Page 599 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

380 THE AltCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS
Aufrecht to show that gir, that is, expression or wording, is here
contrasted with dhi or thought, obviously showing that an old
thought ( pratnddht!z ) has been couched in new language
( navfyas£ g£fz ) by the bard to whom the hymn is ascribed. In
other words, the hymn is ancient in substance though new in
expression,- a conclusion to which we have been already led
on different grounds. We may also cite in this connection the
fact that amongst the different heads into which the contents
of the BrAhmapas have been classified by Indian divines, we
find one which is termed Pura-kalpa or the rites or traditions
of a by-gone age, showing that even the Brahmapas are believed
to contain ante-diluvian stories or traditions. The statement
in the Taittinya Samhita that " The priests, in old times, were
afraid that the dawn would not terminate or ripen into sunshine,''
is quoted by Sayapa as an example of Purd-kalpa, and we have
seen before that this can be explained only by supposing it to
refer to the Arctic dawn,- an incident witnessible by man only
in the inter-Glacial times. If the Brahmapas can be thus shown
to contain or refer to the facts of a by-gone age, a fortiori th~
Vedas may, very well be said to do the same. Thus from what-
ever side we approach the question, we are irresistibly led, by
internal as well as external evidence, to the conclusion that the
subject-matter of the Vedic hymns is ancient and inter-Glacial,
and that it was incorporated into the Vedic hymns in post-
Glacial times by ~i~his who inherited the same in the shape of
continuous traditions from their inter-Glacial forefathers.
There are many other points in Vedic interpretation, or
in Vedic and Purapic mythology, which are elucidated, or we
may even say, intelligently and rationally explained for the
first time, by the theory of the Arctic home in inter-Glacial
times. For instance, we can now easily account for the disappo-
intment of those Western scholars, who, when the Vedas be-
came first known to them, expected to find therein the very
beginnings of the Aryan civilisation or the out-pourings of the
Aryan mind as it first became impressed with awe and wonder
by the physical phenomena or the workings of natural elements
and looked upon them as divine manifestations. Our theory
now shows very clearly that though the Vedas are the oldest
records of the Aryan race, yet the civilisation, or the characteri-
stics and the worship of the deities mentioned therein did n:o