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

CHAPTER III. THE ARCTIC REGIONS. Existence of a Circum-polar continent in early times—Probable also in the Inter-Glacial period—Milder climate at the time— Necessity of examining Vedic Myths—Difference between Polar and Circumpolar characteristics—The precession of the equinoxes used as chronometer in Vedic chronology—Characteristics of the North Pole—The horizontal motion of the celestial hemisphere —Spinning round of the stars without rising or setting— The Sun rising in the South—A day and a night of six months each—Aurora Borealis--Continuous fortnightly moonlight, and long morning and evening twilights—Dawn lasting from 45 to 60 days—The Polar year—The darkness of the Polar night reduced only to two, or two and a half, months—Dr. Warren's descrip- tion of the Polar Dawn with its revolving splendours—Characte- ristics of regions to the South of the North Pole—Stars moving obliquely and a few rising and setting as in the tropical zone—The Southernly direction of the Sun—-A long day and a long night, but of less than six months' duration—Supplemented by the alternations of ordinary days and nights for some time during the year—Long dawn, but of shorter duration than at the Pole —Comparison with the features of the year in the tropics —Summary of Polar and Circum-Polar characteristics. We have seen that in the Pleistocene period there was great elevation and submergence of land accompanied by violent changes in the climate, over the whole surface of the globe. Naturally enough the severity of the Glacial period must have been very in- tense within the Arctic circle, and we shall be perfectly justified in supposing that geographical changes like the elevation and de- pression of land occurred on a far more extensive scale in regions round about the Pole than anywhere else. This leads us to infer that the distribution of land and water about the Pole during the Inter-Glacial period must have been different from what it

40 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. is at present. Dr. Warren, in his Paradise Found, quotes a number of authorities to show that within a comparatively recent geolo- gical period a wide stretch of Arctic land, of which Novaia Zemlia and Spitzbergen formed a part, had been submerged ; and one of the conclusions he draws from these authorities is that the present islands of the Arctic Ocean, such as the two mentioned above, are simply mountain-tops still remaining above the surface of the sea which has come in and covered up the primeval continent to which they belonged. That an extensive circum-polar continent existed in Miocene times seems to have been conceded by all geologists, and, though we cannot predicate its existence in its entirety during the Pleistocene period, yet there are good reasons to hold that a different configuration of land and water prevailed about the North Pole during the Inter- Glacial period, and that, as observed by Prof. Geikie, the Palæo- lithic man, along with other Quaternary animals, freely ranged over the whole of the Arctic regions in those times. Even now there is a considerable tract of land to the north of the Arctic circle, in the old world, especially in Siberia, and there is evi- dence to show that it once enjoyed a mild and temperate climate. The depth of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Siberia is, at present, less than a hundred fathoms, and if great geogra- phical changes took place in the Pleistocene period, it is not unlikely that this tract of land, which is now submerged, may have been once above the level of the sea. In other words, there are sufficient indications of the existence of a continent round about the North Pole before the last Glacial period. As regards climate, we have seen that during the Inter- Glacial period there were cool summers and warm winters even within the Arctic circle. Sir Robert Ball gives us a good idea of the genial character of this climate by reducing to figures the distribution of heat-units over summers and

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. . 41 winters. A longer summer, with 229 heat-units spread over it, and a shorter winter of 136 heat-units, would naturally produce a climate, which, according to Hershel, would be ‘an approach to perpetual spring.’ If the Palæolithic man, therefore, lived in these regions during the Inter-Glacial period, he must have found it very pleasant, in spite of the fact that the sun went below his horizon for a number of days in a year according to the latitude of the place. The present inclement climate of the Arctic regions dates from the Post-Glacial period, and we must leave it out of consideration in dealing with earlier ages. But supposing that an Arctic continent, with an equable and pleasant climate, existed during the Inter-Glacial period, and that the Palæolithic man ranged freely over it, it does not follow that the ancestors of the Aryan race lived in the Arctic regions during those days, though it may render such a hypothesis highly pro- bable. For that purpose, we must either wait until the existence of the Aryan race, within the Arctic regions in Inter-glacial times, is proved by new archæological discoveries; or failing them, try to examine the ancient traditions and beliefs of the race, incor- porated in such admittedly oldest Aryan books, as the Vedas and the Avesta, and see if they justify us in predicating the inter- glacial existence of the Aryan people. It is admitted that many of the present explanations of these traditions and legends are unsatisfactory, and as our knowledge of the ancient man is increa- sed, or becomes more definite, by new discoveries in archæology, geology or anthropology, these explanations will have to be revised from time to time, and any defects in them, due to our imperfect understanding of the sentiments, the habits and even the surroundings of the ancient man, corrected. That human races have preserved their ancient traditions is un- doubted, though some or many of them may have become

