The Arctic Home in the Vedas c12.58.4

c12.58.4

Instead of taking *chatvârimshyâm* as an adjective qualifying *sharadi*, I take the two words as independent locatives, but the change in the meaning caused thereby is very striking and important; and so long as the Arctic theory was unknown, the attention of scholars was not likely to be drawn to this alternative construction.¹ But now we can very well understand why Indra is said to have found Shambara on the 40th (day) of *Sharad*, and why the forts, which gave shelter to the demon, are described as *shâradîḥ*, as well as why Arbuda or the watery demon is said to be killed by ice (*hima*). I have stated before that the forts (*puraḥ*) of Shambara must be understood to mean ‘days,’ and the adjective *shâradîḥ* only serves to strengthen the same view. The disappearance of the sun below the horizon in the beginning of the 8th month in autumn, followed by a long twilight, a continuous dark night of about 100 days, and a long dawn of 30 days in the Arctic regions, is the basis of the legend, and every incident therein can be naturally and intelligibly explained only on this theory.