Page 11 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

8 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION

tion in issue, and if in so doing I have Dlentioned some, that are
not as convincing as the others, I am sure that they will at least
be found interesting and that even after omitting them there will
be ample evidence to establish the main point. I have, therefore,
to request my critics not to be prejudiced by such facts, .and to
examine and weigh the whole evidence I have adduced in support
of my theory before they give their judgement upon it.
I have tried to make the book as little technical as possible;
but I am afraid that those who are not acquainted with the Hindu
method of computiftg time inley still find it somewhat difticult to
follow the argument in a few places. If my conclusions come to
be accepted and the second edition of the book be called for, these
defects may be removed by adding further explanations in such
cases. At present I have only attempted to give the main argument
on the assumption that the reader is already familil!f with the
method. I may further remark that though I have used the astro-
nomical method, yet a comparison with Bentley's work will
show that the present essay is more literary than astronomical in
its character. In other words, it is the Sanskrit sch~lars who have
first of all to decide if my interpretations of certain texts are
correct, and when this judgement is once given it is not at all
difficult to astronomically calc~late the exact period of the tra-
ditions in the Jigveda. I do not mean to say that :r,o knowledge
of astronomy is necessary to discuss the subject, but on the whole
it would be readily seen that the question is one more for Sanskrit
1
scholars than for astronomers to decide.
Some scholars may doubt the possiblility of deriving so imp<>r-
tant and far-reaching conclusions from the data furnished by the
hymns of the ~igveda; and s.;>me may think that I am taking the
antiquity of the Vedas too far back. But fears like these are out
of place in a historical or scientific inquity, the sole object of which
should be to search for and find out the truth. The method of
investigation followed-by me is the same as that adopted by Bent1ey,
Cole brooke . and other well-known ~iters on the ·subject,
and, in my opinion, the only question that Sanskrit scholars
have now to decide, is whether I am or am not justified in carrying
it a step further than my predCc:essors, independently of any
modifications that may be thereby made necessary in the existing
hypothesis on the subject.