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

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 43 is well-known that the sun shines at the North Pole continuously for 6 months, and then sinks down below the horizon, producing a night of 6 months' duration. But a closer examination of the subject will show that the statement is only roughly true, and requires to be modified in several particulars before it can be accepted as scientifically accurate. In the first place we must distinguish between the Pole and the Polar regions. The Pole is merely a point, and all the inhabitants of the original ancient home, if there was one near the North Pole, could not have lived precisely at this single point. The Polar or the Arctic regions, on the other hand, mean the tracts of land included between the North Pole and the Arctic circle. But the duration of day and night, as well as the seasons, at different places within the Arctic regions cannot be, and are not, the same as at the point called the North Pole. The characteristics of the circum-polar region may indeed be derived from the strictly Polar characteristics; but still they are so unlike each other that it is absolutely necessary to bear this distinction in mind in collecting evidence of a circum-polar Aryan home in ancient times. Men living round about the Pole, or, more accurately speaking, in regions between the North Pole and the Arctic circle, when these regions were habitable, were sure to know of a day and night of 6 months, but living a little southward from the Pole, their own calendar must have been different from the strictly Polar calendar; and it is, therefore, necessary to examine the Polar and the circum-polar charac- teristics separately, in order that the distinction may be clearly understood. The terrestrial Poles are the termini of the axis of the earth, and we have seen that there is no evidence to show that this axis ever changed its position, relatively to the earth, even in the earliest geological eras. The terrestrial poles and the circum-polar regions were, therefore, the same

44* THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. in early ages as they are at present, though the past and present climatic conditions of these places may be totally different. But the axis of the earth has a small motion round the pole of the ecliptic, giving rise to what is known as the precession of the equinoxes, and causing a change only in the celestial, and not in the terrestrial, poles. Thus the polar star 7,000 years ago was different from what it is at present, but the terrestrial pole has always remained the same. This motion of the earth's axis, producing the precession of the equinoxes, is important from an antiquarian point of view, inasmuch as it causes a change in the times when different seasons of the year begin; and it was mainly by utilising this chronometer that I showed in my Orion or Re- searches in the Antiquity of the Vedas that the vernal equinox was in Orion when some of the Ṛig-Vedic traditions were formed, and that the Vedic literature contained enough clear evidence of the successive changes of the position of the vernal equinox upto the present time. Thus the vernal equinox was in the Kṛittikâs in the time of the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and Brâhmaṇa, and the express text stating that "The Kṛittikâs never swerve from the due east; all other Nakṣhatras do.", (Shat. Brâ. II, 1, 2, 3.), recently published by the late Mr. S. B. Dixit, serves to remove whatever doubts there might be regarding the interpretation of other passages.* This record of the early position of the Kṛittikâs, or the Pleiades, is as important for the determination of the Vedic chronology as the orientation of pyramids and tem- ples has been shown to be in the case of the Egyptian, by Sir Norman Lockyer in his Dawn of Ancient Astro- nomy. But the chronometer, which I now mean to employ, is a different one. The. North Pole and the Arctic regions

• See The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXIV, (August, 1895), p. 245. The text is:—एता (कृत्तिकाः) ह वै प्राच्यै दिशो न च्यवंते सर्वाणि ह वा अन्यानि `नक्षत्राणि प्राच्यै दिशश्च्यवंते । शत. ब्रा. ।

