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

350 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. supposing that it was the out-come of an unsuccessful attempt made in pre-Buddhistic time to identify Râma with Sûrya in the Ṛig-Veda, the latter of whom is described both as the bro- ther and the lover of the Dawn (VII, 75, 5; VI, 55, 4 and 5; X, 3 3 ). I have already stated that the subject is too vast to be treat- ed here at any length. My object was to point out a few resem- blances between the story of the Râmâyaṇa and the Vedic myths as they occurred to me: But the question, howsoever interest- ing, is not relevant to the subject in hand, and I must give up the temptation of going into it more fully in this place. The ques- tion of ten incarnations is also similarly connected with the ten golden kings, or the ten gods mentioned in the Atharva Veda, or the ten incarnations of Verethreghna in the Avesta. The ten incarnations in the Avesta ( Yt. XIV) are, a wind, a bull, a horse, a camel, a boar, a youth, a raven, a ram, a buck and a man; and four of them, viz., a horse. a boar, a youth and a man, seem to correspond with Kalki, Varâha, Vâmana and Râma amongst the ten Avatâras mentioned in the Purâṇic literature. This shows that the conception of the ten Avatâras was, at any rate, Indo-Iranian in origin, and it is no doubt inte- resting to follow it up and trace its development on the Indian soil. The Matsya, the Kûrma, the Varâha, the Nârasimha, the Vâmana and, as we have now seen, the Râma Avatâra can be more or less traced to the Ṛig-Veda. But it would require much patient research to thoroughly investigate these matters, and I cannot do more than to throw out such hints as have occurred to me, and ask the reader to take them for what they are worth. If the Arctic theory is established, it will throw a good deal of new light not only on the Vedic but also on the Purâṇic mythology, and it will then be necessary to revise, in some cases entirely recast, the current expalnations of both. But the work as stated previously cannot be undertaken in a book which is

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 351 mainly devoted to the examination of evidence in support of the new theory. We have now discussed most of the Vedic legends likely to throw any light on the main point of our inquiry. There are many other incidents, which can be better explained on the Arctic theory than at present. For instance, we can now well understand why Mitra and Varuṇa were originally conceived as two correlated deities; for according to our theory they would represent half-year-long light and darkness in the Paradise of the Aryan race, and Varuṇa can then be very well described as “ embracing the nights, ” ( kshapaḥ pari shasvaje, VIII, 41, 3 ). But we cannot go into all these points in this place. What I have said is, I think, sufficient to convince any one that there are a number of incidents in the Vedic myths, which are inex- plicable on the theory of a diurnal struggle between light and darkness, or the conquest of spring over winter, or of the storm- god over clouds. Thus we have not been able as yet to explain why Vṛitra was killed once a year, why the waters and the light were described as being released simultaneously by killing Vṛitra, or why Indra's fight with Shambara was said to have com- menced on the 40th day of Sharad, or why the fight was said to be conducted in the parāvat regions, why Dirghatamas was described as having grown old in the 10th yuga, why Mârtâṇḍa was cast away as a dead son, why Trita, or the Third, was said to have fallen into a pit, or again why Viṣhṇu's third stride was said to be invisible. We now find that not only all these but many more incidents in the Vedic myths are satisfactorily ac- counted for, and the legends in their turn directly lead us to the Arctic theory. The legends of Indra and Vṛitra, of Saptavadhri, of Aditi and her seven flourishing and one still-born son, of Sûrya's wheel and of Dīrghatamas, are again found to contain express passages which indicate seven or ten months' period of sunshine at the place, where these legends originated;

