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

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 443 . Aryans were familiar with some metal, either copper or bronze, as a medium of exchange. There are many other points si- milar in character. But it is impossible to go further into this subject in this place. I only want to point out the re- servation with which we shall have now to accept the results of Comparative Philology in forming our estimate of the degree of culture reached by the primitive Aryans, and show that when the primitive Aryan culture is carried back to the inter-Glacial age, the hypothesis that primitive Aryans were hardly better than the savage races of the present day at once falls to the ground. If the civilisation of some Aryan races in the Neolithic age appears to be inferior or imperfect it must, therefore, be, as observed above, ascribed to relapse or retrogression after the destruction of the ancient civilisation by the Ice Age, and the necessarily hard and nomadic life led by the people who survived the cataclysm. The Asiatic Aryans, it is true, were able to preserve a good deal more of the origin- al religion and culture, but it seems to be mainly due to their having incorporated the old traditions into their religious hymns or songs; and made it the exclusive business of a few to preserve and hand down with religious scrupulosity these prayers and songs to future generations by means of memory specially trained and cultivated for the purpose. But even then how difficult the task was can be very well seen from the fact that a greater portion of the hymns and songs originally comprised in the Avesta has been lost; and though the Veda is better preserved, still what we have at present is only a portion of the literature which is believed on good grounds to have once been in existence. It may seem pass- ing strange that these books should disclose to us the ex- istence of an original Arctic home so many centuries after the traditions were incorporated into them. But the evidence in the foregoing pages shows that it is a fact; and if so, we must hold that the Neolithic Aryan people in Europe were not as

444 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. Prof. Max Muller thinks, progressive, but, for the time at least, necessarily retrogressive savages working only with such residua of the ante-diluvian civilisation as were saved from its general wreck.* But though the Vedic or Aryan people and their religion and culture can thus be traced to the last inter-glacial period, and though we know that the degree of culture attained by the primitive Aryans was of a higher type than some scholars seem to be willing to assign to them, yet there are many points in the primitive Aryan history which still remain unsolved. For instance, when and where the Aryan race was differenti- ated from other human races, or how and where the Aryan speech was developed, are important questions from the anthropological point of view, but we have, at present, no means to answer the same satisfactorily. It is quite possible that other human races might have lived with the Aryans in their home at this time; but the Vedic evidence is silent on this point. The existence of the human race is traced by geologists to the Tertiary era; and it is now geologically cer- tain that the gigantic changes wrought on this globe by glacial epochs were witnessed by man. But anthropology does not supply us with any data from which we can ascertain when, where, or how the human race came to be differenti- ated according to colour or language. On the contrary, it is now proved that at the earliest date at which human remains have been found, the race was already divided into several sharply distinguished types; and this, as observed by Laing, leaves the question of man's ultimate origin completety open to speculation, and enables both monogenists and polygenists to contend for their respective views with plausible argu- ments and without fear of being refuted by facts.† The evid- ence, set forth in the foregoing pages, does not enable us to

• Max Muller's Last Essays, pp. 172 ff. † Laing's Human Origins, pp. 404-5.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 445 solve any of these questions regarding the ultimate origin of the human race or even of the Aryan people or their language and religion. We have nothing in this evidence for ascert- aining how far the existence of the Aryan race can be traced back to pre-glacial, as distinguished from inter-glacial times; or whether the race was descended from a single pair (mo- nogeny) or plurality of pairs (polygeny) in the remotest ages. The traditional evidence collected by us only warrants us in taking back the Aryan people and their civilisation from the Temperate zone in post-glacial to the Arctic regions in inter- glacial times. It is true that Aryans and their culture or religion cannot be supposed to have developed all of a sudden at the close of the last inter-glacial period, and the ultimate origin of both must, therefore, be placed in remote geological times. But it is useless to speculate on this question without further evidence, and in the present state of our knowledge we must rest content with the result that though Aryan race or religion can be traced to the last inter-glacial- period yet the ultimate origin of both is still lost in geological antiquity. I cannot conclude this chapter without briefly examining the bearing of our results on the views entertained by Hindu theological scholars regarding the origin, character and autho- rity of the Vedas. It is a question which has been dis- cussed with more or less acuteness, subtlety, or learning ever since the days of the Brâhmaṇas; and from a purely theologi- cal point of view I do not think there remains anything to be now said upon it. Again, for the purposes of scientific investi- gation, it is necessary to keep he theological and the antiqua- rian aspect of the question quite distinct from each other. Yet when our investigation, conducted on strict scientific lines, is completed, we may usefully compare our conclusions with the theological views and see how far they harmonise or clash with each other. In fact no Hindu who reads a book like the