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ·45 possess certain astronomical characteristics which are peculiar to them, and if a reference to these can be discovered in the Vedas, it follows, in the light of modern researches, that the ancestors of the Vedic Rishis must have become acquainted with these characteristics, when they lived in those regions, which was possible only in the inter-glacial times. We shall, therefore, now examine these characteristics, dividing them in the two-fold way stated above. If an observer is stationed at the North Pole, the first thing that will strike him is the motion of the celestial sphere above his head. Living in the temperate and tropical zones, we see all heavenly objects rise in the east and set in the west, some passing over our head, other travelling obliquely. But to the man at the Pole, the heavenly dome above will seem to revolve round him, from left to right, somewhat like the motion of a hat or umbrella turned over one's head. The stars will not rise and set, but will move round and round, in horizontal planes, turning like a potter's wheel, and starting on a second round when the first is finished, and so on, during the long night of six months. The sun, when he is above the horizon for 6 months, would also appear to revolve in the same way. The centre of the celestial dome over the head of the observer will be the celestial North Pole, and naturally enough his north will be over-head, while the invisible regions below the horizon would be in the south. As regards the eastern and western points of the compass, the daily rotation of the earth round its axis will make them revolve round the observer from right to left, thereby causing the celestial objects in the east to daily revolve round and round along the horizon from left to right, and not rise in the east, pass over-head, and set every day in the west, as with us, in the temperate or the tropical zone. In fact, to an observer stationed at the

46 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. North Pole, the northern celestial hemisphere will alone be visible spinning round and round over his head, and the southern half, with all the stars in it, will always remain invisible, while the celestial equator, dividing the two, will be his celestial horizon. To such a man the sun going into the northern hemisphere in his annual course will appear as coming up from the south, and he will express the idea by saying that "the sun has risen in the south," howsoever strange the expression may seem to us. After the sun has risen in this way in the south,— and the sun will rise there only once a year,—he will be constantly visible for 6 months, during which time he will attain a height of about 23½° above the horizon, and then begin to lower down until he drops into the south below the horizon. It will be a long and continuous sunshine of 6 months, but, as the celes- tial dome over the head of the observer will complete one revolution in 24 hours, the sun also will make one horizontal circuit round the observer in every 24 hours; and to the observer at the North Pole the completion of one such circuit, whether of the sun or of the stars, will serve as a measure of ordinary days, or periods of 24 hours, during the long sunshine or night of six months. When about 180 such rounds, (the exact number will depend upon the difference in the durations of summer and winter noticed in the last chapter), are completed, the sun will again go down below the horizon, and the stars in the northern hemisphere, which had disappeared in his light, will become visible all at once, and not rise one after the other as with us. The light of the sun had, so to say, eclipsed them, though they were over the head of the observer; but as soon as this obstruction is removed the whole northern starry hemisphere will again appear to spin round the observer for the remaining period of six months. The horizontal motion of the celestial hemisphere, only one long

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 47 continuous morning and evening in the year, and one day and one night of six months each, are thus the chief special features of the calendar at the North Pole. We have stated that to an observer at the North Pole, there will be a night of 6 months, and one is likely to infer therefrom that there will be total darkness at the Pole for one half the portion of the year. Indeed one is likely to contem- plate with horror, the perils and difficulties of a long night of six months, during which not only the light but the warmth of the sun has to be artificially supplied. As a matter of fact, such a supposition is found to be erroneous. First of all, there will be the electric discharges, known as Aurora Borealis, filling the polar night with their charming glories, and relieving its darkness to a great extent. Then we have the moon, which, in her monthly revolution, will be above the polar horizon for a continuous fortnight, displaying her changing phases, without intermission, to the polar observer. But the chief cause, which alleviates the darkness of the polar night, is the twilight before the rising and after the setting of the sun. With us in the tropical or the temperates zone, this twilight, whether of morning or evening, lasts only for an hour or two; but at the Pole this state of things is completely altered, and the twilight of the annual morning and evening is each visible for several days. The exact duration of this morning or evening twilight is, however, still a matter of uncertainty. Some authorities fix the period at 45 days, while others make it last for full two months. In the tropical zone, we see the first beams of the dawn, when the sun is about 16° below the horizon. But it is said that in higher latitudes the light of the sun is discernible when he is from 18° to 20° below the horizon. Probably this latter limit may prove to be the correct one for the North Pole, and in that case the dawn there will last

48. THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. continuously for two months. Captain Pim, quoted by Dr. Warren, thus describes the Polar year:— "On the 16th of March the sun rises, preceded by a long dawn of forty-seven days, namely, from the 29th January, when the first glimmer of light appears. On the 25th of September the sun sets, and after a twilight of forty-eight days, namely, on the 13th November, darkness reigns supreme, so far as the sun is concerned, for seventy-six days, followed by one long period of light, the sun remaining above the horizon one hundred and ninety-four days. The year, therefore, is thus divided at the Pole:— 194 days sun; 76 darkness; 47 days dawn; 48 twilight."* But other authorities assign a longer duration to the morning and evening twilight, and reduce the period of total darkness from 76 to 60 days, or only to two months. Which of these calculations is correct can be settled only by actual observation at the North Pole. It has been ascertained that this duration depends upon the powers of refraction and reflection of the atmosphere, and these are found to vary according to the tem- perature and other circumstances of the place. The Polar climate is at present extremely cold; but in the Inter-glacial epoch it was different, and this, by itself, would alter the dura- tion of the Polar dawn in inter-glacial times. But whatever the cause may be, so much is beyond doubt that at the Pole the twilight of the yearly morning and evening lingers on for several days. For even taking the lowest limit of 16°, the sun, in his course through the ecliptic, would take more than a month to reach the horizon from this point; and during all this time a perpetual twilight will prevail at the Pole. Long dawn and long evening twilight are, therefore, the principal factors in shortening the darkness of the Polar night and if we

• See Paradise Found, 10th Ed., p. 64.

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. · 49 deduct these days from the duration of the night, the period of darkness is reduced from six to two, or at the most, to two-and- half-months. It is, therefore, erroneous to suppose that the half yearly Polar night is such a continuous period of darkness as will make the Polar regions uncomfortable. On the contrary, it will be the peculiar privilege of the Polar man to witness the splendid spectacle of a long continuous dawn with its charming lights, revolving, like the stars at the place, every day in hori- zontal planes, round and round him, as long as the dawn may last. The dawn in the the tropical or the temperate zone is but brief and evanescent, and it recurs after every 24 hours. But still it has formed the subject of poetical descriptions in different countries. If so, how much more the spectacle of a splendid long dawn, after a darkness of two months, would delight the heart of a Polar observer, and how he will yearn for the first appearance of the light on the horizon, can be better imagined than described. I quote the following description of this long Polar dawn from Dr. Warren's Paradise Found, and invite special attention to it, inasmuch as it forms one of the princi- pal characteristics of the North Pole. Premising that the splen- dours of the Polar dawn are indescribable, Dr. Warren pro- ceeds :— “First of all appears low in the horizon of the night-sky a scarcely visible-flush of light. At first it only makes a few stars' light seem a trifle fainter, but after a little it is seen to be increasing, and to be moving laterally along the yet dark hori- zon. Twenty-four hours later it has made a complete circuit around the observer, and is causing a larger number of stars to pale. Soon the widening light glows with the lustre of 'Orient pearl.' Onward it moves in its stately rounds, until the pearly 7

50 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. whiteness burns into ruddy rose-light, fringed with purple and gold. Day after day, as we measure days, this splendid panorama circles on, and, according as atmospheric conditions and clouds present more or less favourable conditions of reflection, kindles and fades, kindles and fades,—fades only to kindle next time yet more brightly as the still hidden sun comes nearer and nearer his point of emergence. At length, when for two long months such prophetic displays have been filling the whole heavens with these increscent and revolving splendours, the sun begins to emerge from his long retirement, and to display himself once more to human vision. After one or two circuits, during which his dazzling upper limb grows to a full-orbed disk, he clears all hill-tops of the distant horizon, and for six full months circles around and around the world's great axis in full view, suffering no night to fall upon his favoured home-land at the Pole. Even when at last he sinks again from view he covers his retreat with a repetition of the deepening and fading splendours which filled his long dawnings, as if in these pulses of more and more distant light he were signalling back to the forsaken world the promises and prophecies of an early return."* A phenomenon like this cannot fail to be permanently im- pressed on the memory of a Polar observer, and it will be found later on that the oldest traditions of the Aryan race have pre- served the recollection of a period, when its ancestors witnessed such wonderful phenomenon,—a long and continuous dawn of several days, with its lights laterally revolving on the horizon, in their original home. Such are the distinguishing characteristics of the North Pole, that is, the point where the axis of the earth terminates in the north. But as a Polar home means

• See Paradise Found, 10th Ed., p. 69.

