The Life of Lokamanya Tilak/Appendix B
APPENDIX B
Up to the middle of the 19th century, myths and traditions were the only materials available for the study of pre-historic man. So various attempts were made to systematise these myths and explain them rationally. But the mythologists carried on their researches at a time when man was believed to be post-glacial and when the physical and geographical surroundings of the ancient man were assumed not to have been materially different from those of the present day. But about the middle of the 19th century, from hundreds of stone and bronze implements found buried in various places in Europe, the archaeologists established the chronological sequence of the Iron, the Bronze and the Stone age in times preceding the historic period and discovered evidence to prove the existence of the Glacial period at the close of the Quarternary era and the high antiquity of man who was shown to have lived not only throughout the Quarternary but also in the Tertiary era when the climatic conditions of the globe were quite different from those in the present or Post-Glacial period. It, therefore, became evident that the results previously arrived at by philologists and mythologists must be revised in the light of new scientific discoveries. It also became necessary to study the ancient sacred books of the Aryans in the light of modern archaeological and geological discoveries; for if man existed before the last Glacial period and witnessed the gigantic change which brought on the Ice age, it is not unnatural to expect that a reference, howsoever concealed and distant, to these events would be found in the oldest traditionary beliefs and memories of mankind. If we read some of the passages in the Vedas, which have hitherto been considered incomprehensible, in the light of the new scientific discoveries, we arc forced to the conclusion that the home of the ancestors of the Vedic people was somewhere near the North Pole before the last Glacial epoch.
Before proceeding to discuss the Vedic texts which point to a Polar Home, it is necessary to briefly state the results of recent discoveries in archaeology, geology and palaeontology. Human races of earlier times have left ample evidence of their existence on the surface of this globe. It consists of hundreds and thousands of rude or polished instruments of stone and metal, recently dug out from old camps, fortifications, burial-grounds, temples etc. Archaeologists have come to the conclusion that these implements can be classified into those of stone, those of bronze and those of iron, representing three different stages of civilisation in the progress of man in pre-historic times. Of these three different ages, the oldest or the Stone age is further divided into the PalaeoUthic and the Neolithic period or the old and the new Stone age.
The Geologist takes up the history of the earth at the point where the archaeologist leaves it and carries it further back into antiquity. From an examination of the stratified rocks, according to the character of the fossils found in them, the geologist has divided the history of our planet into five different periods.
The Iron age, the Bronze age and the Neolothic age come under the Recent or the Post-Glacial period while the Palaeolithic age is supposed to fall in the Pleistocene period. Various estimates have been made re- garding the time of the commencement of the Neolithic age but the oldest date assigned does not exceed 5000 B.C. Regarding the commencement of the Palaeolothic period, there are two different views entertained by the geologists, Prof. Geikie putting it between 50 to 60 thousand years ago and the American geologists at about 8000 years only.
As regards the races which inhabited Europe in these early ages, the evidence furnished by human remains or skulls shows that they were the direct ancestors of the races now living in the different parts of Europe. The question, whether the Aryans were autochthonous or went to Europe from some other place cannot be settled by these discoveries. But the Vedic and Avestic evidence proves that the Aryans were autochthonous neither in Europe nor in Central Asia but had their original home somewhere near the North Pole in the Palaeolithic 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. From the geological evidence of fossil, fauna and flora, we find that in the early geological ages when the Alps were low and the Himalayas not yet upheaved and when Asia and Africa were represented by only a group of islands, an equable and uniform climate prevailed over the whole surface of the globe. A luxuriant forest vegetation, which can only grow and exist at present in the tropical or temperate clirpate, flourished in the high altitude of Spitzbergen, where the sun goes below the horizon from November till March, thus showing that a warm climate prevailed in the Arctic regions in those days. If, therefore, the Vedic evidence points to an Arctic Home where the ancestors of the Vedic Rishis lived in ancient times, there is nothing in the latest scientific discoveries which would warrant us in considering this result as a priori improbable.
It has been a fashion to speak of the Polar regions as characterised by light and darkness of six months each; but this statement is only roughly true. 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. We must, therefore, distinguish between the characterestics of the Polar region and those of the circum-polar region.
THE POLAR CHARACTERESTICS.
