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

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.

38 THH ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
(9) There is enough evidence to show that the Arctic
regions, both in Asia and Europe, were characterised in the Inter-
Glacial period by cool summers and warm winters,—a sort of, what
Herschel calls, a perpetual spring; and that places like Spitzbergen,
where the sun goes below the horizon from November till March,
were once the seat of luxuriant vegetation, that grows, at present,
only in the temperate or the tropical climate.
(10) It was the coming on of the Glacial age that destroyed
this genial climate, and rendered the regions unsuited for the
habitation of tropical plants and animals.
(11) There are various estimates regarding the duration of
the Glacial period, but in the present state of our knowledge it is
safer to rely on geology than on astronomy in this respect, though
as regards the causes of the Ice Age the astronomical explanation
appears to be more probable.
(12) According to Prof. Geikie there is evidence to hold
that there were, in all, five Glacial and four Inter-Glacial epochs,
and that even the beginning of the Post-Glacial period was mark-
ed by two successions of cold and genial climate, at least in the
North-West of Europe.
(13) Several eminent scientific men have already advanced
the theory that the cradle of the human race must be sought for
in the Arctic regions and that the plant and animal life also
originated in the same place.
It will thus be seen that if the Vedic evidence points to an
Arctic home, where the ancestors of the Vedic Rishis lived in
ancient times, there is at any rate nothing in the latest scientific
discoveries which would warrant us in considering this result as
a priori improbable. On the contrary there is much in these re-
searches that suggests such a hypothesis, and as a matter of fact,
several scientific men have now been led to think that we must
look for the cradle of the human race in the Arctic regions.

CHAPTER III.
THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Existence of a Circum-polar continent in early times—Probable
also in the Inter-Glacial period—Milder climate at the time—
Necessity of examining Vedic Myths—Difference between Polar
and Circumpolar characteristics—The precession of the equinoxes
used as chronometer in Vedic chronology—Characteristics of the
North Pole—The horizontal motion of the celestial hemisphere
—Spinning round of the stars without rising or setting—
The Sun rising in the South—A day and a night of six months
each—Aurora Borealis--Continuous fortnightly moonlight, and
long morning and evening twilights—Dawn lasting from 45 to 60
days—The Polar year—The darkness of the Polar night reduced
only to two, or two and a half, months—Dr. Warren's descrip-
tion of the Polar Dawn with its revolving splendours—Characte-
ristics of regions to the South of the North Pole—Stars moving
obliquely and a few rising and setting as in the tropical zone—The
Southernly direction of the Sun—-A long day and a long night,
but of less than six months' duration—Supplemented by the
alternations of ordinary days and nights for some time during
the year—Long dawn, but of shorter duration than at the Pole
—Comparison with the features of the year in the tropics
—Summary of Polar and Circum-Polar characteristics.
We have seen that in the Pleistocene period there was great
elevation and submergence of land accompanied by violent changes
in the climate, over the whole surface of the globe. Naturally
enough the severity of the Glacial period must have been very in-
tense within the Arctic circle, and we shall be perfectly justified
in supposing that geographical changes like the elevation and de-
pression of land occurred on a far more extensive scale in regions
round about the Pole than anywhere else. This leads us to infer
that the distribution of land and water about the Pole during
the Inter-Glacial period must have been different from what it

