Vymaanika Shaastra  Aeronautics of Maharshi Bharadwaaja 
Rahasyagnyodhikaaree - Sutra 2."The pilot is one who knows the secrets"
Bodhaanada: Scientists say that there are 32 secrets of the working of the Vimaana. 
 
 
A  pilot should acquaint himself thoroughly with them before he can be  deemed competent to handle the aeroplane. He must know the structure of  the aeroplane, know the means of its take off and ascent to the sky,  know how to drive it and how to halt it when necessary, how to maneuver  it and make it perform spectacular feats in the sky without crashing. Those secrets are given in "Rahashya Lahari" and other works by Lalla and other masters, are are described thus:
"The pilot  should have had training in maantrica and taantrica, kritaka and  antaraalaka, goodha or hidden, drishya and adrishya or seen and unseen,  paroksha and aparoksha, contraction and expansion, changing shape, look  frightening, look pleasing, become luminous or enveloped in darkness,  deluge or pralaya, vimukha, taara, stun by thunderstorm din, jump, move  zig-zag like serpent, chaapala, face all sides, hear distant sounds,  take pictures, know enemy maneuver, know direction of enemy approach, stabdhaka or paralyse, and karshana or exercise magnetic pull. 
These 32 secrets  the pilot should learn from competent preceptors and only such a person  is fit to be entrusted with an aeroplane, and not others. 


 
Some of these secrets are:
1. Goodha: As  explained in 'Vaayutatva-Prakarana', by harnessing the powers, Yaasaa,  Viyaasaa, Prayaasaa in the 8th atmospheric layer covering the earth, to attract the dark content of the solar ray, and use it to hide the Vimana from the enemy.
2. Drishya: By  collision of the electric power and wind power in the atmosphere, a glow  is created, whose reflection is to be caught in the  Vishwa-Kriya-drapana or mirror at the front of the Vimana, and by its  manipulation produce a Maaya-Vimana or camouflaged Vimana.
3. Vimukha: As  mentioned in "Rig-hridaya", by projecting the force of Kubera, Vimukha  and Vyshawaanara poison powder through the third tube of the roudree  mirror and turning the switch of the air mechanism, produce wholesale  insensibility and coma. 
4.  Roopaakarshana: By means of the photographic yantra in the Vimana to  obtain a television view of things inside an enemy's plane.
5. Stabdhak: By  projecting apasmaara poison fume smoke through the tube on the north  side on the Vimana, and discharging it with stambhana yantra, people in  enemy planes will be made unconscious.
6. Chaapla: On  sighting an enemy plane, by turning the switch in the force center in  the middle section of the Vimana, a 4087 revolutions an hour atmospheric  wave speed will be generated, and shake up the enemy plane.
7. Parashabda  Graahaka: As explained in the "Sowdaaminee Kalaa: or science of  electronics, by means of the sound capturing yantra in the Vimana, to  hear the talks and sound in enemy planes flying in the sky.
 
According to Shownaka, the regions of the sky are 5, named, Rekhaapathaha, Mandala, Kakshaya, shakti and Kendra. In these 5 atmospheric regions, ther are 5,19,800 air ways traversed by Vimanas of the Seven Lokas or worlds, known as Bhooloka, Bhuvarloka, Suvarloka, Maholoka, Janoloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka. Dhundinaatha and "Valalmeeki Ganita" state that Rekha has 7,03,00,800 air routes. Mandala has 20,08,00200 air routes, Kakshya has 2,09,00,300 air routes, Shakti has 10,01,300 air routes, and Kendra has 30,08,200 air routes.
It discusses what kind of food to eat, clothing to wear, metals for vimanas, purification of metals, deals with mirrors and lenses which are required to be installed in the vimaanas, mechanical contrivances or yantras and protecting and different types of vimaanas. 
(source: Vymaanika Shaastra  Aeronautics of Maharshi Bharadwaaja - By G. R. Josyer International Academy of Sanskrit Research 1973).  Also Refer toVymanika Shashtra - Aeronautical Society of India. 
Stealth bomber from shastra
A glass-like material based on technology found in an ancient Sanskrit text that could ultimately be used in a stealth bomber (the material cannot be detected by radar) has been developed by a research scholar of Benaras Hindu University.
