Durgadas discusses the ancient Vedic technology of which much is still unknown today, to modern science!

Ancient Vedic Technology:
Robots, Flying Machines and Clones

By Durgadas, Veda Kovid.

© Durgadas, Arogya Ayurvedic Health Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.

We often think of robots today, especially large killer-robots as something of a fantasy. Little do we know however that such things were known in the ancient world.

In ancient texts, we learn of astras or atomic-based weapons that could produce such things as tornados, tsunamis, fires and lightening-bolts.

We should note here that in reply to being asked if the atomic bomb at Alamogordo was the first to be detonated, Oppenheimer himself famously replied: " 'Well, yes - in modern times, of course!' "

This itself makes us think a bit. Oppenheimer himself did an odd thing by quoting a verse from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, itself part of Mahabharata when it went off. Mahabharata itself describes several of these weapons and Oppenheimer himself was fascinated by Hindu texts and epics.

India had great technology and gave the world several advancements, such as the use of debts or negative numbers, trigonometrical functions, algebra, advanced plastic surgery and more. In about the 12^th Century AD, many Muslims invaded the Universities of India, namely in Nalanda and destroyed many libraries containing many books on various subjects, of which only a few have survived.

It is said that there were literally hundreds of thousands of manuscripts [1] on shelves in palm-leaves there – the ruins of the University of which still stands today. In its day, it attracted students as far as Rome, Greece, Persia, Arabia, Central Asia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China and more. Many Chinese and Arab travellers to India have left us detailed accounts of the sophisticated nature of it.

Let us also remember that vaccines, anesthesia (with cannibis and wine), genetics and pioneering surgery for perforated intestines and hence surgical clips and also vascular surgery came to us from Ayurveda.

Thus, we should also not be surprised at such advancements in ancient India. In 3000BCE, the Indus-Sarasvati cities have boasted homes with advanced plumbing techniques not seen until the Roman Empire thousands of years later – including underground sewers connected to all homes with inspection holes, clay pipes in houses, houses with private bathrooms and even sit-down western-style toilets! Bitumen was also employed (itself from the term jatu in Sanskrit) – the use of which goes back to 5000BCE in India [2].

Many of our games, including dice, snakes and ladders, chess, ludo etc. also originated in India.

Water-clocks, as early as the Indus-Valley civilisation were known in India [3] as also incense clocks, of which China's oldest forms originated in India [4].

The Surya-Siddhanta, reflecting from older texts such as Jyotish Vedanga also estimates the diametres of planets close to today's modern calculations.


Ancient Robotics:

The epic Ramayana speaks of various ancient kinds of technology, but more specifically, an ancient killer-robot, Kumbhakarna in the army of the tyrant demon-King, Ravana. Ancient Sri Lanka itself is well-known for its pyramidal-style Stupas of massive size and also ancient hydraulic engineering feats.

As it stands today, the Jetavanarmaya Stupa in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka is still the world's largest brick structure!  The base-area is said to be some 233,000m2 and some 93.3 Million bricks were used in construction of this ancient stupa!

Other massive feats in southern India are such as the Brihadeshwara Temple in Tanjore with it's 81-tonne dome above it's 66-metre high tower!

Kumbhakarna, meaning "ears of a pot (kumbha)" is a titan in the Ramayana and 'brother' of Ravana. He is seen as possessing the size of a mountain and Sri Rama himself questions if he is some kind of rakshasa or asura - a demon or evil spirit, since he has seen nothing like it before (Yuddhakanda, VI. 61. 7).

Vishrava the sage is said to have 'fathered' him, but more correctly, he created him (Yuddhakanda, nirmitah - VI.61.24). Verses 29-29 further state that Brahma, upon seeing him was scared and made him awaken only every six months of a year, for one day alone, in which he would terrorise people. This is much like a gigantic robot and undeed, Ramayana states that Kumbhakarna was created for destructive purposes (loka vinashaya - verse 24).

Finally, when the Vanaras under Hanuman etc. were set to attack, they became afraid of him and, it is stated that they should (uchyantam - be told, etat - it is, samuccharitam  - some kind of yantram - machine or device) and hence not be so scared (being a non-living entity) - Yuddhakanda, VI.61.33. It is also said there was no-one of all beings (sarva bhuteshu - VI.62.22) who was equal to him in strength. 

Kumbhakarna also, like a robot built with logic, advises his brother of the words of their other brother, the noble Vibhishana, that it was Ravana's ego that has gotten him into the fight with Rama, at which Ravana becomes angry of Kumbhakarna acting like a teacher (guru acharya VI.63.23). Kumbhakarna then replies that he always gives only good advice to Ravana, the King, in whatever situation he is in (but of course, it is Ravana's choise how he should act on his behalf). It is also stated that Kumbhakarna is not only the enemy of the Gods, but also the Danavas or demons also - VI.65.36, thus making him a somewhat impartial "killing machine", simply in Ravana's possession at the time.

