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

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 445
solve any of these questions regarding the ultimate origin of
the human race or even of the Aryan people or their language
and religion. We have nothing in this evidence for ascert-
aining how far the existence of the Aryan race can be traced
back to pre-glacial, as distinguished from inter-glacial times;
or whether the race was descended from a single pair (mo-
nogeny) or plurality of pairs (polygeny) in the remotest ages.
The traditional evidence collected by us only warrants us in
taking back the Aryan people and their civilisation from the
Temperate zone in post-glacial to the Arctic regions in inter-
glacial times. It is true that Aryans and their culture or religion
cannot be supposed to have developed all of a sudden at the
close of the last inter-glacial period, and the ultimate origin
of both must, therefore, be placed in remote geological
times. But it is useless to speculate on this question without
further evidence, and in the present state of our knowledge
we must rest content with the result that though Aryan
race or religion can be traced to the last inter-glacial-
period yet the ultimate origin of both is still lost in geological
antiquity.
I cannot conclude this chapter without briefly examining
the bearing of our results on the views entertained by Hindu
theological scholars regarding the origin, character and autho-
rity of the Vedas. It is a question which has been dis-
cussed with more or less acuteness, subtlety, or learning ever
since the days of the Brâhmaṇas; and from a purely theologi-
cal point of view I do not think there remains anything to be
now said upon it. Again, for the purposes of scientific investi-
gation, it is necessary to keep he theological and the antiqua-
rian aspect of the question quite distinct from each other. Yet
when our investigation, conducted on strict scientific lines, is
completed, we may usefully compare our conclusions with the
theological views and see how far they harmonise or clash
with each other. In fact no Hindu who reads a book like the

446 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
present, can avoid making such a comparison ; and we shall
be lightening his task by inserting in this place a few remarks
on this subject. According to the view held by Hindu theo-
logians, the Vedas are eternal (nitya), without a beginning
(anâdi), and also not created by a human author (a-pauru-
sheya); and we are told that these attributes have been predi-
cated of our sacred books from the most ancient times known
to our divines or philosophers. The whole of the third Volume
of Dr. Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts is devoted to the
discussion of this subject, a number of original passages and
arguments bearing on which are there collected, including
Sâyaṇa's lucid summary in the introduction to his commen-
tary on the Ṛig-Veda ; and more recently the late Mahâ-
mahopâdhyâya Râjârâma Shâstri Bodas, the editor of the
Bombay edition of the Ṛig-Veda, has done the same in a
Sanskrit pamphlet, the second edition of which is now pub-
lished by his son, Mr. M. R. Bodas, of the Bombay High Court
Bar. I shall, therefore, give in this place only a summary of
the different views of Hindu theologians, without entering into
the details of the controversy which can be studied from
the above books. The question before us is whether the Vedic
hymns, that is, not only the words of the hymns but also the
religious system found or referred to therein, are the composi-
tions of the Ṛiṣhis to whom they are assigned in the Anu-
kramaṇikâs, or the ancient Indexes of the Veda, in the sense
in which the Shâkuntala is a composition of Kâlidâsa ; or
whether these hymns existed from times immemorial, in other
words, whether they are eternal and without a beginning. The
hymns themselves are naturally the best evidence on the
point. But, as shewn by Dr. Muir in the second chapter
(pp. 218–86) of the Volume above mentioned, the utterances of
the Vedic Ṛiṣhis on this point are not unanimous. Thus side
by side with passages in which the Vedic bards have express-
ed their emotions, hopes or fears, or prayed for worldly comforts

