Page 10 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

PREFACE

SoME explanation may be necessary for publication of an
essay on the antiquity of the Vedas by one whose professionel
work lies in a different direction. About four years ago, as I was
reading the Bhagavad GitA, it occurred to me that we might derive
important conclusions from the statement of Kri~h11a that " he
was MArgashtrsha of the Months. " This led me to inquire into
the primitive Vedic calender, and the result of four years' labour
is now placed before the public. The essay was originally written
for the Ninth Oriental Congress held in London last year. But it
was found too large to be inserted in the proc~dings wherein its
summary alone is now included. I have had therefore to publish
it separately, and in doing so I have taken the opportunity of
incorporating into it such additions, alterations and modifications
as were suggested by further thought and discussion.

The chief result of my inquiry would be evident fxom the
title of the essay. The high antiquity of the Egyptian civilization is
now generally admitted. But scholars still hesitate to place the
commencement of the Vedic civilization earlier than 2400 B. C.
I have endeavoured to show in the following pages that the tradi-
tions recorded in the \tigveda unmistakably point to a period not
later than 4000 B, C., when the vernal equinox was in Orion, or,
in other words, when the Dog-star ( or the Dog as we have it
in the :&igveda) commenced the equinoctial year. Many of the
Vedic texts and legends quoted in support of this conclusion, have
been cited in this connection and also rationally and intelligently
explained for the first time, thus throwing a considerable light on
the legends and rites in later Sanskrit works. I hav'e further tried
to show how these legends are strikingly corroborated by the
legends and traditions of Iran and Greece. Perhaps some of this
corroborative evidence may not be regarded as sufficiently conclu-
sive by itself: but in that case I hope it will be borne in mind that
my conclusions are not based merely upon mythological or philo-
logical coincidences, and if some of these are disputable, they do
not in any way shake the validity of the conclusions based on the
express texts and references scattered over tb,e whole Vedic litera-
ture. I wanted to collect together all the facts that could possibly
throw any light upon, or be shown to be connected with the ques