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

352 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
and unless we are prepared to say that all these may be
accidental coincidences, we cannot, I think, legitimately with-
hold our assent to a theory which explains so many facts, and
incidents, hitherto ignored, neglected or misunderstood, in an
easy, natural and intelligible manner. I do not mean to say that
the Arctic theory would entirely dispense with the necessity of
the Dawn, the storm or the Vernal theory. All that I contend
for is that the Arctic theory explains a number of legendary or
traditional facts hitherto hopeles ly given up as inexplicable and
that in the interpretation of Vedic myths it furnishes us with a
weapon far more powerful and effective than either the Dawn,
the Storm or the Vernal theory. In short, from a mythological
point of view alone, there is ample ground to recommend it to
our acceptance side by side with, and, in some cases, even in
substitution of the old theories. In addition to this it has been al-
ready shown in previous chapters that the new theory rests on
direct and independent statements of facts, contained in the Ṛig-
Veda, about the duration and nature of the dawn, days and
nights, seasons, months and the year in the home of the ancient
fathers of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis; and that the Avestic and Roman
traditions fully corroborate our conclusion. We have further seen
that the theory is perfectly consistent with the latest results of
geological and archæological researches. Shall we then still with-
hold our assent to the only theory which explains so many facts,
legends, and incidents, in a natural and intelligent way and
which throws such a flood of light on the ancient history of the
Aryan race, simply because it seems to be rather uncouth at
the first sight ? The rules of logic and scientific research will
not justify us in doing so, and I fully rely on them for the eventual
success or failure of the theory I have endeavoured to prove in
these pages.

CHAPTER XI.
THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE.
Nature of Avestic evidence stated—Different views of scholars
regarding its character—Necessity of re-examining the subject
—An abstract of the first Fargard of the Vendidad—Sixteen
lands created by Ahura Mazda with their modern equivalents
&c.—Airyana Vaejo, the first created land represents the
Paradise of the Iranians—Different views regarding its position
—Darmesteter, Spiegel and others locate it in the east ; Haug
and Bunsen in the far north—Darmesteter’s argument examin-
ed—Airyana Vaejo cannot be determined from the position of
Vanguhi—Identification of Rangha with the Caspian Sea or the
westernmost river doubtful—Rangha is probably the same as
Rasâ in the Rig-Veda X, 75, 6—Unsoundness of Darmesteter’s
reasoning—The position of the Airyana Vaejo must be deter-
mined from its special characteristics found in the Avesta—
The passage where ten months winter is said to be such a
characteristic cited—Ten months winter first introduced into
the happy land by Angra Mainyu—Indicates that before the
fiend’s invasion there must have been ten months summer and
two months winter in the land—Sudden change in the Polar
climate fully confirmed by latest geological researches—Two
months winter necessarily synchronous with long Arctic night
—The tradition about seven months summer and five months
winter also refers to the original climate in the Airyana Vaejo
—Mentioned in the Bundahish—Not inconsistent with the
tradition of ten months summer recorded in the original
passage—Both possible in the Arctic regions—Similar state-
ments in the Rig-Veda—Coincidence between seven months
summer, the legend of Aditi, and the date of Indra’s fight with
Shambara, pointed out—Summary of the second Fargard—
Yima’s Vara in the Airyana Vaejo—Annual sun-rise and a
year-long day therein—Shows that the Airyana Vaejo must
be located near the North Pole and not to the east of Iran—
The account too graphic to be imaginary or mythical—Re-
presents the advent of the Glacial epoch in the land—It is
the oldest human testimony to the advent of the Ice-age,
23

