Tag: Mahabharata

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1999: Vimanas: The Ancient Indian Astronaut Connection

Colin Mulligan Summary: I first remember reading about vimanas, i.e. highly advanced ancient Indian flying machines, in Chariots Of The Gods, the first international best-seller of the controversial author Erich Von Daniken. Down the years I have come across several other interesting references to vimanas elsewhere, too. It wasn’t , however, until I recently received an e mail from an Indian reader of my article Ancient Astronauts, that I recalled just how very intriguing these vimanas and, indeed, many other references to space travel and fantastically advanced technology in ancient Indian texts are. To this end, the following piece is intended to take a fresh look at vimanas and, moreover, explore the Indian ancient astronaut connection in general. I first remember reading about vimanas, […] Read More

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1999: Vimanas in Sanskrit: Descriptions of Ancient Aircraft

R. Cedric Leonard, Quest for Atlantis Summary: The following quotations from classical Sanskrit literature are chosen specifically to illustrate the appearance, nature, and capabilities generally ascribed to the ancient aerial vehicles known as vimanas (pronounced “vimans”) in the writings of ancient India. The following quotations from classical Sanskrit literature are chosen specifically to illustrate the appearance, nature and capabilities generally ascribed to the ancient aerial vehicles known as vimanas (pronounced “vimans”) in the writings of ancient India. The quotation from the Siva Purana below seems to be a reference to the engineering and building of Triple City (Tripura) mentioned in the Mahabharatan account of the War of the Gods and Asuras. Having spoken thus, Maharaja Nirga made a complete circle around Lord Krishna and […] Read More

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1999: The Story of Vimanas

Dr. Srikumar V. Gopalakrishna In the Vedic literature of India, there are many descriptions of flying machines that are generally called vimanas. These fall into two categories: (l) 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 (l) 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 Maha-bha-rata, the Rama-yana, and the Pura-nas. In addition, there is one book entitled Vaima-nika-sa-stra that was dictated in trance during this century and purports to be […] Read More

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2000: Secrets of the Vimana

Illuminations The Ancient Legends All images by Kamini Singh from South Asian Women’s Forum – Monday, Oct 16, 2000 (1) An Overview of the Literature “In various kinds of Asian and South Asian texts, we find references to flying machines and aerial vehicles. Chinese and Indian stories tell of peoples or individual artisans who constructed devices for traveling through the air. The stories take many different forms, including quite fanciful romances. Others present a picture of inventors taking pains to understand the basic principles of flight, and crafting machines of wood to achieve this goal.” – Dr. Benjamin B. Olshin, “Mechanical Mythology: Private Descriptions of Flying Machines as Found in Early Chinese, Korean, Indian, and Other Texts” (draft copy) The word vimana is purportedly derived […] Read More