352 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. and unless we are prepared to say that all these may be accidental coincidences, we cannot, I think, legitimately with- hold our assent to a theory which explains so many facts, and incidents, hitherto ignored, neglected or misunderstood, in an easy, natural and intelligible manner. I do not mean to say that the Arctic theory would entirely dispense with the necessity of the Dawn, the storm or the Vernal theory. All that I contend for is that the Arctic theory explains a number of legendary or traditional facts hitherto hopeles ly given up as inexplicable and that in the interpretation of Vedic myths it furnishes us with a weapon far more powerful and effective than either the Dawn, the Storm or the Vernal theory. In short, from a mythological point of view alone, there is ample ground to recommend it to our acceptance side by side with, and, in some cases, even in substitution of the old theories. In addition to this it has been al- ready shown in previous chapters that the new theory rests on direct and independent statements of facts, contained in the Ṛig- Veda, about the duration and nature of the dawn, days and nights, seasons, months and the year in the home of the ancient fathers of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis; and that the Avestic and Roman traditions fully corroborate our conclusion. We have further seen that the theory is perfectly consistent with the latest results of geological and archæological researches. Shall we then still with- hold our assent to the only theory which explains so many facts, legends, and incidents, in a natural and intelligent way and which throws such a flood of light on the ancient history of the Aryan race, simply because it seems to be rather uncouth at the first sight ? The rules of logic and scientific research will not justify us in doing so, and I fully rely on them for the eventual success or failure of the theory I have endeavoured to prove in these pages.

CHAPTER XI. THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. Nature of Avestic evidence stated—Different views of scholars regarding its character—Necessity of re-examining the subject —An abstract of the first Fargard of the Vendidad—Sixteen lands created by Ahura Mazda with their modern equivalents &c.—Airyana Vaejo, the first created land represents the Paradise of the Iranians—Different views regarding its position —Darmesteter, Spiegel and others locate it in the east ; Haug and Bunsen in the far north—Darmesteter’s argument examin- ed—Airyana Vaejo cannot be determined from the position of Vanguhi—Identification of Rangha with the Caspian Sea or the westernmost river doubtful—Rangha is probably the same as Rasâ in the Rig-Veda X, 75, 6—Unsoundness of Darmesteter’s reasoning—The position of the Airyana Vaejo must be deter- mined from its special characteristics found in the Avesta— The passage where ten months winter is said to be such a characteristic cited—Ten months winter first introduced into the happy land by Angra Mainyu—Indicates that before the fiend’s invasion there must have been ten months summer and two months winter in the land—Sudden change in the Polar climate fully confirmed by latest geological researches—Two months winter necessarily synchronous with long Arctic night —The tradition about seven months summer and five months winter also refers to the original climate in the Airyana Vaejo —Mentioned in the Bundahish—Not inconsistent with the tradition of ten months summer recorded in the original passage—Both possible in the Arctic regions—Similar state- ments in the Rig-Veda—Coincidence between seven months summer, the legend of Aditi, and the date of Indra’s fight with Shambara, pointed out—Summary of the second Fargard— Yima’s Vara in the Airyana Vaejo—Annual sun-rise and a year-long day therein—Shows that the Airyana Vaejo must be located near the North Pole and not to the east of Iran— The account too graphic to be imaginary or mythical—Re- presents the advent of the Glacial epoch in the land—It is the oldest human testimony to the advent of the Ice-age, 23

354 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. destroying the Arctic home—Special importance of the Aves- tic evidence pointed out—Fully corroborated by scientific evi- dence—Migration from Airyana Vaejo rendered necessary by glaciation—Sixteen lands in the first Fargard therefore repre- sent successive stages of migration to Central Asia—Establi- shes the historical character of the first Fargard—The legend of deluge in the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa—Probably refers to the same event as the Avestic legends—Other Vedic passages indicating the northern origin of Indian Aryas—Conclusion to be drawn from the Vedic and Avestic evidence combined. IN dealing with the Vedic evidence, both direct and cir- cumstantial, we have by way of comparison quoted or referred to some Avestic legends or myths in the foregoing chapters. But the Avesta contains some important passages directly bearing upon the question of the original Aryan home in the far north, and migrations therefrom to the regions watered by the Oxus, the Jaxartes or the Indus; and it is necessary to discuss these passages in a separate chapter, because they not only confirm and supplement the conclusions we have previ- ously arrived at by the examination of the Vedic evidence, but constitute, what may be called, independent evidence pointing out to the same result. As regards the antiquity of the Aves- ta, it is superfluous to adduce any proofs in this place; for it is admitted by scholars that the Vedas and the Avesta are but two branches of the same parent stream, though the latter may not be as well preserved as the former. To use a Vêdic phrase, the sacred books of the Brâhmans and the Parsis are the twin books of the Aryan race; and they can, therefore, be safely taken to supplement each other whenever it is necessary and possible to do so. This character of the two books is well exhibited with regard to the subject in hand. We have seen that while there are a number of passages in the Vedic litera- ture, which speak of long dawns, continuous darkness, or a sacrificial session of ten months, we have no text or legend which directly refers to the home in the far north or to the

