Ancient Vedic Science-India

                      Advanced Technology(Part 2)

There was just too much of data on this topic which i wanted to share, but did not want to cram it into a single lengthy blog.

Hence i have split it into two parts and this is the second one.

You can read the First one here: Ancient_vedic_Science_India_Advanced_Technology_Part1

Caution: Please read the Following at your own risk, it is very lengthy and boring.

In case you suffer Brain Damage, I am not responsible for it.

                                                Susruta a Surgeon from ancient India

If you would like to know more, read this: Susruta

The people of the ancient world were wiser than us in more ways than one, which is why, we find so much of wisdom in their muses and writings.

The myths of India have meanings and messages that have relevance to the human life. Grand and strange animals, gods and demons churning an ocean of milk for ambrosia, and such stories are fascinating in themselves, but they DON'T convey what you think they do. Because, it is just not possible for these events to have actually occurred.

Wait....did you really think that these stories were just what they narrated?-.-

They obviously had a piece of wisdom, with an actual story underneath.

                                                                Samudra Manthan

*Did the phrase churning an ocean of milk for ambrosia intrigue you?

Read the story here: Samudra Manthan

In the narratives of ancient India references to episodes and entities that, from a normal historical perspective, could not have happened or existed. Yet, some of these sound like matters that are common in our world of science and technology. 

Some of the descriptions and details of what we read in Hindu epics and sacred history seemed incredibly outlandish as recently as a century and odd ago, but not so in our own times. In fact, we see in our own times the actualization of some of the things mentioned in those tales and tidbits of the distant past.

These ancient thinkers were no different from our present day Imaginative fiction writers, like J.K Rowling who wrote the Harry Potter.

But does that mean two centuries from now, people start believing it all happened and worship Harry as the Slayer of Voldemort, right? -____-*

                                                                    Lord Voldemort 

From another perspective, however, they look like the records of an extraordinarily advanced age that has been lost forever beyond any trace of survival. 

And so, some have argued, that ancient Indian civilization was sophisticated, not just in mysticism and metaphysics, but in technology as well. 

Whether the stories and statements we find in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and various Purana s, Bhagavatas tell us about the achievements of ancient Hindu technology, or they merely reflect the rich imagination of the ancients will always be debated. But what cannot be denied is that many of them have uncanny resemblance to what obtains in the modern world.

 If Mohammed won't come to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed.Which is why, i have compiled the following data below, for the believers.

Here are some of those Ancient Visions which might intrigue you.

WEAPONS

Consider Ancient Mythological wars which had references to various weapons,

"Devices that a hundred slew,

Threw people down and beat them too,

Demons one with eyes could follow,

Elephants, snakes that could humans swallow.

Death-like vultures causing pains,

Man-made tigers, lances, chains.

Bows and arrows auto-released,

Machine-horses, swords that never ceased,

Stone-hurling gadgets, so it's said,

And statues spitting flames in red,

Hot balls of iron, storks and owls,

Head-crushing rays, molten metals from bowls..."

This stanza is from one of the oldest extant Tamil epic (early centuries of the Common Era), known as "Civaka Cintamani."

*Know more about this Tamil epic here: Civaka Chintamani

Here, the nature of the weapons described, machines of mass murder, missiles that fire automatically, vats of molten metals etc are really very impressive.

                                                      An Ancient Space craft design

It seems in the Ramayana (I:27) that the sage Vishvamitra presented to Rama, weapons with which one could stupefy an enemy, put him to sleep, and simply infatuate him, shame him, and so on.

 These weapons came in various forms and shapes: some were like a thunderbolt, long and slender, some shone bright, another was shaped like a noose, and one had the form of a horse's head. Yet another was a simple sword. One weapon was meant for the release of pure heat. Scientists have interpreted the descriptions as referring to missiles and laser weapons.

The sheer variety of the weapons listed in such works speaks eloquently about the high level of the civilization at that time, for variety and complexity are the hallmarks of great civilizations. It is true that in our more idealistic moments we laud and proclaim peace, but it is also sadly true that all through history, every dynamic civilization has sought to perfect its arsenal for warfare.

Isn't It is difficult to resist the conclusion that all kinds of sophisticated arms must have been fairly common in those times?

An image of Krishna holding Sudarshan Chakra (A wheel/weapon capable of mass destruction)

*It is said that in ancient India there was nothing as powerful as Krishna's Sudarshan, Shiva's Trishula and Indra's Vajra.