We know of the technology of the astras or weapon-chants used by Rama in Ramayana and also the magical and massive flying Pushpaka Vimana of Ravana that was later taken by Sri Rama who used it to fly back to his capital in Ayodhya with in Northern India. Ravana is himself sitting in his Vimana when Kumbhakarna is awakened for battle by the rakshasa army and storms in shaking the ground to see his brother (VI.62.6).

Without any weapons, it is said Kumbhakarna can kill even Indra, the lord of the Gods with his bare hands alone (VI.63.46). When Mahodara speaks to him, he also states while he was the offspring (jata) of a good family, he has the insight of a naturally-born man (prakrita - of nature) and possesses the qualities of righteousness and also arrogance. This itself reveals he is also not a natural or organic entity (aprakritiya) and hence these questions arise as to why he acts with such qualities of such entities born of nature.

After tearing off his nose and ears, the he stated to the Vanaras that he suffered no distress at all (VI.67.151). When he was finally beheaded by Rama with an astra or atomic weapon, his head is said to have caused breaking of buildings and gates on the King's highway (VI.67.172).


Flying Machines and Cities:

It should not be a wonder at this, since Ravana's brother, Kubera possessed his Pushpaka or magnificent aerial chariot before him, which Mahabharata describes as like a great mountain or cloud in size. In Mahabharata, the 100 Kauravas are also born from a single embryo and then placed in pots and allowed to grow for two years. Thus, the idea of test-tube babies and clones is as old as the Vedas.

The Bhagavata Purana elaborates on the tale of Salva and Krishna. It is said that Salva wished from Shiva to obtain a chariot that would go anywhere he wished, and got it from the great seer Ushanas (Asuramaya) or planet Venus. It could disappear at his will and again reappear.

Similar characteristics are the Pushpaka of Ravana. It is also noted that in Mahabharata, a mention of it is given when Kuvera confronts Bhima on his great flying chariot, Pushpaka, which is said to have resembled a great city or dark cloud:

"... the lord of treasures sat on that excellent seat, the elegant Pushpaka, constructed by Viswakarma, painted with diverse colours. And thousands of Yakshas and Rakshasas, some having huge frames and some ears resembling pegs, and hundreds of Gandharvas and hosts of Apsaras sat in the presence of that one seated, even as the celestials sit surrounding him of a hundred sacrifices and wearing a beautiful golden garland on his head and holding in his hands his noose and sword and bow, Bhima stood, gazing at the lord of wealth. And Bhimasena did not feel depress either on having been wounded by the Rakshasas, or even in that plight seeing Kuvera arrive." 

(MB, Vanaparva, Tirthayatraparva, 160).

On another occasion, Arjuna was confronted with the Gandharvas or celestials on their flying chariots, ready to attack him with their weapons. Such examples resemble such "alien invasions" on sci-fis today, with their mysterious-looking creatures with astral or subtle (unseen) powers, and bearing strange weapons.

We also note the description of Indra's Vimana, when it arrived to take Arjuna to Svargaloka:

"the chariot endued with great effulgence and guided by Matali, came dividing the clouds and illuminating the firmament and filling the entire welkin with its rattle deep as the roar of mighty masses of clouds. Swords, and missiles of terrible forms and maces of frightful description, and winged darts of celestial’s splendour and lightning of the brightest effulgence, and thunderbolts, and propellers furnished with wheels and worked with atmosphere expansion and producing sounds loud as the roar of great masses of clouds, were on that car. And there were also on that car fierce and huge-bodied Nagas (serpent like beings or ‘Greys’) with fiery mouths, and heaps of stones white as the fleecy clouds. And the car was drawn by ten thousands of horses of golden hue, endued with the speed of the wind. And furnished with prowess of illusion, the car was drawn with such speed that the eye could hardly mark its progress" (Mahabharata, Vana Parva, XLII).

The Wright Brothers first experimented with flight in 1899. The above translations were done between 1883 and 1896, which are also several years before the first airplane engine in 1903, or even before ideas of what such would even be like - yet the mention of the noises of these and their propellers long before they were known suggests more than mere fantasy, or a modern translation of ancient ideas (considering they were not about at time of translation).

It should be noted that the world's oldest (modern) airship was created by Talpade, who constructed a Vimana according to the Rig Veda called the “Marutsakha”, that flew in India before the Wright brothers, and used the Ion Engine, said to have been created by Goddard. Such ancient Indian technology for this age, was hence borrowed by asuric (Western) civilisations that have now a still much less advanced scope of it.

