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

390 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
are the Uttara Kurus whom no one attempts to combat.
That the Uttara Kurus were not a fabulous land is shown by
the fact that a mountain, a people and a city called Ottoro-
corra is mentioned by Ptolemy, and Lassen thinks that Me-
gasthenes had the Uttara Kurus in view when he referred to
the Hyperboreans. Muir concludes this section with a passage
from the Sânkhyâyana or the Kaushîtakî Brâhmaṇa (VII, 6)
where Pathyâ Svasti, or the goddess of speech, is said to
know the northern region (udîchîm disham), and we are told
that " Hence in the northern region speech is better known
and better spoken, and it is to the north that men go to learn
speech." Muir thinks that some faint reminiscence of an
early connection with the north may be traced in these pass-
ages. But none of them are conclusive, nor have we any in-
dication therein of the original home being in tho Arctic re-
gions, as we have in the case of the Vedic passages discussed
previously which speak of the long, continuous dawn and
night, or a year of ten months. We may, however, take the
passages cited by Muir as corroborative evidence and they
have been referred to here in the same light. It is upon the
Vedic passages and legends examined in the previous chapters
and the Avestic evidence discussed above that we mainly
rely for establishing the existence of the primeval Aryan home
in the Arctic regions; and when both these are taken together
we get direct traditional testimony for holding that the origi-
nal home of the Aryan races was situated near the North
Pole and not in Central Asia, that it was destroyed by the
advent of the Glacial epoch, and that the Indo-Iranians, who
were compelled to leave the country, migrated southwards,
and passing thr ough several provinces of Central Asia even-
tually settled in the valleys of the Oxus, the Indus, the
Kubhâ and the Rasâ, from which region we see them again
migrating, the Indians to the east and the Persians to the
west at the early dawn of the later traditional history.

CHAPTER XII.
COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY.
The value of Comparative Mythology as corroborative evidence
—Its use in the present case—The ancient calendars of the
European Aryan races—The plurality of Dawns in the Lettish,
the Greek and the Celtic mythology—The ancient Roman year
of ten months and Numa's reform thereof--Plutarch's view--Im-
probability of Lignana's theory pointed out—The ancient Celtic
year—Closed with the last day of October and marked the com-
mencement of winter and darkness—The winter feast celebrated
on the day—The mid-summer feast of Lugnassad on the first of
August—The commencement of summer on the first of May
—The date of the battle of Moytura—Similar duration of the
Old Norse year—Comparison with the ancient Greek calendar
—All indicate six months' light and six months' darkness—Corro-
boration derived from comparative philology—Two divisions of
the year in primeval times—The Maid of Nine Forms in the
Celtic mythology—The Nine paces of Thor in the Norse legend
—Compared with the Vedic Navagvas and Vifra Navaza in the
Avesta—Balder's home in the heavens—Indicates the long Arc-
tic day—The Slavonic story of Ivan and his two brothers—Con-
tinuous night in Ivan's home—Comparison with the Vedic le-
gend of Trita—The Slavonic winter demon--The story of Dawn
and Gloaming in the Finnish mythology—Indicates a long day
of four weeks—Celtic and Teutonic legends representing the
Sun-god's annual struggle with darkness—Baldur and Hodur,
Cuchulainn and Fomori—Temporary sickness and indisposition
of gods and heroes—Prof. Rhys' views thereon—The affliction
indicates winter darkness—Celtic and Teutonic myths indi-
cating long continuous day and night—All point to a primeval
home in the Arctic region—Recent ethnological researches in
favour of European home referred to-Indicate northern Germany
or Scandinavia—The necessity of going still farther North—Prof.
Rhys suggests Finland or White Sea-Not inconsistent with the
theory which seeks to make the North Pole the home of the
whole human race—Prof. Rhys' method and conclusion--Primeval

