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

232 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
place in the sacrificial works as Rātri-sattras, unless they were
ancient sacrifices performed, as their name indicates, during
night,—these and many other minor facts noticed before, further
corroborate, if corroboration be needed, our theory regarding
the original home of the Aryans near the north Pole. It must,
however, be stated here that I do not wish to imply in any way
that the numerous sacrificial details found in the later Vedic
literature were in vogue or were known in these ancient times.
On the contrary I am prepared to believe that in all probability
these ancient sacrifices were very simple in character. The
ancient priests probably went on sacrificing from day to day,
and afterwards from night to night, without any idea that the
system was capable of giving rise to various rigid annual Sattras.
The sacrifice was the only ritual of their religion; and howsoever
simple such sacrifices might have been in ancient times, it was
almost a matter of duty, at least with the priests, to perform
them every day. It was also a means, as remarked by me else-
where, to keep up the calendar in ancient times, as the yearly
round of sacrifices closely followed the course of the sun. It is
from this latter point of view that the ancient sacrificial system
is important for historical or antiquarian purposes, and I have
examined it above in the same light. This examination, it will
be seen, has resulted in the discovery of a number of facts which
lead us directly to, and can be satisfactorily explained only by
the theory of the original Arctic home; and when our conclusions
are thus supported by the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda on the one
hand, and the sacrificial literature on the other, I think, we need
have no doubt about their correctness.