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

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE. AND RELIGION. 455
the Pre-Orion or the Aditi Period to the commencement of
the present post-Glacial era. In the language of the Purâṇas
the first period after the close of the Ice Age (8000-5000 B. C,)
may be called the Kṛita Yuga, or the age of wandering, as the
Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (VII, 15) describes it to be. It was the
period when the Aryan races, expatriated from their mother
land, roamed over the northern parts of Europe and Asia in
search of new homes. It is doubtful if the Brâhmaṇa meant as
much when it described Kṛita to be the age of wandering.
But nevertheless it is interesting to notice the new light thrown
upon the characteristics of the four Yugas mentioned in the
Brâhmaṇa. Thus we are told that "Kali is lying, Dvâpara is slow-
ly moving, Tretâ is standing up, and Kṛita is wandering."* Dr.
Haug understands this stanza to refer to the game of dice, and
other scholars have proposed different interpretations. But in
the light of the Arctic theory we may as well suppose that the
different stages of life through which the Aryan races had to
pass in post-Glacial times, from wandering in search of homes
to final settlement in some lands of their choice, are here des-
cribed, somewhat after the manner of the Avestic account of
the sixteen ancient lands created by Ahura Mazda, and invaded
in succession by Angra Mainyu. But even apart from this
verse, we can very well see that during the first of the above
periods the Aryan races had no fixed home, and many must
have been the settlements made and abandoned by them before
they permanently settled in congenial lands. I have already
stated above that Aryan religion and worship are both inter-
glacial ; and that Vedic religion and ritual is a post-Glacial deve-
lopment of such relics of the ancient religion as were preserved
from the general wreck caused by the Ice Age ; and this affords
in my opinion a safe basis to compare our results with the

• Ait. Brâh. VII, 15. — कलिः शयानो भवति संजिहानस्तु द्वापरः ।
  उत्तिष्ठंस्त्रेता भवति कृतं संपद्यते चरन् ॥