Aircraft in Ancient India

Aircraft in Ancient India Author-Shri Author-Shri Parashuram Hari Thatte Editor –Dr. A.S. Nene [email protected] Editor’s Note -This article was first published in  “Vedic Magazine and Gurukul Samachar” ,

Lahore,

Vol.

XXI,

No.7,

in

December

1923.

Susequently it was published in Weekly Shilpa-Sansar, Vol.1, issue 16, pages 246-250,23rd April 1955. Introduction:  Introduction:  Mitra

(Positive

electricity)

and

VaruN

(Negative

electricity), these two invisible things are produced in clean earthen pots and are well known among Gods. Ref. Fig.1

sèaja ya x«tyae tyaeinin imÇíaeÉaÉa vé[í, devava devev;u;e u  àzSta>, \Gved n\te ïa<  ïa, va>, \Gved Fig.1- Vedic references on electricity Many people, who have not the remotest commercial interest in aeroplanes, just out of curiosity read hand books on their construction and if they have a mechanical turn of mind, theoretically they become capable of constructing constructing an aero aero plane. plane. But of all all kinds practical education, the education of aeroplanes, unless it is put to the practical purposes, is the least practical” practica l” (The Times of India, India, 2-7-1922). History: we have written an illustrated work * in Marathi on the subject of ancient and modern “Akash“Akash -yanas” or sky vehicles. In the supplement to that work, we have given, an evidence about the existence of the said vehicles in India, a description of the travels our hero, Rama, from Ceylon to Ayodhya in the vanquished Ravana’s Pushpaka Viman and alluded to Shalva’s attacks through Vimanas on our philosopher king Krishna’s capital Dwarka-facts noted in our well known epic Ramayana and Hari Vansha. But that evidence all points to their outward shape; we are not Aircraft in Ancient India

Page 1

able to give an idea of evidence about their internal evidence about   the internal construction. To our great delight our friend Rao Saheb K.V. Vaze, L.C.E. gave entirely new evidence as to their construction, from his collection of Sanskrit engineering books. This gave us material to write a new supplement to our book. This evidence is from Agastya Samhita, our friend got it copied from an oblong manuscript copy of Mr. Joshi, a Yajurvedi Brahmin at Ujjain, through Mr. N.V. Gadgil, Kaharwodi, Jagannath’s temple there. Ujjain, though now in ruined state on account of earthquakes and foreign invasions, was once the seat of a university where Emperor Ashoka received his education. It was the capital of our learned king Vikramaditya and was once the most important centre of our North-South trade. This important book therefore must be one of the books kept in Secretariats of the ancient Rajas there, in charge of some learned Pandit with a view to show them how to construct Aakashayanas to get out of forts thereby when closely besieged by enemies, and to manage an attack on them from outside in return. The book is divided into two parts- (1) Abdhiyana treats navigation and Agniyan treats of construction and management of aircrafts. The book shows also how to produce hydrogen by electric Mitra-VaruN required to fill up balloons. The author of this book is Kumbhodbhava, Agastyamuni a contemporary of our king Rama (B.C.5000) who killed Atipi and Vitipa, brother demons, who are said to have played havoc in different Aryan colonies in the Deccan by means of their kite like (Atipi) aeroplanes with flags (Vaitapi). The real names of these brothers are unknown, they being known only by their sky vehicles. In the well known H.H.the Gaikwad’s Sanskrit Library at Baroda there are some pages of Bharadwaja’s VimanadhikaraN an oblong manuscript which contains reference to the following Sanskrit books on the subject1. 2. 3. 4.

Swami Narayan’s VimanChandrika VimanChandrika Shaunaka’s Yomayantantra Yomayantantra Garg’s Kalpatantra Vachaspati’s Vachaspati’s Yaanbindu

Aircraft in Ancient India

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5. Chakrayana’s Khetayanpradipak 6. Dhundinaths’s Dhundinaths’s Vyomayanarkprakash Vyomayanarkprakash None of these works is, we think, now available in India, and therefore Agastya Samhita is not only the book but also perhaps the only copy of book giving full description of the subject of air-craft, we have come across up to this time. There are many words therein of historical importance but we have no occasion here to make clear the implied meaning of these terms. With this introduction, we take liberty of submitting the following for the consideration consideration of readers. Names –  There are many names given to these Vimans in the Agastya Samhita. Therefore it appears that the vehicles were not uncommon in Agastya’s days. Ref.Fig.2