- (1) The Sun rises in the South.
- (2) The stars do not rise and set; but revolve or spin round and round, in horizontal planes, completing one round in 24 hours.
- (3) The year consists only of one long day and one long night of six months each.
- (4) There is only one morning and one evening. But the twilight, whether of the morning or of the evening, lasts continuously for about two months. The ruddy light of the morn or the evening twilight moves round and round along the horizon, like a potter's wheel.
THE CIRCUM-POLAR CHARACTERESTICS.
(i) The Sun will always be to the South of the Zenith of the observer.
(2) A large number of stars are circum-polar; the rest rise and set, but revolve in more oblique circles.
(3) The year is made up of three parts:—(a) one long continuous night lasting for a period of greater than 24 hours and less than six months according to the latitude of the place (b) one long continuous day to match (c) a succession of ordinary days and nights during the rest of the year, never exceeding a period of 24 hours.
(4) The dawn, at the close of the long continuous night, lasts for several days but its duration and magnificance is proportionally less than at the North Pole. The other dawns will only last for a few hours.
We can take these differentae as our unerring guides in the examination of the Vedic evidence bearing on the point at issue. If a Vedic description or tradition discloses any of the characterestics mentioned above, we may safely infer that the tradition is Polar or circum-Polar in origin, and the phenomenon, if not actually witnessed by the poet, was at least known to him by tradition, faithfully handed down from generation to generation. Such references in the Vedic literature may be divided into two parts : the first comprising those passages which directly refer to the long night or the long dawn and the second consisting of myths or legends which corroborate and indirectly support the first.
We find passages in the Rig-veda (X, 89, 4. II, 15.2. IV, 56, 3 X, 89, 2) which compare the motion of the heavens to that of a wheel and state that the celestial Vault is supported as if on an axis. Combining these two statements, we may safely infer that the motion referred to is such a motion of the celestial hemisphere as can be witnessed only by an observer at the North Pole.
Let us now turn to another characterestic of the Polar regions viz a day and a night of six months each and examine references to this characterestic, reference to which is found not only in the Puranas but also in astronomical works. Surya-Siddhanta (XII, 67) says "At Meru, Gods behold the sun after but a single rising during the half of his revolution beginning with Aries." Manu describing the divisions of time says (I, 67) "A year (human) is a day and a night of the gods." In Chapters 163 and 164 of the Vanaparvam (Mahabharat), Arjuna's visit to mount Meru is described in detail and we are therein told "At Meru the sun and the moon go round from left to right every day and so do all the stars " Later on, the writer says "The mountain by its lustre, so overcomes the darkness of night, that the night can hardly be distinguished from the day." A few verses further, and we find, "The day and the night are together equal to a year to the residents of the place." Evidently, the writer had a tolerably correct idea of the meteorological and astronomical characterestics of the North Pole. The lustre of the mountain is the splendour of the Aurora Borealis visible at the North Pole. Passing from the Post Vedic literature to the Vedic we find in the Taittiraya Brahmana (III, 9 22, i) "That which is a year is but a single day of the Gods." It is true that the statement, or anything similar to it is not found in the Samhita portion of the Rigveda. But there are many other passages which go to corroborate this statement in a remarkable way.
The long continuous dawn with its revolving splendours is another characterestic of the North Pole. The Vedic poets could not have gone into raptures over the short-lived dawn of the tropical or temperate zone. In the Aitareya Brahmana IV, 7, a long recitation of not less than a thousand verses is to be recited by the Hotri priest "when the darkness of the night is about to be relieved by the light of the dawn." So there must have been in those days, sufficient time between the first appearance of light and the rise of the sun, to recite the long song. Sometimes the recitation ended long before sunrise and in that case other hymns are required to be continued, and Apa Stamb requires all the ten mandalas of the Rigvedas to be recited if necessary. In Rigveda VII. 76 the poet expressly tells us that a period of several days elapsed between the first appearance of the dawn and the actual rising of the sun, and the commentator, Sayana, not understanding how the words "day" can be applied to a period of time anterior to sunrise, twists the meaning of the "Ahan" and translates it by "splendour." Similarly in Rig. II. 28-9 the words bhuyasih ushasah avyushtah which literally mean "many dawns have not dawned or fully flashed forth" have been a riddle to the commentators. These dawns were thirty in number (Taittiriya Samhita IV. 3. 11). Sayana, unable to account for so many dawns explains that though the dawn was one yet by its Yogic powers, it assumed these various shapes!