446 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. present, can avoid making such a comparison ; and we shall be lightening his task by inserting in this place a few remarks on this subject. According to the view held by Hindu theo- logians, the Vedas are eternal (nitya), without a beginning (anâdi), and also not created by a human author (a-pauru- sheya); and we are told that these attributes have been predi- cated of our sacred books from the most ancient times known to our divines or philosophers. The whole of the third Volume of Dr. Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts is devoted to the discussion of this subject, a number of original passages and arguments bearing on which are there collected, including Sâyaṇa's lucid summary in the introduction to his commen- tary on the Ṛig-Veda ; and more recently the late Mahâ- mahopâdhyâya Râjârâma Shâstri Bodas, the editor of the Bombay edition of the Ṛig-Veda, has done the same in a Sanskrit pamphlet, the second edition of which is now pub- lished by his son, Mr. M. R. Bodas, of the Bombay High Court Bar. I shall, therefore, give in this place only a summary of the different views of Hindu theologians, without entering into the details of the controversy which can be studied from the above books. The question before us is whether the Vedic hymns, that is, not only the words of the hymns but also the religious system found or referred to therein, are the composi- tions of the Ṛiṣhis to whom they are assigned in the Anu- kramaṇikâs, or the ancient Indexes of the Veda, in the sense in which the Shâkuntala is a composition of Kâlidâsa ; or whether these hymns existed from times immemorial, in other words, whether they are eternal and without a beginning. The hymns themselves are naturally the best evidence on the point. But, as shewn by Dr. Muir in the second chapter (pp. 218–86) of the Volume above mentioned, the utterances of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis on this point are not unanimous. Thus side by side with passages in which the Vedic bards have express- ed their emotions, hopes or fears, or prayed for worldly comforts

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 447 and victory over their enemies, condemning evil practices like gambling with dice (X, 34), or have described events, which on their face seem to be the events of the day; side by side with passages where the poet says that he has made (kṛi), generated (jan), or fabricated (taksh) a new (navyasî or apūrvya) hymn, much in the same way as a carpenter fashions a chariot (I, 47, 2; 62, 13; II, 19, 8; IV, 16, 20; VIII, 95, 5; X, 23, 6; 39, 14; 54, 6; 160, 5; &c.); or with hymns in which we are plainly told that they are composed by so and so, the son of so and so, (I, 60, 5; X, 63, 17; 67, 1; &c.), there are to be found in the Ṛig-Veda itself an equally large number of hymns where the Ṛiṣhis state in unmistakable terms that the hymns sung by them were the results of inspiration from Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Aditi, or some other deity; or that the Vedic verses (ṛichaḥ) directly emanated from the Supreme Puruṣha, or some other divine source; or that they were given by gods (devatta), or generated by them and only seen or perceived (pashyat) by the poets in later times, (I, 37, 4; II, 23, 2; VII, 66, 11; VIII, 59, 6; X, 72, 1; 58, 8; 90, 9; &c.). We are also told that Vâch (Speech) is nityâ or eternal (VIII, 75, 6, also cf. X, 125); or that the gods generated the divine Vâch and also the hymns (VIII, 100, 11; 101, 16; X, 88, 8). The evidence of the Vedic hymns does not, therefore, enable us to decide the question one way or the other; but if the composition of the hymns is once ascribed to human effort, and once to divine inspiration or to the gods di- rectly, it is clear that at least some of these old Ṛiṣhis believed the hymns to have been sung under inspiration or generated directly by the goddess of speech or other deities. We may reconcile the former of these views with the passages where the hymns are said to be made by human effort, on the supposition that the poets who sang the hymns believed themselves to be acting under divine inspiration. But the explanation fails to account for the statement

