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

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 435
in mind the fact that the climate of northern Europe and Asia,
though temperate at present, must have been very much colder
after the great deluge, and the descendants of those who had to
migrate to these countries from the Polar regions, born only
to a savage or nomadic life, could have, at best, preserved only
fragmentary reminiscences of the ante-diluvian culture and civi-
lisation of their forefathers living in the once happy Arctic home.
Under these circumstances we need not be surprised if the
European Aryas are found to be in an inferior state of civi-
lisation at the beginning of the Neolithic age. On the contrary
the wonder is that so much of the ante-diluvian religion or cul-
ture should have been preserved from the general wreck, caused
by the last Glacial epoch, by the religious zeal and industry
of the bards or priests of the Iranian or the Indian
Aryas. It is true that they looked upon these relics of the an-
cient civilisation, as a sacred treasure entrusted to them to be
scrupulously guarded and transmitted to future generations. Yet
considering the difficulties with which they had to contend, we
cannot but wonder how so much of the ante-diluvian civilisation,
religion, or worship was preserved in the Veda or the Avesta. If
the other Aryan races have failed to preserve these ancient
traditions so well, it would be unreasonable to argue therefrom
that the civilisation or the culture of these races was developed
after their separation from the common stock.
It has been shown previously that the climate of the Arctic
regions in the inter-Glacial period was so mild and temperate
as to be almost an approach to a perpetual spring, and that
there was then a continent of land round about the Pole, the
same being submerged during the glacial epoch. The primitive
Aryans residing in such regions must, therefore, have lived a
happy life. The only inconvenience experienced by them
was the long Arctic night; and we have seen how this
phenomenon has served to give rise to various myths or