Vimana in Ancient India

Ever since Captain Bodas referred to the existence of flying machines in ancient India on the basis of Vedic text, objections have been raised about the genuineness of this claim. Presumably Captain Bodas had not gone through my book ‘Vimana in Ancient India’ which refers to Vedic texts which referred to a three-tier, triangular delta-winged flying machine (Rv. 1.46.4, Rv. 1.34.8-9)which could travel freely through the sky and which made loud sound at the time of take-off. It was piloted by three persons and had accommodation capacity for more than five or six persons and ran through internal combustion of liquid fuel like alcohol and liquid mercury mentioned as ‘Rasa’. It left marks of its wheels (Rv. 1.34.9-10;1.30.18-20)on the ground and great sound used to fill up the air at the time of take off which was a vertical one. It had four tanks full of liquid fuel (Rv. 4.45.1-5)and it could rescue the King Bhujjyu(Rv. 1.116.4;1.46.4) drowned in the seas. So, it was an amphibian one and descriptions seem to equate its external appearance with ‘Rukma Vimana’ which took off from Lanka with Rama , Sita , Lakshmana, Hanumana, Sugriva, and others from Lanka and reached Ayodhya according to the descriptions of the Ramayana(6.125.1-25). Mr. Josef F. Blumrich the famous NASA engineer who designed the Saturn rocket and the skylab space vehicle went through the manuscript of my book in 1979 at an world conference of the Ancient Astronaut Society in Munich and testified to the existence of a delta-winged three-tier flying machine run through liquid fuel in the Vedic age. Prof. Harry Ruppe of the Munich technological University also went through my book and expressed satisfaction like Mr. Blumrich. Some scientists of IISRO have gone through my book and have not expressed anything contradictory. Mr. Josef F. Blumrich was surprised when I referred to the old Indian counterparts of terrestrial attraction found in the Mahabhasya and of gravitation in Bhaskaracharya in the 6th century A.D. Mercury as a liquid fuel has been mentioned in the descriptions of the ‘Samarangana Sutradhara’ a manuscript of which dated 1610 A.D is available at the Baroda Oriental Research Institute. This Samarangana Sutradhara describes a well –built ornithopter wooden plane 16ft X10ft run by a single pilot with accommodation capacity for more than 6 persons. It was run by four pitchers full of liquid mercury heated by protected furnace below at four places and which made terrible sound at the time of take –off for which elephants usually ran away. It used to make various gestures in the sky and could move from one country to another when required. The Kathasaritsagar also in (N.S.P Edn Lambhaka 7 Chap. Vss -21-40) speaks of an wooden bird-like flying machine which could travel from Burdwan to Ujjayini with at least four members. The Vaimanika Shastra of Bharadwaja with English Translation has been brought out from the International Sanskrit Academy, Bangalore, Edited by J.R Jossyer. It is incomplete and a complete text known as Vrihat- Vimana Shastra was published with Hindi text which represents a better textual tradition. In my book I have stated that the Vaimanika Shastra was dictated by one Subrahmanyam Shastri after meditation which is not an unusual one. We were students of M. M. Shitaram Shastri , Lecturer in Vedas in Calcutta University who could recite 10250 verses of the Rigveda without any book and studied with Prof. P.K. Mukherjee of the Vidyasagar College, Calcutta who could recite at the class all the nine chapters of the Mahabhashya at the same stretch and he could recite also all the dramas of Shakespere from beginning to end and from end to beginning. He also kept us spell-bound by reciting from memory the entire life of Napoleon written by Abott. These are two verified genuine cases of superhuman memory which makes the fact of dictation by Subrahmanyam Shastri a real one. However, being a memory dictation some portions of the Vaimanika Shastra which dealt with the actual preparation of the engine have been left out. But comparison with the residual portion justifies its inclusion. Some scholars and scientists of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore conducted a research into the findings of Vaimanika Shastra edited by G.R Josyer. Unfortunately, their studies are mainly based on the impoverish English translation of Jossyer omitting the various descriptions of the internal machines and parts of the aero plane mentioned in the the Vrihat- Vimana Shastra. In my book, I have pointed out the merits and demerits of Joshyer’s translation. The scientific body has not gone to examine the construction and applicability of 25 or more scientific apparatuses and machine parts mentioned in the Vaimanika Shastra. Moreover, the committee has ignored the chequered traditions of the flying machines from the age of the Veda, Ramayana(), Raghuvamsha (N.S.P Edn Canto- 13.1-79) and other literary texts including the reference to a wooden flying machine found in the Kathasaritsagar(N.S.P Edn Lambhaka 7 Chap. Vss -21-40). Moreover, it is unkind for the committee to ignore the contributions of Mr. Talpade which has become a part of history. Scientists and chemists, metallurgists, and aviation experts and with sound Sanskrit scholars should go deep into the question of the creation of the flying machine as obtained in the Indian tradition. Bias in any form, prevents the attainment of fruitful results in research. Reference can be made to a wooden model of a flying machine which has been found in Egypt in the 3rd century B.C and is now being preserved in Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo. So, references to the flying machines of the old world are to be found not only in the epics and literary works of India , but in neighboring Asian countries like Egypt also.