448 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. that the Ṛik, the Yajus, and the Sâman, all emanated from the Supreme Puruṣha or the gods ; and we must, therefore, conclude that the tradition about the eternity of the Vedas, or their divine origin is as old as the Veda itself. Accordingly, when we come to the Brâhmaṇas and the Upaniṣhads, we naturally find the same view prevailing. They tell us that the Ṛig-Veda pro- ceeded from Agni (fire), the Yajur-Veda from Vâyu (wind), and the Sâma-Veda from Sûrya (the sun), and that these three deities got their warmth from Prajâpati who practised tapas for the purpose, (Shat. Brâh, XI, 5, 8, 1 ff; Ait, Brâh. V, 32-34; Chhân. Up. IV, 17, 1); or that the Vedas are the breathings of the Supreme Being (Bṛih. Up. II, 4, 10); or that Prajâpati by means of the eternal Vâch created the Vedas and everything else in this world ; and the same view is met with in the Smṛitis like those of Manu (I, 21-23) and others, or in the Purâṇas, several extracts from which are given by Dr. Muir in the volume above referred to. It is admitted that the Vedas, with other things, are destroyed, at the end of a Kalpa, by the deluge (pralaya) which overtakes the world at the time. But we are told that this does not affect the question of the eternity of the new Kalpa by Brahmâ himself after the grand deluge, and by the Ṛiṣhis, who survive, after minor deluges. The authority generally quoted in support of this view is a verse from the Mahâbhârata (Shânti-Parvan, Chap. 210, v. 19) which says, "The great Ṛiṣhis, empowered by Svayambhû (the self-born), formerly obtained, through tapas (religious austerity), the Vedas and the Itihâsas, which had disappeared at the end of the (preceding) Yuga."* The Ṛiṣhis are, therefore, called the seers and not

• The verse is as follows:— युगान्तेऽन्तर्हितान् वेदान् सेतिहासान् म- हर्षयः । लेभिरे तपसा पूर्वमनुज्ञाता स्वयंभुवा ॥ Bhavabhûti, Utt, 1, 15, similarly says in another connection:— ब्रह्मर्षयो ब्रह्महिताय तप्त्वा । परः सहस्राः शरदस्तपांसि ॥ एतान्यपश्यन् गुरवः पुराणाः । स्वाम्येव तेजांसि तपो- मयानि ॥ Also Cf. Ṛig. VIII, 59, 6, quoted infra.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 449 the makers of the Vedic hymns; and the personal designa- tion of some Shâkhâs, branches or recensions of Vedas, as Taittirîya, Kâṭhaka, &c., as well as the statements in the Vedic hymns, which say that so and so has made or generated such and such a hymn, are understood to mean that the particu- lar Shâkhâ or hymn was perceived, and only perceived, by the particular Ṛiṣhi or poet. It is not, however, till we come to the works of the authors and expositors of the different schools of Hindu philosophy (darshanas) that we find the doctrine of the eternity of the Vedas subjected to a searching examination; and, as remarked by Dr. Muir, one who reads the discussions of these writers cannot fail to be struck "with the acuteness of their reasoning, the logical precision with which their arguments are presented, and the occasional live- liness and ingenuity of their illustrations."* They all bear wit- ness to the fact that so far as tradition went,—an unbroken tradition of great antiquity,—there was no remembrance of the Vedas having been ever composed by or ascribed to any human author; and taking into consideration the learning and the piety of these scholars, their testimony must be regarded as an unimpeachable proof of the existence of such a tradition, which was considered ancient several centuries before the Christian era. But though a tradition whose high antiquity can be so well established deserves to be seriously considered in our investigations regarding the character of the Vedas, yet it is, after all, a negative proof, showing, it may be urged, nothing more than no human author of the Veda has been known from times beyond the memory of all these ancient scholars. Jaimini, the author of Mimâmsâ Sutras, therefore, further deduces (I, 1, 5) the eternity of the Vedas from the re- lation or connection between words and their meanings, which he holds to be eternal (autpattika) and not conventional. 'A word is defined to be an aggregate of letters in a particular

• Muir, O. S. T., Vol. III, p. 58. 29

450 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.

order, and its sense is said to be conveyed by these letters fol- lowing each other in a definite succession. But Grammarians are not satisfied with this view, and maintain that the sense of a word is not expressed by the aggregate of its constituent letters which are transient, but by a certain super-sensuous- entity, called sphoṭa (i. e., manifester, from sphuṭ), which su- pervenes the aggregate of the letters as soon as they are pro- nounced, and reveals their meaning. Jaimini denies that there are words in the Vedas which denote any transient objects, and as the Vedic words and their sense are eternal, it follows, ac- cording to him, that the Vedas are self-demonstrative, or that they shine, like the sun, by their own light, and are, therefore perfect and infallible. If particular parts of the Vedas are designated after some Ṛiṣhis, it does not, we are told, prove those sages to have been their authors, but merely the teachers who studied and handed them down. Bâdarâyaṇa, as inter- preted by Shaṅkarâchârya (I, 3, 26–33), the great leader of the Vedânta School, accepts the doctrine of the eternity of sound or words, but adds that it is the species to which the word be- longs, and not the word itself, that is eternal or indestruct- ible, and, therefore, though the names of deities, like Indra and others, which are all created and hence liable to destruc- tion, are mentioned in the Veda, it does not affect the question of its eternity as the species to which Indra and others are said to belong is still eternal. In short, Vedic names and forms of species are eternal, and it is by remembering these that the world is created by Brahmâ at the beginning of each Kalpa, (Maitr. Up., VI, 22). The Veda is, therefore, the original WORD the source from which every thing else in the world emanated, and as such it cannot but be eternal; and it is interesting, as pointed out by Prof. Max Muller in his Lectures on Vedânta Philosophy, to compare this doctrine with that of Divine Logos of the Alexandrian Schools in the West. The Naiyâyikas, on the other hand, deny the doctrine of the

