Book Title: Most Ancient Aryan Society
Author(s): Ram Chandra Jain
Publisher: Institute of Bharatalogical Research Sriganganagar Rajasthan
View full book text
________________
( 99 )
Āryans shows that they must have been living on vast steppy lands which grew abundant grass to maintain their numerous cattle.
The geological grounds advanced by Tilak and Das seek to prove some geological references in Ķgveda. Tilak
draws heavily on Rgveda and Avestic eviTilak's Geologi. cal Arguments dences pertaining to dawns, days and nights, examined
months and seasons, certain Vedic and Avestic myths and also comparative mythology. He draws the conclusion that before the close of the Fourth Ice age, which he places at 8000 B. C. following the American geologists, the circum-polar Arctic region provided a congenial and pleasing climate and Aryans began their migrations in the post-glacial period Circa 8000 B.C. His theory suffers from three defects, firstly, no scientific investigations of the Arctic region to discover the effects of the Fourth Ice Age have ever been made. Secondly, no geologist places the end of the Fourth Ice Age period earlier than 20,000 years. Tilak has given the close of the Fourth Ice Age at 8000 B.C. but he has not given the age of its beginning. The beginning of the Fourth Ice Age must have been accompanied by intolerable cold and the region by and by must have become uninhabitable. The inhabitants must have begun their migrations at the advent of the Fourth Ice Age. The beginning and not the close of the Fourth Ice Age is relevant for the present enquiry. Tilak's theory suffers the defect of not giving the age of the beginning of the Fourth Ice Age. Thirdly, the phenomena mentioned by Tilak may even presently be observed and the people living in comparatively less cooler regions when on a journey to north may witness long dawns, long nights and long days. The researches of Tilak only bring out the truth that the original Aryan people lived in the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org