When the long duration of the Vedic dawn is once demonstrated, it astronomically follows that long days and long nights existed in those times. Let us, however, try to find independent evidence of their existence. There are many passages in the Rig- Veda that speak of long and ghastly darkness in one form or other. Thus in I, 32, 10 Vritra, the traditional enemy of Indra, is said to be engulfed in long darkness. In V, 32, 5, Indra is described as having placed Shushna, who was anxious to fight in "the darkness of the pit." The next verse speaks of Sunless (ghastly) darkness. These expressions lose all their propriety, if the darkness, in which the enemies of Indra are said to have flourished, be taken to be ordinary darkness of twelve, or at best, of twenty-four hours' duration. It was in reality a long one.
In the loth Mandala of the Rig-Veda we have a hymn (127) in which Night is invoked to "become easily fordable." In the Parishishta, which follows this hymn the worshipper addresses the Night "May we reach the other side in safety! May we reach the other side in safety." In the Atharva-Veda, XIX, 47, the second verse runs thus "Each moving thing finds rest in her (Night) whose yonder boundary, is not seen, nor that which keeps her separate " In the Taittiriya Samhita I, 5, 5, 4, we have a similar prayer addressed to the Night and a little later I, 5, 7, 5, the Samhita itself explains the prayer thus "In old times the Brahmans were afraid that it (night) would not dawn." What does this signify? If the night was not unusually long, where was the necessity for entertaining any misgivings about the coming dawn?"
Ill, 55, II literally translated means:— "The twin pair (females) make many forms; of the two one shines and the other is dark. Two sisters are they, the dark and the bright." We have here a two-fold description of the couple (Day and Night). It is called the shining and the dark and also is described as possessed of many forms. Say ana interprets these forms as different colours like black, white etc. This is evidently wrong. Are we to suppose that we may have sometimes green, violet, yellow or blue days and nights? Again though rupa may lend itself to this interpretation, the word used in the above verse, Vapumshi cannot be so understood. It can only denote the extent, duration and length of days and nights, in addition to their colour, which can be only twofold, dark or bright. The first half of the verse, therefore, means, "The twin pair assume various (nana) lengths (Vapumshi); of the two one shines and the other is dark. The third quarter of the verse "Two sisters are they, the dark (Shyavi) and the bright (arushi)" has puzzled the commentators but they have solved the riddle by regarding the twins (yamya) and the sisters (svasaran) as identical. But this is wrong. The only possible explanation is that the year spoken of in the passage is a circum-Polar year made up of one long day and one long night, forming one pair and a number of ordinary days and nights of various lengths which can be described as "bright, dark and of varying lengths."
In X, 138, 3, the third verse begins with "The Sun unyoked his car in the midst of heaven," not at sunset or on the horizon but in the midst of heaven. The words are quite clear. Mr. Griffith tries to explain this difficulty by thinking that the poet here refers to an eclipse. But during an eclipse, the sun is covered with the dark shadow of the earth and is not besides stationary. Sayana twists the meaning. But we need not be impatient to escape from the natural meaning of the verse. A long halt of the sun in the midst of the heaven is clearly described here and it refers to the long day of the Arctic region.
In the Samhita and the Brahmanas, the annual sattras, or yearly sacrificial sessions, are said to extend over twelve months. But this was impossible within the Arctic region, where the sun goes below the horizon for a number of months during the year, thereby producing the long night. The oldest duration of the annual sattras, if such were ever performed within the Polar regions, would therefore be shorter than twelve months. In other words, an annual sattra of less than twelve months would be the chief distinguishing mark of the older sacrificial system. As all the people can-not be expected to be stationed at the Pole, the months of sunshine will vary from seven to eleven for the inhabitants of the Arctic region; and the Arctic sacrificial year, would be made up of these months of sunshine. Let us now interpret the legend of Aditi or the seven Adityas (Suns). This legend expressly tells us that the oldest number of Adityas is seven. The sun is called seven horsed and in V, 45, 9 and his seven wheeled chariot is said to be drawn by seven bay steeds (I, 50, 8). The Atharva-Veda speaks of the "seven bright rays of the Sun (VII, 107, i). Sayana is unable to account for the number seven as applied to the rays. The cue to understand the legend can be had from Shatapatha Brahmana which says "There are twelve months of the year; these are the Adityas." It therefore the twelve Adityas represent the twelve months of the year, the seven Adityas must have once (purvyam yugam) represented the seven months of the year. The legend of the Dashagvas or Dirghatamas points to the existence of an year of ten months; and as these cannot be accounted for except on the Arctic theory, the chain of evidence is strengthened by these legends.