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 451 eternity of sound or word, but hold that the authority of the Vedas is established by the fact of their having emanated from competent (ápta) persons who had an intuitive percep- tion of duty (sâkshâtkṛita dharmâṇaḥ, as Yâska puts it), and whose competence is fully proved by the efficacy of such of the Vedic injunctions as relate to mundane matters, and can, therefore, be tested by experience; while the author of the Vaisheṣhika Sûtras clearly refers (I, 1, 3) the Veda. to Îshvara or God as its framer. The Sâṅkhyas (Sâṅkhya Sû- tras, V, 40-51) agree with the Naiyâyikas in rejecting the doctrine of the eternity of the connection of a word with its meaning; and though they regard the Veda as paurusheya in the sense that it emanated from the Primeval Purusha, yet they maintain that it was not the result of a conscious effort on the part of this Purusha, but only an unconscious emanation from him like his breathing. According to this view the Veda cannot be called eternal in the same sense as the Mîmâmsa- kas have done, and, therefore, the texts which assert the eter- nity of the Vedas, are said to refer merely to "the un- broken continuity of the stream of homogeneous succession," (Veda-nityatâ-vâkyâni cha sajâtîyânupûrvî-pravâhânuchcheda-parâṇi).* Patanjali, the great grammarian, in his gloss on Pâṇini IV, 3, 101, solves the question by making a distinction between the language (the succession of words or letters, varṇânupûrvî, as we find it in the present texts) of the Vedas and their contents (artha), and observing that the question of the eter- nity of the Vedas refers to their sense which is eternal or permanent (artho nityaḥ), and not to the order of their letters, which has not always remained the same (varṇânupûrvî anityâ), and that it is through this difference

• Cf. Vedântaparibhâshâ Âgama-parichcheda, p. 55, quoted in Mahâmahopâdhyâya Jhalkikar's Nyâya-kosha, 2nd Ed. p. 736. s. v. वेदः—सर्गाद्यकाले परमेश्वरः पूर्वसर्गसिद्धवेदानुपूर्वीसमानानुपूर्वीकं वेदं विर- चितवान् न तु तद्विजातीयं वेदम् ।

452 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. in the latter respect that we have the different versions of Kaṭhas, Kalâpas, Mudakas, Pippalâdas and so on. This view is opposed to that of the Mîmâṁsakas who hold both sense and order of words to be eternal. But Patanjali is led to reject the doctrine of the eternity of the order of words, because in that case we cannot account for the different versions or Shâkhâs of the same Veda, all of which are considered to be equally authoritative though their verbal readings are some- times different. Patanjali, as explained by his commentators Kaiyyaṭa and Nâgojî Bhaṭṭa, ascribes this difference in the different versions of the Veda to the loss of the Vedic texts in the pralayas or deluges which occasionally overtake the world, and their reproduction or repromulgation, at the beginning of each new age, by the sages, who survived, according to their remembrance.* Each manvantara or age has thus a Veda of its own which differs only in expression and not in sense from the ante-diluvian Veda, and that different recensions of co-ordi- nate authority of the same Veda are due to the difference in the remembrance of the Ṛiṣhis whose names are associated with the different Shâkhâs, and who repromulgate, at the beginning of the new age, the knowledge inherited by them, as a sacred trust, from their forefathers in the preceding Kalpa. This view substantially accords with that of Vyâsa as recorded in the verse from the Mahâbhârata quoted above. The later exposi- tors of the different schools of philosophy have further developed these views of the Sûtra-writers and criticised or defended the doctrine of the self-demonstrated authority of the scriptural texts (shabda-pramâṇa) in various ways. But we cannot

