Vimana
Vimāna are mythological flying palaces or chariots described in
Etymology
The
Vedas
The predecessors of the flying vimanas of the
pulled by animals, usually horses.The existing Rigveda versions do not mention vimanas, but verses from, RV 1.164.47-48, also known as The Riddle Hymn, were taken as evidence for a spacecraft by Indian philosopher and social leader Dayananda Saraswati who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas.
- 47. kr̥ṣṇáṃ niyā́naṃ hárayaḥ suparṇā apó vásānā dívam útpatanti
- tá ā́vavr̥trant sádanād r̥tásya ā́d ídghr̥téna pr̥thivī́ vyúdyate
- 48. dvā́daśa pradháyaś cakrám ékaṃ trī́ṇi nábhyāni ká u tác ciketa
- tásmint sākáṃ triśatā́ ná śaṅkávo 'rpitā́ḥ ṣaṣṭír ná calācalā́saḥ[2]
- 47. Along the dark course, tawny well-feathered (birds) [=flames], clothing themselves in the waters, fly up toward heaven.|
- These have returned here (as rain) from the seat of truth [=heaven]. Only then is the earth moistened with ghee.||
- 48. The chariot-wheel (of the Sun) is one, its wheel-segments are twelve, its wheel-naves are three: who understands this?|
- They [=the days] that wander on and on are fitted together on that, like three hundred pegs, like sixty (more).||
- -Translator: [Stephanie W. Jamison, Joel P. Brereton][3]
Dayananda Saraswati interpreted these verses to mean:
- "jumping into space speedily with a craft using fire and water ... containing twelve stamghas (pillars), one wheel, three machines, 300 pivots, and 60 instruments."[4]
Others may interpret it merely as a flowery way of saying the year is made of 12 months or 3 seasons or about 360 days.
Hindu epics
Ramayana
In the Ramayana, the pushpaka ("flowery") vimana of Ravana is described as follows:
- "The Pushpaka Vimana that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent Vimana going everywhere at will ... that chariot resembling a bright cloud in the sky ... and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent chariot at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere.'"[5]
It is the first flying vimana mentioned in existing
Jain literature
Vimāna-vāsin ('dweller in vimāna') is a class of deities who served the tīrthaṃkara Mahā-vīra.[6] These Vaimānika deities dwell in the Ūrdhva Loka heavens. According to the Kalpa Sūtra of Bhadra-bāhu, the 24th tīrthaṃkara Mahā-vīra himself emerged from the great vimāna Puṣpa-uttara;[7] whereas the 22nd tīrthaṃkara Ariṣṭa-nemi emerged from the great vimāna Aparijita.[8] The tīrthaṃkara-s Abhinandana (4th) and Sumati-nātha (5th) both[9] traveled through the sky in the "Jayanta-vimāna", namely the great vimāna Sarva-artha-siddhi, which was owned by[10] the Jayanta deities; whereas the tīrthaṃkara Dharma-nātha (15th) traveled through the sky in the "Vijaya-vimāna".[11] A vimāna may be seen in a dream, such as the nalinī-gulma.[12][13]
Ashoka Edict IV
Ashoka mentions a model vimana ("aerial chariot") as part of the festivities or procession which were organised during his reign.[14]
In times past, for many hundreds of years, there had ever been promoted the killing of animals and the hurting of living beings, discourtesy to relatives, (and) discourtesy to Sramanas and Brahmanas. But now, in consequence of the practice of morality on the part of king Devanampriya Priyadarsin, the sound of drums has become the sound of morality, showing the people representations of aerial chariots, elephants, masses of fire, and other divine figures.
— Ashoka, Major rock Edict no IV
Samarangana Sutradhara
Chapter 31 of Samarangana Sutradhara, an 11th-century treatise on architecture, discusses machinery and automata, discussing their operation in terms of the four elements and aether, but suggesting that mercury may be an element in its own right.[15] The author says he has personally seen most of the devices he describes in use, but does not specify which ones. The list includes two wooden aircraft, referred to as "vimanas": a "light" one shaped like a huge bird and a "heavy" one shaped like a temple.[16] Both types contain a fire chamber which heats a container of mercury, somehow causing the aircraft to rise from the ground. However, the description is purposely left incomplete for ethical reasons:
- "The construction of the machines has not been explained
- For the sake of secrecy, and not due to lack of knowledge.
- In that respect, that should be known as the reason -
- They are not fruitful when disclosed".[15]
Vaimānika Shāstra
The
Ayyavazhi
Pushpak Vimana, meaning "an aeroplane with flowers", is a mythical aeroplane found in
A similar reference is found in regards of
In popular culture
Vimanas have appeared in books, films, internet, games, etc., including:
- Vimana is an arcade game from Toaplanwherein the player's ship earns the name.
- Vimana also appears in the Ganesh.
- Biman is the name of national airline of Bangladesh, its name derived from Sanskrit Vimāna.
- Vimanas appear on the 2005 Vimanarama comic mini-series.
See also
- Quimbaya artifacts
- Vaimanika Shastra
- Ratha
- Early flying machines
- Merkabah mysticism
- Vimanavatthu
- Laputa
- Aviation in India
References
- ^ Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary
- ^ Thomson, Karen; Slocum, Jonathan. "Rigveda, Book 1: Metrically Restored Text". University of Texas at Austin: Linguistics Research Center. Archived from the original on Apr 29, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0190633394.
- ^ cited after Mukunda, H.S.; Deshpande, S.M.; Nagendra, H.R.; Prabhu, A.; Govindraju, S.P. (1974). "A critical study of the work "Vyamanika Shastra"" (PDF). Scientific Opinion: 5–12. Retrieved 2007-09-03. p. 5.
- ^ Dutt, Manatha Nath (translator), Ramayana, Elysium Press, Calcutta, 1892 and New York, 1910.
- ISBN 9781605067278.
- ^ (2) Archived December 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (171) Archived December 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Johann Georg Buhler (ed. by James Burgess) : The Indian Sect of the Jainas. London : Luzac, 1903. p. 67
- ^ Johann Georg Buhler (ed. by James Burgess) : The Indian Sect of the Jainas. London : Luzac, 1903. p. 74
- ^ Johann Georg Buhler (ed. by James Burgess) : The Indian Sect of the Jainas. London : Luzac, 1903. p. 69
- ^ Saryu Doshi (transl. by Thomas Dix) : Dharma Vihara, Ranakpur. Axel Menges, 1995. p. 11a.
- ^ Mewar Encyclopedia, s.v. "Ranakpur, founding of" Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Eugen Hultzsch (1925). Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch (in Sanskrit). pp. 30–31.
- ^ . Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ King Bhojadeva of Dhar (attrib.) (1927). Sastri, T. Ganapati (ed.). Samarangana Sutradhara. Baroda: Baroda Central Library. p. introduction. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ *Mukunda, H.S.; Deshpande, S.M.; Nagendra, H.R.; Prabhu, A.; Govindraju, S.P. (1974). "A critical study of the work "Vyamanika Shastra"" (PDF). Scientific Opinion: 5–12. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ Childress (1991), p. 109
- ^ "Flights of fancy? (Part X of XII)". The Week. 2001-06-24. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
External links
- WorldMysteries.com The Anti-Gravity Handbook (Lost Science) by David Hatcher Childress
- Vymanika Shastra
- UFOs and Vimanas
- Los Vimanas (a collection of various texts, partially in Spanish and partially in English) http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_vimanas.htm#inicio
- "Vimana Aircraft of India: More Sloppy Scholarship from David Childress" by Jason Colavito