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

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.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 463 Vedas may, very well, be said to do the same. Thus from whatever side we approach the question, we are irresistibly led, by internal as well as external evidence, to the conclusion that the subject matter of the Vedic hymns is ancient and inter- glacial, and that it was incorporated into the Vedic hymns in post-Glacial times by Ṛiṣhis who inherited the same in the shape of continuous traditions from their inter-glacial fore- fathers. There are many other points in Vedic interpretation, or in Vedic and Purâṇic mythology, which are elucidated, or, we may even say, intelligently and rationally explained for the first time, by the theory of the Arctic home in inter- glacial times. For instance, we can now easily account for the disappointment of those Western scholars, who, when the Vedas became first known to them, expected to find therein the very beginnings of the Aryan civilisation or the out-pourings of the Aryan mind as it first became impressed with awe and wonder by the physical phenomena or the workings of natural elements and looked upon them as divine manifestations. Our theory now shows very clearly that though the Vedas are the oldest records of the Aryan race, yet the civilisation, or the characteristics and the worship of the deities mentioned therein did not originate with the Vedic bards, but was derived by them from their inter-glacial fore-fathers and preserved in the forms of hymns for the benefit of posterity; and if any one wants to trace the very beginnings of the Aryan civilisation he must go back beyond the last Glacial period, and see how the ancestors of the Aryan race lived and worked in their primeval Polar home. Unfortunately we have very few materials for ascertaining the degree of this civilisation. But we think we have shewn that there are grounds to hold that the inter-glacial Aryan civilisation and culture must have been of a higher type than what it is usually supposed to be;

464 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. and that there is no reason why the primitive Aryans should not be placed on an equal footing with the pre-historic inhabitants of Egypt in point of culture and civilisation. The vitality and superiority of the Aryan races, as disclosed by their con- quest, by extermination or assimilation, of the non-Aryan races with whom they came in contact in their migrations in search of new lands from the North Pole to the Equator, if not to the farther south, is intelligible only on the assumption of a high degree of civilisation in their original Arctic home; and when the Vedas come to be further examined in the light of the Arctic theory, we may certainly expect to discover therein many other facts, which will further support this view, but which are still hidden from us owing to our imperfect know- ledge of the physical and social surroundings amidst which the ancestors of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis lived near the North Pole in times before the Glacial epoch. The exploration of the Arctic regions which is being carried on at present, may also help us hereafter in our investigation of the beginnings of the Aryan civilisation. But all these things must be left to be done by future investigators when the theory of the Arctic home of the Aryans comes to be generally recognised as a scientific fact. Our object at present is to show that there is enough evidence in the Veda and the Avesta to establish the existence of an Arctic home in inter-Glacial times; and the reader, who has fol- lowed us in our arguments, set forth in the preceding pages, will at once perceive that the theory we have endeavoured to prove, is based on a solid foundation of express texts and passages traditionally preserved in the two oldest books of the Aryan race, and that it is amply forti- fied by independent corroboration received from the latest results of the correlative sciences, like Geology, Archæology Linguistic Palæology, Comparative Mythology and Astronomy.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 465 In fact, the idea of searching for the evidence of an Arctic home in the Vedas may be said to have been stimulated, if not suggested, by the recent advances made in these sciences, and it will be seen that the method, adopted by us in working it up, is as rigid as it ought to be. It is now several centuries since the science of Vedic exegetics was founded by Indian Nairuktas ; and it may seem surprising that traces of an Arctic home in the Vedas should remain undiscovered so long. But surprises like these are out of place in investigations of this kind, where one must be prepared to accept the results proved, in the light of advancing knowledge, by the strictest rules of logic and scientific research. It is these rules that we have taken for our guide, and if the validity of our conclusions be tested by this standard, we hope it will be found that we have succeeded in discovering the true key to the interpretation of a number of Vedic texts and legends hitherto given up as hopeless, ignored or misunderstood. In these days of progress, when the question of the primitive human culture and civilisation is approached and investigated from so many different sides, the science of Vedic interpretation cannot stand isolated or depend exclusively on linguistic or grammatical analysis; and we have simply followed the spirit of the time in seeking to bring about the co- ordination of the latest scientific results with the traditions contained in the oldest books of the Aryan race,—books which have been deservedly held in the highest esteem and preserved by our ancestors, amidst insurmountable difficulties, with religious enthusiasm ever since the beginning of the present age. FINIS.