• Patanjali's words are,—ननु चोक्तं न हि च्छन्दांसि क्रियन्ते नित्यानि च्छन्दांसीति। यद्यप्यर्थो नित्यो या त्वसौ वर्णानुपूर्वी साऽनित्या। तद्भेदाच्चैतद्भव- यति काठकं कालापकं मौदकं पैप्पलादकमिति॥ Nâgojî Bhaṭṭa in his gloss quotes the verse— प्रतिमन्वन्तरं चैषा श्रुतिरन्याऽभिधीयते; and observes that धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत् (Rig. X, 190, 3) does not require us to assume that the order of words was the same in the new Kalpa. See Muir O. S. T., Vol. III, pp. 96-97.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 453 go into their elaborate discussions in this place; nor is it necessary to do so, for eventually we have to fall back upon the view of Vyâsa and Patanjali, mentioned above, if the destruction of the Vedas during each pralaya, and its repromulgation at the commencement of the new age is admitted. Such, in brief, are the views entertained by Hindu ortho- dox theologians, scholars and philosophers in regard to the origin, character and authority of the Vedas; and on compar- ing them with the results of our investigation, it will be found that Patanjali's and Vyâsa's view about the antiquity and the eternity of the Vedas derives material support from the theory of the Arctic home which we have endeavoured to prove in the foregoing pages on strict scientific and historical grounds. It has been shown that Vedic religion and worship are both inter-glacial; and that though we cannot trace their ultimate origin, yet the Arctic character of the Vedic deities fully proves that the powers of Nature represented by them had been already clothed with divine attributes by the primitive Aryans in their original home round about the North Pole, or the Meru of the Purâṇas. When the Polar home was destroy- ed by glaciation, the Aryan people that survived the catastrophe carried with them as much of their religion and worship as it was possible to do under the circumstances; and the relic, thus saved from the general wreck, was the basis of the Aryan religion in the post-Glacial age. The whole period from the commencement of the post-Glacial era to the birth of Buddha may, on this theory, be approximately divided into four parts :— 10000 or 8000 B. C.—The destruction of the original Arctic home by the last Ice Age and the commencement of the post-Glacial period. 8000-5000 B. C.—The age of migration from the original home. The survivors of the Aryan race roamed over the northern parts of Europe and Asia in search of lands

454 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. suitable for new settlements. The vernal equinox was then in the constellation of Punarvasû, and as Aditi is the presiding deity of Punarvasû, according to the termino- logy adopted by me in Orion, this may, therefore, be call- ed the Aditi or the Pre-Orion Period. 5000-3000 B. C.—The Orion Period, when the vernal equi- nox was in Orion. Many Vedic hymns can be traced to the early part of this period and the bards of the race seem to have not yet forgotten the real import or signi- ficance of the traditions of the Arctic home inherited by them. It was at this time that first attempts to reform the calendar and the sacrificial system appear to have been systematically made. 3000-1400 B. C.—The Kṛittikâ Period, when the vernal equinox was in Pleiades. The Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and the Brâhmaṇas, which begin the series of nakshatras with the Kṛittikâs, are evidently the productions of this period. The compilation of the hymns into Saṁhitâ's also appears to be a work of the early part of this period. The tradi- tions about the original Arctic home had grown dim by this time and very often misunderstood, making the Vedic hymns more and more unintelligible. The sacrificial system and the numerous details thereof found in the Brâhmaṇas seem to have been developed during this time. It was at the end of this Period that the Vedâṅga-jyotisha was originally composed, or at any rate the position of the equinoxes mentioned therein observed and ascertained. 1400-500 B. C.—The Pre-Buddhistic Period, when the Sûtras and the Philosophical systems made their ap- pearance. These periods differ slightly from those mentioned by me in Orion; but the change is needed in consequence of the theory of the Arctic home which carries back the beginning of