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 355 · cause or causes which forced the ancient Aryans to abandon their primeval home and migrate southwards. But fortunately for us, the Avesta, though not generally as well preserved as the Vedas, contains a passage which supplies the omission in a remarkable way ; and we mean to discuss this passage at -some length in this chapter. The Avestic legends and tradi- tions quoted in the foregoing chapters show that a day and a night of six months each were known to the ancestors of the Iranians, and that the appointed time for the appearance of Tishtrya before the worshipper, after his fight with Apaosha, varied from one to a hundred nights, thus indicating that a long darkness extending over a hundred nights was also known to the forefathers of the worshippers of Mazda. The stoppage of the flow of waters and of the movement of the sun in winter, as described in the Farvardîn Yasht, have also been referred to ; and it is shown that the custom of keeping a dead body in the house for two nights, three nights or a month long in winter, until the floods begin to flow, must be ascribed to the absence of sunlight during the period when the floods as well as light were shut up in the nether world by the de- mons of darkness. All these traditions have their counter- parts in the Vedic literature. But the Avestic tradition re- garding the original home in the far north and its destruction by snow and ice stands by itself, though in the light of the Vedic evidence discussed in the previous chapters, we can now clearly show that it has a historical basis and that it preserves for us a distinct reminiscence, howsoever fragmentary, of the ancient Aryan home. This tradition is contained in the first two Fargards or chapters of the Vendidad, or the law book of the Mazda-yasnians. They have no connection with the subsequent chapters of the book and appear to be incorporat- ed into it simply as a relic of old historical or traditional literature. These two Fargards have not failed to attract the attention of Zend scholars ever since the discovery of the

356 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. Avesta by Anquetil; and many attempts have been made not only to identify the places mentioned therein, but to draw his- torical conclusions therefrom. Thus Heeren, Rhode, Lassen, Pictel, Bunsen, Haug and others have recognized in these ac- counts of the Vendidad, a half historical, half mythical re- miniscence of the primeval home and the countries known to the followers of the Avesta, when these Fargards were composed. Professor Spiegel at first took the same view as Rhode, but has latterly retracted his opinion. On the other hand, Kiepert, Breal, Darmesteter and others have shown that no historical conclusion can be drawn from the description contained in the first two chapters of the Vendidad; and this view seems to be now mainly accepted. But it must be borne in mind that this view was formulated at a time when the Vedic evidence in support of the Arctic theory, set forth in the previous chap- ters, was entirely unkown, and when the existence of an Arctic home in ancient times was not regarded as probable even on geological grounds, man being believed to be post- Glacial and the Arctic regions always unsuited for human habitation. The recent discoveries in Geology and Archæology have, however, thrown a flood of new light on the subject; and if the interpretation of the Vedic traditions noticed in the previous chapters is correct, it will, I think, be readily admitted that a reconsideration of the Avestic tradition from the new standpoint is a necessity and that we should not be deterred from undertaking the task by the recent verdict of Zend scholars against the views of Bunsen and Haug re- garding the historical character of the first two Fargards of the Vendidad. The first Fargard of the Vendidad is devoted to the enu- meration of sixteen lands created by Ahura Mazda, the Su- preme God of the Iranians. As soon as each land was created Angara Mainyu, the evil spirit of the Avesta, created different evils and plagues to invade the land and made it unfit for human

