Vibhūtipāda: an Annotated Translation and Working Edition of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra’s Third Chapter Based on Previously Unstudied Textual Witnesses
P. Maas
Asian Literature and Translation June 8, 2026 DOI: 10.18573/alt.90 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Proposes that the new edition of the Vibhūtipāda, based on four palm-leaf manuscripts and other testimonies, provides a much-improved text over the Vulgate and offers an essential source for understanding meditation-derived extraordinary capacities and early Indian philosophy. |
Abstract
The article presents a scholarly annotated translation and new working edition of the Vibhūtipāda, the third chapter of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra (i.e., the Yoga Sutra together with the so-called Yogabhāṣya, dated to approximately 400 CE). This chapter provides the earliest and most comprehensive systematic account of meditation-derived extraordinary capacities from the perspective of Sāṅkhya-Yoga, thus serving as an essential source of knowledge on extraordinary capacities, magical and prescientific thinking. Moreover, the chapter provides a fascinating window into the early history of Indian philosophy, religion, and yoga. The new edition, which is based on the text of four palm-leaf manuscripts, the testimonies of the Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa, and the quasi-standard edition of Āgāśe, contains a much-improved text in terms of content, grammar, syntax, and style compared with the Vulgate version presented in previously published printed editions. The richly annotated, philologically precise English translation is meant to make this complex and sometimes obscure text accessible to contemporary scholars.