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

18 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
globe. The only other alternative is to assume that one of the
four Neolithic races in Europe developed a civilisation quite
independently of their neighbours, an assumption, which is impro-
bable on its face. Although, therefore, we may, in the light of
recent scientific discoveries, give up the theory of successive
migrations into Europe from a common home of the Aryan race
in Central Asia in early times, yet the question of the primeval
home of the Aryan race, a question with which we are mainly
concerned in this book, still remains unsolved. When and where
the primitive Aryan tongue was developed is again another
difficult question which is not satisfactorily answered. Canon
Taylor, after comparing the Aryan and Ural-Altaic languages,
hazards a conjecture that at the close of the reindeer, or the last
period of the Palæolithic age, a Finnic people appeared in
Western Europe, whose speech remaining stationary is represent-
ed by the agglutinative Basque, and that much later, at the be-
ginning of the pastoral age, when the ox had been tamed, a taller
and more powerful Finno-Ugric people developed in Central
Europe the inflexive Aryan speech.* But this is merely a
conjecture, and it does not answer the question how the Indo-
Iranians with their civilisation are found settled in Asia at a time
when Europe was in the Neolithic age. The Finnic language
again discloses a number of culture words borrowed from the
Aryans, and it is unlikely that the language of the latter could
have got its inflection from the Finnic language. A mere similarity
of inflectional structure is no evidence whatsoever for deciding
who borrowed from whom, and it is surprising that the above
suggestion should come from scholars, who have assailed the
theory of successive Aryan migrations from a common Asiatic
home, a theory which, amongst others, was based on linguistic
grounds. Why did the Finns twice migrate from their home is also

• The Origin of the Aryans, p. 296.

PREHISTORIC TIMES. 19
left unexplained. For reasons like these it seems to me more
probable that the Finns might have borrowed the culture words
from the Aryans when they came in contact with them, and that
the Aryans were autochthonous neither in Europe nor in Central
Asia, but had their original home somewhere near the North
Pole in the Palæolithic times, and that they migrated from this
place southwards in Asia and Europe, not by any 'irresistible
impulse,' but by unwelcome changes in the climatic conditions of
their original home. The Avesta preserves traditions which fully
support this view. But these have been treated as valueless by
scholars, who worked up their theories at a time when man was
regarded as post-glacial, and the Avestic traditions were, it was
believed, not supported by any Vedic authority. But with the
time-telescope of a wider range supplied to us by recent scientific
discoveries it has become possible to demonstrate that the Avestic
traditions represent a real historical fact and that they are fully
supported by the testimony of the Vedas. The North Pole is
already considered by several eminent scientific men as the most
likely place where plant and animal life first originated; and I
believe it can be satisfactorily shown that there is enough positive
evidence in the most ancient books of the Aryan race, the Vedas
and the Avesta, to prove that the oldest home of the Aryan people
was somewhere in regions round about the North Pole. I shall
take up this evidence after examining the climatic conditions of
the Pleistocene or the Glacial period and the astronomical
characteristics of the Arctic regions in the next two chapters,

CHAPTER II.
THE GLACIAL PERIOD.
Geological climate—Uniform and gentle in early ages—Due to
different distribution of land and water—Climatic changes in the
Quaternary era—The Glacial epoch—Its existence undoubtedly
proved—Extent of glaciation—At least two Glacial periods—
Accompanied by elevation and depression of land—Mild and
genial Inter-glacial climate even in the Arctic regions—Various
theories regarding the cause of the Ice Age stated—Lyell's theory
of geographical changes—Showing long duration of the Glacial
period—Croll's theory—Effect of the precession of the equinoxes
on the duration and intensity of seasons—The cycle of 21,000
years—The effect enhanced by the eccentricity of the earth's
orbit—Maximum difference of 33 days between the duration of
summer and winter—Sir Robert Ball's calculations regarding
the average heat received by each hemisphere in summer and
winter—Short and warm summers and long and cold winters,
giving rise to a Glacial epoch—Dr. Croll's extraordinary
estimate regarding the duration of the Glacial epoch—Based
on the maximum value of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit
—Questioned by astronomers and geologists—Sir Robert Ball's
and Newcomb's view—Croll's estimates inconsistent with
geological evidence—Opinions of Prof. Geikie and Mr. Hudleston
—Long duration of the Glacial period—Summary of results.
THE climate of our globe at the present day is characterised by
a succession of seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, caused
by the inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of the ecliptic.
When the North Pole of the earth is turned away from the sun in
its annual course round that luminary, we have winter in the
northern and summer in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa
when the North Pole is turned towards the sun. The cause of the
rotation of seasons in the different hemispheres is thus very simple,
and from the permanence of this cause one may be led to think