40 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
is at present. Dr. Warren, in his Paradise Found, quotes a number
of authorities to show that within a comparatively recent geolo-
gical period a wide stretch of Arctic land, of which Novaia
Zemlia and Spitzbergen formed a part, had been submerged ;
and one of the conclusions he draws from these authorities is
that the present islands of the Arctic Ocean, such as the two
mentioned above, are simply mountain-tops still remaining above
the surface of the sea which has come in and covered up the
primeval continent to which they belonged. That an extensive
circum-polar continent existed in Miocene times seems to have been
conceded by all geologists, and, though we cannot predicate its
existence in its entirety during the Pleistocene period, yet
there are good reasons to hold that a different configuration of land
and water prevailed about the North Pole during the Inter-
Glacial period, and that, as observed by Prof. Geikie, the Palæo-
lithic man, along with other Quaternary animals, freely ranged
over the whole of the Arctic regions in those times. Even now
there is a considerable tract of land to the north of the Arctic
circle, in the old world, especially in Siberia, and there is evi-
dence to show that it once enjoyed a mild and temperate
climate. The depth of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Siberia
is, at present, less than a hundred fathoms, and if great geogra-
phical changes took place in the Pleistocene period, it is not
unlikely that this tract of land, which is now submerged, may
have been once above the level of the sea. In other words,
there are sufficient indications of the existence of a continent
round about the North Pole before the last Glacial period.
As regards climate, we have seen that during the Inter-
Glacial period there were cool summers and warm winters
even within the Arctic circle. Sir Robert Ball gives us a
good idea of the genial character of this climate by reducing
to figures the distribution of heat-units over summers and

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

42 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
distorted in course of time; and it is for us to see if they do or do
not accord with what we know of the ancient man from latest
scientific researches. In the case of the Vedic traditions, myths
and beliefs, we have the further advantage that they were collect-
ed thousands of years ago, and handed down unchanged from that
remote time. It is, therefore, not unlikely that we may find traces
of the primeval Polar home in these oldest books, if the Aryan man
did live within the Arctic circle in early times, especially as a por-
tion of the Ṛig-Veda is still admittedly unintelligible on any of the
existing methods of interpretation, although the words and expres-
sions are plain and simple in many places. Dr. Warren has quoted
some Vedic traditions, along with those of other nations, in support
of his theory that the Arctic regions were the birth-place of the
human race. But the attempt, so far as the Vedic texts are
concerned, is desultory, as it was bound to be, inasmuch as these
Vedic legends and texts have, as yet, never been examined by any
Vedic scholar from the new standpoint furnished by the latest
scientific researches, and as Dr. Warren had to depend entirely
on the existing translations. It is proposed, therefore, to examine
the Vedas from this new point of view; but before doing so it is
necessary to ascertain such peculiar characteristics, or what in
logic are called differentiæ, of the Polar or the Arctic regions, as
are not found elsewhere on the surface of the globe, so that if we
meet with them in the Vedic traditions, the Polar origin of the
latter would be indubitably established. We have seen that the
inclemency of climate, which now characterises the Polar regions,
was not a feature of the Polar climate in early times; and we must,
therefore, turn to astronomy to find out the characteristics requir-
ed for our purpose.
It has been a fashion to speak of the Polar regions as
characterised by light and darkness of 6 months each, for it

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 43
is well-known that the sun shines at the North Pole continuously
for 6 months, and then sinks down below the horizon, producing
a night of 6 months' duration. But a closer examination of the
subject will show that the statement is only roughly true, and
requires to be modified in several particulars before it can be
accepted as scientifically accurate. In the first place we must
distinguish between the Pole and the Polar regions. The Pole is
merely a point, and all the inhabitants of the original ancient
home, if there was one near the North Pole, could not have lived
precisely at this single point. The Polar or the Arctic regions,
on the other hand, mean the tracts of land included between the
North Pole and the Arctic circle. But the duration of day and
night, as well as the seasons, at different places within the Arctic
regions cannot be, and are not, the same as at the point called the
North Pole. The characteristics of the circum-polar region may
indeed be derived from the strictly Polar characteristics; but still
they are so unlike each other that it is absolutely necessary to bear
this distinction in mind in collecting evidence of a circum-polar
Aryan home in ancient times. Men living round about the Pole,
or, more accurately speaking, in regions between the North Pole
and the Arctic circle, when these regions were habitable, were
sure to know of a day and night of 6 months, but living a little
southward from the Pole, their own calendar must have been
different from the strictly Polar calendar; and it is, therefore,
necessary to examine the Polar and the circum-polar charac-
teristics separately, in order that the distinction may be clearly
understood.
The terrestrial Poles are the termini of the axis of the
earth, and we have seen that there is no evidence to show
that this axis ever changed its position, relatively to the
earth, even in the earliest geological eras. The terrestrial
poles and the circum-polar regions were, therefore, the same

44* THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
in early ages as they are at present, though the past and present
climatic conditions of these places may be totally different. But
the axis of the earth has a small motion round the pole of the
ecliptic, giving rise to what is known as the precession of the
equinoxes, and causing a change only in the celestial, and not in
the terrestrial, poles. Thus the polar star 7,000 years ago was
different from what it is at present, but the terrestrial pole has
always remained the same. This motion of the earth's axis,
producing the precession of the equinoxes, is important from an
antiquarian point of view, inasmuch as it causes a change in the
times when different seasons of the year begin; and it was mainly
by utilising this chronometer that I showed in my Orion or Re-
searches in the Antiquity of the Vedas that the vernal equinox was
in Orion when some of the Ṛig-Vedic traditions were formed, and
that the Vedic literature contained enough clear evidence of the
successive changes of the position of the vernal equinox upto the
present time. Thus the vernal equinox was in the Kṛittikâs in the
time of the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and Brâhmaṇa, and the express text
stating that "The Kṛittikâs never swerve from the due east; all
other Nakṣhatras do.", (Shat. Brâ. II, 1, 2, 3.), recently published
by the late Mr. S. B. Dixit, serves to remove whatever
doubts there might be regarding the interpretation of other
passages.* This record of the early position of the Kṛittikâs,
or the Pleiades, is as important for the determination of the
Vedic chronology as the orientation of pyramids and tem-
ples has been shown to be in the case of the Egyptian,
by Sir Norman Lockyer in his Dawn of Ancient Astro-
nomy. But the chronometer, which I now mean to employ,
is a different one. The. North Pole and the Arctic regions

• See The Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXIV, (August, 1895), p. 245.
  The text is:—एता (कृत्तिकाः) ह वै प्राच्यै दिशो न च्यवंते सर्वाणि ह वा अन्यानि
  `नक्षत्राणि प्राच्यै दिशश्च्यवंते । शत. ब्रा. ।

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. ·45
possess certain astronomical characteristics which are peculiar to
them, and if a reference to these can be discovered in the Vedas,
it follows, in the light of modern researches, that the ancestors
of the Vedic Rishis must have become acquainted with these
characteristics, when they lived in those regions, which was
possible only in the inter-glacial times. We shall, therefore, now
examine these characteristics, dividing them in the two-fold way
stated above.
If an observer is stationed at the North Pole, the first thing
that will strike him is the motion of the celestial sphere above
his head. Living in the temperate and tropical zones, we see all
heavenly objects rise in the east and set in the west, some passing
over our head, other travelling obliquely. But to the man at the
Pole, the heavenly dome above will seem to revolve round him,
from left to right, somewhat like the motion of a hat or umbrella
turned over one's head. The stars will not rise and set, but will
move round and round, in horizontal planes, turning like a potter's
wheel, and starting on a second round when the first is finished,
and so on, during the long night of six months. The sun, when
he is above the horizon for 6 months, would also appear to revolve
in the same way. The centre of the celestial dome over the
head of the observer will be the celestial North Pole, and naturally
enough his north will be over-head, while the invisible regions
below the horizon would be in the south. As regards the eastern
and western points of the compass, the daily rotation of the
earth round its axis will make them revolve round the observer
from right to left, thereby causing the celestial objects in the
east to daily revolve round and round along the horizon from
left to right, and not rise in the east, pass over-head, and
set every day in the west, as with us, in the temperate or
the tropical zone. In fact, to an observer stationed at the

