10, 1.21-23, and 2.9, in the light of their paraphrase and/or interpretation found in the Dharma P?tañjala ('Book/System of Patañjali'), an Old Javanese-Sanskrit ?aiva scripture retrieved from a rare West Javanese codex unicus dated ca. 1450 AD. Besides a philosophical exposition of the tenets of a form of ?aiva Siddh?nta, the Dharma P?tañjala contains a long presentation of the yoga system that apparently follows the first three chapters of Patañjal's Yogas?tra, either interweaving Sanskrit excerpts from an untraced versified version of the latter text with an Old Javanese commentary, or directly rendering into Old Javanese what appears to be an original Sanskrit commentary. Although the Old Javanese prose often bears a strong resemblance with the arrangement and formulation of the topics treated in the Yogas?trabh?s{dot below}ya, it diverges from that commentary in several respects. The Dharma P?tañjala often presents specific doctrinal details that are found in other (sub)commentaries or in the Arabic rendering of the s?tras-cum-commentary composed by al-B?r?n? before 1030 AD, or adds original elements that are unattested elsewhere. The testimony of the Dharma P?tañjala turns out to be useful in order to solve some of the dilemmas posed by the selected s?tras. It may also help us to better understand the textual cultural transmission and cultural reception of Patañjali's work in both South and Southeast Asia, for its author, rather than freely borrowing from different Sanskrit commentaries, appear to have drawn upon an as yet unidentified, and possibly lost, 'common source'.