392 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Arctic home established alike by the traditions of the eastern
and western Aryas—Its relation with the general theory about
the cradle of the human race at the North Pole explained.
WE propose in this chapter to examine whether and how
far the conclusions we have deduced from the Vedic and the
Avestic evidence are corroborated by the myths and traditions
of the European branches of the Aryan race. It is true that
the evidence, collected in the foregoing chapters, is so general
in character that it will have to be taken into account, even if
the traditions of other races are found to conflict with it in any
way. In other words, it has nothing specially Asiatic in it
and without further corroboration we can, therefore, safely say
that the original home of the Indo-Iranians, before the last
Glacial epoch, must also be the home of the other Aryan peo-
ple in those remote times. But still we may usefully examine
the traditions of other Aryan races, and see if the latter have
preserved any reminiscences of the original home, either in
their ancient calendar or in their other ancient myths or le-
gends. Of course the evidence cannot be expected to be as
reliable as that found in the Veda or the Avesta, but still it has
its own value for corroborative purposes. The History of com-
parative mythology and philology shows that when Vedic
literature and language became accessible to European scho-
lars, quite a new light was thrown thereby on the Greek and
the Roman mythology; and it is not unlikely that the discovery
of the Vedic and the Avestic evidence, in favour of the Arctic
home may similarly serve to elucidate some points in the le-
gendary literature of the Aryan races in Europe. But the
subject is so vast that it cannot be treated in a single chapter
of this book, nor do I possess the necessary means to undertake
the task. I shall, therefore, content myself with a statement
of such facts as plainly indicate the reminiscence of an
ancient Arctic home in the traditional literature of the Greek,
Roman, Celtic, Teutonic and Slavonic branches of the Aryan

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 393.
race; and I may here state that I am greatly indebted, for,
this purpose to that learned and masterly work, The Hibbert
Lectures, by Prof. Rhys, On the origin and growth of reli-
gion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom.
Following the order adopted in the discussion of the
Vedic evidence, we shall first take up the question of the
ancient calendar, and see if the traditions preserved by the
western Aryan races about the ancient year point out to any
Arctic characteristics, such as the long dawn, the long day,
the long night, or an annual period of sunshine of less than
twelve months' duration. We have seen that the Dawn is
very often spoken of in the plural in the Ṛig-Veda and that a
group of thirty Dawn-Sisters is actually described as moving
round and round with one mind and in the same enclosure
without being separated from each other, a phenomenon which
is peculiar only to the Arctic regions. This Vedic account of
the Dawn does not stand by itself. Thus in the Lettish my-
thology, the Dawn is called diewo dukte, or the sky-daughter
or 'the god-daughter, much in the same way as the Uṣhas is
called divo duhitā in the Ṛig-Veda; "and the poets of the
Lets speak likewise of many beautiful sky-daughters, or god-
daughters diewo dukruzeles."* Prof. Max Muller further
informs us that in the Greek mythology we can "easily find
among the wives of Hêrakles, significant names, such as
Auge (sun-light), Xanthis (yellow), Chrysêis (golden), Iole
(violet), Aglaia (resplendent), and Eône, which cannot be
separated from Eos, dawn." † The same story appears again
in the Celtic mythology where Cuchulainn, the Sun-hero, is
described as having a wife, who is variously named as Emer,
Ethne Ingubai. Upon this Prof. Rhys observes that "it may
be that the myth pictured the dawn not as one but as many to
all of whom the Sun-god made love in the course of the three
*Max Muller's Contributions to the Science of Mythology, p. 432.
† Id. p. 722.

394 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
hundred and more days of the year."* It has been shown
previously that the description of the Vedic dawns, as a close-
ly united band, precludes us from regarding them as three
hundred and more dawns of the year ; and that the only infer-
ence we can draw from a closely united group of dawns is that
it represents the long and continuous Arctic dawn divided
into a number of parts of twenty-four hours each for conveni-
ence. The description of the dawn in the Lettish mythology
does not seem to be so full as that in the Vedas and by itself
it may not be sufficient to indicate the Polar dawn; but con-
sidering the fact that the dawn is described as sky-daughter
and spoken of in the plural by the poets of the Lets and the
poets of the Ṛig-Veda alike, we may safely extend to the
Lettish mythology the conclusion we have drawn from the
more detailed description of the Dawn in the Ṛig-Veda, and
the same may be said of the Celtic and the Greek stories of
the dawn given above.
In treating of the Gavâm-ayanam and the corresponding
legend of the Dashagvas, a reference has already been made
to the Greek legend of Hêlios, who is described as having
350 oxen and as many sheep, obviously representing a year
of 350 days and nights, and to the Roman tradition about
December being the tenth and the last month of the year as
denoted by its etymology. Prof. Lignana in his essay on
The Navagvas and the Dashagvas of the Ṛig-Veda, published
in the proceedings of the seventh International Congress of the
Orientalists, 1886, however, remarks that the passage of Plu-
tarch in the life of Numa, where this tradition is mentioned,
does not support the view that the Romans originally counted
not more than ten months. It is true that Plutarch mentions
an alternative story of Numa's altering the order of months
"making March the third which was the first, January first
which was the eleventh of Romulus, and February the second

