वेदों की प्राचीनता एवं काल-निर्णय / ओरायन (लोकमान्य बाल गंगाधर तिलक - खगोलीय वैदिक शोध)

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 373 but if the paradise is placed in the circumpolar regions in the far north the inconsistency at once disappears, for then we can have seven months summer and ten months summer at the same time in the different parts of the original home of the Iranians. We have seen in the discussion of the Vedic evidence that the legend of Aditi indicates seven months sum- mer or sun-shine, and the legend of the Dashagvas a sacrifi- cial session, or a period of sun-shine, of ten months. It has also been pointed out that between the North Pole and the Arctic circle the sun is above the horizon for any period longer than seven and less than twelve months according to the latitude of the place. There is, therefore, nothing strange, ex- traordinary or inconsistent, if we get two statements in the Avesta regarding the duration of summer in the primeval home ; and we need not assume that the commentators have added the statement of seven months summer simply because the description of two months summer and ten months winter did not appear to them suitable to the first land of blessing. It is not possible that they could have misunderstood the ori- ginal text in such a way as to suppose that the climatic con- ditions introduced by Angra Mainyu were the conditions which obtained originally in the Airyāna Vaêjo. We must, therefore, reject the explanation which tries to account for this later insertion on the ground that it was made by per- sons who regarded the description in the original as unsuited to the first created happy land. If the original text is pro- perly read and . interpreted, it gives us a summer of ten months in the Airyāna Vaêjo before Angra Mainyu's invasion, and the statement regarding the summer of seven months re- fers to the same place and time. We have the same thing in the Ṛig-Veda where the sun is once represented as having seven rays and once as having ten rays, meaning seven months and ten months of sun-shine, both of which are pos- sible only in the Arctic regions. The two Avestic traditions