354 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
destroying the Arctic home—Special importance of the Aves-
tic evidence pointed out—Fully corroborated by scientific evi-
dence—Migration from Airyana Vaejo rendered necessary by
glaciation—Sixteen lands in the first Fargard therefore repre-
sent successive stages of migration to Central Asia—Establi-
shes the historical character of the first Fargard—The legend
of deluge in the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa—Probably refers to
the same event as the Avestic legends—Other Vedic passages
indicating the northern origin of Indian Aryas—Conclusion to
be drawn from the Vedic and Avestic evidence combined.
IN dealing with the Vedic evidence, both direct and cir-
cumstantial, we have by way of comparison quoted or referred
to some Avestic legends or myths in the foregoing chapters.
But the Avesta contains some important passages directly
bearing upon the question of the original Aryan home in the
far north, and migrations therefrom to the regions watered by
the Oxus, the Jaxartes or the Indus; and it is necessary to
discuss these passages in a separate chapter, because they not
only confirm and supplement the conclusions we have previ-
ously arrived at by the examination of the Vedic evidence, but
constitute, what may be called, independent evidence pointing
out to the same result. As regards the antiquity of the Aves-
ta, it is superfluous to adduce any proofs in this place; for it
is admitted by scholars that the Vedas and the Avesta are but
two branches of the same parent stream, though the latter may
not be as well preserved as the former. To use a Vêdic
phrase, the sacred books of the Brâhmans and the Parsis are
the twin books of the Aryan race; and they can, therefore, be
safely taken to supplement each other whenever it is necessary
and possible to do so. This character of the two books is well
exhibited with regard to the subject in hand. We have seen
that while there are a number of passages in the Vedic litera-
ture, which speak of long dawns, continuous darkness, or a
sacrificial session of ten months, we have no text or legend
which directly refers to the home in the far north or to the

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 355 ·
cause or causes which forced the ancient Aryans to abandon
their primeval home and migrate southwards. But fortunately
for us, the Avesta, though not generally as well preserved as
the Vedas, contains a passage which supplies the omission in
a remarkable way ; and we mean to discuss this passage at
-some length in this chapter. The Avestic legends and tradi-
tions quoted in the foregoing chapters show that a day and a
night of six months each were known to the ancestors of the
Iranians, and that the appointed time for the appearance of
Tishtrya before the worshipper, after his fight with Apaosha,
varied from one to a hundred nights, thus indicating that a
long darkness extending over a hundred nights was also
known to the forefathers of the worshippers of Mazda. The
stoppage of the flow of waters and of the movement of the sun
in winter, as described in the Farvardîn Yasht, have also been
referred to ; and it is shown that the custom of keeping a
dead body in the house for two nights, three nights or a month
long in winter, until the floods begin to flow, must be ascribed
to the absence of sunlight during the period when the floods
as well as light were shut up in the nether world by the de-
mons of darkness. All these traditions have their counter-
parts in the Vedic literature. But the Avestic tradition re-
garding the original home in the far north and its destruction
by snow and ice stands by itself, though in the light of the
Vedic evidence discussed in the previous chapters, we can now
clearly show that it has a historical basis and that it preserves
for us a distinct reminiscence, howsoever fragmentary, of
the ancient Aryan home. This tradition is contained in the
first two Fargards or chapters of the Vendidad, or the law book
of the Mazda-yasnians. They have no connection with the
subsequent chapters of the book and appear to be incorporat-
ed into it simply as a relic of old historical or traditional
literature. These two Fargards have not failed to attract
the attention of Zend scholars ever since the discovery of the

356 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Avesta by Anquetil; and many attempts have been made not
only to identify the places mentioned therein, but to draw his-
torical conclusions therefrom. Thus Heeren, Rhode, Lassen,
Pictel, Bunsen, Haug and others have recognized in these ac-
counts of the Vendidad, a half historical, half mythical re-
miniscence of the primeval home and the countries known to the
followers of the Avesta, when these Fargards were composed.
Professor Spiegel at first took the same view as Rhode, but
has latterly retracted his opinion. On the other hand, Kiepert,
Breal, Darmesteter and others have shown that no historical
conclusion can be drawn from the description contained in the
first two chapters of the Vendidad; and this view seems to
be now mainly accepted. But it must be borne in mind that
this view was formulated at a time when the Vedic evidence in
support of the Arctic theory, set forth in the previous chap-
ters, was entirely unkown, and when the existence of an
Arctic home in ancient times was not regarded as probable
even on geological grounds, man being believed to be post-
Glacial and the Arctic regions always unsuited for human
habitation. The recent discoveries in Geology and Archæology
have, however, thrown a flood of new light on the subject;
and if the interpretation of the Vedic traditions noticed in
the previous chapters is correct, it will, I think, be readily
admitted that a reconsideration of the Avestic tradition from
the new standpoint is a necessity and that we should not
be deterred from undertaking the task by the recent verdict
of Zend scholars against the views of Bunsen and Haug re-
garding the historical character of the first two Fargards of
the Vendidad.
The first Fargard of the Vendidad is devoted to the enu-
meration of sixteen lands created by Ahura Mazda, the Su-
preme God of the Iranians. As soon as each land was created
Angara Mainyu, the evil spirit of the Avesta, created different
evils and plagues to invade the land and made it unfit for human