46 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
North Pole, the northern celestial hemisphere will alone be
visible spinning round and round over his head, and the southern
half, with all the stars in it, will always remain invisible, while
the celestial equator, dividing the two, will be his celestial
horizon. To such a man the sun going into the northern
hemisphere in his annual course will appear as coming up from
the south, and he will express the idea by saying that "the sun
has risen in the south," howsoever strange the expression may
seem to us. After the sun has risen in this way in the south,—
and the sun will rise there only once a year,—he will be
constantly visible for 6 months, during which time he will attain
a height of about 23½° above the horizon, and then begin to lower
down until he drops into the south below the horizon. It will be
a long and continuous sunshine of 6 months, but, as the celes-
tial dome over the head of the observer will complete one
revolution in 24 hours, the sun also will make one horizontal
circuit round the observer in every 24 hours; and to the observer
at the North Pole the completion of one such circuit, whether
of the sun or of the stars, will serve as a measure of ordinary
days, or periods of 24 hours, during the long sunshine or night of
six months. When about 180 such rounds, (the exact number will
depend upon the difference in the durations of summer and winter
noticed in the last chapter), are completed, the sun will again
go down below the horizon, and the stars in the northern
hemisphere, which had disappeared in his light, will become
visible all at once, and not rise one after the other as with us.
The light of the sun had, so to say, eclipsed them, though they
were over the head of the observer; but as soon as this obstruction
is removed the whole northern starry hemisphere will again appear
to spin round the observer for the remaining period of six months.
The horizontal motion of the celestial hemisphere, only one long

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 47
continuous morning and evening in the year, and one day and
one night of six months each, are thus the chief special features
of the calendar at the North Pole.
We have stated that to an observer at the North Pole,
there will be a night of 6 months, and one is likely to infer
therefrom that there will be total darkness at the Pole for one
half the portion of the year. Indeed one is likely to contem-
plate with horror, the perils and difficulties of a long night of six
months, during which not only the light but the warmth of
the sun has to be artificially supplied. As a matter of fact,
such a supposition is found to be erroneous. First of all, there
will be the electric discharges, known as Aurora Borealis, filling
the polar night with their charming glories, and relieving its
darkness to a great extent. Then we have the moon, which,
in her monthly revolution, will be above the polar horizon
for a continuous fortnight, displaying her changing phases,
without intermission, to the polar observer. But the chief
cause, which alleviates the darkness of the polar night, is
the twilight before the rising and after the setting of the
sun. With us in the tropical or the temperates zone, this
twilight, whether of morning or evening, lasts only for an hour
or two; but at the Pole this state of things is completely
altered, and the twilight of the annual morning and evening is
each visible for several days. The exact duration of this morning
or evening twilight is, however, still a matter of uncertainty.
Some authorities fix the period at 45 days, while others make
it last for full two months. In the tropical zone, we see the
first beams of the dawn, when the sun is about 16° below the
horizon. But it is said that in higher latitudes the light of the
sun is discernible when he is from 18° to 20° below the horizon.
Probably this latter limit may prove to be the correct one for
the North Pole, and in that case the dawn there will last

48. THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
    continuously for two months. Captain Pim, quoted by Dr.
    Warren, thus describes the Polar year:—
    "On the 16th of March the sun rises, preceded by a long
    dawn of forty-seven days, namely, from the 29th January, when
    the first glimmer of light appears. On the 25th of September
    the sun sets, and after a twilight of forty-eight days, namely, on
    the 13th November, darkness reigns supreme, so far as the sun
    is concerned, for seventy-six days, followed by one long period
    of light, the sun remaining above the horizon one hundred and
    ninety-four days. The year, therefore, is thus divided at the Pole:—
    194 days sun; 76 darkness; 47 days dawn; 48 twilight."*
    But other authorities assign a longer duration to the morning
    and evening twilight, and reduce the period of total darkness
    from 76 to 60 days, or only to two months. Which of these
    calculations is correct can be settled only by actual observation
    at the North Pole. It has been ascertained that this duration
    depends upon the powers of refraction and reflection of the
    atmosphere, and these are found to vary according to the tem-
    perature and other circumstances of the place. The Polar
    climate is at present extremely cold; but in the Inter-glacial
    epoch it was different, and this, by itself, would alter the dura-
    tion of the Polar dawn in inter-glacial times. But whatever the
    cause may be, so much is beyond doubt that at the Pole the
    twilight of the yearly morning and evening lingers on for
    several days. For even taking the lowest limit of 16°, the sun,
    in his course through the ecliptic, would take more than a
    month to reach the horizon from this point; and during
    all this time a perpetual twilight will prevail at the Pole. Long
    dawn and long evening twilight are, therefore, the principal
    factors in shortening the darkness of the Polar night and if we

