Page 246 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

CHAPTER III
THE ARCTIC REGIONS

Existence of a Circum-Polar contment in early times-Probable also
in the Inter-Glacial period-Milder climate at the time-Necessity of
examining Ved1c Myths-Difference between Polar and Circum-Polar
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 description of the
Polar Dawn with its revolving splendours-Characteristics 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 intense within the Arctic circle, and we shall be per-
fectly justified in supposing that geographical changes like the
elevation and depression 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 is at present. Dr. Warren, in his Paradise Found,
quotes a number of authorities to show that within a compara-
tively recent geological 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
A. 3