O Rama of unequaled prowess,

This aerial car shining like the sun,

Moves as one pleases, wonderful and excellent;
This Pushpak of Kuer, roed ! Ravan in attle,
"s retained here for !our sake;
The !onder aerial car, looking like a cloud,
#tands here and ! which transport,
$ou can reach %!odh!a without an! troule&
Ma! prosperit! attend !ou'
- Valmiki Ramayan [6.121.9-11]
The above verse describes the Pushpak Vimaan, perhaps the most amo!s airship mentioned in
the ancient "ind! literat!re. #any $anskrit epics contain reerences to s!ch lyin%
machines called the (imaans)(imanas. These Vimaans &ere said to be able to travel into space
bet&een dierent planets and &ere !sed by vario!s deni'ens o the hi%her (okas. )n this post, &e
shall analy'e the evidence in avor o s!ch lyin% machines bein% available to the ancients and
their similarities to the modern aircrats.
Vimaans in literature
There are many descriptions o lyin% machines that broadly all into t&o cate%ories*
+1, Manmade aircrafts that resemble o!r modern airplanes, and
+2, Alien structures that are %enerally b!ilt by either the architects o -evas or .s!rs and
resemble the modern perception o /01s.
The 0)R$T o this cate%ory are described mainly in medieval $anskrit literat!re dealin% &ith
architect!re, sie%e en%ines, and other mechanical contrivances. Those in the $2314- cate%ory
are described in ancient &orks s!ch as the Rig (eda, the Mahaharat, Rama!an, and vario!s
Puraans, and have many eat!res reminiscent o /01s.
5e &ill deal &ith the second cate%ory irst as their reerences are more in n!mber, and seem to
be more a!thentic as &ell. 6erhaps everyone &ho kno&s anythin% abo!t "ind!ism, or has
heard7read the Ramayan, &o!ld kno& abo!t Pushpak Vimaan, the aircrat &hich belon%ed to
Ravan, the kin% o (anka.
4ot many, ho&ever, &o!ld have heard abo!t the architect o this aircrat - Maya Danav.
#aya, the %ited .s!r con8!rer
#aya &as the oremost o architects amon% the .s!rs and a ormidable rival to Vishwakarma,
the architect-o-the-%ods. "e &as the ather-in-la& o Ravan and is credited &ith marvelo!s eats
o en%ineerin% perormed not only or the demons b!t also or -evas and h!mans. To list a e&
o these, #aya b!ilt the*
Three lyin% cities o Tripura or the sons o Tarkas!r,
The island city o *anka or 9!ber and
the 6alace-o-ill!sions or the 6andavs at "ndraprastha.
:esides these architect!ral &onders, he also &rote the astronomical treatise called the 'Surya-
siddhant' that orms the basis o )ndian astronomy even today; 3ombinin% his kno&led%e o all
these principles, he perhaps took the ne<t step and created the lyin% vehicles or Vimaans. #aya
himsel, is believed to have possessed a Vimaan meas!rin% t&elve c!bits in circ!merence, &ith
o!r stron% &heels.
