Page 479 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

260 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
not here concerned with the growth which Kumara, or the child
of the morning, attained in later mythology. We took up the
legends of the Ashvins with a view to see if there were any inci-
dents in them which became intelligible only on the Arctic
theory, and the foregoing examination of the legends shows that
we have not searched in vain. The expression dasha-masya in
the legend of Sapta-vadhri and dashame yuge in that of Dtrgha·
tamas directly indicate a period of ten months' sunshine, and
we have seen that three, ten or a hundred continuous nights are
also referred to directly or metaphorically in some of these legends.
We have again such expressions as " the sun sleeping in darkness
or in the lap of Nir-riti ", which show that actual and not
metaphorical darkness was intended. In short, the sun, sunk in
the nether world of waters and darkness, and not merely a winter
sun, is the burden of all these legends, and the achievements of
the .Ashvins refer to the rescue of the sun from the dark pit of
the nether world or from the bottomless ocean or darkness.
The Vernal and Arctic theories are both solar in character; and
in either case the legends are interpreted on the supposition that
they represent some solar phenomenon. But the Arctic theory
does not stop with the decay of the sun's power in wint~, but
goes a step further in making the long darknes of the circum-
polar region, the natural basis of many important Vedic legends;
and the fore-going discussion of the myths of the Ashvins clearly
shows that a wider basis, like the one supplied by the Arctic
theory, was not only desirable but neecessary for a proper expla-
nation of these legends-a fact, which, in its turn, further
corroborates and establishes :fue new theory.

The Surya's Wheel

We have already discussed the legends of the seven Adi-
tyas with their still-born brother, and shewn that it represents
seven months of sunshine in the ancient Aryan home. But this
is not the only period of sunshine in the Arctic region, where,
.ac~ording to latitude, tQe sun is above the horizon from 6 to 12
months. The sacrificial session of the Navagvas and the Dashagvas
thus lasted for nine or ten months, and amongst the Ashvins'
legends, that of Saptavadhri is just shown to have been based
.on the phenomenon of ten months' sunshine. Is there any legend