                                                   Indra holding his Vajra(Thunderbolt)

* A Sage, Dadhichi is then said to have given up his life by the art of Yoga after which the Devas (Gods) fashioned the Vajrayudha from his rib cage. 

The science of weaponry was known in the classical Hindu world as "dhanurveda." And there were also theoretical analyses of the nature and variety of weapons. The "Agnipurana" lists five categories of weapons: 

"Yantramukta": weapons hurled by instruments; 

"Paimukta": manually hurled instruments;  

"Muktasandharita": weapons thrown and brought back:  

"Amukta": weapons that are not thrown at all; 

"Bahuyuddha": bodily weapons- arms, legs, teeth, and body.

Air crafts and Spacecrafts

References to flying machines in epics are many.

 In the Ramayana, for example, one speaks of a flowered aerial vehicle: "Pushpaka Vimana" belonging to Kubera. 

We are told (VI.75) how it came to the service of the hero Rama who rode in it throughout the length and breadth of the country to see if everything was right (AIRCRAFT). We also read that as he flew in the aircraft adorned with gold,and he saw the gods in other planes as he was flying (SPACECRAFT).

                                             The designs of Aircrafts found in the Ramayana

 This is an ancient evidence retrieved from the Mahabharata ERA that resembles an aircraft (i do not have much information on this one)

*BELOW IS A PICTURE OF AN AIRPLANE DESIGNED BY Leonardo Da Vinci

The following lines are mentioned in the Epic Ramayana:

"The Puspaka Car, that resembles the sun and belongs to my brother, was brought to Sri Lanka by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent car, going everywhere at will, is ready for thee. That car, resembling a bright cloud in the sky, is in the city. 'Speedily bring the aerial car for me,' ordered Rama. Thereupon the car promptly arrived, adorned with gold, having fine upper rooms, banners, and bejeweled windows, and giving forth a melodious sound, having huge apartments and excellent seats. Beholding the car coming by force of will Rama attained to an excess of astonishment. And the king got in, and the excellent car, at the command of Rama, rose up into the higher atmosphere. And in that car, coursing at will, Rama greatly delighted."

The Pushpaka Vimana may have looked liked this:

*Did you know Sita was Ravana's Daughter BTW, and was left at a River Bank at Birth. (Which Ravana was obviously unaware of)

Hey!Do you think this was just the poet's unbounded imagination, or these things really existed?!

Certain Sanskrit treatises speak of flying machines, though there is some question as to their authenticity and interpretation as treatises on aircraft manufacture.

USSANGODA is a place in Srilanka which is said to have been Ravana's  Airport.

No i'm not kidding ':/

The place name “Wariyapola” breaks down in to “Air-Ship-Port” (Waa=air). Couple

together this, with the fact that almost all the place names in this country has a history that

made them, we have our first clue, the runway lines of the king’s airplane.

                                                     A Modern day picture of Ussangoda

*DID you know The “Lankapura” that is mentioned  in the Ramayana cannot be located anywhere in Sri Lanka.Therefore the only clues that come from, are from the sea.Then where is this city of gold? To find the city now, we would have to dive deep in the eastern seas of Sri Lanka. Legend has it after the death of Ravana; the city sank into the sea.

*Just so you know Babylonian terracotta slab revealed that the city Babylon was constructed according to the instructions given by the “Lion MAN” that came from the sky. 

This is acceptable, since we know that the king Sinha-Mukha (Lion Face) built the city Sri Lankha, and he may have led a team of engineers to help build Babylon according to his city. Comparing the records of Plato (4th Cent. BC) and the description that comes from Ramayana’s Hanuman, Plato’s Atlantis and Hanuman’s Lankapura are the same!!

A penny for your thoughts.

 BTW King Simhamukha is known to have traveled to China as well.This is a picture of Simhamukha from Chinese Mythology.

(Looks naked :S)

Also check out Ramayana-data-tools-for-dating-proof

                                       

                                         A Cell that where Sita is said to have Imprisoned.

If all this is confusing you/ if you are not from India/if you don't know the story of Ramayana (i.e connection between Rama, Sita, Ravana, Hanuman) 

Please read this before you carry on with the blog: Ramayana_Summary

Data collection and storage: Chitragupta

Computers are among the marvels of modern technology. The ancients had one of their own too.