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 357
habitation. There were thus sixteen creations of Ahura
Mazda, and sixteen counter-creations of Angra Mainyu; and
the first Fargard of the Vendidad contains a description of all
these creations, and counter-creations, stating in detail how
each good land was created by Ahura Mazda and how Angra
Mainyu rendered it unfit for human residence by creating
some evil or plague therein. The Fargard is too long to be
quoted here in full; and I, therefore, borrow Muir’s abstract
of the same prepared from the versions of Spiegel and Haug,
inserting in some places Darmesteter’s renderings with the
aid of his translation of the Vendidad in the Sacred Books
of the East Series. The paragraphs are marked first accord-
ing to Darmesteter, and then according to Spiegel by figures
within brackets.
1, 2, (1-4):—“Ahura Mazda spake to the holy Zarathus-
tra: ‘I formed into an agreeable region that which before
was nowhere habitable. Had I not done this, all living things
would have poured forth after Airyana Vaêjo.’”
3, 4, (5-9):—“I, Ahura Mazda, created as the first
best region, Airyana Vaêjo, of the good creation, (or, accord-
ing to Darmesteter, by the good river Dâitya). Then Angra
Mainyu, the destroyer, formed in opposition to it, a great ser-
pent and winter [or snow], the creation of the Daêvas. There
are there ten months of winter, and two of summer.”
5, (13, 14):—“I, Ahura Mazda, created as the second
best region, Gaû (plains), in which Sughdha is situated.
Thereupon in opposition to it, Angra Mainyu, the death-deal-
ing, created a wasp which is death to cattle and fields.”
6, (17, 18):—“I, etc., created as the third best region,
Môuru, the mighty, the holy.”
[Here, and in most of the following cases the counter-
creations of Angra Mainyu are omitted.]
7, (21, 22):—“I, etc., created as the fourth best region,
the fortunate Bâkhdhi, with the lofty banner.”

358 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
8, (25, 26):—" I, etc., created as the fifth best region,
Nisaya, [situated between Môuru and Bâkhdhi.].”
9. (29, 30):—" I, ėtc., created as the sixth best region,
Harôyu, abounding in the houses [or water].”
10, (33-36):—"I, etc., created as the seventh best region,
Vaêkereta where Dujak is situated (or, according to Darmes-
teter, of evil shadows). In opposition to it, Angra Mainyu,
the destroyer, created the Pairika Khnathaîti, who clung to
Keresâspa.”
11, (37, 38):—"I, etc., created as the eighth best region,
Urva, full of pastures.”
12, (41, 42):—" I, etc., created as the ninth best region,
Khneṇta (a river) in Vehrkâna.”
13, (45, 46):—" I, etc., created as the tenth best region,
the fortunate Harahvaiti.”
14, (49, 50):—" I, etc., created as the eleventh best region,
Haêtumaṇt, the rich and shining.”
16, (59, 60):—" I, etc., created as the twelfth best region,
Ragha, with three fortresses [or races].”
17, (63, 64):—" I, etc., created as the thirteenth best region,
Chakhra, the strong.”
18, (67, 68):—" I, etc., created as the fourteenth, best region,
Varena, with four corners; to which was born Thraêtaona,
who slew Azi Dahâka.”
19, (72, 73):—I, etc., created as the fifteenth best country,
Hapta Heṇdu [from the eastern to the western Hendu]. In
opposition, Angra Mainyu created untimely evils, and perni-
cious heat [or fever].”
20, (76, 77):—" I, etc., created as the sixteenth and best,
the people who live without a head on the floods of Rangha
(or according to Haug 'on the seashore').”
21, (81):—" There are besides, other countries, fortunate,
renowned, lofty, prosperous and splendid.”
Spiegel, Haug and other scholars have tried to identify

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 359
the sixteen lands mentioned in this description, and the follow-
ing tabular statement sums up the results of the investigations
of these scholars in this direction. The letters S, H, and
D, stand far Spiegel, Haug and Darmesteter.