Prof M A Lakshmithathachar, Director of the Academy of Sanskrit Research in Melkote, near Mandya, told Deccan Herald that tests conducted with the material showed radars could not detect it. “The unique material cannot be traced by radar and so a plane coated with it cannot be detected using radar,” he said.
The academy had been commissioned by the Aeronautical Research Development Board, New Delhi, to take up a one-year study, ‘Non-conventional approach to Aeronautics,’ on the basis of an old text, Vaimanika Shastra, authored by Bharadwaj.
Though the period to which Bharadwaj belonged to is not very clear, Prof Lakshmithathachar noted, the manuscripts might be more 1,000 years old.
 
The project aims at deciphering the Bharadwaj’s concepts in aviation.
However, Prof Lakshmithathachar was quick to add that a collaborative effort from scholars of Sanskrit, physics, mathematics and aeronautics is needed to understand Bharadwaj’s shastra. 
The country’s interest in aviation can be traced back over 2,000 years to the mythological era and the epic Ramayana tells of a supersonic-type plane, the Pushpak Vimana, which could fly at the speed of thought.  
“The shastra has interesting information on vimanas (airplanes), different types of metals and alloys, a spectrometer and even flying gear,” the professor said. The shastra also outlines the metallurgical method to prepare an alloy very light and strong which could withstand high pressure.
He said Prof Dongre of BHU had brought out a research paper Amshubondhini after studying Vaimanika Shastra and developed the material. “There have been sporadic efforts to develop aeronautics in the country’s history. There has never been a holistic approach to it. Vaimanika Shastra throws up many interesting details that can benefit Indian aviation programme,” the director added.
Prof Lakshmithathachar rubbished the tendency among certain scholars to discount such ancient Sanskrit texts and said, “Why would our scholars want to cheat future generations? Unless it was important, nothing was written in the old days. The fact that there exists manuscripts indicates the significance.”
The academy has also embarked on other projects including ‘Indian concept of Cosmology’ with Indian Space Research Organisation, ‘Iron & Steel in Ancient India — A Historical Perspective’ with the Steel Authority of India Limited, and ‘Tools & Technology of Ancient India.’ 
 
 
Many researchers into the UFO enigma tend to overlook a very 
important fact. While it assumed that most flying saucers are of alien, or 
perhaps Governmental Military origin, another possible origin of UFOs is ancient 
India and Atlantis.
What we know about ancient Indian flying vehicles comes from ancient Indian 
sources; written texts that have come down to us through the centuries. There is 
no doubt that most of these texts are authentic; many are the well known ancient 
Indian Epics themselves, and there are literally hundreds of them. Most of them 
have not even been translated into English yet from the old Sanskrit.
The Indian Emperor Ashoka started a "Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men": 
great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka 
kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science 
catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for 
the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having been 
converted to Buddhism after defeating a rival army in a bloody battle.
The "Nine Unknown Men" wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book 
number was "The Secrets of Gravitation!" This book, known to historians, but not 
actually seen by them dealt chiefly with "gravity control." It is presumably 
still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or elsewhere 
(perhaps even in North America somewhere). One can certainly understand Ashoka's 
reasoning for wanting to keep such knowledge a secret, assuming it exists. if 
the Nazis had such weapons at their disposal during World War Ii. Ashoka was 
also aware devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other "futuristic 
weapons" that had destroyed the ancient Indian "Rama Empire" several thousand 
years before.
Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in 
Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. 
Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain 
directions for building interstellar spaceships!
Their method of propulsion, she said, was "anti-gravitational" and was based 
upon a system analogous to that of "laghima," the unknown power of the ego 
existing in man's physiological makeup, "a centrifugal force strong enough to 
counteract all gravitational pull." According to Hindu Yogis, it is this 
"laghima" which enables a person to levitate.
Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called "Astras" by 
the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any 
planet, according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years 
old. The manuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of "antima"; "the cap 
of invisibility" and "garima"; "how to become as heavy as a mountain of 
lead."
Naturally, Indian scientists did not take the texts very seriously, but then 
became more positive about the value of them when the Chinese announced that 
they were including certain parts of the data for study in their space program! 