This image is completely blank and contains no text to transcribe.

GENERAL INDEX. ABHIPLAVA, a kind of shaḷaha, 207, 209. Adhyâtmikas, their school of Vedic interpretation, 238. Aditi, and her Âditya sons, the le- gend of, 152-158; said to have occurred in a former yuga, 158, 460. Âdityas, seven with an eighth still- born brother, represent the seven monthly sun-gods in the Arctic region, 156-158; 216; 282. Âdityânâm-ayanam, an yearly sa- crificial session, 193, 209. Adri, a mountain, meaning of, in the Ṛig-Veda, 249, 253. Æsir, gods, the reign of, 78. Ages, archæological, of Stone, Bronze and Iron, 4; distinction between Neolithic and Palæoli- thic, 10; their co-relation with the geological, 11; of Beech, Oak and Fir, 12. —Geological and their subdivi- sions, 11; climate and distribution of land and water in, 20-24. —Human and divine in the Ṛig- Veda, 173 f. —Purâṇic, Kṛita, Tretâ, Dvâ- para, and Kali; their real duration, 421-427; their characteristics, 455. Aggilos, phonetic equivalent of Aṅgiras, 160. Agni, fire, a Vedic matutinal deity, 74; living in long darkness, 127; his hidden home in waters and darkness, 317; as child of waters, 317; traversing the universe, 333; his secret third station, 333; seven rays or tongues, and ten secret dwellings of, 342. Agniṣhṭoma, a Soma-sacrifice, 206 Ahalyâ, the legend of, 347. Ahanî, Day and Night, distinguish- ed from Ushâsâ-naktâ, 135; right and left side of the Year-god, 138-139. Ahîna, a Soma-sacrifice of less than thirteen days, 206. Ahura Mazda, warning Yima about the coming winter in Airyana Vaêjo, 72, 376. Airyana Vaêjo, the original Para- dise of the Iranians or the Aryan race, Yima's Vara in, 72; descrip- tion of, in the Vendidad, 357-359; wrongly identified with coun- tries to the east of Iran, 361-363; change in the climate of, caused by Angra Mainyu, 366; proves its invasion by ice during the last Glacial epoch, 368; ten winter months therein, 366-368; also seven summer months, 370 f; an- nual rise of sun, moon and stars, and a year-long day at the place, 71, 72, 376; possible only if it be located in the Arctic regions, and not to the east of Iran, 378; de- scription of the glaciation of, 380. Aitihâsikas, their school of Vedic interpretation, 239. Aiyangâr, Mr., Nârâyaṇa, on the interpretation of Vedic myths on

