The Arctic Home in the Vedas c10.50

c10.50

To sum up: there are clear traditions preserved in the Rig-Veda, which show that the year once consisted of seven months or seven suns, as in the legend of Aditi's sons, or that there were ten months of the year as in the legend of the Dashagvas or Dîrghatamas; and these cannot be accounted for except on the Arctic theory. These ten months formed the sacrificial session of the primeval sacrificers of the Aryan race; and the period was denominated as mânuṣhâ yugâ, or human ages, an expression much misunderstood by Western scholars. The sun went below the horizon in the tenth of these yugâs, and Indra fought with Vala in the period of darkness which followed, and, at the end of the year, again brought back the sun "dwelling in darkness" during the period. The whole year of twelve months was thus made up of "mânuṣhâ yugâ and continuous nights," and, in spite of the fact that the Vedic bards lived later on in places where the sun was above the horizon for twelve months, the expression "mânuṣhâ yugâ and kṣhapaḥ (nights)" is still found in the Rig-Veda. It is true that the evidence discussed in this chapter is mostly legendary; but that does not lessen its importance in any way, for it will be seen later on that some of these traditions are Indo-European in character. The tradition that the year was regarded by some to have been made up only of five seasons, or that only ten horses were yoked to the chariot of the sun, is again in full accord with the meaning of these legends; and it will be shown in the next chapter that in the Vedic literature there are express statements about a sacrificial session of ten months, which are quite independent of these traditions, and which, therefore, independently prove and strengthen the conclusions deduced from the legends discussed in this chapter.