Ancient Appiration for Aviation

A paper presented on ancient Indian aviation technology at the Indian Science Congress claimed that an ancient Indian rishi had given detailed guidelines for making aircraft.

“Maharshi Bharadwaj has narrated guidelines to making aeroplanes. There are 97 reference books for aviation. In Brihatvimanshastra, he has given 500 guidelines,” Captain Anand Bodas, a retired pilot and trainer, and one of the two authors of the paper, said.

The Maharishi, he said, defined an aeroplane as “a vehicle which travels through air from one country to other, from one continent to other, from one planet to other.” He appealed to young scientists to attempt to make metal alloys named by the sage in his book, Vimana Samhita for plane-making.. Captain Bodas also spoke of the “jumbo” aeroplanes of ancient India. “The basic structure was of 60 by 60 feet and in some cases, over 200 feet,” he said, some with “40 small engines”.

The ancient Indian radar system was called, rooparkanrahasya. “In this system, the shape of the aeroplane was presented to the observer, instead of the mere blimp that is seen on modern radar systems,” he said.

Bharadwaj’s book, Captain Bodas said, even mentioned a diet for pilots — milk of buffalo, cow and sheep. Pilots of ancient India’s planes had to wear clothes made out of vegetation grown underwater, Bodas said. He declined to comment on criticism that his paper was a Hindutva ploy to bring Indian ancient textures in the ambit of science 

Another topic at the symposium was ‘science and spirituality.’ The speaker, a spiritual counseller and public relations executive, said, “In the 21st century, fusion of science and spirituality will happen because of the law of inter-penetration. It is great that we are integrating the inward with the outward.” Science and spirituality, said Binny Sareen, a PR and media executive at Brahmakumari Global Hospital at Mount Abu.”should be together because if we go into the roots of it, it is for peace, for laws for governing positivity in life.’ 

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