360 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
The old Persian and Greek names in the above table are
taken from the inscriptions of the Achæmenian kings and the
works of Greek writers after the overthrow of the Achæme-
nian dynasty by Alexander the Great. They show that at least
10 out of 16 lands can be still indentified with certainty; and if
so, we can safely say that the account in the first Fargard is
real and not mythical. But with regard to the land mention-
ed first in the list, there has been a difference of opinion
amongst Zend scholars. The Airyana Vaêjo is the first creat-
ed happy land, and the name signifies that it was the birth-
land (Vaêjo = seed, Sans. bîja) of the Aryans (Iranians), or
the Paradise of the Iranian race. Was this a mythical region
or a real country representing the original home of the Aryans,
and if it was a real country where was it situated? This is
the first question which we have to answer from the evidence
contained in the first two Fargards of the Vendidad; and se-
condly, we have to decide whether the sixteen lands mentioned
above were the successive countries occupied by the ancestors
of the Iranian race in their migrations from the original home
in the north. The Fargard says nothing about migration. It
simply mentions that so many lands were created by Ahura
Mazda and that in opposition thereto Angra Mainyu, the evil
Spirit of the Avesta, created so many different evils and
plagues which rendered the lands unfit for human residence.
It is inferred from this that the Fargard does not contain an ac-
count of successive migrations, but merely gives us a descrip-
tion of the countries known to the ancestors of the Iranians at
the time when the Fargards were composed. In other words,
the chapter is geographical and not historical, containing no-
thing but a specification of the countries known to the Ira-
nians at a particular time; and it is argued that it would be
converting geography into history to take the different coun-
tries to represent the successive stages of migrations from the
primeval home, when not a word about migration is found in

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 361
the original text. Professor Darmesteter further observes
that as the enumeration of the sixteen lands begins with
Airyana Vaêjo by the river Vanguhi Dâitya and ends with
Rangha, which corresponds with the Vedic Rasâ, a mythical
river that divides the gods from the fiends, and that as the
Vanguhi and the Rangha were originally the celestial rivers
that came down from heaven (like the two heavenly Gânges)
to surround the earth, the one in the east and the other in
the west, (Bundahish, XX), the Airyana Vaêjo and the Rangha
must be taken to denote the eastern and the western bounda-
ries of the countries known to the ancient Iranians at the time
when the Fargard was composed. Spiegel also takes the same
view, and places Airyana Vaêjo "in the farthest east of the
Iranian plateau, in the region where the Oxus and Jaxartes
take their rise;" and Darmesteter seems to quote with approval
the identification of the Rangha or the sixteenth land, in
the commentary on the Vedidad, with Arvastân-i-Rûm or
Roman Mesopotamia. The whole Fargard is thus taken to be
a geographical description of the ancient Iran, and Professor
Darmesteter at the end of his introduction to the Fargard ob-
serves "It follows hence no historical conclusion can be drawn
from this description : it was necessary that it should begin
with the Vanguhi and end with the Rangha. To look to it for
an account of geographical migrations is converting cosmology
into history." Bunsen and Haug, on the other hand, maintain
that the Airyana Vaêjo represents the original home of the
Iranians in the far north, and the countries mentioned in the
Fargard must, therefore, be taken to represent the lands
through which the Aryans passed after leaving their ancient
home. The first question which we have, therefore, to decide
is whether the Airyana Vaêjo was merely the easternmost
boundary of the ancient Iran, or whether it was the primeval
abode of the Iranians in the far north. In the former case we
may take the Fargard to be merely a chapter on ancient

