MHK 9.31 reads as follows:
[Thesis:] Moreover, it is inferable that this text, the Veda, is produced by an evil person, [reason:] because it [teaches such evil things as] killing creatures, drinking liquor, and telling lies, [example:] just like the treatise of the Magas, 225
This verse, in accordance with Bhāviveka’s predilection for syllogism, consists of three parts that, taken as a whole, prove the thesis (pratijñā), that is, the evil authorship of the Veda (a-sat-puruṣa-kartṛkaḥ). The immoral practices of Brahmins— such as killing, drinking, and lying— are adduced as the reason (hetu) for the thesis. Lastly, to confirm the concomitance between the evil authorship and the evil teaching, Bhāviveka corroborates his inference with an example (dṛṣṭānta), that is, the treatise of the Magas (magaśāstra). Thus, just as the evil treatise of the Magas has the evil authors, (the Magas themselves), based on the evil nature of the Veda, Bhāviveka reasons, we need to presume an evil author behind the Veda.
TJ begins with the confirmation on the known facts about the Magas.
The Magas and so forth refer to those people with perverse practices. They reside in foreign countries such as Persia and their positions are known as follows.
[They maintain, for example, the following things:] Because they harm the earth, killing ants and so forth is not immoral conduct.
By piling up [their] horns when one kills bulls, one goes to the heaven [after this life].
Likewise, [they also maintain that] when one fumigates [oneself with smoke] by burning the hearts of animals, one will be born in an elevated residence, that is, the superior heaven.
Similarly, [they maintain the following:] Since all women are like mortars, flowers, fruits, cooked food, steps to a bathing place, roads and so forth, it is not good to say that one should not approach [for sexual purposes, one’s] mother, sisters, daughters and the like.Is there any difference between the Veda and those Magas’ theses that speak of such [evil] things?226
In this report on the tenets of a group called “Maga,” Bhāviveka explicitly mentions that his information is based not on firsthand knowledge, but what is known in the world about them (‘di Itar grags te). For him, their immoral tenets that promote the practice of killing and incest are well known. Thus, what Bhāviveka attempts in this verse is to transfer the well-known immorality of the Magas, along with all the connotations of the word “foreigner” (mleccha), to a putative author of the Veda. By shifting the evil nature from the one (the Magas) to the other (a putative author of the Veda) based on the similarity of their teachings, the Veda, the text that is authorless for the Mīmāmsakas, is proved to be a text authored by an evil being.