Indian sage, not Wright brothers, invented aeroplanes: Science Congress
Mumbai: Captain Anand J Bodas, retired principal of a pilot training facility, who was invited to speak at the 102nd Indian Science Congress believes that it was Maharishi Bharadwaj in the Vedic Age, and not the Wright brothers who invented the aeroplanes.
Bodas said that “history merely notes that the Wright brothers first flew in 1903,” but it was in fact Maharishi Bharadwaj who spoke of “the existence of aeroplanes which travel from one country to another, from one continent to another and from one planet to another” around 7,000 years ago.
Bodas added that there is also reference of ancient aviation in Rigveda.
Bharadwaj had written about various types of metal alloys used to build an aeroplane, Bodas said. "Now we have to import aeroplane alloys. The young generation should study the alloys mentioned in his book and make them here," Bodas said.
"The basic structure was of 60 by 60 feet and in some cases, over 200 feet. They were jumbo planes," he said, further adding, "The ancient planes had 40 small engines. Today's aviation does not know even of flexible exhaust system."
In addition to the structure of the plane, Bodas even spoke of the clothes worn by the pilots and their diet, that is mentioned in the book by Bharadwaj, named ‘Viman Samhita’.
While the pilot’s diet contained of milk of buffalo, cow and sheep for specific periods, their dress cloth came from vegetation grown underwater.
The ancient Indian radar system was called rooparkanrahasya. "In this system, the shape of the aeroplane was presented to the observer, instead of the mere blimp that is seen on modern radar systems," he said.
The hosting of the lecture by Bodas recently attracted criticism from some scientists who said it undermined the empirical evidence on which the Congress was founded.