468 GENERAL INDEX. the Astral theory, 63, 245; on the nature of Kumâra, Kârttikeya, 318; on the nature of Sîtâ, 348. Aiyer, Mr. on the yuga-system in the Purâṇas, 422-424. Âjânadevatâs, 237. Alburz, a mountain, separating the upper from the lower world in the Avesta, 266; apertures in, for the sun to pass through, 269, 318. Alps, low in early geological ages 21. Altitude, high, its effect on climate, 21. Amma, the ascending stream of, in the Finnish mythology, 276. Ammarik, the gloaming, in the Fin- nish mythology, 404. Anaximenes, on the overhead rota- tion of the sky, 78. Aṅgirasâm ayanam, the yearly sa- crificial session of Aṅgirases, 162, 193, 209. Aṅgirases, ancient sacrificers of the Aryan race, 160; probably Indo- European in origin, 171; different species of, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas, 162; ten months' sa- crifical session of the latter, 163; helping Indra in the rescue of the cows at the end of each year, 163; found the sun dwelling in dark- ness, 163; described as Virûpas, that is, of various forms, 168. Aṅgra Mainyu, the evil spirit in the Avesta, destroys Airyana Vaêjo by introducing severe winter therein, 359; explained as a glacial invasion, 368 f. Anquetil, discovery of the Avesta by, 356. Âpaḥ, waters, distinguished as ter- restrial and celestial in the Ṛig- Veda, 256; celestial or aerial rid- den for ten months by the sun, 177, 184; ruled over by Varuṇa, 178; coeval with the world, 257; captivated by Vṛitra and released to flow upwards by Indra, cannot but be celestial, 274, 275, 294, 295; in the seven rivers must be celestial, 288-293; cosmic circu- lation of the aerial, in the Avesta, 270, 271; cessation of their flow in winter, 271-274; cosmic circu- lation of, in other mythologies, 275-278; their nature and charac- teristics as a Vedic deity summed up, 338, 339; the same compared with the Purâṇic legends, 340. Apaosha, the demon conquered by Tishtrya, an Avestic proto-type of Shuṣhṇa in the Ṛig-Veda, 222, 223; fight with, lasting for a hundred nights, 224. Apaturia, ancient Greek feast, 399. Apollon, oxen of, stolen by Hermes, 204; derived from Sanskrit apa- varyan, 255. Apsu-jit, conqueror in waters, an epithet of Indra, 245, 247. Aptoryâma, a Soma-sacrifice, 206. Ap-tûrya, the fight for waters by Indra, 245. Âptya, See Trita. Arag, See Rangha. Archæology, prehistoric, ages of Iron, Bronze and stone in, 4, 8; characterised by instruments of metals and stone discovered in the recent strata of the earth, 8; ages not synchronous in different countries, 9; transition from one into another gradual and not sudden, 9; distinction between New and Old stone age, 10; ages of Beech, Oak and Fir, 12; the date of the commencement of the Neolithic age in, 12, 13;

GENERAL INDEX. 469 latest researches in, effect of, on primitive history, 4; on Vedic interpretation, 7; summary of the latest researches in, 37, 38. Arctic regions, characterised by mild climate suitable for hu- man habitation in inter-glacial times, 24, 38, 419; a wide conti- nent before the glacial epoch, 41; appearance of the heavens in, 51, 52; duration of day and night in, 55, 56; dawn in, 56, 57; distin- guishing characteristics of, sum- med up, 59. Ardhau, the two celestial hemis- pheres in the Ṛig-Veda, 262. Ardvi Sûra Anâhita, Avestic celes- tial river, like the Vedic Sarasvatî, 265, 363; grants a boon to Thraê- taona, 266, 402. Aristotle, mentions an aerial river, 276; his belief in the reality of the deluge, 388. Ârya, Indra, dealing measure for measure to Dâsa or Vṛitra, 140, 143. Âryabhaṭṭa, 422. Aryan, race and people, their unity in primitive times, 2; controversy regarding the original type of, 16; Vedic, settled in central Asia in the Orion period, 420; primitive, interglacial and not post-glacial in origin, 433; European Neoli- thic, not progressive but retro- gressive savages, 444; origin of and differentiation from other hu- man races, lost in geological anti- quity, 445. —Home, primitive, cannot be loc- ated in Central Asia, 18; nor in North Germany or Scandinavia, 408; must be located in the Arctic regions, 232, 296, 390, 409, 417-418; destroyed during the last Glacial epoch, 381, 82; mig- ration therefrom at the beginning of the post-glacial period, 429. —Culture and religion, primitive, Schrader's view of, 3; in their Arc- tic Home, 435-438; higher than the Neolithic European, 439-445. —Languages, unity of, 2; not de- veloped from the Finnic, 18; not of Neolithic origin, 438; origin of, lost in geological antiquity, 444. Âshvina-shastra, a prize in the race of matutinal deities, 82, 83, 299. Ashvins, a dual matutinal deity in the Veda, their path, 74; time of singing the hymn or prayer of, 82; rescuers of Dîrghatamas, 169, 170; physicians of gods, explained by Max Muller as restorers of the winter sun, 244, 299; their double equipment, boat and golden cha- riot, 277; help Indra in his fight with Vṛitra, 298, 299; their ex- ploits and character, 301–304; save their proteges from bottom- less darkness, 304, 305; inex- plainable by the vernal theory, 305-311; safely deliver Sapta- vadhri from ten months' confine- ment in the womb of his mother, 312-316; satisfactorily explained by the Arctic theory, 319; their three stations, the third hidden, explained, 333; their achievements said to be ancient, that is, inter- glacial, 460. Asia, Northern, the glaciation of, and milder climate in, 14; Central, the theory of the original Aryan home in, challenged by Poshe and Pen- ka, 4; Taylor's view, 5; Rhys'