362 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
geography; while if it is found impossible to locate the Airyana
Vaêjo except in the far north, the countries from Samarkand
and Sughdha to Hapta Hẹndu or the Panjaub mentioned in the
Fargard would naturally represent the route taken by the
ancient Iranians in their migrations from the ancient home.
Everything thus depends upon the view that we take of the
situation of the Airyana Vaêjo; and we shall, therefore, first
see if there is anything in the Avestic description of the land
which will enable us to determine its position with certainty.
It may be observed at the outset that the river Vanguhi
is not mentioned in the Fargard along with the Airyana Vaêjo.
The original verse speaks only of the "good dâitya of Airyana
Vaêjo," but it is doubtful if "daitya" denotes a river in this
place. The Zend phrase Airyanem Vaêjô vanghuyâô dâityayô,
which Darmesteter translates as "the Airyana Vaêjo, by the
good (vanghuhi) river Dâitya," is understood by Spiegel to mean
"the Airyana Vaêjo of the good creation," while Haug takes it
as equivalent to "the Airyana Vaêjo of good capability." It is,
therefore, doubtful if the Dâitya river is mentioned along with
the Airyana Vaêjo in this passage.* But even supposing that
Darmesteter's rendering is correct, he gives us no authority
for identifying Dâitya with Vanguhi. The Bundahish (XX,
7 and 13) mentions Vêh (Vanguhi) and Dâitîk (Dâitya) as
two distinct rivers, though both seem to be located in the
Aîrân-vêj (Airyana Vaêjo). We cannot again lose sight of
the fact that it is not the Vanguhi (Vêh) alone that flows
through the Airyana Vaêjo, but that the Rangha (Arag) has
the same source and flows through the same land, viz., the
Aîryana Vaêjo. Thus in the very beginning of Chapter XX
of the Bundahish, we read that the Arag and the Vêh

1. See Dr. West's note on Bundahish XX, 13. The original pass-
   age mentions the Dâitîk river coming out from Aîrân vêj; but Dr. West
   observes that this may not be a river though the phrase (in the Avesta)
   has, no doubt, led to locating the river Dâitîk in Aîrân-vêj.

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 363
are the chief of the eighteen rivers, and that they "flow
forth from the north, part from Albûrz and part from the
Albûrz of Auhar-mazd ; one towards the west, that is the
Arag ; and one towards the east, that is the Vêh river." The
Bundahish (VII, 15) further informs us that the Vêh river
flows out from the same source as the Arag river, and Dr.
West in a footnote observes that both these rivers flow out
from "the north side of the Arêdvîvsûr (Ardvi Sûra Anâhita)
fountain of the sea, which is said to be on the lofty Hûgar
(Hukairya), a portion of Albûrz." Even according to Bunda-
hish, the Vanguhi is, therefore, the eastern and the Rangha the
western river, in the northern part of Albûrz ; or, in other
words, they represent two rivers in a country, situated in the
north, one flowing towards the east, and one to the west, in
that region. It would, therefore, be, to say the least, unsafe to
infer from this that the Airyāna Vaêjo represents the eastern-
most country, because the name Vêh or Vanguhi was in later
times attached to the easternmost river in Irân. For by
parity of reasoning, we can as well place the Airyāna Vaêjo in
the far west, in as much as the name Arag or Rangha was given,
as stated by Darmesteter himself, in later times to the western-
most river.
It is again a question why Rangha should be identified
with the Caspian Sea, or some western river in Iran. The
Fargard does not say anything about the situation of Rangha.
It simply states that the fifteenth land created by Ahura
Mazda was Hapta Heṇdu and the sixteenth was on the floods
of Rangha. Now if Hapta Heṇdu, is identified with Sapta
Sindhu, or the Panjaub, why take a big and a sudden jump
from the Panjaub to the Caspian Sea, to find out the
Rangha river. Rangha is Sanskrit Rasâ, and in the Ṛig-Veda
(X, 75, 6) a terrestrial river, by name Rasâ, is mentioned
along with the Kubhâ, the Krumu and the Gomati, which are
all known to be the affluents of the Indus. Is it not, therefore,

364 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
more likely that Rangha may be the Vedic Rasâ, a tri-
butary of the Indus? If the context is any guide to the deter-
mination of the sense of ambiguous words, the mention of
Hapta Heṇdu, as the fifteenth land, shows that Rasâ the six-
teenth must be sought for somewhere near it, and the point
is pretty well settled when we find Rasâ actually mentioned
in the Ṛig-Veda along with some other tributaries of the
Indus. The identification of Rangha with the western-
most river is, therefore, at best doubtful, and the same may
be said of Vanguhi, which by-the-by is not mentioned
in the Fargard at all. But Darmesteter's reasoning does
not stop here. On the strength of this doubtful identifica-
tion he would have us believe that the ancient land of
the Airyana Vaêjo was situated in the same region where the
river named Vanguhi, or Vêh, in later times was said to flow.
But the reasoning is obviously erroneous. The names of the
two rivers Vanguhi and Rangha in the primeval home may
have been subsequently transferred to the real rivers in the
new settlement; but we cannot infer therefrom that the
country through which these new rivers flowed was the
original site of the Airyana Vaêjo. It is a well-known fact that
persons migrating from their motherland to new countries
often name the places they come across after the names of
places familiar to them in their motherland. But on that
account no one has ventured to place England in America or
Australia; and it is strange how such a mistake should have
been committed by Zend scholars in the present case. For
even if a province or country in Central Asia had been named
Airyana Vaêjo, we could not have located the original home
in that Province; just as the abode of Varuṇa cannot be
placed in the land named Varena, which is the Zend equiva-
lent of Varuṇa. The whole of Darmesteter's reasoning must,
therefore, be rejected as unsound and illogical, and but for
the preconceived notion that the original home of the Iranians

