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

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. . 41
winters. A longer summer, with 229 heat-units spread over it,
and a shorter winter of 136 heat-units, would naturally produce a
climate, which, according to Hershel, would be ‘an approach to
perpetual spring.’ If the Palæolithic man, therefore, lived in these
regions during the Inter-Glacial period, he must have found it
very pleasant, in spite of the fact that the sun went below his
horizon for a number of days in a year according to the latitude
of the place. The present inclement climate of the Arctic regions
dates from the Post-Glacial period, and we must leave it out of
consideration in dealing with earlier ages.
But supposing that an Arctic continent, with an equable and
pleasant climate, existed during the Inter-Glacial period, and that
the Palæolithic man ranged freely over it, it does not follow that
the ancestors of the Aryan race lived in the Arctic regions during
those days, though it may render such a hypothesis highly pro-
bable. For that purpose, we must either wait until the existence
of the Aryan race, within the Arctic regions in Inter-glacial times,
is proved by new archæological discoveries; or failing them, try
to examine the ancient traditions and beliefs of the race, incor-
porated in such admittedly oldest Aryan books, as the Vedas and
the Avesta, and see if they justify us in predicating the inter-
glacial existence of the Aryan people. It is admitted that many
of the present explanations of these traditions and legends are
unsatisfactory, and as our knowledge of the ancient man is increa-
sed, or becomes more definite, by new discoveries in archæology,
geology or anthropology, these explanations will have to be
revised from time to time, and any defects in them, due to
our imperfect understanding of the sentiments, the habits and
even the surroundings of the ancient man, corrected. That
human races have preserved their ancient traditions is un-
doubted, though some or many of them may have become