The Pushpak Vimaan
6!shpak &as ori%inally desi%ned or Kuber, the %od-o-&ealth, b!t &as !s!rped by his hal-
brother, Ravan alon% &ith his island city o (anka. There are vario!s passa%es in the Ramayan
that talk abo!t the &onder!l =!alities o this aerial vehicle*
>
>> --
>
>> --
That chariot which is decorated with golden ornaments, !oked with monster+faced mules that
have gem studded trappings is ride+ale ! the wish of the rider, and sitting in such a chariot
which is wholl! golden and which rides with a sound like the pealing of thunder, that celerated
Ravan, the rother of Kuer and the lord of demons, traveled towards the lord of rivers and
rivulets, namel! the ocean&
$o, the 6!shpak &as an aerial vehicle, navi%able by tho!%ht, shimmerin% like the $!n, &ith a
th!ndero!s noise and co!ld travel any&here across the %lobe. $o!nds like a cross bet&een a
/01 and one o o!r modern s!personic planes;
.n alle%ed /01 si%htin% in #e<ico
The special characteristic o this vehicle seems to be that &hatever may be the n!mber o people
sittin% inside the plane, there &o!ld al&ays be one seat vacant; )n other &ords, i 4 n!mber o
people &ant to board the plane, there &o!ld still be +4?1, seats available. This prodi%io!s
capacity is mentioned to in the ollo&in% verses*
>> --
>
Shri Raam said - #omething more dearer than ever!thing dear will e achieved ! me, if " reach
%!odh!a with the host of m! friends along with all of !ou, for, " shall feel delighted&
This is &hen Vibhishan, the brother o Ravan and the ne&ly cro&ned kin% o (anka tells the
(ord, that the aircrat can carry as many people as the (ord &o!ld &ant to accomodate;
>> --
>
Thereupon, that #ugreeva along with the monke!s gladl! ascended that wonderful Pushpaka, the
aerial car& (ihishan together with his counselors also ascended it&
>> --
>
,hen all of them ascended, that excellent aerial car, elonging to Kuer, flew into the sk!, after
having een dul! authori-ed ! Rama&
6!shpak Vimaan - 6ahari miniat!re paintin%
>> --
>
.eeling greatl! re/oiced and satisfied while travelling in that splendid aerial car, which was now
in the air and was provided with the image of a swan, Rama shone like Kuer&
>> --
>
%ll those might! (anars, ears and demons sat comfortal! and spaciousl! in that wonderful
aerial car&
.nother s!ch description is o!nd in the Ayodhya Kand !V"# pp$ %&'(%&)*-
The splendid chariot, made of silver, and right like the fire itself, making a noise like the
roaring of the clouds; def!ing all ostacles, adorned with /ewels and gold, da--ling to the
e!esight and right, went speedil! on, making space resound like unto the muttering cloud in the
sk!& 0e issued out of his aode like the eautiful moon passing through a huge cloud&
.s mentioned in the post @Rama ( The +istorical PerspectiveA, in $ri (anka, the 6!shpak
Viman is reerred to as the 1handu Monara or the .l!ing+Peacock and even today there e<ists a
place called ,eragantota in (anka &hose name implies BThe-(andin%-6lace-o-.ircratB;; 4ot
ar rom there is another place called 2urulupotha +parts-o-birds, &here he is s!pposed to have
the aircrat-repair center;
1ne o the 6 airports o Ravan - 5era%antota

This implies that it is more than likely that the 6!shpak Vimaan -)- act!ally e<ist and &as
perhaps the last aircrat o its kind beore the advent o o!r so called modern a%e.
,ther References to Vimaans
The 6!shpak is not the only aircrat mentioned in so m!ch detail. The Mahabharat mentions
s!ch celestial crats in many passa%es as &ell;
-!rin% his =!est or celestial &eapons beore the #ahabharat 5ar, .r8!n &as invited by "ndra
to spend some time in .mravati. )ndraBs charioteer #atali came to pick him !p and this is ho&
the description %oes*
%nd on this sunlike, divine, wonderful chariot the wise disciple of Kuru flew /o!ousl! upward&
,hen ecoming invisile to the mortals who walk the earth, he saw wondrous airorne chariots
! the thousands&
%nd the celerated %r/un, having passed through successive regions of the heavens, at last
eheld the cit! of "ndra& %nd there he eheld celestial cars ! thousands stationed in their
respective places and capale of going ever!where at will, and he saw tens of thousands of such
cars moving in ever! direction'
