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respectfully beg to suggest to Mr. Oxley that it may be argued in conformity with his own mighty "law of influx," that the Pisacham or elemental, whom he mistook for Vyasa, might have put forth a false statement, being unable to maintain "concurrent consciousness at both ends of the line," or for the same reason, and labouring under a similar difficulty (for we are told by the author that even the highest Deva cannot transcend "the law of conditions"), Busiris might have mistaken himself for the author of Mahabharata, having lost the consciousness of what he really was before he had put in the subjective appearance in question.
The learned author reminds me that Krishna Dwypayana "is only the supposed author of Mahabharata," and confidently asserts that "no man living knows who were the authors of the Hindu sacred records, or when and where they were written and published," relying upon the authority of Professor Monier Williams, who stated in his book on "Hinduism" that Sanskrit literature is wholly destitute of trustworthy historical records.
This assertion does not prove that Busiris was the real author of Mahabharata for the following reasons:—
I. With all due respect to the learned Professor, I venture to affirm that the general proposition relied upon is not correct. We have got trustworthy historical records which no Europeon has ever seen; and we have, besides, the means of finding out any historical fact that may be wanted, or of reproducing in its entirety any work that might have been lost. Eastern occult science has given us these powers.
II. Even if the general proposition is correct, it cannot reasonably be inferred therefrom, that, when the names of the authors of Sanskrit works are mentioned in the said works themselves or in other books, which may be considered an authoritative, no reliance should be placed on such statements.
III. Even if such inference were permissible, it cannot be contended, in the absence of any reliable independent evidence, that, because the author of a certain Sanskrit book is not