Page 403 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

188 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
ritual of the Vedic religion, and naturally enough the priests mus
have tried to preserve as much of the old sacrificial system at
hey possibly could in adapting it to the new conditions. Thes
task was by no means an easy one, and those that find fault
with the Brahmapas as full of fanciful speculations must bear
tn mind the fact that an ancient and sacred system of sacrifices
had to be adapted to new conditions, by assigning plausible
]reasons for the same, at a time when the true origin of the system
was almost forgotten. The Brahmapas could not have indulged
in free speculations about the origin of the rites and ceremonies
mentioned by them, had the latter originated in their own time,
or in days so near to them that the real traditions about the
origin of these ceremonies could be preserved intact. But so long
as these traditions were fresh, no explanation was probably
needed; and when they became dim, their place had to be supplied
by plausible reasons based on such traditions as were known
ia t the time. This throws quite a new light on the nature and com
position of the BrahmaJ!as : but as the discussion is not perti-
nent to the subject in hand, we cannot enter into it more fully
in this place.
We have now reviewed the leading features of the system
of Soma sacrifices as described in the Vedic literature, so far as
our purpose is concerned, and seen that by the aid of the
Arctic theory, some hard facts therein, which have been hitherto
incomprehensible, can be easily and naturally explained. A
history of the whole sacrificial system from the point of view
indicated above is a work quite outside the pale of this book;
but so far as we have examined the subject and especially the
question about the isolated group of a hundred nightly Soma
sacrifices, I think, we have sufficient evidence therein to warrant
us in holding that these sacrifices are a relic of the ancient times
when the ancestors of the Vedic ~i~his performed them with th-
eoject of helping Indra to fight with the powers of darkn:)ss.
It has been already shown in the first part of this chapter that
the Gavdm-ayanam or the Cows' walk like the Roman year, once
basted only for ten months; and a series of suitable night-sacri-
fices is a natural supplement to such sessions. Both are relics
of ancient times, al!d taken along with the evidence regarding
the existence of a long dawn of thirty days and of the long day
and night discussed in previous chapters, they conclusively