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 447
and victory over their enemies, condemning evil practices like
gambling with dice (X, 34), or have described events, which on
their face seem to be the events of the day; side by side with
passages where the poet says that he has made (kṛi), generated
(jan), or fabricated (taksh) a new (navyasî or apūrvya) hymn,
much in the same way as a carpenter fashions a chariot (I, 47,
2; 62, 13; II, 19, 8; IV, 16, 20; VIII, 95, 5; X, 23, 6; 39,
14; 54, 6; 160, 5; &c.); or with hymns in which we are plainly
told that they are composed by so and so, the son of so and so,
(I, 60, 5; X, 63, 17; 67, 1; &c.), there are to be found in
the Ṛig-Veda itself an equally large number of hymns where the
Ṛiṣhis state in unmistakable terms that the hymns sung by them
were the results of inspiration from Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Aditi,
or some other deity; or that the Vedic verses (ṛichaḥ) directly
emanated from the Supreme Puruṣha, or some other divine
source; or that they were given by gods (devatta), or generated
by them and only seen or perceived (pashyat) by the poets in
later times, (I, 37, 4; II, 23, 2; VII, 66, 11; VIII, 59, 6; X, 72,
1; 58, 8; 90, 9; &c.). We are also told that Vâch (Speech)
is nityâ or eternal (VIII, 75, 6, also cf. X, 125); or that the gods
generated the divine Vâch and also the hymns (VIII, 100, 11;
101, 16; X, 88, 8). The evidence of the Vedic hymns does not,
therefore, enable us to decide the question one way or the
other; but if the composition of the hymns is once ascribed to
human effort, and once to divine inspiration or to the gods di-
rectly, it is clear that at least some of these old Ṛiṣhis believed the
hymns to have been sung under inspiration or generated directly
by the goddess of speech or other deities. We may reconcile
the former of these views with the passages where the hymns are
said to be made by human effort, on the supposition that the poets
who sang the hymns believed themselves to be acting under divine
inspiration. But the explanation fails to account for the statement

448 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
that the Ṛik, the Yajus, and the Sâman, all emanated from the
Supreme Puruṣha or the gods ; and we must, therefore, conclude
that the tradition about the eternity of the Vedas, or their divine
origin is as old as the Veda itself. Accordingly, when we come
to the Brâhmaṇas and the Upaniṣhads, we naturally find the
same view prevailing. They tell us that the Ṛig-Veda pro-
ceeded from Agni (fire), the Yajur-Veda from Vâyu (wind), and
the Sâma-Veda from Sûrya (the sun), and that these three
deities got their warmth from Prajâpati who practised tapas
for the purpose, (Shat. Brâh, XI, 5, 8, 1 ff; Ait, Brâh. V,
32-34; Chhân. Up. IV, 17, 1); or that the Vedas are the
breathings of the Supreme Being (Bṛih. Up. II, 4, 10); or
that Prajâpati by means of the eternal Vâch created the Vedas
and everything else in this world ; and the same view is met
with in the Smṛitis like those of Manu (I, 21-23) and others, or
in the Purâṇas, several extracts from which are given by Dr.
Muir in the volume above referred to. It is admitted that the
Vedas, with other things, are destroyed, at the end of a Kalpa,
by the deluge (pralaya) which overtakes the world at the time.
But we are told that this does not affect the question of the
eternity of the new Kalpa by Brahmâ himself after the grand
deluge, and by the Ṛiṣhis, who survive, after minor deluges.
The authority generally quoted in support of this view
is a verse from the Mahâbhârata (Shânti-Parvan, Chap.
210, v. 19) which says, "The great Ṛiṣhis, empowered by
Svayambhû (the self-born), formerly obtained, through tapas
(religious austerity), the Vedas and the Itihâsas, which
had disappeared at the end of the (preceding) Yuga."*
The Ṛiṣhis are, therefore, called the seers and not

• The verse is as follows:— युगान्तेऽन्तर्हितान् वेदान् सेतिहासान् म-
  हर्षयः । लेभिरे तपसा पूर्वमनुज्ञाता स्वयंभुवा ॥ Bhavabhûti, Utt, 1, 15,
  similarly says in another connection:— ब्रह्मर्षयो ब्रह्महिताय तप्त्वा । परः
  सहस्राः शरदस्तपांसि ॥ एतान्यपश्यन् गुरवः पुराणाः । स्वाम्येव तेजांसि तपो-
  मयानि ॥ Also Cf. Ṛig. VIII, 59, 6, quoted infra.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 449
the makers of the Vedic hymns; and the personal designa-
tion of some Shâkhâs, branches or recensions of Vedas, as
Taittirîya, Kâṭhaka, &c., as well as the statements in the Vedic
hymns, which say that so and so has made or generated such
and such a hymn, are understood to mean that the particu-
lar Shâkhâ or hymn was perceived, and only perceived, by
the particular Ṛiṣhi or poet. It is not, however, till we come
to the works of the authors and expositors of the different
schools of Hindu philosophy (darshanas) that we find the
doctrine of the eternity of the Vedas subjected to a searching
examination; and, as remarked by Dr. Muir, one who reads
the discussions of these writers cannot fail to be struck "with
the acuteness of their reasoning, the logical precision with
which their arguments are presented, and the occasional live-
liness and ingenuity of their illustrations."* They all bear wit-
ness to the fact that so far as tradition went,—an unbroken
tradition of great antiquity,—there was no remembrance of
the Vedas having been ever composed by or ascribed to any
human author; and taking into consideration the learning and
the piety of these scholars, their testimony must be regarded
as an unimpeachable proof of the existence of such a tradition,
which was considered ancient several centuries before the
Christian era. But though a tradition whose high antiquity can
be so well established deserves to be seriously considered in
our investigations regarding the character of the Vedas, yet
it is, after all, a negative proof, showing, it may be urged,
nothing more than no human author of the Veda has been
known from times beyond the memory of all these ancient
scholars. Jaimini, the author of Mimâmsâ Sutras, therefore,
further deduces (I, 1, 5) the eternity of the Vedas from the re-
lation or connection between words and their meanings, which
he holds to be eternal (autpattika) and not conventional. 'A
word is defined to be an aggregate of letters in a particular

