Continued...
ವಿಮಾನ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ- Ancient Indian-Aeronautics
The First Fleet - Shivkar Bapuji Talpade; Was an Indian the first man to fly ?
The 18th and 19th centuries were the period of inventions and two attempts got recorded into the annals of aviation history. One was Alberto Santos-Dumont of Brazil, who flew the first dirigible on a controlled flight around the Eiffel Tower in Paris on October 19, 1901, and the other the Wright Brothers os USA who flew the world's first aeroplane on December 17, 1903. They are recorded as the pioneers of manned, controlled flight.
But the first, but unsuccessful, flight of an aeroplane built by an Indian Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, (ಶಿವ್ಕರ ಬಾಪೂಜಿ ತಲ್ಪಡೆ) is yet to be recognized.
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| ಶಿವ್ಕರ ಬಾಪೂಜಿ ತಲ್ಪಡೆ-Shivkar Bapuji Talpade |
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, the Maharashtrian (Indian)
Pathare prabhu community member who purportedly flew an unmanned
airplane, named Marutsakhā, in the year 1895
Born: 1864, Mumbai
- Died: 1916
- Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivkar_Bapuji_Talpade
- Age at Death: 52 years old
- Rare Terms: "talpade"
Orville Wright (Wright Bro's) demonstrated on December 17th 1903 that it was
possible for a manned heavier than air machine to fly. But, in 1895,
eight years earlier, the Sanskrit scholar Shivkar Bapuji Talpade had
designed a basic aircraft called Marutsakthi (meaning Power of Air)
based on Vedic technology and had it take off unmanned before a large
audience in the Chowpathy beach of Bombay. The importance of the Wright
brothers lies in the fact, that it was a manned flight for a distance of
120 feet and Orville Wright became the first man to fly. But Talpade’s
unmanned aircraft flew to a height of 1500 feet before crashing down and
the historian Evan Koshtka, has described Talpade as the ‘first creator
of an aircraft’.
As the world observes the one hundredth
anniversary of the first manned flight, it is interesting to consider
the saga of India’s 19th century first aircraft inventor for his design
was entirely based on the rich treasury of India’s Vedas. Shivkar Bapuji
Talpade was born in 1864 in the locality of Chirabazar at Dukkarwadi in
Bombay.
He was a scholar of Sanskrit and from his young age was
attracted by the Vaimanika Sastra (Aeronautical Science) expounded by
the great Indian sage Maharishi Bhardwaja. One western scholar of
Indology Stephen-Knapp has put in simple words or rather has tried to
explain what Talpade did and succeeded!
According to Knapp, the
Vaimanika Shastra describes in detail, the construction of what is
called, the mercury vortex engine the forerunner of the ion engines
being made today by NASA. Knapp adds that additional information on the
mercury engines can be found in the ancient Vedic text called Samaranga
Sutradhara. This text also devotes 230 verses, to the use of these
machines in peace and war. The Indologist William Clarendon, who has
written down a detailed description of the mercury vortex engine in his
translation of Samaranga Sutradhara quotes thus ‘Inside the circular air
frame, place the mercury-engine with its solar mercury boiler at the
aircraft center. By means of the power latent in the heated mercury
which sets the driving whirlwind in motion a man sitting inside may
travel a great distance in a most marvellous manner. Four strong mercury
containers must be built into the interior structure. When these have
been heated by fire through solar or other sources the vimana (aircraft)
develops thunder-power through the mercury.
NASA (National
Aeronau-tical and Space Administra-tion) world’s richest/ most powerful
scientific organisation is trying to create an ion engine that is a
device that uses a stream of high velocity electrified particles instead
of a blast of hot gases like in present day modern jet engines.
Surprisingly according to the bi-monthly Ancient Skies published in USA,
the aircraft engines being developed for future use by NASA by some
strange coincidence also uses mercury bombardment units powered by Solar
cells! Interestingly, the impulse is generated in seven stages. The
mercury propellant is first vapourised fed into the thruster discharge
chamber ionised converted into plasma by a combination with electrons
broke down electrically and then accelerated through small openings in a
screen to pass out of the engine at velocities between 1200 to 3000
kilometres per minute! But so far NASA has been able to produce an
experimental basis only a one pound of thrust by its scientists a power
derivation virtually useless. But 108 years ago Talpade was able to use
his knowledge of Vaimanika Shastra to produce sufficient thrust to lift
his aircraft 1500 feet into the air!
According to Indian scholar
Acharya, ‘Vaimanika Shastra deals about aeronautics including the design
of aircraft the way they can be used for transportation and other
applications in detail. The knowledge of aeronautics is described in
Sanskrit in 100 sections, eight chapters, 500 principles and 3000 slokas
including 32 techniques to fly an aircraft. In fact, depending on the
classifications of eras or Yugas in modern Kaliyuga aircraft used are
called Krithakavimana flown by the power of engines by absorbing solar
energies!’ It is feared that only portions of Bharadwaja’s masterpiece
Vaimanika Shas-tra survive today.
The question that comes to one’s
mind is, what happened to this wonderful encyclopaedia of aeronautical
knowledge accumulated by the Indian savants of yore, and why was it not
used? But in those days, such knowledge was the preserve of sages, who
would not allow it to be misused, just like the knowledge of atomic
bombs is being used by terrorists today!
According to scholar
Ratnakar Mahajan who wrote a brochure on Talpade. ‘Being a Sanskrit
scholar interested in aeronautics, Talpade studied and consulted a
number of Vedic treatises like Brihad Vaimanika Shastra of Maharishi
Bharadwaja Vimanachandrika of Acharya Narayan Muni Viman yantra of
Maharish Shownik Yantra Kalp by Maharishi Garg Muni Viman Bindu of
Acharya Vachaspati and Vimana Gyanarka Prakashika of Maharishi
Dhundiraj’. This gave him confidence that he can build an aircraft with
mercury engines. One essential factor in the creation of these Vedic
aircraft was the timing of the Suns Rays or Solar energy (as being now
utilised by NASA) when they were most effective to activate the mercury
ions of the engine. Happily for Talpade Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of
Baroda a great supporter of the Sciences in India, was willing to help
him and Talpade went ahead with his aircraft construction with mercury
engines. One day in 1895 (unfortunately the actual date is not mentioned
in the Kesari newspaper of Pune which covered the event) before an
curious scholarly audience headed by the famous Indian judge/
nationalist/ Mahadeva Govin-da Ranade and H H Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Talpade
had the good fortune to see his un manned aircraft named as
‘Marutsakthi’ take off, fly to a height of 1500 feet and then fall down
to earth.
But this success of an Indian scientist was not liked by
the Imperial rulers. Warned by the British Government the Maharaja of
Baroda stopped helping Talpade. It is said that the remains of the
Marutsakthi were sold to ‘foreign parties’ by the relatives of Talpade
in order to salvage whatever they can out of their loans to him.
Talpade’s wife died at this critical juncture and he was not in a mental
frame to continue with his researches.
But his efforts to make known
the greatness of Vedic Shastras was recognised by Indian scholars, who
gave him the title of Vidya Prakash Pra-deep. Talpade passed away in 1916 un-honoured, in his own country.As
the world rightly honours the Wright Brothers for their achievements,
we should think of Talpade, who utilised the ancient knowledge of
Sanskrit texts, to fly an aircraft, eight years before his foreign
counterparts.