470 GENERAL INDEX. view, 408; Indo-Iranian settle- ments in, not primitive, 390, 420. Astral, theory, to explain Vedic myths, 245. Astronomers, Hindu, locate Meru at the North Pole, 67; chronology of, 422. Atharvan, an ancient sacrificer, 160- 161. Ati-agniṣhṭoma, a Soma-sacrifice, 206, Ati-râtra, a Soma-sacrifice, 206; in- troduces and concludes a sattra, 208, 228; one of the night-sacri- fices, 213, 215; extraction and purification of Soma juice therein at night, 213, 214; an Avestic pa- rallel, 214; meaning of ati in, 227; production of a cycle of day and night therefrom, 227; position of, in the annual round of sacrifices in ancient times, 229, 230. Atri, an ancient sacrificer, 160, 161. Atri Saptavadhri, See Ashvins, and Saptavadhri. Aufrecht, Prof., 87, 88, 462. Aurora Borealis, 47, 70. Aupamanyava, a Nairukta, correct- ness of his interpretation of shipi- vishṭa, 330, 331. Aurṇavâbha, 326. Autumnal, hundred forts of Vṛi- tra, meaning of, 221, 248, 252, 287. Autumns, a hundred, 389. Avesta, passages in, See Index of Avestic passages. Traditions about the Polar home in, 19, 354-390; method of counting by seasons in, 285; See Airyāna Vaêjo. Âyus, a Soma-sacrifice, 207. Azi-Dahâk, 267, 308, 309. BÂDARÂYANA, on the inauspicious- ness of dying in the Dakshiṇâyana, 76; on the eternity of the Vedas, 450. Balder, or Baldur, the Norse summer- god, his dwelling place in the heavens, 403; killed by Hodur, the winter-god, 405. Bali, the rescuer of Dîrghatamas, 170; Purâṇic enemy of Vâmana, 327. Ball, Sir Robert, supports Croll's theory, 27; but refrains from adopting Croll's calculations, 33. Beech age, 12; See Ages. Bhâṇḍârkar, Dr., on the date of Mâḍhariputta and Puḷumâvi, 285, Bhartṛihari, 340. Bhâskara, Bhaṭṭa, 191, 220. Bhâskarâchârya, on perpetual day and night, 56; his erroneous view about Uttarâyaṇa, 67. Bhîshma, a Mahâbhârata warrior. waiting to die in the Uttarâyaṇa, 75. Bhrigu, an ancient sacrificer, 160, 161. Bhujyu, a protege of the Ashvins, who rescued him from bottomless darkness, 302, 303, 305, 306-9. Bloomfield, Prof., 115, 287. Bodas, Râjârâma Shâstri, and M. R. 446. Brahma-chârin, the sun in the Atharva-Veda, 315. Brahma-jâyâ, the Brâhmin's lost wife, restoration of, 347. Brâhmaṇas, the Vedic works, the Vedas partially unintelligible at the time of their composition, 5; classification of the contents of, 129; their probable aim and nat- ure, 230; on the eternity of the Vedas, 448. Bṛihaspati, the son of Aṅgiras, said to be seven-mouthed, 169; his cou- quest of cows, 201; helps Indra in the rescue of cows, from Vala,