• Muir, O. S. T., Vol. III, p. 58.
  29

450 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.

order, and its sense is said to be conveyed by these letters fol-
lowing each other in a definite succession. But Grammarians
are not satisfied with this view, and maintain that the sense of
a word is not expressed by the aggregate of its constituent
letters which are transient, but by a certain super-sensuous-
entity, called sphoṭa (i. e., manifester, from sphuṭ), which su-
pervenes the aggregate of the letters as soon as they are pro-
nounced, and reveals their meaning. Jaimini denies that there
are words in the Vedas which denote any transient objects, and
as the Vedic words and their sense are eternal, it follows, ac-
cording to him, that the Vedas are self-demonstrative, or that
they shine, like the sun, by their own light, and are, therefore
perfect and infallible. If particular parts of the Vedas are
designated after some Ṛiṣhis, it does not, we are told, prove
those sages to have been their authors, but merely the teachers
who studied and handed them down. Bâdarâyaṇa, as inter-
preted by Shaṅkarâchârya (I, 3, 26–33), the great leader of the
Vedânta School, accepts the doctrine of the eternity of sound
or words, but adds that it is the species to which the word be-
longs, and not the word itself, that is eternal or indestruct-
ible, and, therefore, though the names of deities, like Indra
and others, which are all created and hence liable to destruc-
tion, are mentioned in the Veda, it does not affect the question
of its eternity as the species to which Indra and others are said
to belong is still eternal. In short, Vedic names and forms of
species are eternal, and it is by remembering these that the
world is created by Brahmâ at the beginning of each Kalpa,
(Maitr. Up., VI, 22). The Veda is, therefore, the original
WORD the source from which every thing else in the world
emanated, and as such it cannot but be eternal; and it is
interesting, as pointed out by Prof. Max Muller in his Lectures
on Vedânta Philosophy, to compare this doctrine with that of
Divine Logos of the Alexandrian Schools in the West. The
Naiyâyikas, on the other hand, deny the doctrine of the

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 451
eternity of sound or word, but hold that the authority of the
Vedas is established by the fact of their having emanated
from competent (ápta) persons who had an intuitive percep-
tion of duty (sâkshâtkṛita dharmâṇaḥ, as Yâska puts it), and
whose competence is fully proved by the efficacy of such
of the Vedic injunctions as relate to mundane matters, and
can, therefore, be tested by experience; while the author of
the Vaisheṣhika Sûtras clearly refers (I, 1, 3) the Veda. to
Îshvara or God as its framer. The Sâṅkhyas (Sâṅkhya Sû-
tras, V, 40-51) agree with the Naiyâyikas in rejecting the
doctrine of the eternity of the connection of a word with its
meaning; and though they regard the Veda as paurusheya
in the sense that it emanated from the Primeval Purusha, yet
they maintain that it was not the result of a conscious effort
on the part of this Purusha, but only an unconscious emanation
from him like his breathing. According to this view the Veda
cannot be called eternal in the same sense as the Mîmâmsa-
kas have done, and, therefore, the texts which assert the eter-
nity of the Vedas, are said to refer merely to "the un-
broken continuity of the stream of homogeneous succession,"
(Veda-nityatâ-vâkyâni cha sajâtîyânupûrvî-pravâhânuchcheda-parâṇi).*
Patanjali, the great grammarian, in his gloss on Pâṇini IV, 3,
101, solves the question by making a distinction between
the language (the succession of words or letters, varṇânupûrvî, as
we find it in the present texts) of the Vedas and their
contents (artha), and observing that the question of the eter-
nity of the Vedas refers to their sense which is eternal
or permanent (artho nityaḥ), and not to the order of
their letters, which has not always remained the same
(varṇânupûrvî anityâ), and that it is through this difference