This was one of the first instances of a government admitting to be researching 
anti-gravity.
The manuscripts did not say definitely that interplanetary travel was ever 
made but did mention, of all things, a planned trip to the Moon, though it is 
not clear whether this trip was actually carried out. However, one of the great 
Indian epics, the Ramayana, does have a highly detailed story in it of a trip to 
the moon in a Vimana (or "Astra"), and in fact details a battle on the moon with 
an "Asvin" (or Atlantean" airship.
This is but a small bit of recent evidence of anti-gravity and aerospace 
technology used by Indians. To really understand the technology, we must go much 
further back in time.
The so-called "Rama Empire" of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least 
fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many 
large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts 
of Pakistan, northern, and western India. Rama existed, apparently, parallel to 
the Atlantean civilization in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, and was ruled by 
"enlightened Priest-Kings" who governed the cities, The seven greatest capital 
cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as "The Seven Rishi 
Cities."
According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were 
called "Vimanas." The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double-deck, 
circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying 
saucer.
It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound." 
There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others 
like long cylinders ("cigar shaped airships"). The ancient Indian texts on 
Vimanas are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. 
The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire 
flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are 
still in existence, and some have even been translated into English.
The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible 
angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the 
construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced 
landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika 
Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even 
older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with 
the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions 
for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how 
to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds 
like "anti-gravity."
The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with 
diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could 
neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these 
vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light 
and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of 
Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by 
writing the publisher: VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, 
translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R. Josyer, 
Mysore, India, 1979 (sorry, no street address). Mr. Josyer is the director of 
the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation located in Mysore.

 
There seems to be no doubt that Vimanas were powered by some sort of 
"anti-gravity." Vimanas took off vertically, and were capable of hovering in the 
sky, like a modern helicopter or dirigible. Bharadvajy the Wise refers to no 
less than 70 authorities and 10 experts of air travel in antiquity. These 
sources are now lost.
Vimanas were kept in a Vimana Griha, a kind of hanger, and were sometimes 
said to be propelled by a yellowish-white liquid, and sometimes by some sort of 
mercury compound, though writers seem confused in this matter. It is most likely 
that the later writers on Vimanas, wrote as observers and from earlier texts, 
and were understandably confused on the principle of their propulsion. The 
"yellowish-white liquid" sounds suspiciously like gasoline, and perhaps Vimanas 
had a number of different propulsion sources, including combustion engines and 
even "pulse-jet" engines. It is interesting to note, that the Nazis developed 
the first practical pulse-jet engines for their V-8 rocket "buzz bombs." Hitler 
and the Nazi staff were exceptionally interested in ancient India and Tibet and 
sent expeditions to both these places yearly, starting in the 30's, in order to 
gather esoteric evidence that they did so, and perhaps it was from these people 
that the Nazis gained some of their scientific information!
According to the Dronaparva, part of the Mahabarata, and the Ramayana, one 
Vimana described was shaped like a sphere and born along at great speed on a 
mighty wind generated by mercury. It moved like a UFO, going up, down, backwards 
and forewards as the pilot desired. In another Indian source, the Samar, Vimanas 
were "iron machines, well-knit and smooth, with a charge of mercury that shot 
out of the back in the form of a roaring flame." Another work called the 
Samaranganasutradhara describes how the vehicles were constructed. It is 
possible that mercury did have something to do with the propulsion, or more 
possibly, with the guidance system. Curiously, Soviet scientists have discovered 
what they call "age-old instruments used in navigating cosmic vehicles" in caves 
in Turkestan and the Gobi Desert. The "devices" are hemispherical objects of 
glass or porcelain, ending in a cone with a drop of mercury inside.
