e., oral
teaching! Of course, nothing could be clearer; it commends itself to
the simplest intellect as a thing most probable! And in the presence of
such a perfect hypothesis, it seems a pity that its author should (op.
cit. 523) confess that "it is possible" that he "may have overlooked
some words in the Brahmanas and Sutras, which would prove the existence
of written books previous to Panini." That looks like the military
strategy of our old warriors, who delivered their attack boldly, but
nevertheless tried to keep their rear open for retreat if compelled.
The precaution was necessary: written books did exist many centuries
before the age in which this radiant sun of Aryan thought rose to shine
upon his age. They existed, but the Orientalist may search in vain for
the proof amid the exoteric words in our earlier literature. As the
Egyptian hierophants had their private code of hieratic symbols, and
even the founder of Christianity spoke to the vulgar in parables whose
mystical meaning was known only to the chosen few, so the Brahmans had
from the first (and still have) a mystical terminology couched behind
ordinary expressions, arranged in certain sequences and mutual
relations, which none but the initiate would observe.
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