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE. AND RELIGION. 455 the Pre-Orion or the Aditi Period to the commencement of the present post-Glacial era. In the language of the Purâṇas the first period after the close of the Ice Age (8000-5000 B. C,) may be called the Kṛita Yuga, or the age of wandering, as the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (VII, 15) describes it to be. It was the period when the Aryan races, expatriated from their mother land, roamed over the northern parts of Europe and Asia in search of new homes. It is doubtful if the Brâhmaṇa meant as much when it described Kṛita to be the age of wandering. But nevertheless it is interesting to notice the new light thrown upon the characteristics of the four Yugas mentioned in the Brâhmaṇa. Thus we are told that "Kali is lying, Dvâpara is slow- ly moving, Tretâ is standing up, and Kṛita is wandering."* Dr. Haug understands this stanza to refer to the game of dice, and other scholars have proposed different interpretations. But in the light of the Arctic theory we may as well suppose that the different stages of life through which the Aryan races had to pass in post-Glacial times, from wandering in search of homes to final settlement in some lands of their choice, are here des- cribed, somewhat after the manner of the Avestic account of the sixteen ancient lands created by Ahura Mazda, and invaded in succession by Angra Mainyu. But even apart from this verse, we can very well see that during the first of the above periods the Aryan races had no fixed home, and many must have been the settlements made and abandoned by them before they permanently settled in congenial lands. I have already stated above that Aryan religion and worship are both inter- glacial ; and that Vedic religion and ritual is a post-Glacial deve- lopment of such relics of the ancient religion as were preserved from the general wreck caused by the Ice Age ; and this affords in my opinion a safe basis to compare our results with the

• Ait. Brâh. VII, 15. — कलिः शयानो भवति संजिहानस्तु द्वापरः । उत्तिष्ठंस्त्रेता भवति कृतं संपद्यते चरन् ॥

456 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. theological views mentioned above. We may not be able to fix definitely when each hymn of the Ṛig-Veda was sung; but we may safely say that those who survived the catastrophe, or their immediate descendants, must have incorporated into hymns the religious knowledge they had inherited as a sacred trust from their forefathers at the first opportunity, that is, soon after they were able to make at least temporary settlements. The hymns cannot, therefore, be supposed to promulgate a new religion consciously or unconsciously evolved on the plains of Central Asia in post-Glacial times; and the Polar character of the Vedic deities removes every doubt on the point. How far the language of the hymns, as we have them at present, resem- bled the ante-diluvian forms of speech is a different question; and according to Patanjali and Vyâsa, we are not here concerned with the words or the syllables of the hymns, which, it is admit- ted, have not remained permanent. We have to look to the subject matter of the hymns; and there is no reason to doubt either the competency or the trustworthiness of the Vedic bards to execute what they considered to be their sacred task or duty, viz., that of preserving and transmitting, for the benefit of future generations, the religious knowledge they had inherited from their ante-diluvian forefathers. It was by an agency similar to this that the hymns have been preserved accent for accent, according to the lowest estimate, for the last 3000 or 4000 years; and what is achieved in more recent times can certainly be held to have been done by the older bards in times when the tradi- tions about the Arctic home and religion were still fresh in their mind. We may also observe that the hymns were publicly sung and recited, and the whole community, which must be supposed to have been interested in preserving its an- cient religious rites and worship, must have keenly watched the utterances of these Ṛiṣhis. We may, therefore, safely assert that the religion of the primeval Arctic home was correctly

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 457 preserved in the form of traditions by the disciplined memory of the Ṛishis until it was incorporated first into crude as contrasted with the polished hyms (su-uktas) of the Ṛig-Veda in the Orion period, to be collected later on in Maṇḍalas and finally into Saṁhitâs; and that the subject matter of these hymns is inter-glacial, though its ultimate origin is still lost in geological antiquity. Without mixing up the theological and historical views we may, therefore, now state the two in parallel columns as follows :— Theological view. Historical view.

1. The Vedas are eternal 1. The Vedic or the Aryan (nitya), beginning-less (anâ- religion can be proved to be di), and not made by man inter-glacial; but its ultimate (a-paurusheya). origin is still lost in geological antiquity.
2. The Vedas were destroy- 2. Aryan religion and cul- ed in the deluge, at the end ture were destroyed during the of the last Kalpa. last Glacial period that in- vaded the Arctic Aryan home.
3. At the beginning of the 3. The Vedic hymns were present Kalpa, the Ṛiṣhis, sung in post-Glacial times by through tapas, reproduced in poets, who had inherited the substance, if not in form, the knowledge or contents there- ante-diluvian Vedas, which of in an unbroken tradition they carried in their memory from their ante-diluvian fore- by the favour of god. fathers. On a comparison of the two columns it will be found that the tradition about the destruction and the reproduction of the Vedas, recorded by Vyâsa in the Mahâbhârata verse referred to above, must be taken to have been founded substantially on a historical fact. It is true that according to the Purâṇic chronology the beginning of the current Kalpa is placed several thousands of years before the present time; but if, according to the estimates of some modern geologists,