The ancient Hindus imagined such a computer, and that gave it a form and a name. It was called Chitragupta, which means Mindfold-Secret. We read in the Padma Purana that Chitragupta sprang from the Supreme Being, and was human in appearance. He was endowed with a huge blank book called "agra sandhani" and a writing instrument, and was instructed to record every  deed of every person who ever lived.

We note here the idea that data can be stored for future use.  Aside from its value as statistical information, details on people's action can also serve to reward or punish them. Thus, the role of Chitragupta was to keep a separate dossier on every individual. From this perspective, the notion of Chitragupta may be seen as the vision of a cosmic police state where there is an individual assigned to maintain records on everyone.

Television

The Bhagavad Gita is known for the wisdom that Krishna imparted to Arjuna in Kurukshetra where the armies of two families had gathered for a climactic war. But what is not as widely known is that the Gita dialogue was relayed to the blind king Dhritarashtra by his minister Sanjaya who was nowhere near the field where the action and dialogue were taking place. He was in the palace with the king.

The Mahabharata (MB: VI.2) says that Sanjaya received an equipment of distant vision especially for performing the task of reporting what was going on in the battlefield. Conceptually, it was as if he was watching the unraveling of the scenes on a television screen.  It was more than that:  He was endowed with full knowledge of history and geography which enabled him to recount to the king in details of the topography of the entire country, and narrate everything that was going on in Kurukshetra where the Gita was spoken and the battle was raging.

                            Sanjaya relaying the battle field scenes to the Blind Drithrashtra

Indeed, this was the first recorded instance - historical or sacred historical - of direct reporting - almost journalistic, one might say - of live reporting of events, verbal exchanges, death tolls and all from a battle scene.

Teleportation

FYI Teleportation refers to the transfer of something from one point of space to another without that something being physically moved from place to place. (in case you did not know!)

Until recently this was no more than a science-fiction fantasy. However, during the 1990s, physicists reported that it was possible to accomplish photon teleportation: That is to say, to move a photon from one region to another without the photon itself traveling from point to point. Modern science fiction such as Star Trek have applied this notion to human teleportation.

Ancient  Indic thinkers had imagined this possibility centuries ago.

In the story of Usha and Chitralekha, which appears in Bhagavatam. The beautiful Princess Usha, single and longing for love, had the experience of a handsome youth in her dream one night. The dream was interrupted, and she woke up and exclaimed, "Oh, beloved one, where are you?" She confided the dream to her close friend Chitralekha. Chitralekha said she would find who the young man was and get him to her. But how was she to recognize him? She began to draw a series of faces, and asked Usha if any of them resembled the man of her dream. After seeing many sketches, Usha finally came upon a drawing which was of Aniruddha, a grandson of Lord Krishna. That night, Chitralekha transported herself to Dwaraka where she found Aniruddha,  who was in deep sleep. She then brought him instantly to Soniputra where Usha lived.

Two aspects of today's world are implicit in this story. First there is the idea that one can identify an unknown person through sketches, a matter that is routinely done in criminal investigations in our own times. Then, of course, there is the notion of teleportation, though not in the technical sense of the term.

It may be mentioned in passing that human teleportation is well-nigh impossible, at least on the basis of current physics. What it calls for is the annihilation of a body at one spot and its re-constitution with its zillions of atoms and molecules in the precisely exact configuration at a distant point. As of now this is only a science-fictional dream. But the Chitralekha story conjures up the possibility at some time in the future.

Astronomy and Horoscope: Khagola Shastra

The word Khagola perhaps is derived from the famous astronomical observatory at the University of Nalanda which was called Khagola. It was at Khagola that the famous 5th century Indian Astronomer Aryabhatta studied and extended the subject.

Around 500 BC, Aryabhata presented a mathematical system that took the Earth to spin on its axis and considered the motions of the planets with respect to the Sun. He also made an accurate approximation of the Earth's circumference and diameter, and also discovered how the lunar eclipse and solar eclipse happen for the first time. He gives the radius of the planetary orbits in terms of the radius of the Earth/Sun orbit as essentially their periods of rotation around the Sun. He was also the earliest to discover that the orbits of the planets around the Sun are ellipses.