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 357 habitation. There were thus sixteen creations of Ahura Mazda, and sixteen counter-creations of Angra Mainyu; and the first Fargard of the Vendidad contains a description of all these creations, and counter-creations, stating in detail how each good land was created by Ahura Mazda and how Angra Mainyu rendered it unfit for human residence by creating some evil or plague therein. The Fargard is too long to be quoted here in full; and I, therefore, borrow Muir’s abstract of the same prepared from the versions of Spiegel and Haug, inserting in some places Darmesteter’s renderings with the aid of his translation of the Vendidad in the Sacred Books of the East Series. The paragraphs are marked first accord- ing to Darmesteter, and then according to Spiegel by figures within brackets. 1, 2, (1-4):—“Ahura Mazda spake to the holy Zarathus- tra: ‘I formed into an agreeable region that which before was nowhere habitable. Had I not done this, all living things would have poured forth after Airyana Vaêjo.’” 3, 4, (5-9):—“I, Ahura Mazda, created as the first best region, Airyana Vaêjo, of the good creation, (or, accord- ing to Darmesteter, by the good river Dâitya). Then Angra Mainyu, the destroyer, formed in opposition to it, a great ser- pent and winter [or snow], the creation of the Daêvas. There are there ten months of winter, and two of summer.” 5, (13, 14):—“I, Ahura Mazda, created as the second best region, Gaû (plains), in which Sughdha is situated. Thereupon in opposition to it, Angra Mainyu, the death-deal- ing, created a wasp which is death to cattle and fields.” 6, (17, 18):—“I, etc., created as the third best region, Môuru, the mighty, the holy.” [Here, and in most of the following cases the counter- creations of Angra Mainyu are omitted.] 7, (21, 22):—“I, etc., created as the fourth best region, the fortunate Bâkhdhi, with the lofty banner.”

358 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. 8, (25, 26):—" I, etc., created as the fifth best region, Nisaya, [situated between Môuru and Bâkhdhi.].” 9. (29, 30):—" I, ėtc., created as the sixth best region, Harôyu, abounding in the houses [or water].” 10, (33-36):—"I, etc., created as the seventh best region, Vaêkereta where Dujak is situated (or, according to Darmes- teter, of evil shadows). In opposition to it, Angra Mainyu, the destroyer, created the Pairika Khnathaîti, who clung to Keresâspa.” 11, (37, 38):—"I, etc., created as the eighth best region, Urva, full of pastures.” 12, (41, 42):—" I, etc., created as the ninth best region, Khneṇta (a river) in Vehrkâna.” 13, (45, 46):—" I, etc., created as the tenth best region, the fortunate Harahvaiti.” 14, (49, 50):—" I, etc., created as the eleventh best region, Haêtumaṇt, the rich and shining.” 16, (59, 60):—" I, etc., created as the twelfth best region, Ragha, with three fortresses [or races].” 17, (63, 64):—" I, etc., created as the thirteenth best region, Chakhra, the strong.” 18, (67, 68):—" I, etc., created as the fourteenth, best region, Varena, with four corners; to which was born Thraêtaona, who slew Azi Dahâka.” 19, (72, 73):—I, etc., created as the fifteenth best country, Hapta Heṇdu [from the eastern to the western Hendu]. In opposition, Angra Mainyu created untimely evils, and perni- cious heat [or fever].” 20, (76, 77):—" I, etc., created as the sixteenth and best, the people who live without a head on the floods of Rangha (or according to Haug 'on the seashore').” 21, (81):—" There are besides, other countries, fortunate, renowned, lofty, prosperous and splendid.” Spiegel, Haug and other scholars have tried to identify

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 359 the sixteen lands mentioned in this description, and the follow- ing tabular statement sums up the results of the investigations of these scholars in this direction. The letters S, H, and D, stand far Spiegel, Haug and Darmesteter.

