Page 657 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

10 SAMAGRA TILAK -- 2 • VEDIC CHRONOLOGY
held in that year and subsequently published it, with some modi-
fications, in 1893.
Thus it was that Jacobi and myself, working independently
arrived at the same result almost at the same time. It was not to
be expected that the discovery would pass unchallenged by Vedic
scholars, who had hitherto believed that the antiquity of the
Vedic civilization could not be proved to be higher than 2400
B. C. But there were some whose literary studies had made them
regard this limit as too low; and they welcomed our discovery.
Thus Bulher, Barth and Winternitz in Europe and Bloomfield
in America expressly declared that they were, in the main, satis-
fied with the arguments advanced in proof thereof; while Whit-
ney ( in the proceedings of the American Oriental Society for
March 1894 ), Oldenberg (in Zoitschrift D. M. G. Bd. 49 ), and
Thebaut writing in the Indian Antiquary ( Vol. XXIV pp. 85 f)
attempted to show that the theory was untenable and unsound.
From time to time Jacobi replied to these adverse criticisms. But
these replies as well as the other writings on the subject as scatt-
ered over different periodicals are not easily accessible to all. I
have, in the following pages, therefore, endeavoured to sum up
the whole controversy, thus recasting, revising, enlarging, and
bringing upto date, the matter contained in my Orion. Our con-
clusions have already been generally accepted by Indian
Scholars and the theory is fairly gaining ground in Europe as will
be seen from Prof. Louis de la Valle'c Poussin's recent book Le
Vedisme. The present attempt, will, it is hoped, make it still more
acceptable inasmuch as the proofs thereof will be now exhibited
in a clear light.