Vyaemyan< myan< ivman<  ivman< SyadiGnyan<  SyadiGnyan< tde  tdevihvih- AgSTy s
jlEnaEnaEkekvyan< ve yan< yiVdman<  yiVdman< VyaeiNmkIitRt<, Fig.3 –Shape of vehicle WoodWood- The wood used in the construction of these vehicles used to be of first class i.e. it was light, flexible and easy to dress: the lighter it was the better. Ref.Fig.4

l"usus  "q< "u  q< ka:Q<  ka:Q< kaeml< ml< äMhjait  äMhjait td!, ivmanae svR  svRda¢aý< d  a¢aý< l"u  l"uTvadu T vaduÄm< Ä  m< Sm&  Sm&tm! tm!.  Fig.4 –Wood for aircraft BalloonBalloon- The balloons must have the following five qualities like a ship; it must be divided, flexible, high, balanced (level) and clean. Ref.Fig.5

Aircraft in Ancient India

Page 3

ivzI[Rtat  a kaemlta mlta %Ccta smta twa, SvCDta ceitit naEkekve ivmane gu  gu[pMckm! [  pMckm!.  Fig.5-Qualities Fig.5-Qualities of Balloons Cloth –The cloth used for it was silken. It was broad and soft. It was called Kausheya, Kausheya, because the the silk requied requied for its thick thick warps and woofs woofs was got from Kosh or covering of the crystis of silk worms. Ref.Fig.6

k&mIkae mIkae;smu ;smud!d  !ÉUÉ  t!tU   kaE  ! kaE;e;eyimitg*te, sUúma ú  ma sUúmaE ú  maE m&  m&dudSwU uS  wUlaE Aae  Aaetàae tàaetaEtaE ywa³m<  ywa³m<, vEtanTv tanTv c l"u tata c kaE;e;ySy ye Sy gu[s<¶h>, ¶h>, Fig.6 -Cloth for balloons Seat-  Seat-  If the seat of the astronaut was made of Palash wood, it was thought to be good in appearance, if it was Venu or Sandal, it was thought to give happiness; and if it was of Bakul wood it was thought to bring good luck; and if it was made of jack fruit tree wood, it was considered to float well. Ref.Fig.7

palazae rajk>  rajk> àae´ca< ´ca dn> suOaO  a %Ccte, bakulSty l  Sty zu É> É> àae´> ´> pansStark> Sm&t>. t>. Fig.7-Seat for Astronaut Umbrella-  Umbrella-  The umbrella in it was made of silk cloth. It was conical inflatable

in

shape,

it

was

fixed

lengthwise

and

was

double

in

dimmensions dimmensions than those of the balloons. Ref.Fig.8

kaE;e;yDÇ< ye DÇ< ktR  ktRVy< V y< sar[skucnaTmkm! c  naTmkm!,  DÇ< ivmanad!  ivmanad!iVdgu  iVdgu[<[   AayamadaE  < AayamadaEàiti:Qtm! àiti:Qtm!.  Fig.8-Desription of Umbrella Ropes –  A sutra was made of nine threads, a Gun was made of nine sutras, a Pash was made of nine Gunnas; a Rashmi was made of nine Aircraft in Ancient India

Page 4

pashas and a Rajju was made of 9, 8,7 or 6 Rashmis. Such ropes were used in the construction of Indian balloons. Ref.Fig.9

nviÉStu  sUÇ<Ç   sU < sUÇeÇ  Stu eStu nviÉgu  nviÉgu R [>, [>, gu[EStuyiÉ> y  iÉ> pazae riZmStE  riZmStEnRnvimÉR Rv  imÉRvev  t!te .!  nva:qsPt;q!s ie ZmÉIrJjv> Sm&ta> ta> Fig.9- Description of Ropes Air-tight cloth-  cloth-  In order to make the silk cloth air-proof it was thrice soaked in the sap of trees like Fig, jack-fruit, Mango, Ashoka, Kadamb, three Myrabolams (Trifala) and in the decoction of Mash pulse and pressed down in the water of shell lime and sugar and was thrashed and dried up. Ref.Fig.10

]IrÔumkd< m  kd. SttStt>. S. >.

AgSTy s
Aircraft in Ancient India

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Fig. 11- Electrical Battery Note- For this inherent quality of producing electricity, the Sun is called Mitra. Electroplating- Gilding Electroplating- Gilding electricity covers copper with Gold or Silver when in contact with acidulated water and solutions of metal salts i.e. contains metal full of Yavakshara” copper covered with gold was called Shat Kumbha”. This gilding by means of Gold or Silver is called electroplating. el ectroplating. Ref.Fig.12. It is enumerated as one of the sixty-four arts described in Shukraniti. Ref.Fig.13

yv]armyae xanaE  xanaE su  suz´jlsiNNxaE u ´jlsiNNxaE, AaCDadyit tTtaè< Sv[e  Sv[eRnrjte n  rjtenva. nva. Suv[R v  [RilPt< i lPt< tTtaè<  tTtaè< zatku  zatku <Éimit É  imit Sm&tm!,  AgSTya sp> s
k&iÇmSv[R iÇmSv[Rrjti³ya r jti³ya lepaid paid siT³ya. zu knIit knIit Fig.13 –Art of Electroplating NoteNote- Sage Agastya invented the art of guilding copper with either gold or silver by means of batteries and therfore his contemporaries honoured honoured