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures p. 458.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 395
which was the twelfth and the last." But immediately
afterwards Plutarch says, "Many, however, assert that two
months of January and February were added by Numa, where-
as before they had reckoned ten months in the year"; and in
the next paragraph gives his own opinion, "That the Roman
year contained at first ten months only and not twelve, we
have a proof in the name of the last; for they still call it De-
cember, or the tenth month; and that March was first is also
evident, because the fifth from it was called Quintilis, the
sixth Sextilis, and so the rest in their order."* I have re-
ferred to this passage previously and shown that Plutarch's rea-
soning about the order of the months as indicated by their nu-
merical names cannot be lightly set aside. If January and Fe-
bruary were the last two months in the ancient calendar of the
Romans, we should have to assume that the numerical order
from Quintilis to December was abruptly given up after De-
cember which does not seem probable. It is, therefore, more
reasonable to hold that Numa actually added two months to
the old year, and that the story of the transposition of the two
months of January and February from the end to the begin-
ning of the year was a later suggestion put forward by those
who knew not how to account for a year of ten months, or
304 days only. But besides Plutarch, we have also the testi-
mony of Macrobius, who, as stated before, tells us that Romulus
had a year of ten months only. There can, therefore, be little
doubt about the existence of a tradition of the ancient Roman
year of ten months, and we now see that it is thoroughly intel-
ligible by comparison with the annual sacrificial sattras of ten
months mentioned in the Vedic literature. The names of the
Roman months from Quintilis to December further show that
the months of the year had no special names in ancient times,
but were named simply in their numerical order, a fact which

• Vide Langhorne's Translation of Plutarch's Lives, published
  by Ward, Lock and Co., London, pp. 53, 54.

396 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
accounts for the absence of common names for the months
of the year in different Aryan languages.
The evidence regarding the ancient year of Celts, Teutons
and Greeks is not however so definite, though it may be clear-
ly shown that in each case the year was marked by a certain
period of cold and darkness, indicating the Arctic origin of
the ancient calendar. Speaking of the ancient Celtic year
Prof. Rhys observes, "Now as the Celts were in the habit
formerly of counting winters, and of giving precedence in their
reckoning to night and winter over day and summer, I should
argue that the last day of the year in the Irish story of Diar-
mait's death meant the eve of November or All-halloween,
the night before the Irish Samhain, and known in Welsh as
Nos Galan-gaeaf, or the Night of the winter Calends. But
there is no occasion to rest on this alone, for we have the
evidence of Cormac's Glossary that the month before the be-
ginning of winter was the last month, so that the first day of
the first month of winter was also the first day of the year."*
Various superstitious customs are then alluded to, showing
that the eve of November was considered to be the proper
time for prophecy or the appearance of goblins; and the Pro-
fessor then closes the discussion regarding the above-mention-
ed last day of the Celtic year with the remark that "It had
been fixed upon as the time of all others, when the Sun-god
whose power had been gradually falling off since the great
feast associated with him on the first of August, succumbed
to his enemies, the powers of darkness and winter. It was
their first hour of triumph after an interval of subjection,
and the popular imagination pictured them stalking abroad
with more than ordinary insolence and aggressiveness; and
if it comes to giving individuality and form to the deformity
of darkness, to describe it as a sow, black or grisly, with
neither ears nor tail, is not perhaps very readily surpassed as