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 21
that in the distant geological ages the climate of our planet
must have been characterised by similar rotations of hot and
cold seasons. But such a supposition is directly contradicted by
geological evidence. The inclination of the earth's axis to the
plane of the ecliptic, or what is technically called the obliquity of
the ecliptic, is not the sole cause of climatic variations on the
surface of the globe. High altitude and the existence of oceanic
and aerial currents, carrying and diffusing the heat of the equatorial
region to the other parts of the globe, have been found to produce
different climates in countries having the same latitude. The
Gulf Stream is a notable instance of such oceanic currents, and
had it not been for this stream the climate in the North-West of
Europe would have been quite different from what it is at present.
Again, if the masses of land and water be differently distributed
from what they are at present, there is every reason to suppose
that different climatic conditions will prevail on the surface of the
globe from those which we now experience, as such a distribution
would materially alter the course of oceanic and aerial currents
going from the equator to the Poles. Therefore, in the early
geological ages, when the Alps were low and the Himalayas not
yet upheaved, and when Asia and Africa were represented only
by a group of islands, we need not be surprised if, from geological
evidence of fossil fauna and flora, we find that an equable and
uniform climate prevailed over the whole surface of the globe as
the result of these geographical conditions. In Mesozoic and
Cainozoic times this state of things appears to have gradually
changed. But though the climate in the Secondary and the
Tertiary era was not probably as remarkably uniform as in the
Primary, yet there is clear geological evidence to show
that until the close of the Pliocene period in the Tertiary
era the climate was not yet differentiated into zones and there
were then no hot and cold extremes as at present. The close

22 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
of the Pliocene and the whole of the Pleistocene period was
marked by violent changes of climate bringing on what is called
the Glacial and Inter-Glacial epochs. But it is now conclusively
established that before the advent of this period a luxuriant forest
vegetation, which can only grow and exist at present in the
tropical or temperate climate, flourished in the high latitude of
Spitzbergen, where the sun goes below the horizon from Novem-
ber till March, thus showing that a warm climate prevailed in
the Arctic regions in those days.
It was in the Quaternary or the Pleistocene period that the
mild climate of these regions underwent sudden alterations,
producing what is called the Glacial period. The limits of this
Glacial period may not so exactly coincide with those of the
Pleistocene as to enable us to say that they were mathematically
co-extensive, but, still, in a rough sense we may take these two
periods as coinciding with each other. It is impossible within the
limits of a short chapter to give even a summary of the evidence
proving the existence of one or more Glacial epochs in the
Pleistocene period. We may, however, briefly indicate its nature
and see what the geologists and the physicists have to say as
regards the causes that brought about such extensive changes of
climate in the Quaternary era. The existence of the Glacial
period is no longer a matter of doubt, though scientific men are
not agreed as to the causes which produced it. Ice-sheets have
not totally disappeared from the surface of the earth, and
we can still watch the action of ice as glaciers in the valleys
of the Alps or in the lands near the Pole, like Greenland
which is still covered with a sheet of ice so thick as to make
it unfit for the growth of plants or the habitation of animals.
Studying the effects of glacial action in these places geologists
have discovered abundant traces of similar action of ice in
former times over the whole of Northern Europe and America.
Rounded and scratched stones, till or boulder-clay, and the

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 23
rounded appearance of rocks and mountains clearly point out
that at one period in the history of our globe northern
parts of Europe and America must have been covered
for a long time with a sheet of ice several hundreds of feet in
thickness. The ice which thus invaded the northern portion
of America and Europe did not all radiate from the Pole. The
evidence of the direction of the striæ, or scratches engraved
on rocks by ice, undoubtedly proves that the ice-caps spread out
from all elevated places or mountains in different directions. These
ice-sheets of enormous thickness covered the whole of Scandinavia,
filled up the North Sea, invaded Britain down to the Thames
valley, greater portion of Germany and Russia as far south as
Moscow and almost as far east as the Urals. It is calculated that
at least a million of square miles in Europe and more in North
America were covered by the debris of rocks ground down by
these glaciers and ice-caps, and it is from this debris that geologists
now infer the existence of an Ice Age in early times. The examina-
tion of this debris shows that there are at least two series of
boulder clay indicating two periods of glaciation. The debris of
the second period has disturbed the first layer in many places, but
enough remains to show that there were two distinct beds of
boulder-clay and drifts, belonging to two different periods. Prof.
Geikie mentions four such Glacial periods, with corresponding
Inter-Glacial periods, as having occurred in succession in Europe
during the Pleistocene period. But though this opinion is not
accepted by other geologists, yet the existence of two Glacial
epochs, with an intervening Inter-Glacial period, is now consider-
ed as conclusively established.
A succession of cold and warm climates must have chara-
cterised these Glacial and Inter-Glacial periods, which were
also accompanied by extensive movements of depression and
elevation of land, the depression taking place after the land
was weighed down with the enormous mass of ice. Thus