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 365
cannot be placed in the far north, I think no scholar would
have cared to put forward such guesses. There are express
passages in the Avesta, which describe in unmistakable terms
the climatic characteristics of the Airyana Vaêjo, and so far
as I am aware, no valid reason has yet been assigned why we
should treat this description as mythical and have recourse to
guess-work for determining the position of the primeval home.
Thus at the beginning of the first Fargard, we are told that
the Airyana Vaêjo was the first good and happy creation of
Ahura Mazda, but Angra Mainyu converted it into a land of
ten months winter and two months summer, evidently meaning
that at the time when the Fargard was composed it was an ice-
bound land. The winter of ten months' duration, therefore, na-
turally points to a position in the far north, at a great distance
beyond the Jaxartes; and it would be unreasonable to ignore
this description which is characteristic only of the Arctic re-
gions, and, relying on doubtful guesses, hold that the Airyana
Vaêjo was the easternmost boundary of the ancient Iran. As
the passage, where the ten months' winter is described as the
present principal climatic characteristic of the Airyana Vaêjo,
is very important for our purpose, I give below the transla-
tions of the same by Darmesteter, Spiegel and Haug: —
VENDIDAD, FARGARD I.
Darmesteter. | Spiegel. | Haug and Bunsen.
3. The first of the | 5. The first and best | 3. As the first best of
good lands and coun- | of regions and places | regions and countries I,
tries, which I, Ahura | have I created, I who | who am Ahura Mazda,
Mazda, created, was the | am Ahura Mazda; | created Airyana Vaêjo
Airyana Vaêjo, by the | 6. The Airyana Vaê- | of good capability;
good river Dâitya. | jo of the good creation. | thereupon in opposition,
Thereupon came An- | 7. Then Angra Mai- | to him Angra Mainyus,
gra Mainyu, who is all | nyus, who is full of | the death-dealing, cre-
death, and he counter- | death, created an oppo- | ated a mighty serpent
created by his witch- | sition to the same; | and snow, the work of
craft the serpent in | 8. A great Serpent | the Daêvas.

366 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Darmesteter. Spiegel. Haug and Bunsen.
the river and winter, and Winter, which the
a work of the Daêvas. Daêvas have created.
4. There are ten win- '9. Ten winter months 4. Ten months of
ter months there, two are there, two summer winter are there, two
summer months ;* and months, months of summer.
those are cold for the 10. And these are [Seven months of sum-
waters, cold for the cold as to the water, mer are there ; five
earth,cold for the trees. cold as to the earth, months of winter there
Winter falls there, with cold as to the trees. were ; * the latter are
the worst of its plagues. 11. After this to the cold as to water, cold
middle of the earth, as to earth, cold as
*N.B.—Darmesteter then to the heart of the to trees; there (is)—
states in a note that af- earth, midwinter, the heart of
ter summer months the 12. Comes the win- winter; there all around
Vendîdâd Sâdah adds, ter ; then comes the falls deep snow ; there is
“ It is known that [in most evil. the direst of plagues.]†
the ordinary course of
nature] there are seven † N. B.—According
months of summer and to Haug the whole of
five of winter.” the passage within brac-
kets is a later addition.
It will be seen from the above translations that they all
agree in the main points, viz., (1) that the Airyana Vaêjo was
the first good land created by Ahura Mazda, (2) that severe
winter and snow were first introduced into it by Angra Mainyu,
and (3) that after the invasion of Angra Mainyu there were
ten winter months and two summer months in that land.
The only difference between the three versions is that while
Darmesteter and Spiegel regard the last sentence “ And these
are cold for the waters, etc,” as a part of the original text
Haug regards it as a subsequent addition. All the translators
again agree in holding that the statement “ Seven months of
summer are there and five months of winter ” is a later inser-
tion. But we shall take up this question afterwards. For the
present we are concerned with the statement that “ Ten
months of winter are there, two months of summer,” and it
will be seen that there is no difference on this point in the