He is the first known astronomer on that continent to have used a continuous system of counting solar days. His book, The Aryabhatiya, published in 498 AD described numerical and geometric rules for eclipse calculations. Indian astronomy at that time was taking much of its lead from cyclic Hindu cosmology in which nature operted in cycles, setting the stage for searching for numerical patterns in the expected time frames for eclipses.

                                  Ancient Astronomical observatories in India (Jhantar Mantar, Jaipur)

Aryabhata is said to have been born in 476 A.D. at a town called Ashmaka in today's Indian state of Kerala. When he was still a young boy he had been sent to the University of Nalanda to study astronomy. He made significant contributions to the field of astronomy. He also propounded the Heliocentric theory of gravitation, thus predating Copernicus by almost one thousand years.

*DID you know Aryabhata was also a Mathematician and inventer the number zero( shunya).

Aryabhatta's Magnum Opus, the Aryabhattiya was translated into Latin in the 13th century. Through this translation, European mathematicians got to know methods for calculating the areas of triangles, volumes of spheres as well as square and cube root. Aryabhatta's ideas about eclipses and the sun being the source of moonlight may not have caused much of an impression on European astronomers as by then they had come to know of these facts through the observations of Copernicus and Galileo.

But considering that Aryabhatta discovered these facts 1,500 years ago, and 1,000 years before Copernicus and Galileo makes him a pioneer in this area too. Aryabhatta's methods of astronomical calculations expounded in his Aryabhatta-Siddhatha were reliable for practical purposes of fixing the Panchanga (Hindu calendar). Thus in ancient India, eclipses were also forecast and their true nature was perceived at least by the astronomers.

The lack of a telescope hindered further advancement of ancient Indian astronomy. Though it should be admitted that with their unaided observations with crude instruments, the astronomers in ancient India were able to arrive at near perfect measurement of astronomical movements and predict eclipses. Indian astronomers also propounded the theory that the Earth was a sphere. Aryabhatta was the first one to have propounded this theory in the 5th century.

*A Indian astronomer and mathematician, Brahmagupta estimated in the 7th century that the circumference of the earth was 5000 Yojanas. A yojana is around 7.2 kms. Calculating on this basis we see that the estimate of 36,000 kms as the Earth's circumference comes quite close to the actual circumference known today!

There is an old Sanskrit Sloka (couplet) which is as follows:

"Sarva Dishanaam, Suryaha, Suryaha, Suryaha."

This couplet means that there are suns in all directions. 

This couplet which describes the night sky as full of suns, indicates that in ancient times Indian astronomers had arrived at the important discovery that the stars visible at night are similar to the Sun visible during day time. In other words, it was recognized that the sun is also a star, though the nearest one. This understanding is demonstrated in another Sloka which says that when one sun sinks below the horizon, a thousand suns take its place. This apart, many Indian astronomers had formulated ideas about gravity and gravitation.

Brahmagupta, in the 7th century had said about gravity that "Bodies fall towards the Earth as it is in the nature of the Earth to attract bodies, just as it is in the nature of water to flow".

About a hundred years before Brahmagupta, another astronomer, Varahamihira had claimed for the first time perhaps that there should be a force which might be keeping bodies stuck to the Earth, and also keeping heavenly bodies in their determined places. Thus the concept of the existence of some attractive force that governs the falling of objects to the Earth and their remaining stationary after having once fallen; as also determining the positions which heavenly bodies occupy, was recognized.

It was also recognized that this force is attractive force. The Sanskrit term for gravity is Gurutvakarshan which is an amalgam of Guru-tva-akarshan. Akarshan means to be attracted, thus the fact that the character of this force was of attraction was also recognized. This apart, it seems that the function of attracting heavenly bodies was attributed to the sun.

The sun (Surya), In the Vedas , is  referred to as the source of all life, the center of creation and the center of the spheres. The last statement is suggestive of the sun being recognized as the centre of the universe (solar system). 

What supports the contention that it could have existed in India before the Greek astronomers developed it, is that in Vedic literature the Sun is referred to as the 'center of spheres' along with the term Guru-tva-akarshan which seemingly refers to the sun. The Vedas are dated around 3000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. Thus the heliocentric idea could have existed in a rudimentary form in the days of the Rig Veda and was refined further by astronomers of a later age.

Indian Astronomers like Aryabhatta and Varahamihira who lived between 476 and 587 A.D. made close approaches to the concept of Heliocentrism. 

