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

384 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
discoveries for enabling us to determine the true meaning of the
Avestic traditions, and to clear the mist of misinterpretation
that has gathered round them. But nevertheless, the value of
this traditional testimony is not thereby impaired in any way.
It is the oldest traditional record, preserved by human memory,
of the great catastrophe which overtook the northern portion
of Europe and Asia in ancient times, and obliged the Aryan
inhabitants of the Arctic regions to migrate southwards. It
has been preserved during thousands of years simply as an
ancient record or tradition, though its meaning was not intel-
ligible, until at last we now see that the accuracy of the account
is fully and unexpectedly borne out by the latest scientific
researches. There are very few instances where science has
proved the accuracy of the ancient semi-religious records in
this way. When the position of the Airyana Vaêjo and the
cause of its ruin are thus definitely settled both by traditional
and scientific evidence, it naturally follows that the sixteen
lands mentioned in the first Fargard of the Vendidad must be
taken to mark the gradual diffusion of the Iranians from their
ancient home to the country of the Rasâ and the seven rivers;
or, in other words, the Fargard must be regarded as historical
and not geographical as maintained by Spiegel and Darme-
steter. It is true that the first Fargard does not say anything
about migration. But when the site of the Airyana Vaêjo is
placed in the extreme north, and when we are told in the
second Fargard that the land was ruined by ice, no specific
mention of migration is needed, and the fact that the sixteen
lands are mentioned in a certain specific order is naturally
understood, in that case, to mark the successive stages of
migration of the Indo-Iranian people. It is not contended
that every word in these two Fargards may be historically
correct. No one would expect such a rigid accuracy in the
reminiscences of old times traditionally preserved. It is
also true that the Airyana Vaêjo has grown into a sort of