[world-vedic] Vimanas (Flying objects)

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Vimanas

 

In the Vedic literature of India, there are many descriptions of flying

machines that are generally called vimanas.

India's national epic, The Mahabharata, is a poem of vast length and

complexity. Depending on one's point of

view, either it contains some of the earliest known science fiction, or

it records conflict between beings with

weapons as powerful and advanced as anything used today.

 

 

 

Here is a survey of some fascinating articles and quotes:

 

"One time while King Citaketu was

traveling in outer space on a

brilliantly effulgent airplane given

to him by Lord Vishnu, he saw

Lord Siva...The arrows released by

Lord Siva appeared like fiery

beams emanating from the sun globe and

covered the three

residential airplanes, which could

then no longer be seen."

 

Srimad Bhagavatam, Sixth Canto, Part 3

 

"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...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’)."

D. Hatcher Childress, "Ancient Indian Aircraft

Technology" In The Anti-Gravity Handbook

 

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."

Mahavira of Bhavabhuti (A Jain text of the eighth

century culled from older

texts and traditions)

 

"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."

 

D. Hatcher Childress, "Ancient Indian Aircraft Technology" In The

Anti-Gravity Handbook

"Now Vata’s chariot’s greatness! Breaking goes it, And Thunderous is

its noise, To heaven it touches, Makes

light lurid [a red fiery glare], and whirls dust upon the earth."

 

Rig-Veda (Vata is the Aryan god of wind.)

In the Vedic literature of India, there are many

descriptions of flying machines that are generally

called vimanas. These fall into two categories: (1) manmade

craft that resemble airplanes and fly

with the aid of birdlike wings, and (2) unstreamlined

structures that fly in a mysterious manner and

are generally not made by human beings. The machines in category (1)

are described mainly in medieval, secular

Sanskrit works dealing with architecture, automata, military siege

engines, and other mechanical contrivances.

Those in category (2) are described in ancient works such as the Rg

Veda, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana,

and the Puranas, and they have many features reminiscent of UFOs."

"There are ancient Indian accounts of

manmade wooden vehicles that flew with wings in the manner of modern

airplanes. Although these wooden

vehicles were also called vimanas, most vimanas were not at all like

airplanes. The more typical vimanas had

flight characteristics resembling those reported for UFOs, and the

being associated with them were said to

possess powers similar to those presently ascribed to UFO entities. An

interesting example of a vimana is the

flying machine which Salva, an ancient Indian king, acquired from Maya

Danava, an inhabitant of a planetary

system called Taltala."

 

Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities

"The cruel Salva had come mounted on the Saubha chariot that can go

anywhere, and from it he killed many

valiant Vrishni youths and evilly devastated all the city parks."

 

The Mahabharata

 

There is this account by the hero Krishna that is

suggestive of more modern weapons. As he

takes to the skies in pursuit of Salva: "His Saubha clung

to the sky at a league’s length...He threw

at me rockets, missiles, spears, spikes, battle-axes,

three-bladed javelins, flame-throwers,

without pausing....The sky...seemed to hold a hundred suns,

a hundred moons...and a hundred

myriad stars. Neither day nor night could be made out, or

the points of compass."

 

"The airplane occupied by Salva was very

mysterious. It was so

extraordinary that sometimes many airplanes would appear to be in the

sky, and sometimes there were

apparently none. Sometimes the plane was visible and sometimes not

visible, and the warriors of the Yadu

dynasty were puzzled about the whereabouts of the peculiar airplane.

Sometimes they would see the airplane on

the ground, sometimes flying in the sky, sometimes resting on the peak

of a hill and sometimes floating on the

water. The wonderful airplane flew in the sky like a whirling firebrand

- it was not steady even for a moment."

Bhaktivedanta, Swami Prabhupada, Krsna