the presence of a long preceding period of poetic activity. An outstanding researcher of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. B. Tilak correlated the time of creation of the most ancient hymns of the Rig Veda with the Arctic ancestral home of the Aryans and dated them to 6—4 thousand BC, pan-Indo-European period.
The monument to the ancient Iranians «Avesta» is very close to the Rigveda, which most experts date back to the 7th-6th centuries BC, although T. Barrow proposes to postpone the dating until the 11th century BC.
As T. Ya. Elizarenkova notes, the Rigveda and the Avesta are closest in language to each other «primarily in their most ancient parts (the „family“ mandalas of the Rigveda, the gates of the Avesta). The similarity is so great that sometimes both texts look like two variants of one archetext, differing only in different rules of sound correspondence.»
Chapter 2 Polar day and northern lights
And finally, the basis for the northern localization of the ancestral homeland of the Aryans are the texts of the ancient Indian epos «Mahabharata», which were brought together as a number of researchers, in the 10—5th century BC, but retained a huge amount of very ancient realities. It is no accident that the Mahabharata is called the fifth Veda (in addition to the four main ones: the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharva Veda). In Mahabharata, as in the ancient hymns of the Rig Veda, there are a large number of northern or Arctic realities, the analysis and systematization of which allowed B. Tilak in his 1903 work «The Arctic Homeland in the Vedas» to conclude that the oldest ancestral home of the Aryans was not far from the Arctic Circle. In Russia in 1910, E. Jelachich’s book «The Far North as the Homeland of Humanity» was published, where B. Tilak’s ideas were supported and developed.
On what were B. Tilak and E. Jelachich based on their conviction that the Aryan homeland should be sought in northern Europe, not far from the Arctic Circle. These are numerous excerpts from the texts of the Rigveda, Avesta and Mahabharata, which could only be explained by the «northern» hypothesis of their origin. Such, for example: «the great god Indra – a mighty warrior – a thunderer divided his power between heaven and earth, putting them on an invisible axis, like two wheels. And since then the stars have circled the earth in circles, and this axis has been strengthened in the sky by the Polar Star (Dhruva – indestructible, unshakable), which is also called «the best of the stars in the sky.»
Polar Star
The famous researcher and translator of the texts of the epic of the Mahabharat B. L. Smirnov noted that the stars listed in Mahabharat are the stars of the ancestral home of the Aryans – these are stars or constellations of «high northern latitudes.» He writes: «The text, having accurately described these constellations, as the nearest stars to the North or the North Star, already directly calls it, as the fixed star with which Brahma began building the world or according to the figurative expression of the text, here he» descended to the victim. «The ancient Aryans understood the whole process of creation, as the sacrifice of the Spirit, which is both the donor and the sacrifice. Further messages of the text that the constellations closest to the Polar Star describe circles whose center is the Polar Star are of great historical interest in resolving the issue of the Aryan homeland.
The belt of non-passing constellations is definitely indicated: Ursa Major, Cassiopeia and even located at even lower degrees of northern latitude: constellations Bootes and, possibly, Perseus. These constellations do not go beyond the horizon, that is, they describe a circle that can be traced almost all over one night, especially in winter only in countries located no further than about 55—56 north. w. The text speaks of the dangers of Arctic travel and directly indicates: as soon as a person penetrates further north, he dies.
Ursa Major constellation
Constellation Cassiopeia
Constellation Bootes
Perseus constellation
In the hymns of the Rigveda, Avesta and Mahabharat it is said that in the homeland of the Aryans it lasts six months day and six months – night, and «the divine day-night (day) is the year, it is also divided into two parts: night is the way – (sun) to the south, day is the way to the north.» B. L. Smirnov noted that only those who are well known in these countries could say that the sun rises in the north for half a year. He believed that: «This is a very important evidence of the ancient Iranians becoming acquainted with the polar countries, which are called the Golden Country or the Beautiful Flower. Naturally, life away from the North Pole could not give rise to the idea of a long polar night and of the day, lasting six months.
Polar night in summer. Kola Peninsula
Polar night in summer. Urals
Polar day in winter
How could people living far from the north sing the dawn with these words:
«1. Here came the light of light, the best of all
A bright harbinger was born, (spreading far).
How (herself) she is brought to life by the prompting of Savitar. (of the sun)
So the night gave way to Ushas. (Dawn)
8. She follows the crowd of past (dawn),
The first of the coming in a continuous series,
Brightly blazing, Ushas raises (all living things)
But never arouses the dead.
11. Gone are those that have seen
As the older Ushas ignites
This is to us now she appeared firsthand
They go too; who will see her in future times.
12. Disgusting hostility, keeping the law, born in the law, Supportive, summoning rich gifts.
An omen that invites the gods:
Here, Ushas, light up today, O best!
14. She flashed with ornaments, on the threshold of heaven.
The goddess took off her black outfit.
Awakening (all creatures), on scarlet horses
The goddess arrives in a chariot
In which it is easy to harness the horses.
15. Bringing the coveted gifts that give prosperity,
She raises a bright banner, making herself felt.
The last of the past in a continuous succession!
The first of the brightly sparkling, shone Ushas.
16. Get up! Living life spirit found on us.
The darkness has gone away, the light is approaching.
She cleared the way for the sun to move.
We have come (there), where they extend the life span.» (RV. I.113).
Or: «I. From the dark (space) has risen
noble huge – (goddess)
Caring for a human settlement.
6. Flaming lights rose.
The coveted blessings hidden in the darkness —
Sparkling dawns make