360 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. The old Persian and Greek names in the above table are taken from the inscriptions of the Achæmenian kings and the works of Greek writers after the overthrow of the Achæme- nian dynasty by Alexander the Great. They show that at least 10 out of 16 lands can be still indentified with certainty; and if so, we can safely say that the account in the first Fargard is real and not mythical. But with regard to the land mention- ed first in the list, there has been a difference of opinion amongst Zend scholars. The Airyana Vaêjo is the first creat- ed happy land, and the name signifies that it was the birth- land (Vaêjo = seed, Sans. bîja) of the Aryans (Iranians), or the Paradise of the Iranian race. Was this a mythical region or a real country representing the original home of the Aryans, and if it was a real country where was it situated? This is the first question which we have to answer from the evidence contained in the first two Fargards of the Vendidad; and se- condly, we have to decide whether the sixteen lands mentioned above were the successive countries occupied by the ancestors of the Iranian race in their migrations from the original home in the north. The Fargard says nothing about migration. It simply mentions that so many lands were created by Ahura Mazda and that in opposition thereto Angra Mainyu, the evil Spirit of the Avesta, created so many different evils and plagues which rendered the lands unfit for human residence. It is inferred from this that the Fargard does not contain an ac- count of successive migrations, but merely gives us a descrip- tion of the countries known to the ancestors of the Iranians at the time when the Fargards were composed. In other words, the chapter is geographical and not historical, containing no- thing but a specification of the countries known to the Ira- nians at a particular time; and it is argued that it would be converting geography into history to take the different coun- tries to represent the successive stages of migrations from the primeval home, when not a word about migration is found in

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 361 the original text. Professor Darmesteter further observes that as the enumeration of the sixteen lands begins with Airyana Vaêjo by the river Vanguhi Dâitya and ends with Rangha, which corresponds with the Vedic Rasâ, a mythical river that divides the gods from the fiends, and that as the Vanguhi and the Rangha were originally the celestial rivers that came down from heaven (like the two heavenly Gânges) to surround the earth, the one in the east and the other in the west, (Bundahish, XX), the Airyana Vaêjo and the Rangha must be taken to denote the eastern and the western bounda- ries of the countries known to the ancient Iranians at the time when the Fargard was composed. Spiegel also takes the same view, and places Airyana Vaêjo "in the farthest east of the Iranian plateau, in the region where the Oxus and Jaxartes take their rise;" and Darmesteter seems to quote with approval the identification of the Rangha or the sixteenth land, in the commentary on the Vedidad, with Arvastân-i-Rûm or Roman Mesopotamia. The whole Fargard is thus taken to be a geographical description of the ancient Iran, and Professor Darmesteter at the end of his introduction to the Fargard ob- serves "It follows hence no historical conclusion can be drawn from this description : it was necessary that it should begin with the Vanguhi and end with the Rangha. To look to it for an account of geographical migrations is converting cosmology into history." Bunsen and Haug, on the other hand, maintain that the Airyana Vaêjo represents the original home of the Iranians in the far north, and the countries mentioned in the Fargard must, therefore, be taken to represent the lands through which the Aryans passed after leaving their ancient home. The first question which we have, therefore, to decide is whether the Airyana Vaêjo was merely the easternmost boundary of the ancient Iran, or whether it was the primeval abode of the Iranians in the far north. In the former case we may take the Fargard to be merely a chapter on ancient

362 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. geography; while if it is found impossible to locate the Airyana Vaêjo except in the far north, the countries from Samarkand and Sughdha to Hapta Hẹndu or the Panjaub mentioned in the Fargard would naturally represent the route taken by the ancient Iranians in their migrations from the ancient home. Everything thus depends upon the view that we take of the situation of the Airyana Vaêjo; and we shall, therefore, first see if there is anything in the Avestic description of the land which will enable us to determine its position with certainty. It may be observed at the outset that the river Vanguhi is not mentioned in the Fargard along with the Airyana Vaêjo. The original verse speaks only of the "good dâitya of Airyana Vaêjo," but it is doubtful if "daitya" denotes a river in this place. The Zend phrase Airyanem Vaêjô vanghuyâô dâityayô, which Darmesteter translates as "the Airyana Vaêjo, by the good (vanghuhi) river Dâitya," is understood by Spiegel to mean "the Airyana Vaêjo of the good creation," while Haug takes it as equivalent to "the Airyana Vaêjo of good capability." It is, therefore, doubtful if the Dâitya river is mentioned along with the Airyana Vaêjo in this passage.* But even supposing that Darmesteter's rendering is correct, he gives us no authority for identifying Dâitya with Vanguhi. The Bundahish (XX, 7 and 13) mentions Vêh (Vanguhi) and Dâitîk (Dâitya) as two distinct rivers, though both seem to be located in the Aîrân-vêj (Airyana Vaêjo). We cannot again lose sight of the fact that it is not the Vanguhi (Vêh) alone that flows through the Airyana Vaêjo, but that the Rangha (Arag) has the same source and flows through the same land, viz., the Aîryana Vaêjo. Thus in the very beginning of Chapter XX of the Bundahish, we read that the Arag and the Vêh

1. See Dr. West's note on Bundahish XX, 13. The original pass- age mentions the Dâitîk river coming out from Aîrân vêj; but Dr. West observes that this may not be a river though the phrase (in the Avesta) has, no doubt, led to locating the river Dâitîk in Aîrân-vêj.