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 51 practically a home in the regions round about the North Pole, and not merely the Polar point, we must now see what modi- fications are necessary to be made in the above characteristics owing to the observer being stationed a little to the south of the North Pole. We have seen that at the Pole the northern hemisphere is seen spinning round the observer, and all the stars move with it in horizontal planes without rising or setting; while the other celestial hemisphere is always invisible. But when the observer is shifted downwards, his zenith will no longer corres- pond with the Pole Star, nor his horizon with the celestial equator. For instance let Z, in the annexed figure, be the zenith of the observer, and P the celestial North Pole. When the ob- server was stationed at the terrestrial North Pole, his zenith coincided with P, and his horizon with the celestial equator, with the result that all the stars in the dome Q'PQ revolved round him in horizontal planes. But when the zenith is shifted to Z, this state of things is at once altered, as the heavens will revolve, as be- fore, round the line POP', and not round the zenith- line ZOZ'. When the ob- server was stationed at the North Pole these two lines coincided, and hence the circles of revolution des- cribed by the stars round the celestial Pole were also described round the zenith-line. But when the zenith Z is different from P, as in the figure, the celestial horizon of the observer will be H'H,

52 • THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. and the stars will now appear to move in circles inclined to his horizon, as shown in the figure by the black lines AA', BH' and CC'. Some of the stars, viz., those that are situated in the part of the celestial dome represented by H'PB, will be visible throughout the night, as their circles of revolution will be above the horizon H'C'D'H. But all the stars, whose Polar distance is greater than PB or PH', will, in their daily revolution, be partly above and partly below the horizon. For instance, the stars at C and D will describe circles, some portions of which will be below the horizon H'H. In other words, the appearance of the visible celestial hemisphere to a person, whose zenith is at Z, will be different from the appearance presented by the heavens to an observer at the North Pole. The stars will not now revolve in horizontal planes, but obliquely. A great number of them would be circumpolar and visible during the whole night, but the remaining will rise and set as with us in the tropics, moving in oblique circles. When Z is very near P, only a few stars will rise and set in this way, and the difference will not be a marked one ; but as Z is removed further south, the change will become more and more apparent. Similar modifications will be introduced in the duration of day and night, when the observer's position is shifted to the south of the terrestrial North Pole. This will be clear by a reference to the figure on the next page. Let P be the celestial North Pole, and Q'Q the celestial equator. Then since the sun moves in the ecliptic E'E, which is inclined at an angle of about 23½° (23° 28' ) to the equator, the circles T'E and E'T will correspond with the terrestrial circles of latitude, called the Tropics, and the circle AC with the Arctic Circle on the terres- trial globe. Now as the sun moves in the ecliptic E'E, in his annual course he will always be twice over-head for an observer

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 53 stationed at a place within the terrestrial tropical zone, once in his course from E' to E, and again in his return, from E to E'. The sun will also appear for some time to the north of the ob- server's zenith, and for the rest of the year to the south. But as the altitude of the sun above the equator is never greater than 23½° or EQ, an observer whose zenith lies to the north of the circle T'E, will always see the sun to the south of his zenith, and the zenith distance of the sun will be greater and greater as the observer advances towards the North Pole. But still the sun will be above the horizon every day, for some hours at least, to an observer whose zenith lies between T'E and AC. To take a concrete in- stance, let the observer be so stationed that his zenith will be at C, that is, on the extreme northern latitude of the temperate zone. Then his celestial horizon will extend 90° on each side, and will be re- presented by T''CT, and the sun moving along the ecliptic E'E will be above his horizon, at least for some portion of day, during the whole year. But as the observer passes into the Frigid zone, the sun during his annual course will be alto- gether below the horizon for some days, and the maximum limit is reached at the North Pole, where the sun is below the horizon for six months. We may, therefore, state that the dura- tion of the night, which is six months at the Pole is gradually di- minished as we come down from the Pole, until, in the temperate