It is evident that ancient Indians flew around in these vehicles, all over 
Asia, to Atlantis presumably; and even, apparently, to South America. Writing 
found at Mohenjodaro in Pakistan (presumed to be one of the "Seven Rishi Cities 
of the Rama Empire") and still undeciphered, has also been found in one other 
place in the world: Easter Island! Writing on Easter Island, called Rongo-Rongo 
writing, is also undeciphered, and is uncannily similar to the Mohenjodaro 
script. Was Easter Island an air base for the Rama Empire's Vimana route? (At 
the Mohenjo-Daro Vimana-drome, as the passenger walks down the concourse, he 
hears the sweet, melodic sound of the announcer over the loudspeaker,
"Rama Airways flight number seven for Bali, Easter Island, Nazca, and 
Atlantis is now ready for boarding. Passengers please proceed to gate number..") 
in Tibet, no small distance, and speaks of the "fiery chariot" thusly: "Bhima 
flew along in his car, resplendent as the sun and loud as thunder... The flying 
chariot shone like a flame in the night sky of summer ... it swept by like a 
comet... It was as if two suns were shining. Then the chariot rose up and all 
the heaven brightened."
In the Mahavira of Bhavabhuti, a Jain text of the eighth century culled from 
older texts and traditions, we read:
"An aerial chariot, the Pushpaka, conveys many people to the capital of 
Ayodhya. The sky is full of stupendous flying-machines, dark as night, but 
picked out by lights with a yellowish glare"
The Vedas, ancient Hindu poems, thought to be the oldest of all the Indian 
texts, describe Vimanas of various shapes and sizes: the "ahnihotra-vimana" with 
two engines, the "elephant-vimana" with more engines, and other types named 
after the kingfisher, ibis and other animals.
Unfortunately, Vimanas, like most scientific discoveries, were ultimately 
used for war. Atlanteans used their flying machines, "Vailixi," a similar type 
of aircraft, to literally try and subjugate the world, it would seem, if Indian 
texts are to be believed. The Atlanteans, known as "Asvins" in the Indian 
writings, were apparently even more advanced technologically than the Indians, 
and certainly of a more war-like temperment. Although no ancient texts on 
Atlantean Vailixi are known to exist, some information has come down through 
esoteric, "occult" sources which describe their flying machines. Similar, if not 
identical to Vimanas, Vailixi were generally "cigar shaped" and had the 
capability of maneuvering underwater as well as in the atmosphere or even outer 
space. Other vehicles, like Vimanas, were saucer shaped, and could apparently 
also be submerged.
According to Eklal Kueshana, author of "The Ultimate Frontier," in an article 
he wrote in 1966, Vailixi were first developed in Atlantis 20,000 years ago, and 
the most common ones are "saucer-shaped of generally trapezoidal cross-section 
with three hemispherical engine pods on the underside." "They use a mechanical 
antigravity device driven by engines developing approximately 80,000 horse 
power."
The Ramayana, Mahabarata and other texts speak of the hideous war that took 
place, some ten or twelve thousand years ago between Atlantis and Rama using 
weapons of destruction that could not be imagined by readers until the second 
half of this century.
The ancient Mahabharata, one of the sources on Vimanas, goes on to tell the 
awesome destructiveness of the war: 
"...(the weapon was) a single projectile 
charged with all the power of 
the Universe. 
An incandescent column of smoke and flame 
As bright as the 
thousand suns rose in all its splendor... 
An iron thunderbolt,
A gigantic messenger of death,
Which reduced to 
ashes
The entire race of the Vrishnis
And the Andhakas.
... the corpses were so burned
As to be unrecognizable.
The hair and 
nails fell out;
Pottery broke without apparent cause,
And the birds turned 
white.
... After a few hours
All foodstuffs were infected...
... to escape 
from this fire
The soldiers threw themselves in streams
To wash themselves 
and their equipment..."
It would seem that the Mahabharata is describing an atomic war! References 
like this one are not isolated; but battles, using a fantastic array of weapons 
and aerial vehicles are common in all the epic Indian books. One even describes 
a Vimana-Vailix battle on the Moon! The above section very accurately describes 
what an atomic explosion would look like and the effects of the radioactivity on 
the population. Jumping into water is the only respite.
When the Rishi City of Mohenjodaro was excavated by archeologists in the last 
century, they found skeletons just lying in the streets, some of them holding 
hands, as if some great doom had suddenly overtaken them. These skeletons are 
among the most radioactive ever found, on a par with those found at Hiroshima 
and Nagasaki. Ancient cities whose brick and stone walls have literally been 
vitrified, that is-fused together, can be found in India, Ireland, Scotland, 
France, Turkey and other places. There is no logical explanation for the 
vitrification of stone forts and cities, except from an atomic blast. 