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 514.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 397
an instance of imaginative aptitude."* This shows that the
ancient Celtic year closed with the season of autumn and the
beginning of winter which corresponded with the last day of
October, or the eve of November, and was marked by festivals
which indicated the victory of darkness over light. As re-
gards the middle of the year or summer in the Celtic traditions,
the same authority further informs us that "The Lammas
fairs and meetings forming the Lugnassad in ancient Ireland
marked the victorious close of the sun's contest with the powers
of darkness and death, when the warmth and light of that lumi-
nary's rays, after routing the colds and blights, were fast bring-
ing the crops to maturity. This, more mythologically express-
ed, was represented as the final crushing of Fomori and Fir
Bolg, the death of their king and the nullifying of their
malignant spells, and as the triumphant return of Lug with
peace and plenty to marry the maiden Erinn and to enjoy a
well-earned banquet, at which the fairy host of dead ancestors
was probably not forgotten. Marriages were solemnized on
the auspicious occasion ; and no prince, who failed to be pre-
sent on the last day of the fair, durst look forward to prosperi-
ty during the coming year. The Lugnassad was the great
event of the summer half of the year, which extended from
the calends of May to the calends of Winter. The Celtic year
was more thermometric than astronomical, and the Lugnassad
was so to say its summer solstice, whereas the longest day
was, so far as I have been able to discover, of no special ac-
count."† The great feast of the Lugnassad thus marked the
middle of the year or summer, and it was held at the begin-
ning of August. Therefore, "the First of May must, according
to Celtic ideas, have been the right season for the birth of
the summer sun-god";‡ and this is confirmed by the story of
Gwin and Gwythur, who fought for the same damsel, and
*Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 516-17. †Ibid. pp. 418-19.
‡Ibid. p. 546.

398 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
between whom peace was made on the condition that they were
to fight for the damsel "on the Calends of May every year thence-
forth till the Day of Doom, and he who should prove victorious
on the Day of Doom was to take the Damsel to wife."* This is
interpreted by Prof. Rhys to mean that "the Sun-god would
recover his bride at the beginning of summer after his antagonist
had gained possession of her at the beginning of winter";† and
he compares the legend to the story of Persephone, daughter of
Zeus carried away by Pluto, who was, however, able to retain
her at his side only for six months in the year. We might also
cite in this connection the legend of Demeter or Mother Earth,
who is said to rejoice for six months in the presence of Pro-
serpine, the green herb, her daughter, and for six months
regret her absence in dark abodes beneath the earth. The
ancient Celtic year thus seems to have been divided into two
halves, one representing the six summer months, and the other,
which commenced on the eve of November, the six months of
winter darkness. But what is still more remarkable is that
just as the Ṛig-Veda gives us the exact date of the com-
mencement of the battle between Indra and Shambara,
so Celtic myths record the exact date of the first battle
of Moytura and also of the fight between Labraid of the
Swift Hand on the Sword, king of an Irish Hades, whom
Cuchulainn goes to assist, and his enemies called the Men of
Fidga. They were fought on the eve of November, "when
the Celtic year began with the ascendency of the powers of
darkness."* Prof. Rhys further points out that the ancient
Norse year was similar in character. The great feast of the
Norsemen occupied three days called the Winter Nights
and began on the Saturday falling on or between the 11th and
the 18th of October; and according to Dr. Vigfusson this feast
marked the beginning of the ancient year of the Norsemen.
The old Norse year thus appears to have been shorter by a few
*Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 562.
†Ibid p. 460.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 399
days than the Celtic one; but Prof. Rhys accounts for this
difference on the ground "that winter, and therefore the year
commences earlier in Scandinavia than in the continental centre
from which the Celts dispersed themselves."*
As regards the ancient Greek calendar, Prof. Rhys has
shown that the old year ended with the festival of Apaturia
and the new one began with the Chalceia, an ancient feast in
honour of Hephæstus and Athene, the exact date being the énu
kai nea of the month of Pyanepsion, that is, approximately
the last day of October. Prof. Rhys then compares the Celtic
feast of the Lugnassad with the Greek festival named Pan-
athenæa, and the feast on the Calends of May with the Athe-
nian Thargelia, and concludes his comparison of the Celtic and
the Greek calendar by observing that "a year which was
common to Celts with Greeks is not unlikely to have once been
common to them with some or all other branches of the Aryan
family."†
This shows that the ancient Aryan races of Europe knew
of six months' day and six months' night, and their calendars
were the modifications of this Arctic division of the year.
Comparative philology, according to Dr. Schrader, leads us to
the same conclusion. Speaking of the ancient division of the
year he says:—"Nearly everywhere in the chronology of the
individual peoples a division of the year into two parts can be
traced. This finds linguistic expression in the circumstance
that the terms for summer, spring, and winter have parallel
suffix formations. As in the primeval period *jhi-m and *sem-
existed side by side, so in Zend zima and hama correspond to
each other, in Armenian amarn and jmern, in Teutonic sum-ar
and wint-ar, in Celtic gam and sam, in Indian vasanta and he-
manta. There is absolutely no instance, in which one and the
same language shows identity of suffixes in the names of the
three seasons of the year. In Slavonic, also, the year is
*Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 676. † Ibid. p. 121.

