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

370 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
epoch. The long night characterised these regions before the
Glacial period as it does at present. But when the winters were
short they corresponded with, and were confined only to, the
long night ; while at the present day, since the winter in the
Arctic regions lasts for ten months, the long night falls in the
middle of such winter. The description of the Airyana Vaêjo in
the Vendidad, therefore, naturally leads us to infer that ten
months sunshine or summer followed by two months dark winter
represented the climatic conditions of the place before the inva-
sion of Angra Mainyu, who converted summer into winter and
vice versa, by introducing ice and snow into the land. We have
already referred to the maximum period of a hundred nights
during which Tishtrya fought with Apaosha, and to the custom
of keeping the dead bodies in the house for two nights, three nights
or a month long in winter, until waters and light, which stood
still in winter, again began to flow or come up, showing that the
period was one of continuous darkness. These passages taken in
conjunction with the aforesaid description of the Airyana Vaêjo
clearly establish the fact that the paradise of the Iranians was
situated in the extreme north or almost near the North Pole, and
that it was characterised by long delightful summers, and short
and warm but dark winters, until it was rendered unfit for human
habitation by the invasion of Angra Mainyu, or the advent of the
Glacial epoch, which brought in severe winter and snow causing
the land to be covered with an icecap several hundreds of feet in
thickness.
There is one more point which deserves to be noticed in
this connection. We have seen that to the description of the
Airyana Vaêjo quoted above, the old Zend commentators have
added what is believed to be an inconsistent statement, viz., that
"There are seven months of summer and five of winter therein."
Dr. Haug thinks that the paragraph "The latter are cold as
to water etc." is also a later addition, and must, therefore,