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

vi PREFACE.
with himself, the subject itself is sure to be benefited." Working
under such disadvantages, I was, therefore, glad, when, on turn-
ing the pages of the first volume of the tenth edition of the En-
cyclopædia Britannica, recently received, I found that Prof.
Geikie, in his article on geology, took the same view of Dr.
Croll's calculations, as summarised at the end of the second
chapter of this book. After stating that Croll's doctrine did not
make way amongst physicists and astronomers, the eminent
geologist says that more recently (1895) it has been critically
examined by Mr. E. P. Culverwell, who regards it as "a vague
speculation, clothed indeed with delusive semblance of severe
numerical accuracy, but having no foundation in physical fact,
and built up of parts which do not dovetail one into the other."
If Dr. Croll's calculations are disposed of in this way, there re-
mains nothing to prevent us from accepting the view of the
American geologists that the commencement of the Post-glacial
period cannot be placed at a date earlier than 8000 B. C.
It has been already stated that the beginnings of Aryan
civilization must be supposed to date back several thousand
years before the oldest Vedic period; and when the commence-
ment of the Post-glacial epoch is brought down to 8000 B. C.,
it is not at all surprising if the date of primitive Aryan life is
found to go back to it from 4500 B. C., the age of the oldest
Vedic period. In fact, it is the main point sought to be
established in the present volume. There are many passages
in the Ṛig-Veda, which, though hitherto looked upon as
obscure and unintelligible, do, when interpreted in the light
of recent scientific researches, plainly disclose the Polar attri-
butes of the Vedic deities, or the traces of an ancient Arctic
calendar ; while the Avesta expressly tells us that the happy
land of Airyana Vaêjo, or the Aryan Paradise, was located in
a region where the sun shone but once a year, and that it was
destroyed by the invasion of snow and ice, which rendered its