: 400 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
divided into two principal divisions, summer (lêto) and winter
(zima); and finally evident traces of old state of things are
not wanting in Greek and Latin.'"* Dr. Schrader further re-
marks that the separate conceptions of winter and summer
were combined in one whole even in primitive times; but there-
is no word for a year common to all or most of the Aryan
languages, and it is not unlikely that the names of summer or
winter were used to denote the return of the seasons more fre-
quently than the conception of winter and summer combined
into one whole. As the length of summer, or the period of
sunshine, as contrasted with the period of darkness, varied from
six to twelve months in the Arctic regions the conception of a
year of twelve months was perhaps less suited for practical rec-
koning in the primeval home than the conception of so many
months' summer or so many months' winter taken singly, and
this explains why in the Ṛig-Veda we have the expression
"mânushâ yugâ and kshapah" to denote the whole year.
In discussing the legend of the Navagvas and the Dashag-
vas we have shown that the numerals incorporated in their
names must be interpreted as referring to the number of
months during which they completed their annual sacrifices,
and that Prof. Lignana's view that they refer to the months of
pregnancy is not only improbable but opposed to the express
Vedic texts which tell us that the Navagvas and the Dashag-
vas completed their sacrifices in ten months. Let us now see
if there are corresponding personages in other Aryan mytholo-
gies. Prof. Lignana has pointed out the resemblance between
the Navagvas and the Novemsides of the Romans. The com-
parison is no doubt happy, but there is nothing in the cult of
the Novemsides which gives us a clue to the original meaning
of the word. We know nothing beyond the fact that Novem-
sides (also spelt Novemsiles) were certain Latin gods, who

• Schrader's Prehistoric Antiquites of Aryan Peoples, translated
  by Jevons, Part IV, ch. VI, p. 302.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 401 .
according to the double etymology (novem, nine,or novus, new)
were taken for nine Muses, or for gods newly introduced, as
after the conquest of a place in contrast with the old gods of
the country. But the Celtic tradition of the Maid of Nine
Forms is much more explicit, inasmuch as it is distinctly
connected with the sun-hero Cuchulainn. The story . is thus
narrated by Rhys : Conchobar had a passing fair daughter
called Fedelm of the nine forms, for she had so many fair
aspects, each of which was more beautiful, as we are told, than
the others; and when “Cuchulainn had, at the news of the
approach of the enemy from the west, advanced with his father
to the frontier of the realm, he suddenly hastened away in the
evening to a place of secret meeting, where he knew Fedelm
to have a bath got ready for him in order to prepare him for
the morrow and his first encounter with the invading army.”*
This reminds us of the assistance rendered by the Navagvas and
the Dashagvas to Indra by means of Soma sacrifices performed
by them and which sacrifices are said to have invigorated
Indra and prepared him for his fight with the powers of dark-
ness, represented by Vṛitra, Vala, Shambara and other demons.
The Maid of Nine Forms is therefore a Celtic paraphrase of
the Nine-going sacrificers in the Ṛig-Veda. Prof. Rhys con-
siders Fedelm to be a sort of Athene with nine forms of
beauty, and refers to the story of Athene weaving a peplos for
her favourite Hêrakles, or causing springs of warm water to
gush forth from the ground, to supply him at the end of the
day with a refreshing bath.† But this comparison does not
explain why there should be nine forms of beauty in either
case. The mystery is, however, cleared up, if we suppose
these legends to refer to the nine months of sunshine at the
end of which the setting sun-god is refreshed or invigorated
for his struggle with the demons of darkness by the acts or ser-
vices of the Nine-going sacrificers or the Maid of Nine Forms.’

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 630-1. † Id. pp. 378-9.
  26