• See Paradise Found, 10th Ed., p. 64.

THE ARCTIC REGIONS. · 49
deduct these days from the duration of the night, the period of
darkness is reduced from six to two, or at the most, to two-and-
half-months. It is, therefore, erroneous to suppose that the half
yearly Polar night is such a continuous period of darkness as
will make the Polar regions uncomfortable. On the contrary,
it will be the peculiar privilege of the Polar man to witness the
splendid spectacle of a long continuous dawn with its charming
lights, revolving, like the stars at the place, every day in hori-
zontal planes, round and round him, as long as the dawn may
last.
The dawn in the the tropical or the temperate zone is but
brief and evanescent, and it recurs after every 24 hours. But
still it has formed the subject of poetical descriptions in different
countries. If so, how much more the spectacle of a splendid
long dawn, after a darkness of two months, would delight the
heart of a Polar observer, and how he will yearn for the first
appearance of the light on the horizon, can be better imagined
than described. I quote the following description of this long
Polar dawn from Dr. Warren's Paradise Found, and invite
special attention to it, inasmuch as it forms one of the princi-
pal characteristics of the North Pole. Premising that the splen-
dours of the Polar dawn are indescribable, Dr. Warren pro-
ceeds :—
“First of all appears low in the horizon of the night-sky a
scarcely visible-flush of light. At first it only makes a few
stars' light seem a trifle fainter, but after a little it is seen to
be increasing, and to be moving laterally along the yet dark hori-
zon. Twenty-four hours later it has made a complete circuit
around the observer, and is causing a larger number of stars to
pale. Soon the widening light glows with the lustre of 'Orient
pearl.' Onward it moves in its stately rounds, until the pearly
7

50 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
whiteness burns into ruddy rose-light, fringed with purple and gold.
Day after day, as we measure days, this splendid panorama circles
on, and, according as atmospheric conditions and clouds present
more or less favourable conditions of reflection, kindles and fades,
kindles and fades,—fades only to kindle next time yet more
brightly as the still hidden sun comes nearer and nearer his
point of emergence. At length, when for two long months such
prophetic displays have been filling the whole heavens with
these increscent and revolving splendours, the sun begins to
emerge from his long retirement, and to display himself once
more to human vision. After one or two circuits, during which
his dazzling upper limb grows to a full-orbed disk, he clears all
hill-tops of the distant horizon, and for six full months circles
around and around the world's great axis in full view, suffering no
night to fall upon his favoured home-land at the Pole. Even when
at last he sinks again from view he covers his retreat with a
repetition of the deepening and fading splendours which filled his
long dawnings, as if in these pulses of more and more distant
light he were signalling back to the forsaken world the promises
and prophecies of an early return."*
A phenomenon like this cannot fail to be permanently im-
pressed on the memory of a Polar observer, and it will be found
later on that the oldest traditions of the Aryan race have pre-
served the recollection of a period, when its ancestors witnessed
such wonderful phenomenon,—a long and continuous dawn of
several days, with its lights laterally revolving on the horizon, in
their original home.
Such are the distinguishing characteristics of the North
Pole, that is, the point where the axis of the earth
terminates in the north. But as a Polar home means

• See Paradise Found, 10th Ed., p. 69.