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 367
three renderings given above. Another important fact men-
tioned in the passage is that the prolonged duration of winter
was the result of Angra Mainyu's counter-action, meaning
thereby that before the invasion of Angra Mainyu different
climatic conditions prevailed in that region. This view is
further strengthened by the consideration that the Iranians
could never have placed their Paradise in a land of severe
winter and snow. Bunsen has, therefore, rightly observed that
the Airyana Vaêjo was originally a perfect country and had
a very mild climate, until the hostile deity created a powerful
serpent and snow, so that only two months of summer remain-
ed while winter prevailed during ten. In short, the passage
in question speaks of a sudden change in the climate of the
original home, a change that converted the paradise into a
kind of ice-bound land with long and severe winters. If we,
therefore, want to know what the land was like before the
invasion of Angra Mainyu, we must. reverse the climatic con-
ditions that obtained after the invasion, and suppose that this
cradle of the Iranian race was situated in the extreme north
where long cool summers of ten months and short mild winters
of two months originally prevailed. It was Angra Mainyu
who altered this genial climate by means of glaciation and
rendered it unbearable to man. The description of the two
summer months after the invasion, viz., that "These were
cold as to the water, cold as to the earth, cold as to the trees,"
shows that after glaciation even the summer climate was
unsuited for human habitation.
We have stated above that the passage in question in-
dicates a sudden change in the climate of the Airyana Vaêjo,
converting ten months summer and two months winter into
ten months severe winter and two months cold summer.
Thirty or forty years ago such a statement or proposition would
have been regarded not only bold, but impossible or almost
insane, for the geological knowledge of the time was not

368 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
sufficiently advanced to establish the existence of a mild cli-
mate round about the North pole in ancient times. It was
probably this difficulty which stared Zend scholars in the
face when they declined to place the Airyana Vaêjo in the far
north, in spite of the plain description clearly indicating its
northernmost position. Happily the recent discoveries in
Geology and Archæology have not only removed this diffi-
culty by establishing, on scientific grounds, the existence of a
warm and genial climate near the North Pole in inter-glacial
times, but have proved that the Polar regions were invaded,
at least twice, by glaciation which destroyed their genial cli-
mate. Thus it is now a settled scientific fact that the Arctic
regions were once characterised by warm and short winters
and genial and long summers, a sort of perpetual spring, and
that this condition of things was totally upset or reversed
by the advent of the Glacial period which made winters long
and severe and summers short and cold. The description of
the climatic changes introduced by Angra Mainyu into the
Airyana Vaêjo is, therefore, just what a modern geologist
would ascribe to the Glacial epoch ; and when the description
is so remarkably and unexpectedly corroborated by the latest
scientific researches, I fail to see on what ground we can
lightly set it aside as mythical or imaginary. If some Zend
scholars have done so in the past, it was because geological
knowledge was not then sufficiently advanced to establish the
probability of the description contained in the Avesta. But
with new materials before us which go to confirm the Avestic
description of the Airyana Vaêjo in every detail, we shall be
acting unwisely if we decline to revise the conclusions of Zend
scholars arrived at some years ago on insufficient materials.
When we look at the question from this point of view, we
have to place the site of the Airyana Vaêjo in the Arctic re-
gions, where alone we can have a winter of ten months at the
present day. We can escape from such a conclusion only by

