We generally associate Sanskrit with religious texts, or literary works of bygone eras. However, during World War I, a Sanskrit manual with dramatically different content came to light. It contained instructions to enable vehicles to fly. It describes 12 “fantastic” activities that these crafts will be able to perform. They will also be able to cross multiple media. One of the vehicles described in the manual, Tripura (Three parts) The vehicle could move on land, in the air, in the sea and under water. The manual also explains how these ships can avoid detection. To make the outer surface of the aircraft look like the sky, it can either be hidden with chemical treatments, or machines and mirrors installed inside can be used. Pilots could use a special device to see the view on the ground below them. They can also use “sound capturing devices” to listen to conversations taking place inside other vehicles. Oddly enough, all of the characteristics just mentioned – the strange movements that aircraft can make, their ability to operate on multiple media, maintain low visibility, and readiness to react to the activities of other vehicles – are consistent with what we know about UFOs. Are there, tell its characteristics.
The Pentagon and NASA recently acknowledged that UFOs, or UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), are real. Luis Elizondo, who led the Pentagon’s investigation into UAP, collected several years of data based on pilots’ and Navy officers’ accounts of strange aerial or marine objects. Based on these, he highlighted the unusual characteristics displayed by UFOs. Apparently, UFOs do not look like the aircraft we are accustomed to. They are tubular or oval, and do not have wings or visible rotors or windows. Unlike conventional aircraft, they could not only fly through the air without wings, but also accelerate to unusually high speeds, changing direction at gravity-defying velocities. Elizondo said that when planes or submarines approached the UFOs, they would accelerate rapidly and retreat 60 miles within a few seconds. Like the vehicles mentioned in Sanskrit manuals, the UFOs were capable of not only a sudden retreat but also a quick reaction to enemy ships. They can descend rapidly from a height of 80,000 feet – at a speed about 30 times the speed of sound – and position themselves, motionless, over the ocean. They can remain absolutely stable even when affected by strong winds and atmospheric currents, unlike the aircraft we know. Then, the ability to land rapidly and remain stable was demonstrated by the vehicles described in the manual. UFOs can travel underwater, where they have been found to move about twice as fast as nuclear submarines. So they are able to transcend different types of media. Observers have seen UFOs rotating, hovering, retracting, and moving from side to side like ping pong balls – all reminiscent of the “fantastic activities” described in the manual. UFOs are good at “cloaking” or maintaining “low visibility”. They are difficult to detect with advanced radar technology and the naked eye: all that observers can see is the glow around them. This is reminiscent of the processes in the Sanskrit text for camouflage crafts.
Some of the models described in this Sanskrit book were tested in 2017 by Travis Taylor, an aerospace engineer at the University of California, Irvine. He conducted wind tunnel experiments on a tubular model, which lacked wings and rotors. It resembled several of the UFOs mentioned by Elizondo, such as those seen during the 2004 Nimitz incident. Taylor found that the model was airworthy. (YouTube video of the experiment is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpKIj4-bmt0) It was able to rise into the air and remain motionless, displaying remarkable stability even in strong wind gusts. This also matches with Elizondo’s description of UFOs that exhibit anti-gravity lift without visible means of propulsion. In fact, he even discusses the possibility that the models in the book were actually models of spacecraft.
Now we come to the story behind the Sanskrit text. We begin with a man whom the world later knew as Pandit Subbaraya Shastri (1866-1940). Born into a poor, poorly educated family prone to disease, he lost his parents early, and was abandoned by his siblings when he became partially crippled by smallpox. Wandering here and there in this miserable condition, Subbaraya found a holy man who took care of him and cured him. This man became his guru and taught him for five or six years. His teachings were part of a Sanskrit book, handed down in oral tradition. The famous sage of ancient times, Bharadwaja, was credited as the original composer of this book, and its contents were related to enabling vehicles to fly.
What is the relationship between Sanskrit oral tradition, Bharadwaja and flight-capable craft? starting from RigvedaAncient Sanskrit texts were handed down as oral canons. Because India was subject to frequent invasions, and because ancient manuscripts were written on perishable media such as palm leaves, written material was often looted or destroyed – creating an incentive to preserve the oral tradition. Was available. Surprisingly, our oral tradition contains many early descriptions of flightable vehicles. Rigveda Speaks of a divine race (deity) who were considered far superior to us in terms of strength, longevity and technology. These beings were aboard self-propelled flyable vehicles that could traverse multiple media. Two groups of deities – the Ashvins, twins who served as healers, and the Maruts, a group in charge of storm management, are presented as the owners of such vehicles. Bharadvaja was closely associated with the Sanskrit oral tradition, as he and his descendants are believed to have composed one of several “family books”. Rigveda. Their connection with flightable vehicles is also interesting. Due to unfortunate circumstances (details of which can be found here Matsya Purana), Bhardwaj was not accepted by his parents, but luckily he found a loving home with his maternal grandparents. Legend has it that they were Maruts and as a member of this family Bharadwaja gained deep knowledge of flying vehicles.
Now we return to Subbaraya. With the help of a young engineering student in Bangalore, who illustrated the book, it was written between 1918–23, and is called aeronauticsThe colonial government apparently objected to the book’s content and imprisoned Subbaraya, ensuring that the general public did not interact with him. model in aeronautics It was completely different from what the Western world was constructing and as a result, perhaps, many people, including Indian scientists, immediately declared the book a hoax.
However, recently, thinking about the book has changed in some circles. As suggested by Taylor’s experiments and those by Elizondo, the craft described in the book are closer to UFOs or spacecraft than conventional aircraft. Elizondo also mentioned the possibility that UFOs existed in the ancient world (YouTube video of Elizondo’s conversation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yX6ETCKyPo). He referred to an ancient Roman scroll at least 2,000 years old, where aerial objects shaped like burning shields followed Roman soldiers from battlefield to battlefield. Popular culture has noted this (by 1950s radio TV host and author Frank Edwards, weirder than science1959, Lyle Stuart, NYC) of the discoid flying shields that frightened elephants during Alexander the Great’s 4th-century BC battle with the Indian king Porus. This caused a stampede among the elephants, which worried the Greek soldiers. Perhaps it was this horrific experience that dissuaded the Greek army from continuing the invasion of India.
The technology envisioned in aeronautics According to these descriptions, it was several thousand years old. The materials used were those that were available in the ancient world and may seem unfamiliar now. There is no doubt that they have been replaced by more technologically advanced materials.
aeronautics Use of liquid mercury as fuel has been suggested. At first glance this may seem suspicious. However, current investigations are showing that mercury is quite viable. NASA used mercury in its engines in its SERT mission tests in the 1960s. They were using ion engines where powerful magnets pushed charged particles apart at high speed, creating thrust to power the spacecraft. When mercury was used as fuel instead of krypton or xenon, which are lighter, it could produce more rapid acceleration due to its greater weight. In 2018, a space startup called Apollo Fusion was planning to use mercury to fuel high-power, low-cost rocket engines. However, other fuels are considered to have less environmental risk.
How did a text that was allegedly passed down from the ancients and came to light in the early 20th century contain so much knowledge about spaceflight, especially when this knowledge was not available in the Western world? A lot of research is needed to uncover this mystery. Until then, we are left with an interesting mosaic of clues that suggest that some ancient Indians were familiar with UFOs and even, who knows, perhaps had a hand in developing them.
Brishti Guha has a PhD in Economics from Princeton and is currently Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, JNU.
Indrani Guha is a psychiatrist and Harvard-Radcliffe alumnus.