Furthermore, at Mohenjo-Daro, a well planned city laid on a grid, with a 
plumbing system superior to those used in Pakistan and India today, the streets 
were littered with "black lumps of glass." These globs of glass were discovered 
to be clay pots that had melted under intense heat!
With the cataclysmic sinking of Atlantis and the wiping out of Rama with 
atomic weapons, the world collapsed into a "stone age" of sorts, and modern 
history picks up a few thousand years later. Yet, it would seem that not all the 
Vimanas and Vailixi of Rama and Atlantis were gone. Built to last for thousands 
of of years, many of them would still be in use, as evidenced by Ashoka's "Nine 
Unknown Men" and the Lhasa manuscript.
That secret societies or "Brotherhoods" of exceptional, "enlightened" human 
beings would have preserved these inventions and the knowledge of science, 
history, etc., does not seem surprising. Many well known historical personages 
including Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Krishna, Zoroaster, Mahavira, 
Quetzalcoatl, Akhenaton, Moses, and more recent inventors and of course many 
other people who will probably remain anonymous, were probably members of such a 
secret organization.
It is interesting to note that when Alexander the Great invaded India more 
than two thousand years ago, his historians chronicled that at one point they 
were attacked by "flying, fiery shields" that dove at his army and frightened 
the cavalry. These "flying saucers" did not use any atomic bombs or beam weapons 
on Alexander's army however, perhaps out of benevolence, and Alexander went on 
to conquer India.
It has been suggested by many writers that these "Brotherhoods" keep some of 
their Vimanas and Vailixi in secret caverns in Tibet or some other place is 
Central Asia, and the Lop Nor Desert in western China is known to be the center 
of a great UFO mystery. Perhaps it is here that many of the airships are still 
kept, in underground bases much as the Americans, British and Soviets have built 
around the world in the past few decades.
Still, not all UFO activity can be accounted for by old Vimanas making trips 
to the Moon for some reason. Undoubtedly, some are from the Military Governments 
of the world, and possibly even from other planets. Of course, many UFO 
sightings are "swamp, gas, clouds, hoaxes, and hallucinations, while there is 
considerable evidence that many UFO sightings, especially "kidnappings" and the 
like, are the result of what is generally called "telepathic hypnosis." One 
common thread that often runs between "Alien kidnappings," "sex with aliens," 
and other "close encounters of a third kind" is a buzzing in the ears just 
before the encounter. According to many well informed people, this is a sure 
sign of telepathic hypnosis."
Sanskrit texts are filled with references to gods who fought battles in the 
sky using Vimanas equipped with weapons as deadly as any we can deploy in these 
more enlightened times. For example, there is a passage in the Ramayana which 
reads:
"The Puspaka car that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought 
by the powerful Ravan; that aerial and excellent car going everywhere at will 
.... that car resembling a bright cloud in the sky."
".. and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent car at the command of the 
Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere."
In the Mahabharatra, an ancient Indian poem of enormous length, we learn that 
an individual named Asura Maya had a Vimana measuring twelve cubits in 
circumference, with four strong wheels. The poem is a veritable gold mine of 
information relating to conflicts between gods who settled their differences 
apparently using weapons as lethal as the ones we are capable of deploying. 
Apart from 'blazing missiles', the poem records the use of other deadly weapons. 
'Indra's Dart' operated via a circular 'reflector'. When switched on, it 
produced a 'shaft of light' which, when focused on any target, immediately 
'consumed it with its power'. In one particular exchange, the hero, Krishna, is 
pursuing his enemy, Salva, in the sky, when Salva's Vimana, the Saubha is made 
invisible in some way. Undeterred, Krishna immediately fires off a special 
weapon: 'I quickly laid on an arrow, which killed by seeking out sound'. Many 
other terrible weapons are described, quite matter of factly, in the 
Mahabharata, but the most fearsome of all is the one used against the Vrishis. 