Maharishi Dayananda Sarasvati (1824 - 1883) wrote about Vimanas or flying aerial vehicles in his "An Introduction to the Vedas" , this was long before the Wright brothers began with their ideas around 1890's. He quoted many Vedic sources, and stated that they could move on land or water, and fly at great distances.

The use of computer-style technology for controlling these with speech and the mind are also mentioned as early as the Rig Veda:

Examples are given to show that various Computers were used, artificial mental faculties, for crafts in the Rig Veda:

"May the three-seated (tri-vandhura) and mentally-governed (manasa-yukta) come – spreading over the five abodes"(VII.69.2)

We learn they are beyond-doubt, self-moving, and impelled through special technology:

"You brought him back in self-controlled (atma-vanta) ships (nav) in the regions of the sky (antariksha) that were not dampened by the waters. " (I.116.3)

Of ancient fame are also the flying and underground cities mentioned in the Vedic texts such as the Mahabharata with relation to other species the Vedic people saw as "non-human".

Nivanatakavachas and Kalakeyas and Paulomas in Mahabharata are such species,having cities under the ocean and in the air, such as Hiranyapura - cities that were often made from gold and metallic substances as entire "floating planets" and cities above the earth itself - artificial ones in the atmosphere, which Arjuna seeks to destroy:

 'O lord of men, learning that they were incapable of being destroyed by the celestials and the Asuras, I cheerfully said unto Matali, 'Do thou speedily repair into yonder city. With weapons will I compass the annihilation of the haters of the lord of the celestials. Surely, there exist no wicked haters of the gods who ought not to be slain by me.'

Thereupon Matali took me to the vicinity of Hiranyapura on the celestial chariot yoked with steeds. And seeing me, those sons of Diti, wearing various kinds of attire and ornament and accoutred in mail, flew at me with a mighty rush. And those foremost of the Danavas, of exceeding prowess, in wrath attacked me with arrows and bhallas and clubs and two-edged swords, and tomaras.

There at, O king, resorting to my strength of lore, I resisted that great volley of weapons by a mighty shower of shafts; and also confounded them in conflict by ranging around in my car. And being bewildered, the Danavas began to push each other down. And having been confounded, they rushed at one another. And with flaming arrows, I severed their heads by hundreds. And hard pressed by me, the offspring of Diti, taking shelter within (their) city, soared with it to the firmament, resorting to the illusion proper to the Danavas. Thereupon, O son of the Kurus, covering the way of the Daityas, with a mighty discharge of shafts I obstructed their course. Then by virtue of the bestowal of the boon, the Daityas supported themselves easily on that sky-ranging unearthly aerial city, going anywhere at will and like unto the sun. "

 O best of the Bharatas, this is that unearthly aerial city devoid of the celestials, which is moving about, having been created for the Kalakeyas, by Brahma himself. And this city is furnished with all desirable objects, and is unknown of grief or disease. And, O hero, celebrated under the name of Hiranyapura, this mighty city is inhabited by the Paulamas and the Kalakanjas; and it is also guarded by those mighty Asuras. And, O king, unslayed by any of the gods, there they dwell cheerfully, free from anxiety and having all their desires gratified, O foremost of kings. Formerly, Brahma had destined destruction at the hands of mortals. Do thou, O Partha, in fight, compass with that weapon--the thunder-bolt--the destruction of the mighty and irrepressible Kalakanjas.'

(Mahabharata, III Vanaparva, Tirthayantra-parva, CLXXII).

More Ancient Robots, Surgery and Cloning:

In the section of the Yantra Vidhanam of the Samaranga Sutradhara that mentions flying machines in this period of India, there is also mention (verses 106-107) of yantras or mechanical devices that are like humans (some are said to be made of wood, covered with leather to look more like humans with skin) - some who are palace-guards who hold batons, swords and other weapons and can quietly kill any invaders to the palace during the night. Such were used during the reign of Raja Bhoja.

If these are fantasies, then they are indeed extreme fantasies!

We know historically, India has a very advanced form of surgery and technology, especially ENT surgery or plastic surgery

This is noted in the Rig Veda itself, relative to ENT reconstructions and the Ashwin gods it came from (Rig Veda: II.39.6). On this note, tradition tells us (as Dalhana, commentator on Sushruta Samhita) that there was an older Vriddha Sushruta or Saushruta Samhita, of which the present is a redacted form. The grammarian Panini also notes traditions of Sushruta or Saushruta Parthiva, which also reveals an ancient tradition dating back before Sushruta of the Samhita, going back to Vedic times and hence to the Ashwins. 