Aircraft in Ancient India

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him with the title of “Kumbhodbhava“Kumbhodbhava- (Battery borne) MaitravaruN (born from or son of Electricity) etc. Hydrogen –  By the foregoing process of producing electricity the acidulated water was divided into its constituents PraN (Oxygen) and Udan (Hydrogen) gases. Note –our old name for hydrogen is Udan Wayu . It is interesting to know for what purpose it was used. Flying – That hydrogen being light was poured up in the Varnished Silken cloth bound fast to the top of the vehicle which was thus floated up in the atmosphere. Ref.Fig.14

vayub
géTmd!hE k pi]g{aErip, rip, Aakaze vahye  vahye*an< *an< ivmanimit  ivmanimit s
knew

the

construction

and

management

of

air

craft

theoretically and practically, both from Rama’s time B.C.5000) if not from Aircraft in Ancient India

Page 7

Vedic time and as we do not see now any trace of indigenous art in India, we have forgotten it in the downfall of our nation and thought it has disappeared from India, it has struck roots in Germany and other European countries like Christianity. We can make it revive if we make an earnest attempt for its Indianization because the growth of things is subject to the principles underlying the following sentences; 1. Theories and dogmas are all very well in their own way but they will not carry you far if you reduce them to death…. Times of India. India . 2. The

Science

of

Engineering

is

growing

by

actual

operating

conditions rather than from the four walls of the lecture room or the laboratories. 3. Indians will not consent to have a navy or air service from which Indians were excluded- otherwise, this aircraft trade will naturally be monopoly of foreigners like our shipping trade, as they as sure to be the first in the field - Mr. Shastri (Bombay Chronicle Chronicle 25-5-1921. Conclusions –  We, therefore, ardently hope, taking full advantage of these facilities, we shall before long be able to construct and fly air-craft inflating them with non-inflammable helium instead of inflammable hydrogen (one penny per cubic foot) in our own country and in our air service bearing in mind the two following principles; 1. States were made up of hearts and alter. Those men, when they crossed the seas, would found hearts but would the find alter? Upon the answer to that depended the greatness not only of the British Empire but of humanity. 2.  “No risk no gain” and that too in numbers so great that some Divankas (Sky-abode of god) of us shall have occasion to declare with proud air that are born to live and die in the pure air of their aircrafts in the sky like Navankas (abode of ship) of another continent like nation viz. China, Siam and Burma who are known to be born and brought up and to die in the pure air of their ships in

Aircraft in Ancient India

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their seas, with an eye on their historical truth in one of the following words in Amara’s couplet. Ref.Fig.16 couplet.  Ref.Fig.16

Amra injRrar  a devava iÇdza ivbu xa>su xa>sura, r  a, supvaR p  vaR[> [  > sumns> m  ns> iÇidveza za idvaEks>. ks>. Fig. 16 - Amara’s couplet. Because every thing visible (Divoukas) or invisible (Navoukas) is like a cyclically found subject to the rule of evolution and involution or in other words birth, growth, death and rebirth etc. Annexure I I -List List of Indian Trees mentioned in this article Sanskrit

English

Latin

Aamalaki

Aamla

Embelic myrobalan.

Aamra

Mango tree

Mangiferra indica

Ashok

Ashoka tree

Saraca indica

Bilwa

Holy fruit tree

Aegle marmelos

Chandan

Sandalwood

Santalum album.

Gawakshi

Behada tree

bellaric. Terminalia bellerica.

Harija

Cane

Himalaya calamusfalconeri calamusfalco neri

Haritaki

Hirda tree

Myrobalans Terminalia Terminali a chebula

Kadamb

Kadamb tree

Anthocephalus Anthoceph alus cadumba

Panus

Jackfruit

Artocarpus integrifolia integrifolia

Foot Note -The book “Akash-yanas” by Shri P.H. Thatte  remained unpublished and manuscript is now preserved by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Poona with his other unpublished books.

Readers may refer a book “The flight of Hanumana by air”, by C.N. Mehta, Narayan Niketan, Nadiyad, pages 359 (1941) ***.***

Aircraft in Ancient India

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