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 369
denying the possibility that the passage in question contains
any traditional account of the ancient home of the Iranians;
and this course seems to have been adopted by some Zend
scholars of the day. But with the Vedic evidence, set forth and
discussed in the previous chapters, before us, we need not have
any of those apprehensions which have hitherto led many Zend
scholars to err on the side of caution and moderation. We have
seen that there are strong grounds for holding that the ancient
Indo-European year was a year of ten months followed by a long
night of two months; in other words, it was a year of ten sum-
mer months and two winter months, that is, exactly of the same
kind as the one which prevailed in the Airyana Vaêjo before the
happy land was invaded by the evil spirit. The word for
summer in Zend is hama, the same as Sanskrit samâ, which means
"a year" in the Rig-Veda. The period of ten summer months
mentioned in the Avesta would, therefore, mean a year of ten
months' sunshine, or of ten mânusha yugâ, followed by a long
wintry night of two months as described in the previous chapters.
It may be urged that the Vendidad does not say that the two
winter months were all dark, and we have, therefore, no
authority for converting two winter months into two months of
continuous darkness. A little reflection will, however, show
that the objection is utterly untenable. In order to have a winter
of ten months at the present day, we must place the Airyana
Vaêjo in the Arctic regions; and once we do so, a long night of
one, two or three months follows as a matter of course. This
long night will now fall in the middle of the winter of ten
months; but before the last Glacial epoch, or the invasion of
Angra Mainyu, when there was a summer of ten months in the
Arctic regions, the duration of the long night and that of the
winter of two months must have been co-extensive. That is an
important difference in the description of the paradise of the
Aryans, as it is at present and as it was before the last Glacial
24

370 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
epoch. The long night characterised these regions before the
Glacial period as it does at present. But when the winters were
short they corresponded with, and were confined only to, the
long night ; while at the present day, since the winter in the
Arctic regions lasts for ten months, the long night falls in the
middle of such winter. The description of the Airyana Vaêjo in
the Vendidad, therefore, naturally leads us to infer that ten
months sunshine or summer followed by two months dark winter
represented the climatic conditions of the place before the inva-
sion of Angra Mainyu, who converted summer into winter and
vice versa, by introducing ice and snow into the land. We have
already referred to the maximum period of a hundred nights
during which Tishtrya fought with Apaosha, and to the custom
of keeping the dead bodies in the house for two nights, three nights
or a month long in winter, until waters and light, which stood
still in winter, again began to flow or come up, showing that the
period was one of continuous darkness. These passages taken in
conjunction with the aforesaid description of the Airyana Vaêjo
clearly establish the fact that the paradise of the Iranians was
situated in the extreme north or almost near the North Pole, and
that it was characterised by long delightful summers, and short
and warm but dark winters, until it was rendered unfit for human
habitation by the invasion of Angra Mainyu, or the advent of the
Glacial epoch, which brought in severe winter and snow causing
the land to be covered with an icecap several hundreds of feet in
thickness.
There is one more point which deserves to be noticed in
this connection. We have seen that to the description of the
Airyana Vaêjo quoted above, the old Zend commentators have
added what is believed to be an inconsistent statement, viz., that
"There are seven months of summer and five of winter therein."
Dr. Haug thinks that the paragraph "The latter are cold as
to water etc." is also a later addition, and must, therefore,

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 371
be taken with the "five months of winter." But both Spiegel
and Darmesteter, as well as the commentator, are of opinion
that the phrases "And these are cold as to the water etc." from a
part of the original text, and must, therefore, be taken to refer to
the two summer months; and this view seems to be more
reasonable, for a later insertion, if any, is more likely to be a
short one than otherwise. The only addition to the original text
thus seems to be the statement "It is known that there are
seven months of summer and five of winter;" and this must be
taken as referring to the climatic conditions which obtained in
the Airyana Vaêjo before the invasion of Angra Mainyu, for the
latter reduced the duration of summer only to two months,
which again were cold to the water, the earth and the trees.
It has been shown above that as the Airyana Vaêjo was origin-
ally a happy land, we must suppose that the first climatic
conditions therein were exactly the reverse of those which were
introduced into it by Angra Mainyu; or, in other words, a sum-
mer of ten months and a winter of two months must be said to
have originally prevailed in this happy land. But the Zend
commentators have stated that there were seven months of
summer and five of winter therein; and this tradition appears to
have been equally old, for we read in the Bundahish (XXV, 10-14)
that "on the day Aûharmazd (first day) of Âvân the winter
acquires strength and enters into the world,...and on the auspi-
cious day Atarô of the month Dîn (the ninth day of the tenth
month) the winter arrives, with much cold, at Aîrân-vêj, and
until the end, in the auspicious month Spendarmad, winter
advances through the whole world; on this account they kindle
a fire everywhere on the day Âtarô of the month Din, and it
forms an indication that the winter has come." Here the five
months of winter in the Airyana Vaêjo are expressly mention-
ed to be Âvân, Âtarô, Dîn, Vohûman and Spendarmad; and
we are told that Rapîtvîn Gâh is not celebrated during this