24 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
a period of glaciation was marked by elevation, extreme cold and
the invasion of the ice-caps over regions of the present Temperate
zone; while an inter-glacial period was accompanied by depression
of land and milder and congenial climate which made even the
Arctic regions habitable. The remains of the Palæolithic man
have been found often imbedded between the two boulder-clays
of two different Glacial periods, a fact which conclusively estab-
lishes the existence of man in the Inter-Glacial period in the
Quaternary era. Prof. Geikie speaking of the changes of climate
in the Glacial and Inter-Glacial period remarks that "during the
Inter-Glacial period the climate was characterised by clement
winters and cool summers so that the tropical plants and animals,
like elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses, ranged over the
whole of the Arctic region, and in spite of numerous fierce carni-
vora, the Palæolithic man had no unpleasant habitation there."*
It will thus be seen that in point of climate the Pleistocene period,
or the early Quaternary era, was intermediate between the early
geological ages when uniform genial climate prevailed over the
globe, and the modern period when it is differentiated into zones.
It was, so to speak, a transitional period marked by violent changes
in the climate, that was mild and genial in the Inter-Glacial, and
severe and inclement during the Glacial period. It was at the
beginning of the Post-Glacial or the Recent period that modern
climatic conditions were established. Prof. Geikie is, however,
of opinion that even the beginning of the Post-Glacial period was
marked, at least in North-Western Europe, by two alternations
of genial and rainy-cold climate before the present climatic condi-
tions became established.†
But though the fact of the Ice Age and the existence of a
milder climate within the Arctic regions in the Inter-Glacial
Fragments of Earth Lore, p. 266. † Prehistoric Europe, p. 530.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 25
time is indubitably proved, yet scientific men have not been as
yet able to trace satisfactorily the causes of this great catastrophe.
Such immense mass of ice as covered the whole of Northern
Europe and America during this period could not, like anything
else, come out of nothing. There must be heat enough in certain
parts of the globe to create by evaporation sufficient vapour, and
aerial currents are required to transfer it to the colder regions
of the globe, there to be precipitated in the form of ice. Any
theory regarding the cause of the Ice Age which fails to take
this fact into account is not only inadequate but worthless. A
succession of Glacial periods, or, at any rate, the occurrence of
two Glacial periods, must again be accounted for by the theory
that may be proposed to explain these changes; and if we test the
different theories advanced in this way, many of them will be at
once found to be untenable. It was, for instance, once urged that
the Gulf Stream, which, at present, imparts warmth to the
countries in the North-West of Europe, might have been turned
away from its course in the Pleistocene period by the submergence
of the Isthmus of Panama, thus converting the countries on the
North-Western coast of Europe into lands covered by ice. There
is, however, no geological evidence to show that the Isthmus of
Panama was submerged in the Pleistocene period, and we must,
therefore, give up this hypothesis. Another theory started to
account for the catastrophe was that the earth must have
passed through cold and hot regions of space, thus giving rise to
Glacial and Inter-Glacial periods respectively. But this too is
unsupported by any evidence. A third suggestion advanced
was that the supply of solar heat on earth must have
varied in such a way as to give rise to warm and cold
climates but this was shown to be a mere conjecture. A
change in the position of the earth's axis might indeed cause
such sudden changes in the climate; but a change in the
4

