Page 532 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE A VESTIC EVIDENCE 313
land. The above passage says so in distinct terms, and the des-
cription is so graphic that we cannot regard it as mythical or
imaginary. Add to it the fact that the recent geological disco-
veries have established the existence of at least two Glacila
periods, the last of which closed and the post-Glacial period
commenced, according to American geologists, not later than
about 8000 B. C. When the Avestic traditions regarding the
destruction of the primeval Arctic home by glaciation is thus
found to be in complete harmony with the latest geological
researches, there is no reason, except prejudice, why we should
not regard the A vestic account as a correct reminiscence of an
old real historical fact. The author of the Fargards in question
cannot be supposed to have given us by imagination such a
graphic account of a phenomenon, which is brought to light or
discovered by the scientists only during the last forty or fifty
years. Darmesteter in his translation of the Fargards observes
in a foot-note that the account of glaciation is the result of a
mythical misunderstanding by which winter was thought to be
the counter-creation of Iran Vej. This passed off very well twenty
years ago, but the phenomenon of glaciation in the Ice-age
is now better understood, and we cannot accept guesses and
conjectures of scholars regarding the meaning of a passage in
the A vesta which describes the glaciation of the Iranian para-
dise. It only proves how the ancient records, howsoever express
and distinct they may be, are apt to be misunderstood and
misinterpreted owing to our imperfact knowledge of the clima-
tic or other conditions or surroundings amongst which the
ancestors of our race lived in remote ages. But for such
a misunderstanding, it was not difficult to perceive that the
Airyana Vaejo, or the original home of the Aryan race, was
situated near the North Pole, and that the ancestors of our race
abandoned it not out of " irresistible impulse," or " overcrowd-
ing " but simply because it was ruined by the invasion of snow
and ice brought on by the Glacial epoch. In short, the Avestic
tradition, as recorded in this Fargard, is the oldest documen-
tary evidence of the great climatic convulsion, which took place
several hundreds of years ago, and the scientific evidence of
which was discovered only during the last forty or fifty years
It is, therefore a matter of regret that the importance of this
tradition should have been so long misunderstood or overlooked.