वैमानिक शास्त्र

Vaimānika Śāstra

The Vaimānika Śāstra is a twentieth-century text, not an ancient one. It was dictated in the early 1900s by Pandit Subbaraya Shastry, who said it was revealed to him from a work of Maharṣi Bharadvāja, and was first published in the 1950s–70s. A 1974 study by engineers at the Indian Institute of Science found its aircraft designs unworkable. This course reads it honestly: as a fascinating modern work inspired by the vimānas of the epics and Purāṇas, and as a lesson in evaluating claims of ancient technology.

What you will learn

• How and when the text actually came to be
• Vimānas in the Rāmāyaṇa, Purāṇas and later tradition
• How to assess claims about ancient technology critically

Lessons

1. 1Orientation: A Modern Text on Vimānas🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
2. 2Pt. Subbaraya Shastry and the Text's Origins🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
3. 3Vimānas in Epic and Purāṇic Literature🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
4. 4Contents: Pilots, Craft and Materials🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
5. 5The 1974 IISc Study🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
6. 6Tradition, Imagination and Critical Reading🔒 Unlocks after enrolment