In the Surya-Siddhanta, an astronomical text dated around 400 A.D., the following appellations have been given to the sun. "He is denominated the golden wombed (Hiranyagarbha), the blessed; as being the generator of heat".

Brahmagupta (598-668) was the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain and during his tenure there wrote a text on astronomy, the Brahmasphutasiddhanta in 628. He was the earliest to use algebra to solve astronomical problems. He also develops methods for calculations of the motions and places of various planets, their rising and setting, conjunctions, and the calculation of eclipses of the Sun and the Moon.

Bhaskara (1114-1185) was the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain, continuing the mathematical tradition of Brahmagupta. He also calculated the time taken for the Earth to orbit the sun to 9 decimal places.

It would be surprising for us to know today that this science had advanced to such an extent in ancient India that ancient Indian astronomers had recognized that stars are same as the sun, that the sun is center of the universe (solar system) and that the circumference of the Earth is 5,000 Yojanas. One Yojana being 7.2 kms., the ancient Indian estimates came close to the actual figure.

(Sorry for the History : '()

Genetic chaos that happened in Ancient India

In our own age genetic engineering has done some remarkable things. But it is no secret that there is also a general fear that it has the potential for doing much harm. Some have projected strange birth defects and grotesque species variations could occur as a result of our tinkering with the genes such as they have evolved in nature.  Thus, according to one report, 

"Genetically modified 'rape,' a plant used extensively for its oil, transferred its herbicide resistance to nearby wild 'brassicas,' creating 'superweeds.'"

Read more about :Super-weed discovered in Great Britain

                                                   A Possible result of Genetic Chaos

In the Mahabharata (VI.3) we have a frightening description of a world where there is total genetic chaos:

"Donkeys are taking birth in kine ... Trees in forests are exhibiting unseasonable flowers and fruits. Women, quick with child, and even those who are not so, are giving birth to monsters. Carnivorous beasts, mingling with similar birds, are feeding together. Ill-omened beasts, some having three horns, some with four eyes, some with five heads, some with two sexual organs, some with two heads, some with two tails, some having fierce teeth, are being born, and with mouths wide open are uttering unholy cries. Horses with three legs, furnished with crests, having four teeth, are also being born.

"The list goes on and on, including such things as, "Every barley-stalk has five ears, and every paddy-stalk has a hundred. The best creatures on earth upon whom life depends, namely kine, when milked after the calf have suck, yield only blood."

It is difficult to know what to make out of such passages except to surmise that perhaps some terrible bio-chaos must have occurred in the region at one time. Indeed in the same chapter there are also references to planetary and astral anomalies such as three lunations twice meeting together in the course of the same lunar fortnight, and the dimming of the stars in the constellation Big Bear.

Such references make one wonder whether the known history of civilization is really complete, whether perhaps they might have been phases of human history of which we may have lost complete track. It is not satisfying to say that everything we read in the ancient epics is purely creative writings. The reading of mythology as records of a world that has somehow disappeared altogether from human relic except as vague remembrances which are enshrined in the legends of ages past could turn out to be more fruitful.

*Cloning (avathar): the avathar or incarnation of Vishnu or other gods like Shakthi (kali, durga etc).

 *In Shiv purana there is a story wherein parvathi who initially would be very dark in complexion, will fall in love with Shiva and performs tapas(penance) and finally she wishes to get rid of her complexion, hence she draws the melanin from her skin and from the melanin she drew kali was being born.

*Similarly when Vishnu decides to descend on earth to restore dharma he himself is not born, a cell of his which is compared to an atom of him, where him being the source is cloned to produce a character very much of his kind who possess those qualities, which is expected for a divinely being to possess for the accomplishment of a deed, to restore dharma. 

Yes. We are talking about Krishna. 

Thus, each of his avatars have got percentage variations, when compared with the source(Vishnu) and are rated in terms of kalas.

Though these sound fictional, the detailed procedural process is being mentioned in the Vedas (as, how to clone) which are much advanced than the recent technology in use but, we make use of natural products instead of chemicals.^.^

Btw, if you are not playing with full deck, you always have Google.

If you noticed, i successfully managed to avoid Garbage talks this time : D

This book may interest you.

To whomsoever it may concern . I do NOT own the copyrights of the images/ content displayed above. This information is collected from different sources and put together for EDUCATIONAL purposes only. 

If you sue me, May thunder blast your head.

No.There is no Part 3. Thanks for Reading.
-Mia