+ Mahabharat "ndralok-amana Parv
5hile in heaven, .r8!n helped )ndra c!rb the .s!r menace and assisted his ather in a e&
battles*
,hen the 1ait!as were eing slaughtered the! again took to their vimana and, emplo!ing the
1anava science, flew up into the sk! & & & " 3%r/una4 assaulted their vimana & & & ,ounded ! the
flight of deadl!+accurate iron missiles, the %sura vimana fell roken to the earth & & & Matali
swiftl! descended earthward, as in a steep dive, on our divinel! effulgent car&
-eva-.s!r celestial &ar
.%ain, in the Swar-aohan Parv, &hen )ndraBs spacecrat comes to pick !p C!dhhishthir, this is
the description %iven*
Then 1harma and "ndra and the other deities, causing $udhishthira to ascend on a car, went to
the celestial region& Those eings capale of going ever!where at will, rode their respective
aerial cars& King $udhishthira, riding on his car, ascended quickl!, causing the entire sk! to
la-e with his effulgence&
) these passa%es do not talk abo!t aircrats or space-ships, &hat do else do they reer toDD

0!rther s!pport or the Vimaans comes rom the 6!raans like Shrimad .ha-vat Puraan. There
is an entire battle that ra%es at the port city o -&arka &hich is ca!sed by a dis%r!ntled kin%
called $alva and his o!t-o-the-&orld airplane*
*ord #iva said, 5#o e it&5 On his order, Ma!a 1anava, who conquers his enemies6 cities,
constructed a fl!ing iron cit! named Saubha and presented it to #alva&
S. /0$1)$1*
This unassailale vehicle was filled with darkness and could go an!where& 7pon otaining
it, #alva went to 1varaka, rememering the (rishnis6 enmit! toward him&
S. /0$1)$2*
%t one moment the magic airship uilt ! Ma!a appeared in man! identical forms, and the next
moment it was again onl! one& #ometimes it was visile, and sometimes not& Thus #alva6s
opponents could never e sure where it was&
S. /0$1)$%/*
.rom one moment to the next the Saubha airship appeared on the earth, in the sk!, on a
mountain peak or in the water& *ike a whirling, flaming aton, it never remained in an! one
place.
S. /0$1)$%%*
There are other s!ch passa%es too concernin% other characters rom the 6!ranic history*
0aving spoken thus, Mahara/a 8riga circumamulated *ord Krishna and touched his crown to
the *ord6s feet& 2ranted permission to depart, King 8riga then oarded a wonderful celestial
airplane as all the people present looked on&
S. /0$)3$&0*
%s soon as the s!mptoms of his lieration were manifest, he saw a ver! eautiful airplane
coming down from the sk!, as if the rilliant full moon were coming down, illuminating all the
ten directions&
S. 3$/%$/4*
. spacecrat 1!t-o-this 5orld
1ear King 1hruv, neither !our forefathers nor an!one else efore !ou ever achieved such a
transcendental planet& The planet known as Vishnuloka, where *ord (ishnu personall! resides,
is the highest of all& "t is worshipale ! the inhaitants of all other planets within the universe&
Please come with us and live there eternall!&
S. 3$/%$%)*
O immortal one, this unique airplane has een sent ! the #upreme Personalit! of 2odhead, who
is worshiped ! selected pra!ers and who is the chief of all living entities& $ou are quite worth!
to oard such a plane&
S. 3$/%$%1*
)t may be diic!lt or !s to believe that s!ch technolo%y e<isted in those ancient times beca!se
&e have been conditioned to believe that modern time is the BEolden a%e o scienceB. :!t, &hat i
o!r ancients &ere more advanced than !sDD
5ere the ancients more advanced6
The nat!ral =!estion that comes !p is that i this &ere so, &here did all that technolo%y vanishD
#y %!ess &o!ld be that the #ahabharat 5ar &as 4/3(2.R in nat!re and the !se o all those
divine %stras +aka 4!clear &eapons, led to the decimation o not only a lar%e portion o the
&orld pop!lation b!t also the technolo%y and civili'ational pro%ress that mankind had achieved
till then.
)ma%ine i s!ch a &ar breaks o!t today, &hat &o!ld be the condition o h!manity in the decades
to comeD Eranted that !nlike pre-historic times, h!mans no& e<ist at all possible latit!des on the
planet, it mi%ht not lead to a complete loss o development b!t the scientists at the c!ttin% ed%e
o technolo%y, livin% and &orkin% in the /$ or 2!rope or 3hina &o!ld s!er a %reat loss.