• Cf. Vedântaparibhâshâ Âgama-parichcheda, p. 55, quoted in
  Mahâmahopâdhyâya Jhalkikar's Nyâya-kosha, 2nd Ed. p. 736. s. v.
  वेदः—सर्गाद्यकाले परमेश्वरः पूर्वसर्गसिद्धवेदानुपूर्वीसमानानुपूर्वीकं वेदं विर-
  चितवान् न तु तद्विजातीयं वेदम् ।

452 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
in the latter respect that we have the different versions of Kaṭhas,
Kalâpas, Mudakas, Pippalâdas and so on. This view is
opposed to that of the Mîmâṁsakas who hold both sense and
order of words to be eternal. But Patanjali is led to reject
the doctrine of the eternity of the order of words, because in
that case we cannot account for the different versions or
Shâkhâs of the same Veda, all of which are considered to be
equally authoritative though their verbal readings are some-
times different. Patanjali, as explained by his commentators
Kaiyyaṭa and Nâgojî Bhaṭṭa, ascribes this difference in the
different versions of the Veda to the loss of the Vedic texts in
the pralayas or deluges which occasionally overtake the world,
and their reproduction or repromulgation, at the beginning of
each new age, by the sages, who survived, according to their
remembrance.* Each manvantara or age has thus a Veda of
its own which differs only in expression and not in sense from
the ante-diluvian Veda, and that different recensions of co-ordi-
nate authority of the same Veda are due to the difference in the
remembrance of the Ṛiṣhis whose names are associated with the
different Shâkhâs, and who repromulgate, at the beginning of
the new age, the knowledge inherited by them, as a sacred
trust, from their forefathers in the preceding Kalpa. This
view substantially accords with that of Vyâsa as recorded in the
verse from the Mahâbhârata quoted above. The later exposi-
tors of the different schools of philosophy have further developed
these views of the Sûtra-writers and criticised or defended the
doctrine of the self-demonstrated authority of the scriptural
texts (shabda-pramâṇa) in various ways. But we cannot

• Patanjali's words are,—ननु चोक्तं न हि च्छन्दांसि क्रियन्ते नित्यानि
  च्छन्दांसीति। यद्यप्यर्थो नित्यो या त्वसौ वर्णानुपूर्वी साऽनित्या। तद्भेदाच्चैतद्भव-
  यति काठकं कालापकं मौदकं पैप्पलादकमिति॥ Nâgojî Bhaṭṭa in his gloss
  quotes the verse— प्रतिमन्वन्तरं चैषा श्रुतिरन्याऽभिधीयते; and observes that
  धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत् (Rig. X, 190, 3) does not require us to assume that
  the order of words was the same in the new Kalpa. See Muir O. S. T.,
  Vol. III, pp. 96-97.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 453
go into their elaborate discussions in this place; nor is it
necessary to do so, for eventually we have to fall back upon the
view of Vyâsa and Patanjali, mentioned above, if the destruction
of the Vedas during each pralaya, and its repromulgation at the
commencement of the new age is admitted.
Such, in brief, are the views entertained by Hindu ortho-
dox theologians, scholars and philosophers in regard to the
origin, character and authority of the Vedas; and on compar-
ing them with the results of our investigation, it will be found
that Patanjali's and Vyâsa's view about the antiquity and the
eternity of the Vedas derives material support from the theory
of the Arctic home which we have endeavoured to prove in
the foregoing pages on strict scientific and historical grounds.
It has been shown that Vedic religion and worship are both
inter-glacial; and that though we cannot trace their ultimate
origin, yet the Arctic character of the Vedic deities fully
proves that the powers of Nature represented by them had
been already clothed with divine attributes by the primitive
Aryans in their original home round about the North Pole, or
the Meru of the Purâṇas. When the Polar home was destroy-
ed by glaciation, the Aryan people that survived the catastrophe
carried with them as much of their religion and worship as
it was possible to do under the circumstances; and the
relic, thus saved from the general wreck, was the basis of the
Aryan religion in the post-Glacial age. The whole period
from the commencement of the post-Glacial era to the birth of
Buddha may, on this theory, be approximately divided into four
parts :—
10000 or 8000 B. C.—The destruction of the original Arctic
home by the last Ice Age and the commencement of the
post-Glacial period.
8000-5000 B. C.—The age of migration from the original
home. The survivors of the Aryan race roamed over the
northern parts of Europe and Asia in search of lands