402 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
In the Norse literature we are told that Thor, the son of Earth,
slays the World-dragon, walks nine paces and dies of the
venom of the Serpent.* If the slaying of the dragon be
understood, as remarked by Prof. Rhys, to mean the con-
quest of the Sun-hero over the powers of darkness, and the
death of Thor be taken to represent the sinking of the
summer-sun below the horizon, we have here a clear state-
ment that Thor, the Sun-hero, walked nine paces during the
time that intervened between the end of winter and the end
of summer. These nine paces could not be nine days or nine
years; and there is therefore no alternative but to hold that
the legend refers to the nine months' life of the Sun-god before
he succumbed to the powers of darkness. The Avestic story
of Vafra, or, according to Spiegel, Vifra Navâza (Yt. V, 61),
belongs, I think, to the same class. He is said to have been
flung up in the air, in the shape of a bird by Thraêtaona and
was flying for three days and three nights towards his own
house, but could not turn down. At the end of the third
night when the beneficent dawn came dawning up, he prayed
unto Ardvi Sûra Anâhita to help him, promising to offer
Haomas and meat by the brink of the river Rangha. Ardvi
Sûra Anâhita listening to his prayer is then said to have
brought him to his house safe and unhurt. Vifra Navâza in
this legend is very likely Vipra Navagva of the Ṛig-Veda.
We have seen that the Navagvas and seven Vipras are
mentioned together in the Ṛig-Veda (VI, 22, 2) and that
the Ashvins, who are called Vipra-vâhasâ in (V, 74, 7),
are said to have resided for three days and three nights
in the distant region. It is not unlikely, therefore, that
the story of the Navagvas, who go to help Indra in the
world of darkness after completing their sacrificial session
of nine months, may have been combined with the story
of the Ashvins in the Avestic legend of Vifra Navâza, Sanskrit

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 616.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 403
Vipra being changed into Avestic Vîfra and Navagva into
Navâza.
The above legends from the Greek, Celtic and Norse
literatures show that a long winter-darkness was not un-
known to the ancestors of the Aryan races in Europe, who
have preserved distinct reminiscences of a year of ten or six
months' sun-shine, and that the Navagvas and the Dasha-
gvas of the Ṛig-Veda have again their parallels in the mytho-
logy of other Aryan races, though the resemblance may not
be as obvious in the one as in the other case. A year
of six months' or ten months' sunshine necessarily implies
a long continuous day and a long continuous night, and
distinct references to these Arctic characteristics of day
and night are found in Norse and Slavonic legends. Thus
the Norse Sun-god Balder is said to have dwelt in a place
in heaven called Breidablik or Broadgleam, the most bless-
ed of all lands, where nought unclean or accursed could
abide. Upon this Prof. Rhys observes, "It is remarkable
that Balder had a dwelling place in the heavens, and this
seems to refer to the Arctic summer when the sun pro-
longs his stay above the horizon. The pendant to the
picture would naturally be his staying as long in the nether
world."* This corresponds exactly with the Vedic description
of the sun's unyoking his carriage and making a halt in the
mid of the heaven, discussed in the sixth chapter. The story
of three brothers in the Slavonic literature also points out to
the same conclusion. We are told that "Once there was
an old couple who had three sons. Two of them had their wits
about them, but the third, Ivan, was a simpleton. Now in
the land in which Ivan lived, there was never any day but
always night. This was a snake's doing. Well, Ivan under-
took to kill that snake. Then came a third snake with
twelve heads, Ivan killed it and destroyed the heads and

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 536.

404 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
immediately there was light throughout the whole land."* This
reminds one of the story of Trita in the Ṛig-Veda previously
described. Trita's abode is said to be in the distant region,
and we have interpreted it to mean the nether world of dark
ness, an interpretation which amongst others is fully borne
out by the story of Ivan and his two brothers. But the dark
power takes a distinctive Russian appearance in the awful
figure of Koshchei, the deathless,—a fleshless skeleton who
squeezes heroes to death in his bony arms. He carries off a
princess; after seven years the hero reaches his under-ground
palace and is hidden; but is discovered by Koshchei who typi-
fies winter in this case. All these legends clearly indicate a
dark winter of some months' duration, or the long winter-
night of the Arctic regions. There are other stories in which
the Sun-hero is said to have been detained in a place of
darkness; but it is not necessary to refer to them in this place.
For comparison I shall only refer briefly to a legend in the
Finnish mythology, which, though not Aryan in origin, may
yet serve to throw some light on the subject under considera-
tion. In the mythology of the Finns, the Dawn is called
Koi and "Koi, the Dawn (masc.), and Ammarik, the Gloam-
ing (fem.), are said to have been entrusted by Vanna-issa, the
Old Father, with lighting and extinguishing every morning
and evening the torch of the day. As a reward for their
faithful services Vanna-issa would allow them to get married.
But they preferred to remain bride and bridegroom, and
Vanna-issa had nothing more to say. He allowed them,
however, to meet at midnight during four weeks in summer.
At that time. Ammarik hands the dying torch to Koi, who
revives it with his breath."‡ If this legend has any meaning it
signifies the cessation of extinguishing the torch of the day
during four weeks in summer. Koi and Ammarik both leave