The people remainin% behind &o!ld remember the Bs!personic planesB and Bpatriot missilesB and
Bs!bmarine rocket la!nchersB b!t may not necessarily have the technolo%y to b!ild them; .nd to
someone rom a !t!re %eneration, these technolo%ical advances &o!ld then seem like ablesF
stories passed do&n rom one %eneration to another, 8!st as the 6!shpak Vimaan or the -ivine
.stras seem to !s no&;
1ne s!ch criticism o the Vimaans is that they &ere said to be dra&n thro!%h the sky by
Gcelestial steedsH +&hether horses, s&ans, asses, or elephants,. :!t the ans&er to that lies in this
sentence rom a $anskrit te<t called Samaran-ana Sutradhara &hich states =!ite !ne=!ivocally
- BManufacturing details of these machines are withheld for the sake of secrec!, not out of
ignorance;B
6robably, the prop!lsion !nits &ere deliberately constr!cted to resemble these animals; This
partic!lar book is an encyclopedic &ork on classical )ndian architect!re +Vastu Shastra, &ritten
by Ra7a .ho7 o -har +1III-1IJJ .-,. )n KL chapters, he covers s!b8ects ran%in% rom to&n
plannin%, ho!se architect!re, temple architect!re, sc!lpt!ral arts, paintin%, and a chapter on the
art o mechanical contrivances, called the C.4TR.$.
The chapter on yantras is most intri%!in% as its verses 9J-1II mention bird-shaped aerial cars
+Vimanas,, and verses 1I1-1IM mention a sort o robots actin% as %!ards;; )t contains 2LI
stan'as that are devoted to li%ht. )t describes in detail, every possible aspect o lyin%.
$ample some e<cerpts -
6The aircraft which can go ! its own force like a ird + on the earth or water or through the air +
is called a (imana& That which can travel in the sk! from place to place is called a (imana !
the sage of old&6
6The od! must e strong and durale and uilt of a light wood 9*agha+daru:, shaped like a ird
in flight with wings outstretched 9mahavinhanga:& ,ithin it must e placed the mercur! engine,
with its heating apparatus made of iron underneath6&
6The iron engine must have properl! welded /oints to e filled with mercur!, and when the fire is
conducted to the upper parts, it develops power with the roar of a lion& ;! means of the energ!
latent in mercur!, the driving whirlwind is set in motion, and the traveler sitting inside the
(imana ma! travel in the air, to such a distance as to look like a pearl in the sk!6&

2ither this %!y &as the prec!rsor o 8ules Verne and +$9$ 5ells or &hat he &rote did make
some sense even in those times; )t may be that the book &as not act!ally &ritten by the kin%
himsel b!t &as compiled by the e<perts rom each discipline and %iven his name as a sho& o
co!rtesy. 2ven so, the person &ho &rote abo!t the aircrats &o!ld at the least have had a very
ertile ima%ination;;
.nother pop!lar book or the st!dy o Vimaans is the Vyamanika:Vaimanika Shastra. )t is an
early 2Ith cent!ry $anskrit te<t abo!t the science involved &ith the st!dy, desi%n, and
man!act!rin% o ly-able machines and lyin% them.
The te<t &as translated in 19J2 by E. R. Nosyer, accordin% to &hom itBs credit %oes to Pandit
Subbaraya Shastry, &ho dictated it in 191K-192L. )t has LIII shlokas in K chapters and !nder
the direction o 6andit $hastry, ill!strations &ere dra&n or Vaimanika $hastra by a certain T. 9.
2llapa.
)ll!strations based on Vaimanika $hastra
The te<t &as then p!blished in "indi in 19J9 and then in 19ML into 2n%lish by E.R. Nosyer &hile
2llappaOs ill!strations &ere added only in the 19ML edition and &ere not incl!ded in 19J9
p!blication. "ere is a list o some topics shared in the Vaimanika $hastra*
secrets or the constr!ction o airplanes, ho& to avoid break them, c!t them, set them on
ire and destroy themF
secret to immobili'e the airplaneF
secret cloakin% technolo%y or the airplaneF
secret to ascertain the direction o an aircrat approachin% enemyF
secret o destroyin% enemy planes.
