Arctic Home in The Vedas (An Ignored Historical Classic)

DETAILS : 

• Author : Bal Gangadhar Tilak
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vijay Goel Publishers
  
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 January 2008
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
  
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 190 pages
  
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8189297171
  
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8189297176
  
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 250  g

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Arctic Home in the Vedas is a bold and highly original work of historical and philological research that proposes a radical theory regarding the origins of the Aryan people. Written by the "Father of the Indian Unrest," Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the book was composed primarily during his imprisonment in Mandalay. Tilak argues that the ancestors of the Vedic Aryans did not originate in Central Asia or Europe, as was commonly believed by 19th-century scholars, but in the Arctic regions during the pre-glacial period. He meticulously analyzes Vedic hymns and Avestan texts, pointing to descriptions of "long dawns," "months of darkness," and "the sun spinning like a wheel"—astronomical phenomena that occur only near the North Pole—as evidence of a collective ancestral memory of a polar homeland.

The book is structured as a scientific and literary investigation, blending Tilak's deep knowledge of Sanskrit with contemporary findings in geology and astronomy. He utilizes the concept of "Interglacial periods" to explain how a once-temperate Arctic could have supported human civilization before the onset of the last Ice Age forced these populations to migrate southward into India and Europe. While modern mainstream archaeology and genetics have moved away from the "Arctic Home" theory in favor of the Steppe hypothesis, Tilak’s work remains an "ignored historical classic" for its intellectual bravery and its attempt to reclaim the narrative of Indian antiquity from Eurocentric colonial perspectives. It is a foundational text for understanding the early 20th-century intersection of nationalism and historiography in India.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) was a formidable Indian nationalist, teacher, and social reformer who was the first leader of the Indian Independence Movement. Conferred with the title "Lokmanya" (accepted by the people as their leader), he was famously described by British colonial authorities as "The Father of the Indian Unrest." Beyond his political activism and his famous clarion call, "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it," Tilak was a profound scholar of mathematics, astronomy, and the Vedas. His intellectual contributions, including The Orion and Gita Rahasya, reflect a life dedicated to the synthesis of ancient Indian wisdom with modern critical inquiry.