The Arctic Home in the Vedas c6.25

Language: English

c6.25.1

To take a concrete instance, let the observer be so stationed that his zenith will be at C, that is, on the extreme northern latitude of the temperate zone. Then his celestial horizon will extend 90° on each side, and will be represented by T'CT, and the sun moving along the ecliptic E'E will be above his horizon, at least for some portion of day, during the whole year. But as the observer passes into the Frigid zone, the sun during his annual course will be altogether below the horizon for some days, and the maximum limit is reached at the North Pole, where the sun is below the horizon for six months. We may, therefore, state that the duration of the night, which is six months at the Pole, is gradually diminished as we come down from the Pole, until, in the temperate zone, the sun is above the horizon, at least, for some time out of twenty-four hours every day. In the foregoing figure let *Z* represent the zenith of an observer within the Arctic regions, then *H'H* will represent his horizon, and the sun in his annual course will, for some time, be altogether below this horizon. For instance, suppose the sun to be at *n*. Then his diurnal circle of rotation will be represented by *nH*, the whole of which is below the horizon *H'H* of the observer whose zenith is *Z*. Therefore, the sun, during his annual course along the ecliptic from *E'* to *n*, and back from *n* to *E'*, will be invisible to an observer whose zenith is *Z*.

c6.25.2

Corresponding to this total disappearance of the sun for some time, the luminary will be perpetually above the horizon for the same period during his northern course. For instance, let the sun be at *d*, then his diurnal circle of rotation, *dH'*, will be entirely above the horizon *H'H*, and so it will continue to be for all the time that the sun moves from *d* to *E*, and back again from *E* to *d*, in his annual course. During this time the sun will neither rise nor set, but will move, like the circumpolar stars, in oblique circles, round and round the observer like a wheel. For all positions between *n* and *d*, and the corresponding portion of the ecliptic on the other side, the sun, in his diurnal course of twenty-four hours, would be partially above and partially below the horizon, producing ordinary days and nights, as with us, the day being longer than the night when the sun is in the northern, and the night longer than the day when the sun is in the southern hemisphere. Instead of a single day and a single night of six months, the year, to a person living in the Arctic regions, but not exactly at the North Pole, will, therefore, be divided into three parts, one of which will be a long night, one a long day, and one made up of a succession of days and nights, a single day and night of which will together never exceed twenty-four hours. The long night will always be shorter than six months and longer than 24 hours, and the same will be the case with the long day.

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The long night and the long day will mark the two opposite extremities of the year, the middle of the long day occurring when the sun is at the summer solstice, and the middle of the long night when he is at the winter solstice. This triple division of the year is very important for our purpose, and I shall, therefore, illustrate it by a concrete example. Suppose, for instance, that the observer is so far below the North Pole that instead of a night of six months, he has a night of 2 months, or, in other words, the sun goes below his horizon only for two months. As the winter solstice will fall in the middle of this long continuous night, we may say that the night will extend a month before and a month after December 21, when the sun is at the winter solstice. Corresponding to this long night, there will be a continuous day of two months, a month before and a month after June 21, when the sun is at the summer solstice. If these four months are deducted from the year, there will remain eight months, and during all these months there will be days and nights, as in the temperate zone, a nycthemeron, or a day and a night together, never exceeding, as with us, the ordinary period of twenty-four hours. This alternation of ordinary days and nights will commence after the close of the long night in January, and in the beginning, the night will be longer than the day;

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but as the sun passes from the southern into the northern hemisphere, the day will gain over the night, and eventually, after four months, terminate into a continuous day for two months. At the close of this long day in July, the alternation of ordinary days and nights will again commence, the day in the beginning being longer than the night, but a nycthemeron never exceeding, as in the previous case, a period of twenty-four hours. As the sun passes from the northern into the southern hemisphere, the night will begin to gain over the day, until, after four months of such succession of ordinary days and nights, it terminates into the continuous night of two months mentioned above. The same description applies, *mutatis mutandis*, where the long night may last for 3, 4 or 5 months, until we reach the Polar condition of a day and a night of six months each, when the intermediate succession of ordinary days and nights will vanish.¹