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 363 are the chief of the eighteen rivers, and that they "flow forth from the north, part from Albûrz and part from the Albûrz of Auhar-mazd ; one towards the west, that is the Arag ; and one towards the east, that is the Vêh river." The Bundahish (VII, 15) further informs us that the Vêh river flows out from the same source as the Arag river, and Dr. West in a footnote observes that both these rivers flow out from "the north side of the Arêdvîvsûr (Ardvi Sûra Anâhita) fountain of the sea, which is said to be on the lofty Hûgar (Hukairya), a portion of Albûrz." Even according to Bunda- hish, the Vanguhi is, therefore, the eastern and the Rangha the western river, in the northern part of Albûrz ; or, in other words, they represent two rivers in a country, situated in the north, one flowing towards the east, and one to the west, in that region. It would, therefore, be, to say the least, unsafe to infer from this that the Airyāna Vaêjo represents the eastern- most country, because the name Vêh or Vanguhi was in later times attached to the easternmost river in Irân. For by parity of reasoning, we can as well place the Airyāna Vaêjo in the far west, in as much as the name Arag or Rangha was given, as stated by Darmesteter himself, in later times to the western- most river. It is again a question why Rangha should be identified with the Caspian Sea, or some western river in Iran. The Fargard does not say anything about the situation of Rangha. It simply states that the fifteenth land created by Ahura Mazda was Hapta Heṇdu and the sixteenth was on the floods of Rangha. Now if Hapta Heṇdu, is identified with Sapta Sindhu, or the Panjaub, why take a big and a sudden jump from the Panjaub to the Caspian Sea, to find out the Rangha river. Rangha is Sanskrit Rasâ, and in the Ṛig-Veda (X, 75, 6) a terrestrial river, by name Rasâ, is mentioned along with the Kubhâ, the Krumu and the Gomati, which are all known to be the affluents of the Indus. Is it not, therefore,

364 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. more likely that Rangha may be the Vedic Rasâ, a tri- butary of the Indus? If the context is any guide to the deter- mination of the sense of ambiguous words, the mention of Hapta Heṇdu, as the fifteenth land, shows that Rasâ the six- teenth must be sought for somewhere near it, and the point is pretty well settled when we find Rasâ actually mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda along with some other tributaries of the Indus. The identification of Rangha with the western- most river is, therefore, at best doubtful, and the same may be said of Vanguhi, which by-the-by is not mentioned in the Fargard at all. But Darmesteter's reasoning does not stop here. On the strength of this doubtful identifica- tion he would have us believe that the ancient land of the Airyana Vaêjo was situated in the same region where the river named Vanguhi, or Vêh, in later times was said to flow. But the reasoning is obviously erroneous. The names of the two rivers Vanguhi and Rangha in the primeval home may have been subsequently transferred to the real rivers in the new settlement; but we cannot infer therefrom that the country through which these new rivers flowed was the original site of the Airyana Vaêjo. It is a well-known fact that persons migrating from their motherland to new countries often name the places they come across after the names of places familiar to them in their motherland. But on that account no one has ventured to place England in America or Australia; and it is strange how such a mistake should have been committed by Zend scholars in the present case. For even if a province or country in Central Asia had been named Airyana Vaêjo, we could not have located the original home in that Province; just as the abode of Varuṇa cannot be placed in the land named Varena, which is the Zend equiva- lent of Varuṇa. The whole of Darmesteter's reasoning must, therefore, be rejected as unsound and illogical, and but for the preconceived notion that the original home of the Iranians

