Page 381 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

166 SAMAGRA TILAK-2 a THE ARCTIC HOME

it seems that a year of ten months of sunshine was more prevalent,
or was selected as the mean of the different varying years. The
former view is rendered probable by the fact that of the
Angirases of various forms ( virupas) the Navagvas and the
Dashagvas are said to be the principal or the most important
in the ~ig-Veda (X, 62, 6 ). But whichever view we adopt,
the existence of a year of seven, eight, nine, ten or eleven
months of sunshine follows as a matter of course, if the
ancient Aryan home was within the Arctic circle. Prof. Max
Muller, in the passage quoted above, points out that the old
Greek year probably consisted of 350 days, the 350 oxen of
Helios representing the days, and 350 sheep representing the
nights. He also notices that in German mythology 700 gold
rings of Wieland, the smith, are spoken of, and comparing
the number with 720 sons of Agni mentioned in I, 164, 11,
he draws from it the conclusion that a year of 350 days is also
represented in the German mythology. This year is shorter by
ten days than the civil year of 360 days, or falls short of the full
solar year by 15 days. It is, therefore, clear that if a year of 350
days existed before the Aryan separation, it must have been
followed by a continuous night of ten days : while where the
year was of 300 days, the long night extended over 60 days of 24
hours each. We shall thus have different kinds of long nights;
and it is necessary to see if we can collect evidence to indicate
the longest duration of the night known before the Aryan sepa-
ration. Speaking of the cows or oxen of Helios, as stated in the
passage quoted above, Prof. Max Muller goes on to observe :
" The cows or oxen of Helios thus receive their background
from the Veda, but what is told of them by Homer is by no
means clear. When it is said that the companions of Odysseus
consumed the oxen of HIHios, and that they thus forfeited their
return home, we can hardly take this in the modern sense of con-
suming or wasting their days, though it may be difficult to
assign any other definite meaning to it. Equally puzzling is the
fable alluded to in the Homeric hymn that Hermes stole the oxen
of Apollon and killed two of them. The number of Apollon's
oxen is given as fifty (others give the number as 100 cows, twelve
oxen and one bull ), which looks like the number of weeks in
the lunar year, but why Hermes should be represented as carry-
ing off the whole herd and then killing two, is difficult to guess,