26 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
axis means a change in the equator, and as the earth owing to its
diurnal rotation causes the equatorial regions to bulge out, a
change in the axis would give rise to a second equatorial protu-
berance, which, however, is not observable, and the theory cannot,
therefore, be accepted. A gradual cooling of the earth would
make the Polar regions habitable before the other parts of the
globe; but a succession of Glacial epochs cannot be accounted for
on this theory.
Thus out of the various theories advanced to account for the
vicissitudes of climate in the Pleistocene period only two have
now remained in the field, the first that of Lyell which explains
the changes by assuming different distribution of land and water
combined with sudden elevation and submergence of large landed
areas, and the second that of Croll which traces the glaciation to
the precession of the equinoxes combined with the high value of
the eccentricity of the earth's orbit. Lyell's theory has been
worked out by Wallace who shows that such geographical changes
are by themselves sufficient to produce heat and cold required to
bring on the Glacial and Inter-Glacial periods. We have seen
that in earlier geological ages a pleasant and equable climate
prevailed over the whole surface of the globe owing mainly to
different distribution of land and water, and the theory advanced
by Lyell to account for the Glacial epoch is practically the same.
Great elevation and depression of extensive areas can be effected
only in thousands of years, and those who support Lyell's theory
are of opinion that the duration of the Glacial epoch must be
taken to be about 200,000 years in order to account for all the geo-
graphical and geological changes, which, according to them, were
the principal causes of the Glacial period. But there are other
geologists, of the same school, who hold that the Glacial
period may not have lasted longer than about 20 to 25
thousand years. The difference between the two estimates

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 27
is enormous; but in the present state of geological evidence it is
difficult to decide in favour of any one of these views. All that
we can safely say is that the duration of the Pleistocene period,
which included at least two Glacial and one Inter-Glacial epoch,
must have been very much longer than the period of time which
has elapsed since the commencement of the Post-Glacial period.
According to Sir Robert Ball the whole difficulty of finding
out the causes of the Glacial period vanishes when the solution of
the problem is sought for in astronomy rather than in geography.
Changes which seem to be so gigantic on the globe are, it is said,
but daily wrought by cosmical forces with which we are familiar
in astronomy, and one of the chief merits of Croll's theory is
supposed to consist in the fact that it satisfactorily accunts for a
succession of Glacial and Inter-Glacial epochs during the Pleisto-
cene period. Dr. Croll in his Climate and Time and Climate and
Cosmology has tried to explain and establish his theory by elaborate
calculations, showing that the changes in the values of the variable
elements in the motion of the earth round the sun can adequately
account for the climatic changes in the Pleistocene period. We
shall first briefly state Dr. Croll's theory, and then give the
opinions of experts as regards its probability.
Let PQ'AQ represent the orbit of the earth round the sun.
This orbit is an ellipse, and the sun, instead of being in the centre
C, is in one of the focii S or s. Let the sun be at S. Then the
distance of the sun from the earth when the latter is at P would
be the shortest, while, when the earth is at A it will be the longest.
These points P and A are respectively called perihelion and
aphelion. The seasons are caused, as stated above, by the axis of
the earth being inclined to the plane of its orbit. Thus when the
earth is at P and the axis turned away from the sun, it will produce

28 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
winter in the northern hemisphere; while when the earth is at
A, the axis, retaining its direction, will be now turned towards
the sun, and there will be summer in the northern hemisphere.
If the axis of the earth had no motion of its own, the seasons
will always occur at the same points in the orbit of the earth, as,
for instance, the winter in the northern hemisphere at P and the
summer at A. But this
axis describes a small
circle round the pole of
the ecliptic in a cycle of
25,868 years, giving rise
to what is called the pre-
cession of the equinoxes,
and consequently the
inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit is not always
the same at any given point in its orbit during this period. This
causes the seasons to occur at different points in the earth's orbit
during this great cycle. Thus if the winter in the northern hemi-
sphere occurred when the earth was at P at one time, some
time after it will occur at p and the succeeding points in the orbit
until the end of the cycle, when it will again occur at P. The
same will be the case in regard to summer at the point A and
equinoxes at Q and Q'. In the diagram the dotted lines qq' and
pa represent the new positions which the line QQ' and PA will
assume if they revolve in the way stated above. It must also be
noted that though the winter in the northern hemisphere may
occur when the earth is at p instead of at P, owing to the aforesaid
motion of its axis, yet the orbit of the earth and the points of
perihelion and aphelion are relatively fixed and unchangeable.
Therefore, if the winter in the northern hemisphere occurs at p,
the earth's distance from the sun at the point will be greater than
when the earth was at P. Similarly, in the course of the