54 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. zone, the sun is above the horizon, at least, for some time out of twenty-four hours every day. In the foregoing figure let Z represent the zenith of an observer within the Arctic regions, then H'H will represent his horizon, and the sun in his annual course will, for some time, be altogether below this horizon. For instance, suppose the sun to be at n. Then his diurnal circle of rotation will be represented by nH, the whole of which is below the horizon H'H of the observer whose zenith is Z. Therefore, the sun, during his annual course along the ecliptic from E' to n, and back from n to E', will be invisible to an observer whose zenith is Z. Corresponding to this total disap- pearance of the sun for some time, the luminary will be perpe- tually above the horizon for the same period during his northern course. For instance, let the sun be at d, then his diurnal circle of rotation, dH', will be entirely above the horizon H'H, and so it will continue to be for all the time that the sun moves from d to E, and back again from E to d, in his annual course. During this time the sun will neither rise nor set, but will move, like the circumpolar stars, in oblique circles, round and round the observer like a wheel. For all positions between n and d, and the corresponding portion of the ecliptic on the other side, the sun, in his diurnal course of twenty-four hours, would be partially above and partially below the horizon, producing ordi- nary days and nights, as with us, the day being longer than the night when the sun is in the northern, and the night longer than the day when the sun is in the southern hemisphere. Instead of a single day and a single night of six months, the year, to a person living in the Arctic regions, but not exactly at the North Pole, will, therefore, be divided into three parts, one of which will be a long night, one a long day, and one made up of a succession of days and nights, a single day

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 55 and night of which will together never exceed twenty-four hours. The long night will always be shorter than six months and longer than 24 hours, and the same will be the case with the long day. The long night and the long day will mark the two opposite extremities of the year, the middle of the long day occurring when the sun is at the summer solstice, and the middle of the long night when he is at the winter solstice. This triple division of the year is very important for our purpose, and I shall, there- fore, illustrate it by a concrete example. Suppose, for instance, that the observer is so far below the North Pole that instead of a night of six months, he has a night of 2 months, or, in other words, the sun goes below his horizon only for two months. As the winter solstice will fall in the middle of this long continuous night, we may say that the night will extend a month before and a month after December 21, when the sun is at the winter solstice. Corresponding to this long night, there will be a continuous day of two months, a month before and a month after June 21, when the sun is at the summer solstice. If these four months are deducted from the year, there will remain eight months, and during all these months there will be days and nights, as in the temperate zone, a nycthemeron, or a day and a night together, never exceeding, as with us, the ordinary period of twenty-four hours. This alternation of ordinary days and nights will commence after the close of the long night in January, and in the beginning, the night will be longer than the day; but as the sun passes from the southern into the northern hemisphere, the day will gain over the night, and, eventually, after four months, terminate into a continuous day for two months. At the close of this long day in July, the alternation of ordinary days and nights will again commence, the day in the beginning being longer than the night, but

56 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. a nycthemeron never exceeding, as in the previous case, a period of twenty-four hours. As the sun passes from the northern into the southern hemisphere, the night will begin to gain over the day, until, after four months of such succession of ordinary days and nights, it terminates into the continuous night of two months mentioned above. The same description applies, mutatis mutandis, where the long night may last for 3, 4 or 5 months, until we reach the Polar condition of a day and a night of six months each, when the intermediate succession of ordinary days and nights will vanish. * We have seen that a long dawn of two months is a special and important characteristic of the North Pole. As we descend southward, the splendour and the duration of the dawn will be witnessed on a less and less magnificient scale. But the dawn, occurring at the end of the long night of two, three or more months, will still be unusually long,

