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

36 · THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
unreasonable speculations of men like Belt and Croll have caused
some of our recent students to suffer from the nightmare.'* This
criticism appears to be rather severe; for though Dr. Croll's
elaborate calculations may be extravagant, yet we must give him
the credit for not merely suggesting, but working out, the effect of
a cosmical cause which under certain circumstances is powerful
enough to produce extensive changes in the climate of the globe.
But in spite of these remarks, it cannot be doubted that the
duration of the Glacial period, comprising at least two Glacial
and one Inter-Glacial epoch, must have been very much longer
than that of the Post-Glacial period. For, independently of the
eccentricity of the earth's orbit, the occurrence of winter at
aphelion is by itself sure to contribute to the production of the
Ice Age, if other causes and circumstances, either those suggested
by Lyell or others, are favourable, and 21,000 years must elapse
between two successive occurrences of winter at aphelion. For
two Glacial epochs with an intervening Inter-Glacial period, we
must, therefore, allow a period longer than 21,000 years, even if
the question of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit be kept aside;
while, if, with Prof. Geikie, we suppose that there were five
Glacial (four in the Pleistocene and one at the close of the Pliocene
period) and four Inter-Glacial epochs the duration must be extend-
ed to something like 80,000 years.
It is unnecessary to go further into these scientific and
geological discussions. I have already stated before that my
object is to trace from positive evidence contained in the
Vedic literature the home of the Vedic, and, therefore, also of
the other Aryan races, long before they settled in Europe,
or on the banks of the Oxus, the Jaxartes, or the Indus;
and so far as this purpose is concerned, the results of the latest

• • See The Nature, Sept. 15, 1898.