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 365 cannot be placed in the far north, I think no scholar would have cared to put forward such guesses. There are express passages in the Avesta, which describe in unmistakable terms the climatic characteristics of the Airyana Vaêjo, and so far as I am aware, no valid reason has yet been assigned why we should treat this description as mythical and have recourse to guess-work for determining the position of the primeval home. Thus at the beginning of the first Fargard, we are told that the Airyana Vaêjo was the first good and happy creation of Ahura Mazda, but Angra Mainyu converted it into a land of ten months winter and two months summer, evidently meaning that at the time when the Fargard was composed it was an ice- bound land. The winter of ten months' duration, therefore, na- turally points to a position in the far north, at a great distance beyond the Jaxartes; and it would be unreasonable to ignore this description which is characteristic only of the Arctic re- gions, and, relying on doubtful guesses, hold that the Airyana Vaêjo was the easternmost boundary of the ancient Iran. As the passage, where the ten months' winter is described as the present principal climatic characteristic of the Airyana Vaêjo, is very important for our purpose, I give below the transla- tions of the same by Darmesteter, Spiegel and Haug: — VENDIDAD, FARGARD I. Darmesteter. | Spiegel. | Haug and Bunsen. 3. The first of the | 5. The first and best | 3. As the first best of good lands and coun- | of regions and places | regions and countries I, tries, which I, Ahura | have I created, I who | who am Ahura Mazda, Mazda, created, was the | am Ahura Mazda; | created Airyana Vaêjo Airyana Vaêjo, by the | 6. The Airyana Vaê- | of good capability; good river Dâitya. | jo of the good creation. | thereupon in opposition, Thereupon came An- | 7. Then Angra Mai- | to him Angra Mainyus, gra Mainyu, who is all | nyus, who is full of | the death-dealing, cre- death, and he counter- | death, created an oppo- | ated a mighty serpent created by his witch- | sition to the same; | and snow, the work of craft the serpent in | 8. A great Serpent | the Daêvas.

366 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. Darmesteter. Spiegel. Haug and Bunsen. the river and winter, and Winter, which the a work of the Daêvas. Daêvas have created. 4. There are ten win- '9. Ten winter months 4. Ten months of ter months there, two are there, two summer winter are there, two summer months ;* and months, months of summer. those are cold for the 10. And these are [Seven months of sum- waters, cold for the cold as to the water, mer are there ; five earth,cold for the trees. cold as to the earth, months of winter there Winter falls there, with cold as to the trees. were ; * the latter are the worst of its plagues. 11. After this to the cold as to water, cold middle of the earth, as to earth, cold as *N.B.—Darmesteter then to the heart of the to trees; there (is)— states in a note that af- earth, midwinter, the heart of ter summer months the 12. Comes the win- winter; there all around Vendîdâd Sâdah adds, ter ; then comes the falls deep snow ; there is “ It is known that [in most evil. the direst of plagues.]† the ordinary course of nature] there are seven † N. B.—According months of summer and to Haug the whole of five of winter.” the passage within brac- kets is a later addition. It will be seen from the above translations that they all agree in the main points, viz., (1) that the Airyana Vaêjo was the first good land created by Ahura Mazda, (2) that severe winter and snow were first introduced into it by Angra Mainyu, and (3) that after the invasion of Angra Mainyu there were ten winter months and two summer months in that land. The only difference between the three versions is that while Darmesteter and Spiegel regard the last sentence “ And these are cold for the waters, etc,” as a part of the original text Haug regards it as a subsequent addition. All the translators again agree in holding that the statement “ Seven months of summer are there and five months of winter ” is a later inser- tion. But we shall take up this question afterwards. For the present we are concerned with the statement that “ Ten months of winter are there, two months of summer,” and it will be seen that there is no difference on this point in the

