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

6 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
theory may help us in understanding some of the legends
in this ancient book. But there are passages, which, in spite
of their simple diction, are quite unintelligible on any of these
theories, and in such cases Native scholars, like Sâyana,
are either content with simply paraphrasing the words, or
have recourse to distortion of words and phrases in order to
make the passages yield a sense intelligible to them; while some
of the Western scholars are apt to regard such texts as corrupt
or imperfect. In either case, however, it is an undoubted fact
that some Vedic texts are yet unintelligible, and, therefore,
untranslatable. Prof. Max Muller was fully alive to these diffi-
culties. "A translation of the Rig-Veda," he observes in his
introduction to the translation of the Vedic hymns in the
Sacred Books of the East series, "is a task for the next century,"*
and the only duty of the present scholars is to "reduce the
untranslatable portion to a narrower and narrower limit," as has
been done by Yâska and other Native scholars. But if the
scientific discoveries of the last century have thrown a new light
on the history and culture of man in primitive times, we may
as well expect to find in them a new key to the interpretation
of the Vedic myths and passages, which admittedly preserve for
us the oldest beliefs of the Aryan race. If man existed before
the last Glacial period and witnessed the gigantic changes which
brought on the Ice Age, it is not unnatural to expect that a
reference, howsoever concealed and distant, to these events would
be found in the oldest traditionary beliefs and memories of
mankind. Dr. Warren in his interesting and highly suggestive
work the Paradise Found or the Cradle of the Human Race at the
North Pole has attempted to interpret ancient myths and legends
in the light of modern scientific discoveries; and has come to
the conclusion that the original home of the whole human race
must be sought for in regions near the North Pole. My object

• See S. B. E. Series, Vol. XXXII, p. xi.