Page 510 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE 291
keeping a dead body in the house for two nights, three nights
or a month long in winter, until the floods begin to flow, must
be ascribed to the absence of sunlight during the period when
the floods as well as light were shut up in the nether world by
the demons of darkness. All these traditions have their counter-
parts in the Vedic literature. But the Avestic tradition regard-
ing the original home in the far north and its destruction by
snow and ice stands by itself, though in the light of the Vedic
evidence discussed in the previous chapters, we can now clearly
show that it has historical basis and that it preserves for us a
distinct reminiscence, howsoever fragmentary, of the ancient
Aryan home. This tradition is contained in the first hyo Fargards
or chapters of the Vendidad, or the law book of the Mazda-
yasnians. They have no connection with the subsequent chapters
of the book and appear to be incorporated into it simply as a
relic of old historical or traditional literature. These two Far-
gards have not failed to attract the attention of Zend scholars
ever since the discovery of the A vesta by Anquetil; and many
attempts have been made not only to identify the places men-
tioned therein, but to draw historical conclusions therefrom.
Thus Heeren, Rhode, Lassen, Pictel, Bunsen, Haug and others
have recognized in these accounts of the Vendidad, a half his-
torical, half mythical reminiscence of the primeval home and
the countries known to the followers of the Avesta, when these
Fargards were composed. Professor Spiegel at first took the
same view as Rhode, but has latterly retracted his opinion. On
the other hand, Keipert, Breal, Darmesteter and others have
shown that no historical conclusion can be drawn from the
description contained in the first two chapters of the Vendidad;
and this view seems to be now mainly accepted. But it must be
borne in mind that this veiw was formulated at a time when the
Vedic evidence in support of the Arctic theory, set forth in the
previous chapters, was entirely unknown and when the exist-
ence of an Arctic home in ancient times was not regarded as
probable even on geological grounds, man being believed to
be post-Glacial and the Arctic regions always unsuited for
human habitation. The recent discoveries in Geology and
Archaeology bave, however, thrown a flood of new light on the
subject; and if the interpretation of the Vedic traditions noticed
in the previous chapters is correct, it will, I think, be readily