458 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. the post-Glacial period is, even now, said to have com- menced some 80,000 years ago, if not earlier, we need not be much surprised at the Purâṇic estimate, especially when, as stated above, it is found to disclose a real tradition of 10,000 years assigned to a cycle of the four yugas, the first of which began with the new Kalpa, or, in the language of geology, with the present post-Glacial period. Another point wherein the two views may be said to differ is the beginning-less-ness (anâditva) of the Vedas. It is impossible to demonstrate histori- cally or scientifically that Vedic religion and worship is absolutely without a beginning. All that we can say is that its beginning is lost in geological antiquity, or that the Vedic religion is as old as the Aryan language or the Aryan man himself. If theologians are not satisfied with the support which this scienti- fic view accords to their theory about the eternity of the Vedas, the scientific and the theological views must stand, as they are, distinct from each other, for the two methods of investigation are essentially different. It is for this reason that I have stated the views in parallel columns for comparison without mixing them up. Whether the world was produced from the original WORD, or the Divine Logos, is a question which does not fall within the pale of historical investiga- tion; and any conclusions based upon it or similar other doctrines cannot, therefore, be treated in this place. We may, however, still assert that for all practical purposes the Vedic religion can be shown to be beginning-less even on strict scienti- fic grounds. A careful examination of the Ṛig-Vedic hymns will show that the Vedic Ṛishis were themselves conscious of the fact that the subject matter of the hymns sung by them was ancient or ante-diluvian in character, though the expressions used were their own productions. We have already referred before to the two sets of Vedic passages, the first expressly saying that the hymns were made, generated or fashioned like

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 459. a chariot by the Ṛiṣhis to whom they are ascribed, and the other stating in equally unmistakable terms that the hymns were inspired, given or generated by gods. 'Dr. Muir attempts to reconcile these two contradictory views by suggesting that the different Ṛiṣhis probably held different views ; or that when both of them can be traced to the same author, he may have expressed the one at the time when it was uppermost in his mind, and the other at another ; or that the Vedic Ṛiṣhis or poets had no very clearly defined ideas of inspiration, and thought that the divine assistance of which they were conscious did not render their hymns the less truly the producation of their own mind.* In short, the existence of a human is not supposed to be incompatible with that of the super-human element in the composition of these hymns. But it will be seen that the above reconciliation is at once weak and unsatisfactory. A better way to reconcile the conflicting utterances of the Ṛiṣhis would be to make a distinction between the expression, language, or form on the one hand, and the contents, substance, or the subject matter of the hymns on the other ; and to hold that while the expression was human, the subject matter was believed to be ancient or superhuman. There are numerous passages in the Ṛig-Veda where the bards speak of ancient poets (pūrve ṛiṣhayah), or ancient hymns (I, 1, 2 ; VI, 44, 13 ; VII, 29, 4 ; VIII, 40, 12 ; X, 14, 15 ; &c.) ; and Western scholars understand by these phrases the poets or hymns of the past generations of Vedic bards, but not anterior to the post-Glacial times. But there are clear indications in the hymns themselves which go to refute this view. It is true that the Vedic bards speak of ancient and modern hymns ; but they often tell us that though the hymn is new (navyasi), yet the god or the deity to whom it is addressed is old (pratna), or ancient, (VI, 22, 7 ; 62, 4 ;

• See Muir O. S. T., Vol. III, pp. 274-5.

460 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. X, 91, 13 ; &c.) This shows that the deities whose exploits were sung in the hymns were considered to be ancient deities. Nay, we have express passages where not only the deities but their exploits are said to be ancient, evidently meaning that the achievements spoken of in the hymns were traditional and not witnessed by the poet himself ; thus, in I, 32, 1, the poet opens his song with a clear statement that he is going to sing those exploits of Indra which were achieved at first (pratha- mâni) or in early times, and the adjectives pûrvyâṇi and pûrvîḥ are applied to Indra's exploits in I, 11, 3, and I, 61, 13. The achievements of the Ashvins are similarly said to be pûrvyâṇi in I, 117, 25 ; and the long list of the exploits given in this hymn clearly shows that the poet is here rather sum- marising the exploits traditionally known to him than enu- merating events witnessed by himself or by his forefathers in the near past. This is also evident from the fact that the ancient Ṛiṣhis mentioned in the hymns, like the Aṅgirases or Vasiṣhṭha, are believed to have been invested with supernatural powers (VII, 33, 7–13), or to have lived and 'conversed with (I, 179, 2), or shared in the enjoyments of the gods (Devâ- nâm sadhamâdaḥ VIII, 76, 4). They are also said to be the earliest guides (pathikṛit, X, 14, 15) for future generations. It is impossible to suppose that Vedic poets could have ascribed such superhuman character to their ancestors in the near past ; and we are, therefore, led to the conclusion that the an- cestors here spoken of were the ante-diluvian ancestors (naḥ pûrve pitaraḥ) who completed their sacrifices in the Arctic year of 7 or 10 months. And what is true of the ancestors applies as well to the ancient deities mentioned in the hymns. I have pointed out previously that the legend of Aditi and her sons is expressly stated to be a legend of the past age (pûrvyam yugaṁ) ; and the same thing may be predicated of the legends of Indra, the Ashvins or the other deities whose expliots are described in the Ṛig-Veda as pûrvyâṇi or prathamâni, that is,

