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162 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME

to be differently named. Plutarch has, therefore, rightly observed
that " we have a proof in the name of the last (month ) that the
Roman year contained, at first ten months only and not twelve. "*
But if there was any doubt on the point it is now removed by
the analogy of the Gavam-ayc.nam and the legends of the Dashagvas
and Dirghatamas. Macrobius ( Saturnal Lib. 1 Chap. 12) confirms
the story of Numa's adding and not simply transposing, two
months to the ancient year of ten months. What the A vesta has
to say on this subject we shall see later on where traditions about
tbe ancient year amongst the other Aryan races will also be con-
sidered. Suffice it to say for the present that, according to tradi-
tion, the ancient Roman year consisted only of ten months, and
like the duration of the Garam-ayanam, it was subsequently chang-
ed into a year of twelve months; and yet, so far as I know, no
reason has yet been discovered, why the Roman year in ancient
times was considered to be shorter by rwo months. On the con-
trary, the tendency is either to explain away the tradition some
how as inconvenient, or to ignore it altogether as incredible.
But so long as the word December is before us and we know how
it is derived, the tradition cannot be so lightly set side. The
Encyclopredia Britanica ( s. v. calendar ) records the ancient
tradition that the oldest Roman year of Romulus was of ten
months of 304 days and observes " it is not known how the
remaining days were disposed of. " If, with all the resources.of
modern science at our command, we have not yet been able to
ascertain why rh<! oldest Roman year was of tell months only
and how the remaining days were disposed of, we need not be
surprised if the Taittiriya Samhita refrained from speculating
on the point and contented itself with stating that such was the
' path ' or the old custom or practice handed down from genera-
tion to generation from times immemorial. The Arctic theory,
however, now throws quite a new light on these ancient tradi-
ticms, Vedic as well as Roman; and if we take the Gal'am-ayanam
of ten months and the old Roman year of ten months as relics
of the period when the ancestors of both these races lived together
within the circum-polar regions, there is no difficulty of explain-
ing how the remaining days were disposed of. It was the period

~Se e Plutarch's Lins: translated into English by the Rev. John
and \Yilliam Langhorn e ( \\"arct. Loc!-: & Co. ) , p. 54, f.