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 367 three renderings given above. Another important fact men- tioned in the passage is that the prolonged duration of winter was the result of Angra Mainyu's counter-action, meaning thereby that before the invasion of Angra Mainyu different climatic conditions prevailed in that region. This view is further strengthened by the consideration that the Iranians could never have placed their Paradise in a land of severe winter and snow. Bunsen has, therefore, rightly observed that the Airyana Vaêjo was originally a perfect country and had a very mild climate, until the hostile deity created a powerful serpent and snow, so that only two months of summer remain- ed while winter prevailed during ten. In short, the passage in question speaks of a sudden change in the climate of the original home, a change that converted the paradise into a kind of ice-bound land with long and severe winters. If we, therefore, want to know what the land was like before the invasion of Angra Mainyu, we must. reverse the climatic con- ditions that obtained after the invasion, and suppose that this cradle of the Iranian race was situated in the extreme north where long cool summers of ten months and short mild winters of two months originally prevailed. It was Angra Mainyu who altered this genial climate by means of glaciation and rendered it unbearable to man. The description of the two summer months after the invasion, viz., that "These were cold as to the water, cold as to the earth, cold as to the trees," shows that after glaciation even the summer climate was unsuited for human habitation. We have stated above that the passage in question in- dicates a sudden change in the climate of the Airyana Vaêjo, converting ten months summer and two months winter into ten months severe winter and two months cold summer. Thirty or forty years ago such a statement or proposition would have been regarded not only bold, but impossible or almost insane, for the geological knowledge of the time was not

368 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. sufficiently advanced to establish the existence of a mild cli- mate round about the North pole in ancient times. It was probably this difficulty which stared Zend scholars in the face when they declined to place the Airyana Vaêjo in the far north, in spite of the plain description clearly indicating its northernmost position. Happily the recent discoveries in Geology and Archæology have not only removed this diffi- culty by establishing, on scientific grounds, the existence of a warm and genial climate near the North Pole in inter-glacial times, but have proved that the Polar regions were invaded, at least twice, by glaciation which destroyed their genial cli- mate. Thus it is now a settled scientific fact that the Arctic regions were once characterised by warm and short winters and genial and long summers, a sort of perpetual spring, and that this condition of things was totally upset or reversed by the advent of the Glacial period which made winters long and severe and summers short and cold. The description of the climatic changes introduced by Angra Mainyu into the Airyana Vaêjo is, therefore, just what a modern geologist would ascribe to the Glacial epoch ; and when the description is so remarkably and unexpectedly corroborated by the latest scientific researches, I fail to see on what ground we can lightly set it aside as mythical or imaginary. If some Zend scholars have done so in the past, it was because geological knowledge was not then sufficiently advanced to establish the probability of the description contained in the Avesta. But with new materials before us which go to confirm the Avestic description of the Airyana Vaêjo in every detail, we shall be acting unwisely if we decline to revise the conclusions of Zend scholars arrived at some years ago on insufficient materials. When we look at the question from this point of view, we have to place the site of the Airyana Vaêjo in the Arctic re- gions, where alone we can have a winter of ten months at the present day. We can escape from such a conclusion only by

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 369 denying the possibility that the passage in question contains any traditional account of the ancient home of the Iranians; and this course seems to have been adopted by some Zend scholars of the day. But with the Vedic evidence, set forth and discussed in the previous chapters, before us, we need not have any of those apprehensions which have hitherto led many Zend scholars to err on the side of caution and moderation. We have seen that there are strong grounds for holding that the ancient Indo-European year was a year of ten months followed by a long night of two months; in other words, it was a year of ten sum- mer months and two winter months, that is, exactly of the same kind as the one which prevailed in the Airyana Vaêjo before the happy land was invaded by the evil spirit. The word for summer in Zend is hama, the same as Sanskrit samâ, which means "a year" in the Rig-Veda. The period of ten summer months mentioned in the Avesta would, therefore, mean a year of ten months' sunshine, or of ten mânusha yugâ, followed by a long wintry night of two months as described in the previous chapters. It may be urged that the Vendidad does not say that the two winter months were all dark, and we have, therefore, no authority for converting two winter months into two months of continuous darkness. A little reflection will, however, show that the objection is utterly untenable. In order to have a winter of ten months at the present day, we must place the Airyana Vaêjo in the Arctic regions; and once we do so, a long night of one, two or three months follows as a matter of course. This long night will now fall in the middle of the winter of ten months; but before the last Glacial epoch, or the invasion of Angra Mainyu, when there was a summer of ten months in the Arctic regions, the duration of the long night and that of the winter of two months must have been co-extensive. That is an important difference in the description of the paradise of the Aryans, as it is at present and as it was before the last Glacial 24