Page 271 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

58 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTrC HOME
interesting, inasmuch as, in all probability, it is a description of
the splendours of the Aurora Borealis visible at the North Pole.
So far as the Post-Vedic literature is concerned, we have, there·
fore, not only the tradition of the half-year-long night and day
of the Gods persistently mentioned, but the Mount Meru, or the
North Pole, is described wirh such accuracy as to lead us to be-
lieve that it is an ancient tradition, whose origin must be traced to
a time when these phenomena were daily observed by the people;
and this is confirmed by the fact that the tradition is not confined,
only to the Post-Vedic literature.
Passing on, therefore, to the Vedic literature, we find Mount
Meru described as the seat of seven Adityas in the Taittriya Ara~­
yaka I, 7, I, while the eighth Aditya, called Kashyapa is said
never to leave the great Meru or Mahameru. Kashyapa is further
described as communicating light to the seven Adityas, and himself
perpetually illumining the great mountain. It is, however, in the
Taittinya Bnl.hma~a. (III, 9, 22, I ), that we meet with a passage
which clearly says, " that which is a year is but a single day of the
Gods. " The statement is so clear that there can be no doubt what-
ever about its meaning. A year of the mortals is said to be but a day
of the Gods; but, at one time, I considered it extremely hazardous*
to base any theory even upon such a clear statement, inasmuch as
it then appeared to me to be but solitary in the Vedic literature.
I could not then find anything to match it in the Samhitas and
especially in the ~ig-Veda and I was inclined to hold Uttn1yapa
and Dak~hinayana were, in all probability, described in thi way
as ' day and night ' with a qualifying word to mark their special
nature. Later researches have however forced on me the con-
clusion that the tradition, represented by this passage, indicates
the existence of a Polar home in old days, and I have set forth in
the sequel the evidence on which I have come to above con-
clusion. There are several theories on -v hich the above tatement
in the Taittil)ya Brahmapa can be explained. We may regard it
as the outcome of pure imagination, or of a metaphor expressing
in figurative language a fact quite different from the one denoted
by the words used, or it may be the result of actual ob ervation by
the writer himself or by persons from whom he traditionally derived
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"Taitt. Br. III, 9, 22, 1, ~ <n V:~'IT<lfll'if; ~cr~m:: 1 Sec Orion
p. 30 note (Ed. 1955)