• Poor's Comparative Mythology, p. 390. ‡ Max Muller's Con-
  tributions to the Science of Mythology, pp. 267-8.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 405
their places and arrange to meet at midnight but without ex-
tinguishing the torch. This means a long day of four weeks,
and as it must have a long night of four weeks to match it
the story points out to a period of eleven months' sun-shine,
and an Arctic night of four weeks.
From the legends mentioned, or referred to, or described
above, it may be easily seen that many traces of the Arctic
calendar are still discernible in the mythology of the west-
ern Aryan races like Celts, Teutons, Lets, Slavs, Greeks and
Romans. Long dawns or a number of dawns, long days, long
nights, dark winters, are all alluded to more or less explicitly in
these myths, though none of these legends refers directly to the
position of the primeval home and the cause of its destruction.
But this omission or defect is removed by the evidence contained
in the Veda and the Avesta ; and when the European legends are
viewed in the light of the Indo-Iranian traditions they clearly
point to the existence of a primeval home near the North Pole.
There are a number of other legends in the Celtic and Teutonic
literatures which describe the victory of sun-hero over the
demons of darkness every year, similar in character to the victory
of Indra over Vṛitra, or to the achievements of the Ashvins, the
physicians of the gods. Thus in the Norse mythology, Hodur,
the blind god of winter, is represented as killing Balder or Baldur,
or the god of summer, and Vali the son of Odin and Rind is said
to have avenged his brother's death afterwards. The encounters
of Ċuchulainn, the Celtic Sun-god, with his enemies, the Fomori
or the Fir Bolg, the Irish representatives of the powers of dark-
ness, are of the same character. It may also be remarked that
according to Prof. Rhys the world of waters and the world of
darkness and the dead are identical in Celtic myths, in the same
way as the world of water, the abode of Vṛitra and the
world of darkness are shown to be in the Vedic mythology.
The strange custom of couvade, by which the whole population

406 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
of Ireland is described as being laid up in confinement or in-
disposed so as to be unable to defend their country against the
invasion of Ailill and ‘Medle with their Fir Bolg, excepting
Cuchulainn and his father, again indicates, according to Prof.
Rhys, a sort of decline in the power of gods like that witnessed
in the case of the winter-sun ; in other words, it was an indisposi-
tion or inactivity of the same sort which amounts in the Norse
Edda to nothing less than actual death of the Anses at the hands
of the powers of evil. This temporary affliction or the indisposi-
tion of the gods forms the subject of many other legends. But
we have no space to narrate all of them, and shall, therefore,
only quote here the conclusion, which Prof. Rhys has been forced
to adopt, regarding the meaning of these myths after a critical
examination of the different Celtic and Teutonic legends.
Speaking of Gods, Demons and Heroes, in the last lecture of his
learned work, he thus sums up his views regarding the myths
describing the encounters between Gods or Sun-heroes and the
powers of darkness :---
“ All that we have thus far found with regard to the con-
test of the gods and their allies against the powers of evil and
theirs, would seem to indicate that they were originally regard-
ed as yearly struggles. This appears to be the meaning of the
fore-knowledge as to the final battle of Moytura, and as to the
exact date of the engagement on the Plain of Fidga in which
Cuchulainn assists Labraid of the Swift Hand on the sword, a
kind of Celtic Zeus, or Mars-Jupiter, as the ruler of an Ely-
sium in the other world. It was for a similar reason that the
northern Sibyl could predict that, after the Anses had been
slain by Swart, aided by the evil brood, Balder would come to
reign, when all would be healed, and the Anses would meet
again in the Field of Ith. Nor can the case have been materi-
ally different with the Greek gods, as proved by the allusion
to the prophecy about the issue of the war with the giants.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 407
And this was not all ; for we are told that the Cretans repre-
sented Zeus as born and bred and also buried in their island, a
view sometimes formally regarded as confirming the character
ascribed to them for lying ; but that deserves no serious consi-
deration, and the Cretans in their mysteries are supposed to
have represented the god going through the stages of his history
every year. A little beyond the limits of the Greek world a simi-
lar idea assumed a still more remarkable form, namely, among
the Phrygians, who are said by Plutarch to have believed their
god (like the Purâṇic Vishṇu) to sleep during the winter and
resume his activity during summer. The same author also states
that the Paphlagonians were of opinion that the gods were shut
up in a prison during winter and let loose in summer. Of these
peoples, the Phrygians at least appear to have been Aryan, and
related by no means distantly to the Greeks ; but nothing could
resemble the Irish couvade of the Ultonion heroes more closely
than the notion of the Phrygian god hibernating. This, in its
turn, is not to be severed from the drastic account of the Zeus of
the Greek Olympus reduced by Typho to a sinewless mass and
thrown for a time into a cave in a state of utter helplessness.
Thus we seem to be directed to the north as the orginal home of
the Aryan nations ; and there are other indications to the same
effect, such as Woden's gold ring Draupnir, which I have taken
to be symbolic of the ancient eight-day week : he places it on
Balder's pile, and with him it disappears for a while into the
nether world, which would seem to mean the cessation for a
time of the vicissitude of day and night, as happens in midwinter
within the Arctic Circle. This might be claimed as exclusively
Icelandic, but not if one can show traces, as I have attempted,
of the same myth in Ireland. Further, a sort of complement
to it is supplied by the fact that Cuchulainn, the Sun-hero, is
made to fight several days and nights without having any
sleep, which though fixed at the wrong season of the year in