454 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
suitable for new settlements. The vernal equinox was
then in the constellation of Punarvasû, and as Aditi is the
presiding deity of Punarvasû, according to the termino-
logy adopted by me in Orion, this may, therefore, be call-
ed the Aditi or the Pre-Orion Period.
5000-3000 B. C.—The Orion Period, when the vernal equi-
nox was in Orion. Many Vedic hymns can be traced to
the early part of this period and the bards of the race
seem to have not yet forgotten the real import or signi-
ficance of the traditions of the Arctic home inherited by
them. It was at this time that first attempts to reform
the calendar and the sacrificial system appear to have been
systematically made.
3000-1400 B. C.—The Kṛittikâ Period, when the vernal
equinox was in Pleiades. The Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and
the Brâhmaṇas, which begin the series of nakshatras with
the Kṛittikâs, are evidently the productions of this period.
The compilation of the hymns into Saṁhitâ's also appears
to be a work of the early part of this period. The tradi-
tions about the original Arctic home had grown dim by
this time and very often misunderstood, making the
Vedic hymns more and more unintelligible. The
sacrificial system and the numerous details thereof found
in the Brâhmaṇas seem to have been developed during
this time. It was at the end of this Period that the
Vedâṅga-jyotisha was originally composed, or at any rate
the position of the equinoxes mentioned therein observed
and ascertained.
1400-500 B. C.—The Pre-Buddhistic Period, when the
Sûtras and the Philosophical systems made their ap-
pearance.
These periods differ slightly from those mentioned by me
in Orion; but the change is needed in consequence of the
theory of the Arctic home which carries back the beginning of

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 ॥

456 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
theological views mentioned above. We may not be able to
fix definitely when each hymn of the Ṛig-Veda was sung; but
we may safely say that those who survived the catastrophe, or
their immediate descendants, must have incorporated into
hymns the religious knowledge they had inherited as a sacred
trust from their forefathers at the first opportunity, that is, soon
after they were able to make at least temporary settlements.
The hymns cannot, therefore, be supposed to promulgate a new
religion consciously or unconsciously evolved on the plains of
Central Asia in post-Glacial times; and the Polar character of
the Vedic deities removes every doubt on the point. How far
the language of the hymns, as we have them at present, resem-
bled the ante-diluvian forms of speech is a different question;
and according to Patanjali and Vyâsa, we are not here concerned
with the words or the syllables of the hymns, which, it is admit-
ted, have not remained permanent. We have to look to the
subject matter of the hymns; and there is no reason to doubt
either the competency or the trustworthiness of the Vedic
bards to execute what they considered to be their sacred
task or duty, viz., that of preserving and transmitting,
for the benefit of future generations, the religious knowledge
they had inherited from their ante-diluvian forefathers. It
was by an agency similar to this that the hymns have
been preserved accent for accent, according to the lowest
estimate, for the last 3000 or 4000 years; and what is
achieved in more recent times can certainly be held to
have been done by the older bards in times when the tradi-
tions about the Arctic home and religion were still fresh in
their mind. We may also observe that the hymns were
publicly sung and recited, and the whole community, which
must be supposed to have been interested in preserving its an-
cient religious rites and worship, must have keenly watched
the utterances of these Ṛiṣhis. We may, therefore, safely assert
that the religion of the primeval Arctic home was correctly

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 457
preserved in the form of traditions by the disciplined
memory of the Ṛishis until it was incorporated first into crude
as contrasted with the polished hyms (su-uktas) of the Ṛig-Veda
in the Orion period, to be collected later on in Maṇḍalas and
finally into Saṁhitâs; and that the subject matter of these
hymns is inter-glacial, though its ultimate origin is still lost in
geological antiquity. Without mixing up the theological and
historical views we may, therefore, now state the two in parallel
columns as follows :—
Theological view. Historical view.

