Page 541 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

322 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME

the evidence, collected in the foregoing chapters, is so general
in character that it will have to be taken into account, even if
the traditions of other races are found to conflict with it in any
way. In other words, it has nothing specially Asiatic in it and
without further corroboration we can, therefore, safely say
that the original home of the Indo-Iranians, before the last
Glacial epoch, must also be the home of the other Aryan
people in those remote times. But still we may usefully examine
the traditions of other Aryan races, and see if the latter have
preserved any reminiscences of the original home, either in
their ancient calendar or in their other ancient myths or legends.
Of course the evidence cannot be expected to be as reliable as
that found in the Veda or the Avesta but still it has its own
value for corroborative purposes. The History of comparative
mythology and philology shows that when Vedic literature and
language became accessible to Europen scholars, quite a new
light was thrown thereby on the Greek and the Roman mytho-
logy; and it is not unlikely that the discovery of the Vedic and
the A vestic evidence, in favour of the Arctic home may similarly
serve to elucidate some points in the legendary literature of the
Aryan races in Europe. But the subject is so vast that it cannot
be treated in a single chapter of this book, nor do I possess the
necessary means to undertake the task. I shall, therefore, con-
tent myself with a statement of such facts as plainly indicate
the reminiscence of an ancient Arctic home in the traditional
literature of the Greek, Roman, Celtic, Teutonic and Slavonic
branches of the Aryan race; and I may here state that I am
greatly indebted for this purpose to that learned and masterly
work, The Hibbert Lectures, by Prof. Rhys, On the Origin and
growth of religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom.
Following the order adopted in the discussion of the
Vedic evidence, we shall first take up the question of the anci-
ent calendar, and see if the traditions preserved by the
western Aryan races about the anci~nt year point out to any
Arctic characteristics, such as the long dawn, the long day, the
long night, or an annual period of sunshine of less than twelve
months' duration. We have seen that the Dawn is very often
spoken of in the plural in the :Rig-Veda and that a group of
thirty Dawn-Sisters is actually described as moving round and
round with one mind and in the iame enclosure without being