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. ·29
cycle above mentioned, the winter in the northern hemisphere will
once occur at A, and the distance of the earth from the sun will
then be the longest. Now there is a vast difference between a
winter occurring when the earth is at P and a winter occurring
when it is at A. In the first case, the point P being nearest to the
sun, the severity of the winter will be greatly modified by the near-
ness of the sun. But at A the sun is farthest removed from the
earth, and the winter, when the earth is at A, will be naturally very
severe; and during the cycle the winter must once occur at A.
The length of the cycle is 25,868 years, and ordinarily speaking
half of this period must elapse before the occurrence of winter is
transferred from the earth's position at P to its position at A.
But it is found that the points P and A have a small motion of
their own in the direction opposite to that in which the line of
equinoxes QQ' or the winter point p moves along the orbit. The
above cycle of 25,868 years is, therefore, reduced to 20,984, or, in
round number, 21,000 years. Thus if the winter in one hemisphere
occurs when the earth is at P, the point nearest to the sun in the
orbit, it will occur in the same hemisphere at A after a lapse of
10,500 years. It may be here mentioned that in about 1,250
A. D., the winter in the northern hemisphere occurred when the
earth in its orbit was at P, and that in about 11,750 A. D. the
earth will be again at A, that is, at its longest distance from
the sun at the winter time, giving rise to a severe winter. Calculat-
ing backwards it may be seen that the last severe winter at A
must have occurred in the year 9,250 B. C.* It need not be
mentioned that the winter in one hemisphere corresponds with
the summer in the other, and that what is said about winter in
the northern hemisphere applies mutatis mutandis to seasonal
changes in the southern hemisphere.

• See Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy, Ed. 1883, Arts. 368, 369.

30 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
There is another consideration which we must take into
account in estimating the severity of winter or the mildness of
summer in any hemisphere. If the summer be defined to be the
period of time required by the earth to travel from one equinoctial
point Q' to another equinoctial point Q, this interval cannot always
be constant for we have seen that the winter and summer points
(P and A), and with them the equinoctial points (Q and Q') are
not stationary, but revolve along the orbit once in 21,000 years.
Had the orbit been a circle, the lines qq' and pa will have always
divided it in equal parts. But the orbit being an ellipse these
two sections are unequal. For instance, suppose that the winter
occurs when the earth is at P, then the duration of the summer
will be represented by Q'AQ, but when the winter occurs at A
the summer time will be represented by QPQ', a segment of the
ellipse necessarily smaller than Q'AQ. This inequality is due to
the ellipticity of the orbit, and the more elongated or elliptic the
orbit is, the greater will be the difference between the durations
of summer and winter in a hemisphere. Now the ellipticity of
the orbit is measured by the difference between the mean and
the greatest distance of the earth from the sun, and is called in
astronomy the eccentricity of the earth's orbit. This eccentricity
of the earth's orbit is not a constant quantity, but varies, though
slowly, in course of time, making the orbit more and more
elliptical, until it reaches a maximum value, when it again begins
to reduce until the original value is reached. The duration of
summer and winter in a hemisphere, therefore, varies as the
value of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit at that time; and it
has been stated above that the difference between the duration of
summer and winter also depends on the position of the equinoctial
line, or of the points in the earth's orbit at which the winter and
the summer in a hemisphere occur. As the joint result of

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. ·31·
these two variations, the difference between the durations of summer
and winter would be the longest, when the eccentricity of the
earth is at its maximum and according as the winter and summer
occur at the points of perihelion or aphelion. It has been found
that this difference is equal to 33 days at the highest, and that at
the present day it is about 7½ days. Thus if the winter in the
northern hemisphere occurs when the earth is at P in its orbit
and the eccentricity is at its maximum, the winter will be shorter
by 33 days than the summer of the time. But this position will
be altered after 10,500 years when the winter, occurring at A,
will, in its turn, be longer than the corresponding summer by the
same length of time, viz., 33 days.
Now, since the earth describes equal areas in equal times in
its orbit, Herschel supposed that in spite of the difference between
the duration of summer and winter noticed above, the
whole earth received equal amount of heat while passing from one
equinox to another, the "inequality in the intensities of solar
radiation in the two intervals being precisely compensated by the
opposite inequality in the duration of the intervals themselves."
Accepting this statement Dr. Croll understated his case to a
certain extent. But Sir Robert Ball, formerly the Astronomer
Royal of Ireland, in his recent work On the Cause of an Ice Age
has demonstrated, by mathematical calculation, that the above
supposition is erroneous, and that the total amount of heat received
from the sun by each hemisphere in summer and winter varies as
the obliquity of the earth or the inclination of its axis to the
ecliptic, but is practically independent of the eccentricity of the
earth's orbit. Taking the total sun-heat received in a year by
each hemisphere to be 365 units, or on an average one
unit a day, and taking the obliquity to be 23° 27', Sir.
Robert Ball has calculated that each hemisphere would
receive 229 of these heat-units during summer and only 136

32. THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
    during winter, whatever the eccentricity of the earth
    may be. But though these figures are not affected by
    the eccentricity of the orbit, yet we have seen that the
    duration of the summer or winter does vary as the eccentricity.
    Supposing, therefore, that we have the longest winter in the
    northern hemisphere, we shall have to distribute 229 heat-units
    over 166 days of a short summer, and 136 heat-units over 199
    days of a long winter of the same period. In other words, the
    difference between the daily average heat in summer and winter
    will, in such a case, be the greatest, producing shorter but warmer
    summers and longer and colder winters; and ice and snow
    accumulated in the long winter will not be melted or removed
    by the heat of the sun in the short summer, giving rise, thereby,
    to what is known as the Glacial period in the northern hemisphere.
    From what has been stated above, it may be seen that the southern
    hemisphere during this period will have long and cool summers
    and short and warm winters, a condition precisely reverse to that
    in the northern hemisphere. In short the Glacial and Inter-
    Glacial periods in the two hemispheres will alternate with each
    other every 10,500 years, if the eccentricity of the earth be suffi-
    ciently great to make a perceptibly large difference between the
    winters and the summers in each hemisphere.
    If Dr. Croll had gone only so far, his position would have
    been unassailable, for the cause, enumerated above, is sufficiently
    potent to produce the climatic changes attributed to it. At any
    rate, if this was not the sole cause of a succession of Glacial and
    Inter-Glacial periods, there could be no doubt that it must have
    been an important contributory cause in bringing about these
    changes. But taking the value of the eccentricity of the earth's
    orbit from the tables of Leverrier, Dr. Croll calculated that during
    the last three million years there were three periods of maximum
    eccentricity; the first of 170,000, the second of 260,000, and the third

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 33
of 160,000 years; and that 80,000 years have elapsed since the
close of the third or the last period. According to Dr. Croll the
Glacial epoch in the Pleistocene period must, therefore, have
begun 240,000 years ago, and ended, followed by the Post-Glacial
period, about 80,000 years ago. During this long period of 160,000
years, there must have been several alternations of mild and severe
climates, according as the winter in a hemisphere occurred when
the earth was at perihelion or aphelion in its orbit, which hap-
pened every 10,500 years during the period. But as the cold epoch
can be at its maximum only during the early part of each period,
according to Dr. Croll's theory, the last epoch of maximum glaciation
must be placed 200,000 years ago, or about 40,000 years after the
commencement of the last period of maximum eccentricity.
The reliability of these elaborate calculations has, however,
been questioned by astronomers and geologists alike. Sir Robert
Ball, who supports Croll in every other respect, has himself re-
frained from making any astronomical calculations regarding the
maximum value of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, or the
time when the last Glacial epoch should have occurred, or when
the next would take place. "I cannot say," he observes, "when
the last (Glacial epoch) took place, nor when the next may
be expected. No one who is competent to deal with mathe-
matical formulæ would venture on such predictions in the
present state of our knowledge."* Prof. Newcomb of
New York, another astronomer of repute, in his review of
Dr. Croll's Climate and Time, has also pointed out how in the
present state of astronomical knowledge it is impossible to
place any reliance on the values of eccentricity computed
for epochs, distant by millions of years, as the value of
this eccentricity depends upon elements, many of which are
On the Cause of an Ice Age, p. 152.
5