There also existed the longer Ashwini Samhita of the Ashwins, which details advanced surgery such as head transplants (Sushruta Samhita, Sutrasthana, I.17), organ and limb transplants or cybernetics, as is revealed in the hymns of the Rig Veda on this note. That the origin of plastic surgery in ancient Indian Ayurvedic texts is traced to the origin of head-transplants of interspecies kinds itself makes us marvel at the ancients – for the “by-product” – today’s plastic surgery heaving been learnt by the British from Indians in Mysore in the 18^th Century is itself noteworthy!

At around 600BCE, Jeevaka, the Buddha's surgeon used a special gemstone (called sarvabhutaprasadana: that which pacifies all elements) which reflected the inside of a patient's body, to see the internal condition before he operated (like an X-Ray). Jeevaka is known to have successfully employed anesthesia, removed brain-tumours surgically and also fix twisted bowels.

The text "Bhoja-prabandha" of about 980AD deals with the life of the great King Raja Bhoja. In it, it was stated he was suffering from a brain tumour and two Ayurvedic surgeons were brought to him. Using a special drug, they made him unconscious, opened his skull, took out the tumour and then restored the skull with special Ayurvedic techniques and with another medicine, brought him back to consciousness. Hence, not only was brain surgery well-known in Ayurveda, but also medicines that induced comas and reversed the effects for complex operations also.  After this, Raja Bhoja was fine and lead a normal life, free from any complications and this also shows the level of skill and depth of scope in traditional Ayurveda.

Charaka (Chikitsasthana, I.4.39-51) also mentions the advanced surgery of the Ashwins, echoed in the Rig Veda also, of the Ashwins replacing teeth and eyes of the deities also; eye transplants are also noted in Rig Veda (I.116.16, I.117.17-18) with successful outcome, by which Rjrashva is able to see again. 

Whether symbolic or not, that Sushruta and Charaka both praise them and their skill in shalyatantra or surgery to perform these feats and Sushruta praising surgery as originating from them, as also later techniques as previously described, and Sushruta's own techniques, which were advanced as plastic surgery, only a few hundred years old in the West due to originating from his system, makes us also realise the depth and scope of ancient Ayurvedic physicians, who performed transplants and techniques far beyond even today's modern surgical scope that has re-evolved from Sushruta!

Some ancient cultures also populated via the Rishis in more genetically-engineered fashion and created their own species and races.

Mitra and Varuna from their DNA's produced Agastya and Vasishtha Rishis' bodies from their own and the souls of great Rishis entered them, hence known as kumbhasambhava or "born from a vessel" and ayonija-janma (not born of a womb) – re Rig Veda, VII.33.10-11, 13).

Others such as the Prajapatis (progenitors) for each cosmos produce their own mental-offspring via their shaktis (personified sometimes as their "wives) and populate entire planets with various species according to their minds, which later go on to reproduce in such a manner - creating "body-vessels" for other souls of their own kind according to forms suiting different planets (to colonise them according to environments) - others such as humans in Kali-Yuga and in more dense bodies reproduce in more primitive methods, such as procreation. As we see in Mahabharata and the Vedas (with Agastya and Vasishtha in Rig Veda; Kauravas in Mahabharata), both the Devic and Asuric species prefer, in the sub-astral stage to physical species, the use of genetic-engineering by utilising subtle or physical DNA to replicate other species artificially. This also gave some more primitive cultures the idea that such entities were born of kanya or "virgin-birth", when they were often grown subtly and artificial insemination was done mentally (as in case of Paurava brothers) and physically grown in test-tubes as in case of the Kauravas.

Mahabharata states that from the single embryo of Gandhari, the sage Vyasa took these, divided them into 101 pieces and then placed them in pots filled with oil to manifest for some two years, after which, they formed into babies.

Some Danava cultures such as Sambarasura mentioned in the Yoga Vasishtha are said to have created physical technologies (while themselves being able to access the astral and causal realms also), such as his three Robot-Generals mentioned in the text that, having no emotions, but being essentially forms of him, could not be defeated. Only when ahamkara or a sense of being and Self came into them, with vanity, could the Devas destroy them.

Many of these advancements became known in the Western world via the Arabs and is an historical fact. Negative numbers, large numbers to infinity and the decimal system and current numerals (from 0 to 9) as well as the concept of zero itself also all historically came to us from India in the Middle-Ages. It is no wonder then, that India survived the dark ages of Europe with advanced technology from the most ancient times; we are simply re-discovering them today

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda#Library

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asphalt#History

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_clock#India 

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense_clock#History