1. The Vedas are eternal 1. The Vedic or the Aryan
   (nitya), beginning-less (anâ- religion can be proved to be
   di), and not made by man inter-glacial; but its ultimate
   (a-paurusheya). origin is still lost in geological
   antiquity.
2. The Vedas were destroy- 2. Aryan religion and cul-
   ed in the deluge, at the end ture were destroyed during the
   of the last Kalpa. last Glacial period that in-
   vaded the Arctic Aryan home.
3. At the beginning of the 3. The Vedic hymns were
   present Kalpa, the Ṛiṣhis, sung in post-Glacial times by
   through tapas, reproduced in poets, who had inherited the
   substance, if not in form, the knowledge or contents there-
   ante-diluvian Vedas, which of in an unbroken tradition
   they carried in their memory from their ante-diluvian fore-
   by the favour of god. fathers.
   On a comparison of the two columns it will be found that
   the tradition about the destruction and the reproduction of the
   Vedas, recorded by Vyâsa in the Mahâbhârata verse referred
   to above, must be taken to have been founded substantially on a
   historical fact. It is true that according to the Purâṇic
   chronology the beginning of the current Kalpa is placed
   several thousands of years before the present time;
   but if, according to the estimates of some modern geologists,

458 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
the post-Glacial period is, even now, said to have com-
menced some 80,000 years ago, if not earlier, we need not be
much surprised at the Purâṇic estimate, especially when, as
stated above, it is found to disclose a real tradition of 10,000
years assigned to a cycle of the four yugas, the first of which
began with the new Kalpa, or, in the language of geology,
with the present post-Glacial period. Another point wherein
the two views may be said to differ is the beginning-less-ness
(anâditva) of the Vedas. It is impossible to demonstrate histori-
cally or scientifically that Vedic religion and worship is
absolutely without a beginning. All that we can say is that its
beginning is lost in geological antiquity, or that the Vedic religion
is as old as the Aryan language or the Aryan man himself. If
theologians are not satisfied with the support which this scienti-
fic view accords to their theory about the eternity of the
Vedas, the scientific and the theological views must stand,
as they are, distinct from each other, for the two methods of
investigation are essentially different. It is for this reason
that I have stated the views in parallel columns for comparison
without mixing them up. Whether the world was produced
from the original WORD, or the Divine Logos, is a question
which does not fall within the pale of historical investiga-
tion; and any conclusions based upon it or similar other
doctrines cannot, therefore, be treated in this place. We may,
however, still assert that for all practical purposes the Vedic
religion can be shown to be beginning-less even on strict scienti-
fic grounds.
A careful examination of the Ṛig-Vedic hymns will show
that the Vedic Ṛishis were themselves conscious of the fact
that the subject matter of the hymns sung by them was ancient
or ante-diluvian in character, though the expressions used
were their own productions. We have already referred
before to the two sets of Vedic passages, the first expressly
saying that the hymns were made, generated or fashioned like

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 459.
a chariot by the Ṛiṣhis to whom they are ascribed, and the other
stating in equally unmistakable terms that the hymns were
inspired, given or generated by gods. 'Dr. Muir attempts to
reconcile these two contradictory views by suggesting that
the different Ṛiṣhis probably held different views ; or that when
both of them can be traced to the same author, he may have
expressed the one at the time when it was uppermost in his
mind, and the other at another ; or that the Vedic Ṛiṣhis or
poets had no very clearly defined ideas of inspiration, and thought
that the divine assistance of which they were conscious did not
render their hymns the less truly the producation of their own
mind.* In short, the existence of a human is not supposed to
be incompatible with that of the super-human element in the
composition of these hymns. But it will be seen that the above
reconciliation is at once weak and unsatisfactory. A better
way to reconcile the conflicting utterances of the Ṛiṣhis would
be to make a distinction between the expression, language, or form
on the one hand, and the contents, substance, or the subject
matter of the hymns on the other ; and to hold that while
the expression was human, the subject matter was believed to be
ancient or superhuman. There are numerous passages in the
Ṛig-Veda where the bards speak of ancient poets (pūrve ṛiṣhayah),
or ancient hymns (I, 1, 2 ; VI, 44, 13 ; VII, 29, 4 ; VIII, 40, 12 ; X,
14, 15 ; &c.) ; and Western scholars understand by these phrases
the poets or hymns of the past generations of Vedic bards,
but not anterior to the post-Glacial times. But there are
clear indications in the hymns themselves which go to refute
this view. It is true that the Vedic bards speak of ancient
and modern hymns ; but they often tell us that though the
hymn is new (navyasi), yet the god or the deity to whom it
is addressed is old (pratna), or ancient, (VI, 22, 7 ; 62, 4 ;

• See Muir O. S. T., Vol. III, pp. 274-5.

