By A Karmakar
Flying in the air has been the dream of mankind ever since they saw birds flying in the sky. But according to scripted history, it was in the 1780s that two Frenchmen created lighter-then-air flight. But this lead to the dream of heavier-than-air flight which was finally a reality with Leonardo da Vinci designing the first winged aircraft and the Wright brothers making their first successful flights in 1903. This is widely accepted history. But certain researches and studies have pointed to the use of flights in ancient world as well. Certain writings and temple carvings have suggested the use of flying machines in the ancient world.
The use of flights in ancient India
Huge number of ancient sources has pointed to the use of flying vehicles in the ancient times. Ancient Indian epics, translated in English from Sanskrit have huge number of mentions of flying vehicles or Vimanas. Some Sanskrit documents discovered by the Chinese in Lhasa (capital of Tibet) some years ago, points to the building of interstellar spaceships.
The ancient epic describes the flying vehicles or Vimana as circular, double-decked aircraft with dome and portholes, just like flying saucers. The Vedas which are considered to be the oldest of all Indian texts describes the flying vehicles in different sizes and shapes like the "Ahnihotra-Vimana" that has two engines, the "Elephant-Vimana" with more engines as well as other types that are named after ibis, kingfisher and other animals. But the Vimanas were ultimately used in warfare.
In a contribution by John Burrows named "Ancient Vimana Aircraft," there are references full of Hindu gods who used Vimanas to fight battles in the sky. These Vimanas were well equipped with weapons as advanced as we can think in the present times.
A text written by Bharadvajy the Wise named the "Vaimanika Shastra" which is a complete study with eight chapters and diagrams describing three types of aircraft and detailed information on precautions for long flights, steering, protecting the vehicle form lightening and storm and ways to switch the drive to "solar energy" from free energy.
Certain references have also pointed out to the fact that Vimanas were kept in Vimana-Griha which was like a hanger and were propelled by yellowish-white liquid which sounds like gasoline.
Flying references in 19th century India
A man named Shivkur Bapuji Talpade in the early 19th century, created an unmanned aircraft that flew up to a height of 1500 feet before it crashed down. According to the famous scholar of Indology, Stephen-Knapp, there are references to mercury engines in the ancient Vedic text, "Samaranga Sutradhara." This text has 230 verses containing the use of flying machines in war and peace. Although, Talpade was stopped in his efforts to make the Vedic Shastras accessible to all, but he earned the title of 'Vidya Prakash Pra-deep' by many Indian scholars.
As the world celebrates the creation of Wright Brothers and honors them for their achievements, we should not forget about the Vedic texts and the great minds of Talpade who actually utilized the knowledge provided in ancient texts to create a flying machine, some eight years prior to what his foreign counterparts have done.
A. Karmakar is a successful writer and runs a Content Development Company with a worldwide clientele. You can visit Content Writers Organization to know more.
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