The sacrificial literature also helps us in arriving at the same hypothesis. Once in the Aitaraya Brahmana and twice in the Taittiriya Samhita, we meet with descriptions regarding the Gavam-Ayanam, or the "cows' walk" wherein cows are represented as holding a sacrificial session. This session could be completed in 10 or 12 months. Why the session could be completed in 10 months seems to have puzzled Sayana and others, who merely content themselves with remarking that it is an "immemorial customs." The Arctic theory throws quite a new light on this tradition. The Gavam-ayanam of ten months and the old Roman year of ten months are relics of the period when the Aryans lived within the circumpolar regions. The 'cows' were not really cows, but the Adityas (month-gods).
If we turn to Vedic mythology, we find several stories, which cannot be properly explained either on the Dawn or Storm theory. The description of Indra's fight with Vritra records four simultaneous effects (i) the release of the cows (2) the release of the waters (3) the production of the dawn and (4) the production of the Sun. Advocates of the Storm theory describe Vrita as a storm-cloud and by smiting it with his thunder-bolt, Indra may be described as releasing the waters imprisoned therein. But where are the cows which are said to be released along with the waters. The Niruktas interpret cows to mean Waters; but in that case the release of the waters and the release of the cows are not two distinct effects.
The struggle between Indra and Vritra is really a struggle between the powers of light and darkness. The passages where waters are said to be released by Indra after kilhng Vritra do not refer expressly to the rain- cloud. Vedic scholars have wrongly supposed that when the Rig-Veda speaks of the celestial waters (divyah apah) only the rain-waters are intended. But this is a mistake; for in passages which speak of the creation of the world (X, 82, 6; 129, 3) the world is said to have once consisted of nothing but undifferentiated waters, —or in the language of modem scientists of 'ether' or 'nebulous mass of matter.' The ancient Aryans like the old Hebrews believed that the subtle matter which filled the whole space in the universe was nothing but watery Vapours; and secondly that the movements of the Sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies were caused by these Vapours which kept on constantly circulating from the neither to the upper and from the Upper to the lower celestial hemisphere. The mischief wrought by Vritra was that he stopped the flow of these waters; consequently the Sun, the moon, the stars all ceased to rise. Indra by killing Vritra released the waters and brought with them the dawn, the Sun, and the cows (i.e., days or the rays of the morning). The victory is thus naturally described as four-fold. Objectors to this theory might say that the struggle between Indra and Vritra is a daily fight between light and darkness. But X, 62, 2 shows that the struggle was annual. This proves the Arctic Home hypo- thesis.
The Avesta contains two passages (first two Fargards) which also point to this theory. The first Fargard (chapter) of the Vendidad enumerates 16 lands created by Ahura Mazda. As soon as each land was created Angra Mainyu, the evil spirit created different evils and plagues to invade the land and make it unfit for human habitation. Out of these 16 lands 10 can be still identified with certainty. This proves that the account is real and not mythological. The Airyana Vaejo is described as the first good and happy creation of Ahura Mazda but Angra Mainyu converted it into a land of ten months winter and two months summer. This sudden change in the climate of the Airyana Valjo, converting ten months summer and two months winter into ten months severe winter and two months cold summer was clearly due to the advent of the Glacial period as established by modern geologists. The second Fargard of the Vendidad gives us a graphic description of the actual advent of ice and snow. It also informs us that a Vara or enclosure was made to provide against the calamity and that in this Vara, the sun, the moon and the stars rose but once a year.
The cumulative weight of these and other researches incontrovertibly establishes Mr. Tilak's theory.