Page 243 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

30 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
calculations may be extravagant, yet we must give him the credit
for not merely suggesting but working out, the effect of a cos-
mica} cause which under certain circumstances is powerful enough
to produce extensive changes in the climate of the globe.
But is 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 aphe-
lion 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 Plio-
cene period) and four Inter-Glacial epochs the duration must
be extended to something like 80,000 years.
t is unnecessary to go further into these scientific and geolo-
gical 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 scientific researches, dis-
cussed 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
theqry of migrations from an Asiatic home in Post-Glacial times
is untenable, it does not prove that the Aryan race was autoch-
thonous 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.