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 461 old or ancient. In short, the ancient hymns, poets, or deities, mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda must be referred to a by-gone age and not to post-Glacial times. The Arctic character of these deities, it may be further observed, is intelligible only on this view. The Vedic bards may well be credited with having composed, or fashioned, new songs or hymns; but the question still remains whether the subject matter of these hymns was of their own creation, and the fact that the deities have been called ancient in contradistinction with the songs offered to them (VI, 62, 4), and are clothed with Polar attributes, at once enables us to solve the question by answering that though the wording of the hymns was new, their sub- ject matter was old, that is, traditionally handed down to the poet from remote ages. Thus in a hymn of the tenth Maṇḍa- la (X, 72, 1-2), the poet desiring to celebrate the births or the origin of gods, thus begins his hymn, "Let us, from the the love of praise, celebrate, in recited hymns, the births of gods,—any one of us who in this later age may see them, (yaḥ pashyâd uttare yuge)." Here we have a distinct con- trast between the births of gods on the one hand and the poet who may see the hymn in the later age on the other, evidently meaning that the subject matter of the hymn is an occurrence of the former age (yuga), and that the poet celebrates as he perceives or sees it in the later age. The view that the Vedic hymns, or rather their contents, were perceived and not made by the Ṛiṣhis, derives material support from this statement. A similar expression is also found in VIII, 59, 6, which says "Indra and Varuṇa! I have seen (abhi apashyam) through tapas that which ye formerly gave to the Ṛiṣhis, wisdom, understanding of speech, sacred lore (shru- tam) and all the places which the sages created when perform- ing sacrifices."* The notion about the perception of the

• Ṛig. VIII, 59, 6,—इंद्रावरुणा यदृषिभ्यो मनीषां वाचो मतिं श्रुतम- दत्तमग्रे । यानि स्थानान्यसृजंत धीरा यज्ञं तन्वानास्तपसाभ्यपश्यम् ॥

462 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. subject matter of the Vedic hymns is here referred to almost in the same terms in which it is expressed by Vyâsa in the Mahâbhârata verse quoted above; and with such express- texts before us, the only way to reconcile the conflicting state- ments about the human and the superhuman origin of the hymns is to refer them to the form and the matter of the hymns respectively, as suggested by Patanjali and other schol- ars. Dr. Muir notices a passage (VIII, 95, 4-5) where the poet is said to have "generated (ajîjanat) for Indra the new- est exhilarating hymn (navîyasîm mandrâm giram), springing from an intelligent mind, an ancient mental product (dhiyam pratnâm), full of sacred truth."* Here one and the same hymn is said to be both new and old at the same time; and Dr. Muir quotes Aufrecht to show that gir, that is, expres- sion or wording, is here contrasted with dhî or thought, ob- viously showing that an old thought (pratnâ dhîḥ) has been couched in new language (navîyasî gîḥ) by the bard to whom the hymn is ascribed. In other words, the hymn is ancient in substance though new in expression,—a conclusion to which we have been already led on different grounds. We may also cite in this connection the fact that amongst the different heads into which the contents of the Brâhmaṇas have been classified by Indian divines, we find one which is termed Purâ-kalpa or the rites or traditions of a by-gone age, showing that even the Brâhmaṇas are believed to contain ante-diluvian stories or traditions. The statement in the Taittirîya Saṃhitâ that "The priests, in old times, were afraid that the dawn would not terminate or ripen into sunshine," is quoted by Sâya- ṇa as an example of Purâ-kalpa, and we have seen before that this can be explained: only by supposing it to refer to the Arctic dawn,—an incident witnessible by man only in the in- ter-glacial times. If the Brâhmaṇas can be thus shown to contain or refer to the facts of a by-gone age, a fortiori the

• See Muir O. S. T., Vol. III, p. 239.