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

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 445
solve any of these questions regarding the ultimate origin of
the human race or even of the Aryan people or their language
and religion. We have nothing in this evidence for ascert-
aining how far the existence of the Aryan race can be traced
back to pre-glacial, as distinguished from inter-glacial times;
or whether the race was descended from a single pair (mo-
nogeny) or plurality of pairs (polygeny) in the remotest ages.
The traditional evidence collected by us only warrants us in
taking back the Aryan people and their civilisation from the
Temperate zone in post-glacial to the Arctic regions in inter-
glacial times. It is true that Aryans and their culture or religion
cannot be supposed to have developed all of a sudden at the
close of the last inter-glacial period, and the ultimate origin
of both must, therefore, be placed in remote geological
times. But it is useless to speculate on this question without
further evidence, and in the present state of our knowledge
we must rest content with the result that though Aryan
race or religion can be traced to the last inter-glacial-
period yet the ultimate origin of both is still lost in geological
antiquity.
I cannot conclude this chapter without briefly examining
the bearing of our results on the views entertained by Hindu
theological scholars regarding the origin, character and autho-
rity of the Vedas. It is a question which has been dis-
cussed with more or less acuteness, subtlety, or learning ever
since the days of the Brâhmaṇas; and from a purely theologi-
cal point of view I do not think there remains anything to be
now said upon it. Again, for the purposes of scientific investi-
gation, it is necessary to keep he theological and the antiqua-
rian aspect of the question quite distinct from each other. Yet
when our investigation, conducted on strict scientific lines, is
completed, we may usefully compare our conclusions with the
theological views and see how far they harmonise or clash
with each other. In fact no Hindu who reads a book like the