Sergey Teleguin Polar Memories Did a Great Ancient Saga Begin at the North Pole?
The book, Arctic Home in the Vedas, was first published in 1903. Written by the Indian philosopher Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920), the work was an analysis of the texts of the Rigveda and Avesta. A mathematician turned astronomer, historian, journalist, philosopher and political leader of India, Tilak had come to the conclusion that many of the hymns comprising the ancient texts came not from India or Iran but from the ancient polar region. He noted that descriptions of the long months of darkness, the protracted daybreak, the movement of the sun along the horizon and the position of the pole star directly overhead, corresponded best to descriptions of the sky at the North Pole. Scientists estimate that Indo-European tribes inhabited the polar region sometime between the end of the Ice Age (10,000 BC), and around 7000 BC, when an abrupt drop in temperature caused the tribes to abandon their frozen land and disperse across Europe and Asia. In the myths of various Indo-European peoples, Tilak found descriptions of the polar sky and recollections of the tragic loss of a God-given land. Yet why did Tilak speak only of the tribes that resettled in Europe and Asia? What about the Americas? Many native North and South American tribes share similarities with Europeans in terms of their external appearance and blood type. In their myths we can also find recollections of an ancient polar homeland. Foremost among them is the Popol Vuh, a collection of mytho-historical narratives, or religious text, from the Maya and Quiche people of ancient Central America. The Endless Night In the tropics a twenty-four hour period can be naturally divided into spells of light and dark—day and night. In contrast, a striking feature of the Mayan holy book is a description of a very long night lasting many days. All events described in the first, second and third chapters occur “during night.” The sun, it was said, had not been created yet. Epic heroes Hunahpu and Ixbalanque carried out all their heroic deeds “in the darkness of night.” All people, heroes and even Gods wait impatiently for the coming of the sun, but it never appears. Over the world an endless night prevails. This is perfectly understandable, when one recalls that time passes differently in the kingdom of God than in the world of men. This notion can be found in the holy myths of many different peoples, including the Mayans. If 24 hours on earth is made up of day and night, then in the world of gods, day and night can stretch out over a year. One widespread myth concerns a man who ends up in the world of gods. It seems to him that he has spent three days there; however, upon returning home it turns out that he has been there for three years (or even three hundred years—a typical epic exaggeration). A day in the world of the gods covers a whole year. It seems entirely plausible that such a myth could have developed only in the vicinity of the North Pole, where dark and light periods divide not the day but the year into two parts. Night at the poles, after all, when the sun is completely hidden goes on for months. During the polar night only one thing lights up the dark sky—the northern lights. In the Popol Vuh a character called “Vucub-Caquix” announces himself as “the true sun for the whole world.” The real sun, however, is not yet created. Vucub-Caquix simply has feathers that shine brightly in the darkness. So he