Sanskrit is one of the oldest surviving languages in the world. India is probably the only country that holds the culture and tradition once told by the Ancient gods of the Antediluvian era. Many ancient Sanskrit texts and epics tell the knowledge shared by the Gods (or Ancient Astronauts) to humans.
The epic Mahabharata composed around 5561 BC and the Bhagavata Purana composed around 1652 BC recorded a lot of scientific information about embryology. One of the most important inventions that changed the modern world is considered to be “Aviation,” which was possessed by Ancient Hindus 7000 years ago.
Ancient Sanskrit manuscripts say that flying ships visited the continent over 6,000 years ago. Dr. V. Raghavan (1908-1979), a Sanskrit scholar from Madras University, was convinced that centuries-old documents in Sanskrit prove that aliens from outer space had visited Earth. “Fifty years of researching these ancient works convinces me that there are livings beings on other planets and that they visited earth as far back as 4,000 B.C,” he said.
Title page of the English translation of Vyamanika Shastra published in 1973
Vymanika Shastra is a Vedic aeronautical treatise by an ancient Rishi describing giant indigenous airplanes that traveled between cities and continents 7,000 years ago.
The text is claimed to have been dictated by a man named Pandit Subbaraya Shastri before the Wright brothers took off their first airplane. It was first revealed to the world in 1952 by G. R. Josyer, and the first Sanskrit to English translation was published in 1973.
The book describes four types of flying vehicles including Rukma, Sundara, Tripura, and Sundara. The Rukma vimana has a cylinder cone, the configuration of the second was rocket-like. Tripura Vimana was three-tiered, and on its second floor, there were cabins for passengers, this multi-purpose vehicle could be used for both air and underwater travel.
The Shakuna Vimana is like a bird similar to a modern airplane, it has several tiers, each one containing different machines. The drawings show parts like cylinder, piston worm gear, and pumps which seem entirely modern (beyond the 18th century).
Rukma Vimana, Sundara Vimana and Shakuna Vimana Source: Bharadwaaja (1973)
Vimanas in the epics of India are not only airplanes but also whole flying cities. Traditional paintings of vimanas are more reminiscent of illustrations for fairy tales, while modern ones are too schematic and not very clear. Meanwhile, the ancient text describing these devices is so impressive and prominent that they look like sci-fi art depicting the future.
At the 102nd Indian Science Congress held in 2015 in Mumbai, retired Indian Air Force pilot Captain Anand J. Bodas presented a paper on “Ancient Indian aviation technology” and spoke of India’s ancient aircraft described in the Sanskrit text by “Maharshi Bharadwaja.” The giant 60 by 60-ft airplanes with 40 engines and an ancient Indian radar system “rooparkanrahasya” could travel between cities, countries, and planets.
“In this system, the shape of the airplane was presented to the observer, instead of the mere blimp that is seen on modern radar systems,” he said.
Additionally, Vymanika Shastra also contains the technical details on manufacturing aircraft. The Sanskrit text has the formulas of metal alloys, ceramic materials, and glass that were used in the construction of the vimana.
It is rather difficult to find the translation of many Sanskrit terms, but the meaning of some was found in Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicine system.
The Pushpaka vimana flying in the sky. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain
In the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, the Pushpaka Vimana of king Ravana (who captured the Vimana from Lord Kubera; and Rama returned it to Kubera) is the most quoted example of a vimana.
“At Rama`s behest, the magnificent chariot rose up to a mountain of cloud with a tremendous din. Another passage reads: Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm.”
According to Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati’s commentary (first published in 1878 or earlier), there are references to aircraft in the Vedic mantras:
“….going from one island to another with these crafts in three days and nights….and. Just an intelligent people constructed ships to cross oceans…..jumping into space speedily with a craft using fire and water…..containing 12 stamghas (pillars), one wheel, three machines, 300 pivots, and 60 instruments.”
Venkateswara Swamy Vaari Temple in Andhra Pradesh (India) illustration of rukma-vimana from Vimanika Shastra
While on the other hand, the Sibiu manuscript, discovered in 1961, describes in detail the principles of rocketry, and there are also drawings of models of space three-stage rockets.
The document contains a description of technologies for combining fireworks with weapons and even the construction of a hang glider, as well as for instructions for creating fuel mixtures as liquid rocket fuel. Though it is said that a man named Conrad Haas wrote the manuscript, many people believe that was written using some even more ancient texts.
Ancient astronaut theorists are convinced that ancient gods had space vehicles to travel into outer space, but how did they manage to fuel their spaceships? In 2015, a team of archeologists discovered a large quantity of liquid mercury beneath the Mexican pyramid.
There are several occasions where mercury is found in the form of a powdery red pigment called cinnabar in the Mesoamericans’ tombs, but finding it in the liquid form is extremely rare. The presence of liquid mercury might have been a part of the propulsion system used by the Aztecs.
Swiss author Erich von Däniken said: “The liquid mercury was not only found in Teotihuacan, according to old Indian texts, but it was also once part of the propulsion system which extraterrestrials used for their flying machines.”
According to Professor Shivanandam from Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya (Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi University, Kanchipuram, India), around 7000 years ago, people in India knew how to create vimanas (flying machines) to traverse the sky and beyond using a technology that NASA is still trying to harness today.