460 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
X, 91, 13 ; &c.) This shows that the deities whose exploits were
sung in the hymns were considered to be ancient deities.
Nay, we have express passages where not only the deities but
their exploits are said to be ancient, evidently meaning that
the achievements spoken of in the hymns were traditional and
not witnessed by the poet himself ; thus, in I, 32, 1, the poet
opens his song with a clear statement that he is going to sing
those exploits of Indra which were achieved at first (pratha-
mâni) or in early times, and the adjectives pûrvyâṇi and
pûrvîḥ are applied to Indra's exploits in I, 11, 3, and I, 61,
13. The achievements of the Ashvins are similarly said to be
pûrvyâṇi in I, 117, 25 ; and the long list of the exploits given
in this hymn clearly shows that the poet is here rather sum-
marising the exploits traditionally known to him than enu-
merating events witnessed by himself or by his forefathers in
the near past. This is also evident from the fact that the
ancient Ṛiṣhis mentioned in the hymns, like the Aṅgirases or
Vasiṣhṭha, are believed to have been invested with supernatural
powers (VII, 33, 7–13), or to have lived and 'conversed with
(I, 179, 2), or shared in the enjoyments of the gods (Devâ-
nâm sadhamâdaḥ VIII, 76, 4). They are also said to be the
earliest guides (pathikṛit, X, 14, 15) for future generations. It
is impossible to suppose that Vedic poets could have ascribed
such superhuman character to their ancestors in the near
past ; and we are, therefore, led to the conclusion that the an-
cestors here spoken of were the ante-diluvian ancestors (naḥ
pûrve pitaraḥ) who completed their sacrifices in the Arctic year
of 7 or 10 months. And what is true of the ancestors applies
as well to the ancient deities mentioned in the hymns. I have
pointed out previously that the legend of Aditi and her sons
is expressly stated to be a legend of the past age (pûrvyam
yugaṁ) ; and the same thing may be predicated of the legends
of Indra, the Ashvins or the other deities whose expliots are
described in the Ṛig-Veda as pûrvyâṇi or prathamâni, that is,

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 461
old or ancient. In short, the ancient hymns, poets, or deities,
mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda must be referred to a by-gone age
and not to post-Glacial times. The Arctic character of these
deities, it may be further observed, is intelligible only on this
view. The Vedic bards may well be credited with having
composed, or fashioned, new songs or hymns; but the question
still remains whether the subject matter of these hymns was of
their own creation, and the fact that the deities have been
called ancient in contradistinction with the songs offered
to them (VI, 62, 4), and are clothed with Polar attributes,
at once enables us to solve the question by answering
that though the wording of the hymns was new, their sub-
ject matter was old, that is, traditionally handed down to the
poet from remote ages. Thus in a hymn of the tenth Maṇḍa-
la (X, 72, 1-2), the poet desiring to celebrate the births or
the origin of gods, thus begins his hymn, "Let us, from the
the love of praise, celebrate, in recited hymns, the births of
gods,—any one of us who in this later age may see them,
(yaḥ pashyâd uttare yuge)." Here we have a distinct con-
trast between the births of gods on the one hand and the
poet who may see the hymn in the later age on the other,
evidently meaning that the subject matter of the hymn is
an occurrence of the former age (yuga), and that the poet
celebrates as he perceives or sees it in the later age. The
view that the Vedic hymns, or rather their contents, were
perceived and not made by the Ṛiṣhis, derives material support
from this statement. A similar expression is also found in
VIII, 59, 6, which says "Indra and Varuṇa! I have seen
(abhi apashyam) through tapas that which ye formerly gave to
the Ṛiṣhis, wisdom, understanding of speech, sacred lore (shru-
tam) and all the places which the sages created when perform-
ing sacrifices."* The notion about the perception of the

• Ṛig. VIII, 59, 6,—इंद्रावरुणा यदृषिभ्यो मनीषां वाचो मतिं श्रुतम-
  दत्तमग्रे । यानि स्थानान्यसृजंत धीरा यज्ञं तन्वानास्तपसाभ्यपश्यम् ॥