• Cf. Bhaskarâcharya's Siddhânta Shiromaṇi, Golâdhyâya, Chapter VII., verses 6-7, which are as follows:— षट्षष्टिभागाभ्यधिकाः पलांशाः यत्राथ तत्रास्त्वपरो विशेषः॥ लंबाधिका क्रांतियदर्क च यावत्। तावद्दिनं संततमेव तत्र। यावच्च वाम्या सततं तमिस्रा। ततश्च मेरौ सततं समार्धम्॥ "There is a peculiarity at the place, where the latitude is great- er than 66° N. Whenever the northern declination of the sun exceeds the complement of the latitude, there will be perpetual day, for such time as that excess continues. Similarly, when the southern (de- clination exceeds), there will be perpetual night. On Meru, therefore, there is equal half-yearly perpetual day and night." Thus if the la- titude of a place be 70°, its complement will be 90—70=20°; and as the sun's height above the celestial equator (that is, his declination) is never greater than 23° 28′, there will be a continuous day at the place, so long as the declination is greater than 20° and less than 23° 28′, and there will be a similar continuous night when the sun is in the southern hemisphere. Paul Du Chaillu mentions that at Nordkyn or North Cape (N. lat. 71° 6′ 50″), the northernmost place on the conti- nent of Europe, the long night commences on 18th November, and ends on 24th January, lasting, in all, for 67 days of twenty-four hours each.

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. . 57 often of several days' duration. As stated above, at first only a pale flush of light will appear, and it will continue visible on the horizon, revolving round and round, if the observer is sufficiently near the Pole, for some days, when at last the orb of the sun will emerge, and start the alternation of day and night described above, to be eventually terminated into a long day. The splendours of the Aurora Borealis would also be less marked and conspicuous in the southern latitudes than at the North Pole. But if the characteristics of the Arctic regions are different from those of the North Pole, they are no less different from the features of the year with which we are familiar in the temperate or the tropical zone. With us the sun is above the horizon, at least for some time every day, during all the twelve months of the year ; but to persons within the Arctic circle, he is below the horizon, and, therefore, continuously invisible for a number of days. If this period of continuous night be excluded from our reckoning, we might say that within the Arctic regions the year, or the period marked by sunshine, only lasts from six to eleven months. Again the dawn in the temperate and the tropical zone is necessarily short-lived, for a day and a night together do not exceed twenty-four hours, and the dawn which comes between them can last only for a few hours; but the annual dawn at the Pole, and the dawn at the end of the long night in the Arctic regions will each be a dawn of several days' duration. As for the seasons, we have our winters and summers ; but the winter in the Arctic regions will be marked by the long continuous night, while the summer will make the night longer than the day, but within the limit of twenty- four hours, until the day is developed into a long, conti- nuous sunshine of several days. The climate of the Polar regions is now extremely cold and severe, but, as previously

58 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. stated, different climatic conditions prevailed in early times, and we cannot, therefore, include climate amongst the points of contrast under consideration. It will be seen from the foregoing discussion that we have two distinct sets of characteristics, or differentia; one for an observer stationed exactly at the terrestrial North Pole, and the other for an observer located in the Circum-Polar regions, or tracts of land between the North Pole and the Arctic circle. For brevity's sake, we shall designate these two sets of differentia as Polar and Circum-Polar, and sum them up as follows:— I. The Polar Characteristics. (1) The sun rises in the south. (2) The stars do not rise and set ; but revolve, or spin round and round, in horizontal planes, completing one round in 24 hours. The northern celestial hemisphere is alone over-head and visible during the whole year; and the southern or the lower celestial world is always invisible. (3) The year consists only of one long day and one long night of six months each. (4) There is only one morning and one evening, or the sun rises and sets only once a year. But the twilight, whether of the morning or of the evening, lasts continuously for about two months, or 60 periods of 24 hours each. The ruddy light of the morn, or the evening twilight, is not again confined to a particular part of the horizon (eastern or western) as with us ; but moves, like the stars at the place, round and round along the horizon, like a potter's wheel, completing one round in every 24 hours. These rounds of the morning light continue to take place, until the orb of the sun comes above the horizon; and then the sun follows the same course for six months, that is, moves, without setting, round and round the observer, completing one round every 24 hours.