There are many &ebsites and blo%s dealin% &ith this partic!lar treatise and yo! can ind plenty o
details abo!t the same =!ite easily. 5hat yo! may not ind is the mention o the 0)R$T )4-).4
#.4 to create an !nmanned aircrat based on this book, and the recordin% o this event K years
beore the 5ri%ht brothers;
The man, Shivkar .;pu7i Talpade, &as a riend and disciple o 6andit $!bbaraya $hastry and is
believed to have constr!cted and lo&n )ndiaBs irst !nmanned airplane in the year 1K9J to a
hei%ht o 1JII eet based on the principles in the Vaimanika $hastra;
TalpadeBs airplane &as named Marutsakh<, literally, B0riend-o-the-airB and the machine le& !pto
a certain hei%ht beore crashin% do&n at 3ho&patty. (ack o !nds halted !rther research into
the improvement o this machine by Talpade b!t its ate!l li%ht &as recorded by Kesari, the
ne&spaper r!n by <okmanya .al 9an-adhar Tilak in 1K9J;
1ne o TalpadeOs st!dents, 6. $at&elkar, is believed to have recorded that the !nmanned plane
le& a e& min!tes and then crashed. The veracity o these claims is diic!lt to prove today b!t
since the event &as &itnessed by none less than a #ahara8a +o :aroda,, the iss!e remains
inconcl!sive at best.
. (ondon Times article disc!ssin% the iss!e
#ore than these relatively recent developments ho&ever, my oc!s is on the ancient te<ts s!ch as
the ones shared earlier or they corroborate &hat &e have already disc!ssed and reasonably
concl!ded in an older post titled @<okas or Planets of Advanced AliensA.
3o!ld the m!lti-limbed %ods and %oddesses &ith s!per-h!man abilities, space-crats and atomic
&eaponry, act!ally be .()24$ &ith a keen interest in o!r &orldD ) that &ere tr!e, the e<istence
o this technolo%y at a time &hen h!man science &as not that advanced &o!ld make sense.
.nother aspect that &o!ld be covered is the mention o Maya Danav as the desi%ner and
man!act!rer o these planes since the -anavs are s!pposed to live on the planetary system
called :ila-s&ar%a &hich is even more advanced than the $&ar%a o )ndra.
5hether &e consider them advanced aliens or demi-%ods, these bein%s are ar s!perior to !s in
scientiic as &ell as spirit!al p!rs!its and the %oal o sharin% this kno&led%e is to ollo& the path
o 2!aan+!oga and detach onesel rom attachment to this mortal body and its entrapments.
.ll planets, star-systems, neb!lae, %ala<ies, black-holes, !niverses, m!ltiverse etc. are nothin%
b!t emanations rom $hri "ari Vishn!. 2ternity maniests itsel in endless &ays and .r8!n %ot a
rare %limpse o this vision in the Virat Roop o <ord Krishna at 9!r!kshetra &hen he
&itnessed the entire 1P planetary dimensions composed o n!mero!s $!ns, #oons, 6lanets and
Eala<ies rom 6ast, 6resent as &ell as the 0!t!re encompassed in the body o the (ord;
The $!preme (ordBs Virat $&aroop
Qillions o /niverses emer%in% rom (ord #aha-Vishn!Bs body pores
) concl!de this post rememberin% the same Virat Roop o the $!preme (ord and 8oinin% hands in
s!pplication or deliverance rom this never-endin% cycle o :irth and -eath.
"svarah paramah krishna sac+cid+anand vigrahah
anadir aaadir govindah sarva kaaran kaaranam

$
Aum Shanti= Shanti= Shanti=
.
6osted by Vineet .man .%%ar&al at 22*2I JM comments* (inks to this post
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(abels* /.0.1s and Vimanas
(ocation* #!mbai, #aharashtra, )ndia
1lder 6osts