408 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
the epic tale in its present form, may probably be regarded as
originally referring to the sun remaining above the horizon
continuously for several days in summer. Traces of the same
idea betray themselves in Balder's son Forseti or the Judge, who,
according to a passage in old Norse literature, sits long hours at
his court settling all causes in his palace of Glitnir in the skies.
These points are mentioned as part of a hypothesis I have been
forced to form for the interpretation of certain features of Aryan
mythology; and that hypothesis, to say the least of it, will not
now be considered so wild as it would have been a few years
ago; for the recent researches of the students of language and
ethnology have profoundly modified their views, and a few words
must, at this point, be devoted to the change that has come over
the scene."*
Prof. Rhys then goes on to briefly describe how the views
of mythologists and philologists regarding the primeval home of
the Aryan race have been modified by the recent discoveries in
Geology, Archælogy and Craniology, and how the site of that
home has been shifted from the plains of Central Asia to the
northern parts of Germany or even to Scandinavia not only on
ethnological but also on philological grounds. As we have
discussed the subject previously, we omit this portion of Prof.
Rhys' remarks and quote the concluding paragraph which runs
as follows:—
" Thus the voice of recent research is raised very decidedly
in favour of Europe, though there is no complete unanimity
as to the exact portion of Europe, to regard as the early home
of the Aryans; but the competition tends to lie between North
Germany and Scandinavia, especially the south of Sweden.
This last would probably do well enough as the country in
which the Aryans may have consolidated and organized them-
selves before beginning to send forth their excess of popula-
tion to conquer the other lands now possessed by nations

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 631-3.

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 409

speaking Aryan languages. Nor can one forget that all the great
states of modern Europe, except that of the sick man, trace
their history back to the conquest of the Norsemen who set out
from the Scandinavian land, which Jordanis proudly calls officina
gentium and vagina nationum. But I doubt whether the teachings of
evolution may not force us to trace them still further towards the
North : in any case, the mythological indications to which your
attention has been called, point, if I am not mistaken, to some spot
within the Arctic Circle, such, for example, as the region where
Norse legend placed the Land of Immortality, somewhere in the
north of Finland and the neighbourhood of the White Sea. There
would, perhaps, be no difficulty in the way of supposing them to
have thence in due time descended into Scandinavia, settling,
among other places, at Upsala, which has all the appearance of
being a most ancient site, lying as it does on a plain dotted with
innumerable burial mounds of unknown antiquity. This, you will
bear in mind, has to do only with the origin of the early Aryans,
and not with that of the human race generally; but it would be
no fatal objection to the view here suggested, if it should be urged
that the mythology of nations beside the Aryans, such as that of
the Paphlagonians, in case of their not being Aryan, point like-
wise to the north; for it is not contended that the Aryans may
be the only people of northern origin. Indeed, I may add that
a theory was, not long ago, propounded by a distinguished French
savant, to the effect that the entire human race originated on
the shores of the Polar Sea at a time when the rest of the nor-
thern hemisphere was too hot to be inhabited by man. M.
de Saporta, for that is the learned writer's name, ex-
plains himself in clear and forcible terms; but how far
his hypothesis may satisfy the other students of this-
fascinating subject I cannot say. It may, however, be ob-
served in passing that it need not disconcert even the most