The narrative records:
"Gurkha flying in his swift and powerful Vimana hurled against the three 
cities of the Vrishis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the 
power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as 
ten thousands suns, rose in all its splendour. It was the unknown weapon, the 
Iron Thunderbolt, a gigantic messaenger of death which reduced to ashes the 
entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas."
It is important to note, that these kinds of records are not isolated. They 
can be cross-correlated with similiar reports in other ancient civilizations. 
The after-affects of this Iron Thunderbolt have an ominously recognizable ring. 
Apparently, those killed by it were so burnt that their corpses were 
unidentifiable. The survivors fared little etter, as it caused their hair and 
nails to fall out.
Perhaps the most disturbing and challenging, information about these 
allegedly mythical Vimanas in the ancient records is that there are some 
matter-of-fact records, describing how to build one. In their way, the 
instructions are quite precise.
In the Sanskrit Samarangana Sutradhara, it is written:
"Strong and durable must the body of the Vimana be made, like a great flying 
bird of light material. Inside one must put the mercury engine with its iron 
heating apparatus underneath. By means of the power latent in the mecrcury which 
sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great 
distance in the sky. The movements of the Vimana are such that it can vertically 
ascend, vertically descend, move slanting forwards and backwards. With the help 
of the machines human beings can fly in the air and heavenly beings can come 
down to earth."
The Hakatha (Laws of the Babylonians) states quite unambiguously: "The 
privilege of operating a flying machine is great. The knowledge of flight is 
among the most ancient of our inheritances. A gift from 'those from upon high'. 
We received it from them as a means of saving many lives."
More fantastic still is the information given in the ancient Chaldean work, 
The Sifrala, which contains over one hundred pages of technical details on 
building a flying machine. It contains words which translate as graphite rod, 
copper coils, crystal indicator, vibrating spheres, stable angles, etc.
Flying high
Hundred years after Orville Wright’s first flight, K R N SWAMY 
remembers Shivkur Bapuji Talpade, the Indian who flew an unmanned aircraft, 
eight years before Wright.
Orville Wright demonstrated on December 17th 1903 that it was possible for a 
‘manned heavier than air machine to fly’. But, in 1895, eight years earlier, the 
Sanskrit scholar Shivkar Bapuji Talpade had designed a basic aircraft called 
Marutsakthi (meaning Power of Air) based on Vedic technology and had it take off 
unmanned before a large audience in the Chowpathy beach of Bombay. The 
importance of the Wright brothers lies in the fact, that it was a manned flight 
for a distance of 120 feet and Orville Wright became the first man to fly. But 
Talpade’s unmanned aircraft flew to a height of 1500 feet before crashing down 
and the historian Evan Koshtka, has described Talpade as the ‘first creator of 
an aircraft’.
As the world observes the one hundredth anniversary of the first manned 
flight, it is interesting to consider the saga of India’s 19th century first 
aircraft inventor for his design was entirely based on the rich treasury of 
India’s Vedas. Shivkar Bapuji Talpade was born in 1864 in the locality of 
Chirabazar at Dukkarwadi in Bombay.
He was a scholar of Sanskrit and from his young age was attracted by the 
Vaimanika Sastra (Aeronautical Science) expounded by the great Indian sage 
Maharishi Bhardwaja. One western scholar of Indology Stephen-Knapp has put in 
simple words or rather has tried to explain what Talpade did and succeeded!
According to Knapp, the Vaimanika Shastra describes in detail, the 
construction of what is called, the mercury vortex engine the forerunner of the 
ion engines being made today by NASA. Knapp adds that additional information on 
the mercury engines can be found in the ancient Vedic text called Samaranga 
Sutradhara. This text also devotes 230 verses, to the use of these machines in 
peace and war. The Indologist William Clarendon, who has written down a detailed 
description of the mercury vortex engine in his translation of Samaranga 
Sutradhara quotes thus ‘Inside the circular air frame, place the mercury-engine 
with its solar mercury boiler at the aircraft center. By means of the power 
latent in the heated mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion a man 
sitting inside may travel a great distance in a most marvellous manner. Four 
strong mercury containers must be built into the interior structure. When these 
have been heated by fire through solar or other sources the vimana (aircraft) 
develops thunder-power through the mercury.
