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

42 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. distorted in course of time; and it is for us to see if they do or do not accord with what we know of the ancient man from latest scientific researches. In the case of the Vedic traditions, myths and beliefs, we have the further advantage that they were collect- ed thousands of years ago, and handed down unchanged from that remote time. It is, therefore, not unlikely that we may find traces of the primeval Polar home in these oldest books, if the Aryan man did live within the Arctic circle in early times, especially as a por- tion of the Ṛig-Veda is still admittedly unintelligible on any of the existing methods of interpretation, although the words and expres- sions are plain and simple in many places. Dr. Warren has quoted some Vedic traditions, along with those of other nations, in support of his theory that the Arctic regions were the birth-place of the human race. But the attempt, so far as the Vedic texts are concerned, is desultory, as it was bound to be, inasmuch as these Vedic legends and texts have, as yet, never been examined by any Vedic scholar from the new standpoint furnished by the latest scientific researches, and as Dr. Warren had to depend entirely on the existing translations. It is proposed, therefore, to examine the Vedas from this new point of view; but before doing so it is necessary to ascertain such peculiar characteristics, or what in logic are called differentiæ, of the Polar or the Arctic regions, as are not found elsewhere on the surface of the globe, so that if we meet with them in the Vedic traditions, the Polar origin of the latter would be indubitably established. We have seen that the inclemency of climate, which now characterises the Polar regions, was not a feature of the Polar climate in early times; and we must, therefore, turn to astronomy to find out the characteristics requir- ed for our purpose. It has been a fashion to speak of the Polar regions as characterised by light and darkness of 6 months each, for it