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

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 69
six months. What is important, from our point of view, is the
persistent prevalence of this tradition in the Vedic and the Post-
Vedic literature, which can only be explained on the hypothesis
that originally it must have been the result of actual observation.
We shall, therefore, next quote the Mahâbhârata, which gives
such a clear description of Mount Meru, the lord of the moun-
tains, as to leave no doubt about its being the North Pole, or
possessing the Polar characteristics. In chapters 163 and 164
of the Vanaparvan, Arjuna's visit to the Mount is described in
detail, and we are therein told, "At Meru the sun and the moon
go round from left to right (Pradakshinam) every day, and so
do all the stars." Later on the writer informs us:—"The moun-
tain, by its lustre, so overcomes the darkness of night, that the
night can hardly be distinguished from the day." A few verses
further, and we find, "The day and the night are together equal
to a year to the residents of the place."* These quotations
are quite sufficient to convince any one that at the time when
the great epic was composed Indian writers had a tolerably
accurate knowledge of the meteorological and astronomical
characteristics of the North Pole, and this knowledge cannot
be supposed to have been acquired by mere mathematical calcul-
ations. The reference to the lustre of the mountain is specially
interesting, inasmuch as, in all probability, it is a description of the

• The verses (Calcutta Ed.) are as follows,—
  एवं त्वहरहर्मेरुं सूर्याचंद्रमसौ ध्रुवं । प्रदक्षिणमुपावृत्य कुरुतः कुरुनंदन ॥
  ज्योतींषि चाप्यशेषेण सर्वाण्यनघ सर्वतः। परियान्ति महाराज गिरिराजं प्रदक्षिणं॥
  Vana-parvan, Chap. 163, vv. 37, 38.
  स्वतेजसा तस्य नगोत्तमस्य महौषधीनां च तथा प्रभावात् ।
  विभक्तभावो न बभूव कश्चिदहोर्निशानां पुरुषप्रवीर ॥
  बभूव रात्रिर्दिवसश्च तेषां संवत्सरेणैव समानरूपः ॥
  Ibid, Chap. 164, vv. 11, 13.