NASA (National Aeronau-tical and Space Administra-tion) world’s richest/ most 
powerful scientific organisation is trying to create an ion engine that is a 
device that uses a stream of high velocity electrified particles instead of a 
blast of hot gases like in present day modern jet engines. Surprisingly 
according to the bi-monthly Ancient Skies published in USA, the aircraft engines 
being developed for future use by NASA by some strange coincidence also uses 
mercury bombardment units powered by Solar cells! Interestingly, the impulse is 
generated in seven stages. The mercury propellant is first vapourised fed into 
the thruster discharge chamber ionised converted into plasma by a combination 
with electrons broke down electrically and then accelerated through small 
openings in a screen to pass out of the engine at velocities between 1200 to 
3000 kilometres per minute! But so far NASA has been able to produce an 
experimental basis only a one pound of thrust by its scientists a power 
derivation virtually useless. But 108 years ago Talpade was able to use his 
knowledge of Vaimanika Shastra to produce sufficient thrust to lift his aircraft 
1500 feet into the air!
According to Indian scholar Acharya, ‘Vaimanika Shastra deals about 
aeronautics including the design of aircraft the way they can be used for 
transportation and other applications in detail. The knowledge of aeronautics is 
described in Sanskrit in 100 sections, eight chapters, 500 principles and 3000 
slokas including 32 techniques to fly an aircraft. In fact, depending on the 
classifications of eras or Yugas in modern Kaliyuga aircraft used are called 
Krithakavimana flown by the power of engines by absorbing solar energies!’ It is 
feared that only portions of Bharadwaja’s masterpiece Vaimanika Shas-tra survive 
today.
The question that comes to one’s mind is, what happened to this wonderful 
encyclopaedia of aeronautical knowledge accumulated by the Indian savants of 
yore, and why was it not used? But in those days, such knowledge was the 
preserve of sages, who would not allow it to be misused, just like the knowledge 
of atomic bombs is being used by terrorists today!
According to scholar Ratnakar Mahajan who wrote a brochure on Talpade. ‘Being 
a Sanskrit scholar interested in aeronautics, Talpade studied and consulted a 
number of Vedic treatises like Brihad Vaimanika Shastra of Maharishi Bharadwaja 
Vimanachandrika of Acharya Narayan Muni Viman yantra of Maharish Shownik Yantra 
Kalp by Maharishi Garg Muni Viman Bindu of Acharya Vachaspati and Vimana 
Gyanarka Prakashika of Maharishi Dhundiraj’. This gave him confidence that he 
can build an aircraft with mercury engines. One essential factor in the creation 
of these Vedic aircraft was the timing of the Suns Rays or Solar energy (as 
being now utilised by NASA) when they were most effective to activate the 
mercury ions of the engine. Happily for Talpade Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of 
Baroda a great supporter of the Sciences in India, was willing to help him and 
Talpade went ahead with his aircraft construction with mercury engines. One day 
in 1895 (unfortunately the actual date is not mentioned in the Kesari newspaper 
of Pune which covered the event) before an curious scholarly audience headed by 
the famous Indian judge/ nationalist/ Mahadeva Govin-da Ranade and H H Sayaji 
Rao Gaekwad Talpade had the good fortune to see his un manned aircraft named as 
‘Marutsakthi’ take off, fly to a height of 1500 feet and then fall down to 
earth.
But this success of an Indian scientist was not liked by the Imperial rulers. 
Warned by the British Government the Maharaja of Baroda stopped helping Talpade. 
It is said that the remains of the Marutsakthi were sold to ‘foreign parties’ by 
the relatives of Talpade in order to salvage whatever they can out of their 
loans to him. Talpade’s wife died at this critical juncture and he was not in a 
mental frame to continue with his researches. But his efforts to make known the 
greatness of Vedic Shastras was recognised by Indian scholars, who gave him the 
title of Vidya Prakash Pra-deep.
Talpade passed away in 1916 un-honoured, in his own country.
As the world rightly honours the Wright Brothers for their achievements, we 
should think of Talpade, who utilised the ancient knowledge of Sanskrit texts, 
to fly an aircraft, eight years before his foreign counterparts
 
 
 
 
 
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