34 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
uncertain, and this is especially the case when one has
to deal with long geological eras. The only reply made by Dr.
Croll to this criticism is that his figures were correctly worked
up from the values of the eccentricity according to the latest
correction of Mr. Stockwell.* This, however, is hardly a satisfac-
tory reply, inasmuch as Prof. Newcomb's objection refers not to
the correctness of the mathematical work, but to the impossibility
of correctly ascertaining the very data from which the values of
the eccentricity were obtained.
It was once supposed that the duration of each of Dr. Croll's
different periods admirably fitted in with the geological evidence,
and fully corroborated the estimates of time supposed to be
required for the extensive geographical changes which accompani-
ed the Glacial and Inter-Glacial periods. But geologists have now
begun to take a more sober view of these extravagant figures and
calculations. According to Croll's calculation there were three
periods of maximum eccentricity during the last three million years,
and there should, therefore, be three periods of glaciation corres-
ponding to these, each including several Glacial and Inter-Glacial
epochs. But there is no geological evidence of the existence of
such Glacial epochs in early geological eras, except, perhaps, in
the Permian and Carboniferous periods of the Palæozoic or the
Primary age. An attempt is made to meet this objection by
replying that though the eccentricity was greatest at one period
in the early geological eras, yet, as the geographical distribution of
land and water was then essentially different from what it was in
the Quaternary era, the high value of the eccentricity did not
then produce the climatic changes it did in the Pleistocene period.
This reply practically concedes that the high eccentricity of
the earth's orbit, combined with the occurrence of winter when
the earth is at aphelion, is not by itself sufficient to bring

• Climate and Cosmology, p. 39.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 35
about a Glacial period; and it may, therefore, be well urged that
a Glacial epoch may occur even when the eccentricity is not at
its maximum. Another point in which Dr. Croll's theory conflicts
with the geological evidence is the date of the close of the last
Glacial epoch, as ascertained, by the American geologists, from
estimates based on the erosion of valleys since the close of the last
Glacial period. It is pointed out in the last chapter that these
estimates do not carry the beginning of the Post-Glacial period
much further than about 10,000 years ago at the best; while Dr.
Croll's calculation would carry it back to 80 or 100 thousand years.
This is a serious difference, and even Prof. Geikie, who does not
entirely accept the American view, is obliged to admit that though
Dr. Croll's theory is the only theory that accounts for the succession
of Glacial epochs, and, therefore, the only correct theory, yet the
formula employed by him to calculate the values of the eccentri-
city of the earth's orbit may be incorrect, and that we may thus
account for the wide discrepancy between his inference and the
conclusions based upon hard geological facts, which cannot be
lightly set aside.* The judgment recently pronounced by Mr.
Hudleston is still more severe. In his opening address, as President
of the geological section of the meeting of the British Association
in 1898, he is reported to have remarked, "There is probably
nothing more extraordinary in the history of modern investigation
than the extent to which geologists of an earlier date permitted
themselves to be led away by the fascinating theories of Croll.
The astronomical explanation of that 'Will-o'-the-wisp,' the cause
of the great Ice Age, is at present greatly discredited, and we
begin to estimate at their true value those elaborate calculations
which were made to account for events, which, in all probability,
never occurred. Extravagance begets extravagance, and the

• Fragments of Earth Lore, p. 287.

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

• • See The Nature, Sept. 15, 1898.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD. · 37
scientific researches, discussed in this and the previous chapter,
may now be summed up as follows:—
(1) In the very beginning of the Neolithic age Europe is
found to be inhabited by races, from whom the present races of
Europe speaking Aryan languages are descended.
(2) But though the existence of an Aryan race in Europe in
early Neolithic times is thus established, and, therefore, the theory
of migrations from an Asiatic home in Post-Glacial times is
untenable, it does not prove that the Aryan race was autochtho-
nous in Europe, and the question of its original home cannot,
therefore, be regarded as finally settled.
(3) There are good reasons for supposing that the metal
age was introduced into Europe by foreign people.
(4) The different ages of Stone, Bronze and Iron were not
synchronous in different countries, and the high state of civilisation
in Egypt is not, therefore, inconsistent with the Neolithic stage of
European civilisation at the time.
(5) According to the latest geological evidence, which
cannot be lightly set aside, the last Glacial period must have
closed and the Post-Glacial commenced at about 10,000 years
ago, or 8,000 B. C. at the best, and the freshness of the Siberian
fossil-deposits favours this view.
(6) Man is not merely Post-Glacial as he was believed to be
some years ago, and there is conclusive geological evidence to
prove his wide-spread existence in the Quaternary, if not also in
Tertiary, era.
(7) There were at least two Glacial and one Inter-Glacial
period, and the geographical distribution of land and water on the
earth during the Inter-Glacial period was quite different from what
it is at present.
(8) There were great vicissitudes of climate in the Pleistocene
period, it being cold and inclement during the Glacial, and mild
and temperate in the Inter-Glacial period, even as far as the Polar
regions.