462 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
subject matter of the Vedic hymns is here referred to almost
in the same terms in which it is expressed by Vyâsa in the
Mahâbhârata verse quoted above; and with such express-
texts before us, the only way to reconcile the conflicting state-
ments about the human and the superhuman origin of the
hymns is to refer them to the form and the matter of the
hymns respectively, as suggested by Patanjali and other schol-
ars. Dr. Muir notices a passage (VIII, 95, 4-5) where the
poet is said to have "generated (ajîjanat) for Indra the new-
est exhilarating hymn (navîyasîm mandrâm giram), springing
from an intelligent mind, an ancient mental product (dhiyam
pratnâm), full of sacred truth."* Here one and the same
hymn is said to be both new and old at the same time; and
Dr. Muir quotes Aufrecht to show that gir, that is, expres-
sion or wording, is here contrasted with dhî or thought, ob-
viously showing that an old thought (pratnâ dhîḥ) has been
couched in new language (navîyasî gîḥ) by the bard to whom
the hymn is ascribed. In other words, the hymn is ancient in
substance though new in expression,—a conclusion to which
we have been already led on different grounds. We may also
cite in this connection the fact that amongst the different
heads into which the contents of the Brâhmaṇas have been
classified by Indian divines, we find one which is termed
Purâ-kalpa or the rites or traditions of a by-gone age, showing
that even the Brâhmaṇas are believed to contain ante-diluvian
stories or traditions. The statement in the Taittirîya Saṃhitâ
that "The priests, in old times, were afraid that the dawn
would not terminate or ripen into sunshine," is quoted by Sâya-
ṇa as an example of Purâ-kalpa, and we have seen before that
this can be explained: only by supposing it to refer to the
Arctic dawn,—an incident witnessible by man only in the in-
ter-glacial times. If the Brâhmaṇas can be thus shown to
contain or refer to the facts of a by-gone age, a fortiori the

• See Muir O. S. T., Vol. III, p. 239.

PRIMITIVE ARYAN CULTURE AND RELIGION. 463
Vedas may, very well, be said to do the same. Thus from
whatever side we approach the question, we are irresistibly led,
by internal as well as external evidence, to the conclusion that
the subject matter of the Vedic hymns is ancient and inter-
glacial, and that it was incorporated into the Vedic hymns in
post-Glacial times by Ṛiṣhis who inherited the same in the
shape of continuous traditions from their inter-glacial fore-
fathers.
There are many other points in Vedic interpretation,
or in Vedic and Purâṇic mythology, which are elucidated, or,
we may even say, intelligently and rationally explained for
the first time, by the theory of the Arctic home in inter-
glacial times. For instance, we can now easily account for
the disappointment of those Western scholars, who, when
the Vedas became first known to them, expected to find
therein the very beginnings of the Aryan civilisation or the
out-pourings of the Aryan mind as it first became impressed
with awe and wonder by the physical phenomena or the
workings of natural elements and looked upon them as divine
manifestations. Our theory now shows very clearly that though
the Vedas are the oldest records of the Aryan race, yet the
civilisation, or the characteristics and the worship of the deities
mentioned therein did not originate with the Vedic bards, but
was derived by them from their inter-glacial fore-fathers and
preserved in the forms of hymns for the benefit of posterity;
and if any one wants to trace the very beginnings of the Aryan
civilisation he must go back beyond the last Glacial period, and
see how the ancestors of the Aryan race lived and worked in
their primeval Polar home. Unfortunately we have very few
materials for ascertaining the degree of this civilisation. But
we think we have shewn that there are grounds to hold that
the inter-glacial Aryan civilisation and culture must have
been of a higher type than what it is usually supposed to be;

464 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
and that there is no reason why the primitive Aryans should not
be placed on an equal footing with the pre-historic inhabitants of
Egypt in point of culture and civilisation. The vitality and
superiority of the Aryan races, as disclosed by their con-
quest, by extermination or assimilation, of the non-Aryan
races with whom they came in contact in their migrations in
search of new lands from the North Pole to the Equator, if not
to the farther south, is intelligible only on the assumption of a
high degree of civilisation in their original Arctic home; and
when the Vedas come to be further examined in the light of
the Arctic theory, we may certainly expect to discover therein
many other facts, which will further support this view, but
which are still hidden from us owing to our imperfect know-
ledge of the physical and social surroundings amidst which the
ancestors of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis lived near the North Pole in
times before the Glacial epoch. The exploration of the Arctic
regions which is being carried on at present, may also help us
hereafter in our investigation of the beginnings of the Aryan
civilisation. But all these things must be left to be done by
future investigators when the theory of the Arctic home of the
Aryans comes to be generally recognised as a scientific fact. Our
object at present is to show that there is enough evidence in
the Veda and the Avesta to establish the existence of an Arctic
home in inter-Glacial times; and the reader, who has fol-
lowed us in our arguments, set forth in the preceding pages,
will at once perceive that the theory we have endeavoured
to prove, is based on a solid foundation of express
texts and passages traditionally preserved in the two
oldest books of the Aryan race, and that it is amply forti-
fied by independent corroboration received from the latest
results of the correlative sciences, like Geology, Archæology
Linguistic Palæology, Comparative Mythology and Astronomy.