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Seventh. The compact and vigorous style of Sankara is nowhere to be seen in the Bhashya. There is not in this the unity and closeness of thought which makes his style at once recognizable; it is a loose, incoherent mass, eked out into seeming fullness by its numerous quotations. There is no greater evidence of poverty of thought than this weaving in of quotations, and in this species of literary parasitism our Bhashya seems to be a masterpiece. If we also take into consideration that in many places, views are advanced which are radically opposed to Sankaras,4 [4 I have not the time nor the space to work out this point fully. I shall
try and take it up a some future time. It would be better if any of our readers were to attempt it. The Upanishad itself is a pretty stiff thing to make out the relations of.] we have, I think, a fine piece of cumulative
evidence, if not indeed to disprove that Sankara was the author of the Bhashya, yet enough to throw a considerable amount of doubt on the accepted view. If what we have said is true, then a good deal of speculation lately indulged in, that many of the Puranas hitherto considered very modern are in reality much anterior to Sankara, must fall to the ground, since only in this Bhashya are any such quotations found.5 [5 I do not mean to say that many of the Puranas are later
than Sankara, and that the matter here set forth can in any way settle the vexed question of the age of the
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M. NARAYANASWAMI AIYAR.