THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

138 THE DOCTRINE OF MAYAthe doctrine of Maya. In Chapter II we have attempted to show how the idea of Maya existedmuch earlier than the word Maya (in the technicalsense) and that in itself is a refutation of the mainthesis of scholars like Thibaut and others who suppose that the conception of Maya was a late offshootin the Vedanta, being specially fabricated bySankara.On a future occasion we hope to supplement thepresent treatment of Maya byan examination ofthe various analogies of the concept in the philosophy of the West and some other eastern countries.It may also be possible to summarize critically theviews of all the other systems of Indian philosophyon the question of the relation of the Absolute tothe Universe. That will be a proper occasion forrecapitulating a criticism of Buddhism, Jainism,Sankhya, etc.