What
is science? The word has originated from the Latin word scientia,
meaning knowledge. Wikipedia defines it as a systematic enterprise
that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable
explanations and predictions about nature and the universe. In an
older and closely related meaning, "science" also refers to
a body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be rationally
explained and reliably applied.
The
keywords here are “testable explanations and predictions about
nature and the universe.” This means that any theory can be
considered as scientific if it is testable. It is quite possible that
we may not have means of testing a particular theory with us at
present, but the theory still remains scientific because sometime in
future, when test apparatus is available, the theory would be
testable. Theory pertaining to Higg's particle, proposed by Prof
Higgs in 1960's can be be considered as one of the best example. His
theory could be tested only in 2013, 53 years after it was proposed.
In
medieval period, the border between scientific thought and philosophy
was often blurred, In fact, until the 17th century, natural
philosophy (which is today called "natural science") was
considered a separate branch of philosophy in the West. In this
period there was not much difference between a Philosophist or a
Scientist. Later or during the early modern period, the words
"science" and "philosophy of nature" were
sometimes used interchangeably.Readers may not believe but my grandfather, who did his masters in physics at the beginning of twentieth century was awarded a degree of "Master of Arts with Science."
Last
week-end, a national annual get-together of top scientists from
India, was held in Mumbai. The yearly gathering is called as Indian
Science Congress and as is the practise, was inaugurated by the Prime
Minister of India even this year. With the kind of importance and
publicity given to the meeting, any one would have expected the
deliberations at various sessions of the congress to be of cutting
edge areas and above all, based on pure scientific thought.
A
controversial paper was presented at the meeting by Captain Anand
Bodas and Ameya Jadhav about “Ancient aviation in India.” The
paper, quoting a Vedic Rishi- Maharshi Bharadwaja, says;
“Ancient
Aviation in India, as described by Great sage or Maharshi Bharadwaja,
was more advanced than modern day technology. The knowledge of
aeronautics is described in Sanskrit in 100 sections, eight chapters,
500 principles and 3,000 verses. In the modern day, only 100
principles are available," 7,000 years ago "aeroplanes
which travel from one country to another, one continent to another
and one planet to another. Great Sage also mentions 97 reference
books for aviation."
From
all descriptions appearing in various Sanskrit literature, I have no
doubt in my mind that Maharshi Bharadwaja was an exceptionally
brilliant and accomplished scholar of highest ranking. He appears to
have had great thirst for pure knowledge and a scientific mind. There
is no need to question purity of his thought. Still, I feel that the
best way in which he can be described would be call him as a natural
Philosophist of ancient times, rather than a scientist.
Let
us now turn to historic past. There is only one recorded instance,
when someone in India, tried to build a flying machine in India based
on Vedic mantras. Shivkar Bapuji Talpade from Mumbai, actually
made a flying machine and flew it in 1895. One of Talpade's students,
P Satwelkar, has chronicled that his craft called 'Marutsakha'(Friend
of the Winds) flew unmanned for a few minutes and came down. No one
knows how he powered his plane, but it is believed that he used the
principle of solar energy combined with mercury to do that job,
which according to some experts is similar to a “Mercury Vortex Ion
thruster propulsion' developed in 1970's. An ion propulsion system
converts power from any source such as solar in this case, into the
kinetic energy of an ionized gas jet. That jet, as it exits the
craft, propels it in the opposite direction. Dr. Harold Kaufman, now
retired from NASA, designed and built the first broad-beam
electron-bombardment ion engine in 1959 using mercury as fuel. This
fact certainly gives credibility to Talpade's flying machine. Though
doubts remain whether it was an aircraft in conventional sense or a
rocket like craft.
Wikipedia
says and I quote:
“According
to K.R.N. Swamy "a curious scholarly audience headed by a famous
Indian judge and a nationalist, Mahadeva Govinda Ranade and H H
Sayaji Rao Gaekwad, respectively, had the good fortune to see the
unmanned aircraft named as ‘Marutsakthi’ take off, fly to a
height of 1500 feet and then fall down to earth". The presence
of Mahadev Govind Ranade and Sayajirao Gaekwad III during the flight
is also cited in "Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute. A former Indian defense officer stated in 2004 that
Marutsakhā failed to operate to its full design limits due to
technical reasons.” After the experiment, Marutsakhā apparently
was stored at Talpade's house until well after his death. Velakara
quotes one of Talpade's nieces, Roshan Talpade, as saying the family
used to sit in the aircraft's frame and imagine they were flying. A
model reconstruction of Marutsakhā was exhibited at an exhibition on
aviation at Vile Parle, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has
preserved documents relating to the experiment.”
Except
for Talpade's experiment, we have no other instance known of any
other flying machine built on Vedic principles in India. Presentation
of this scientific paper at Indian Science Congress about great
Sage's theories on aeronautics, therefore appears to me a tall order
indeed, when no specific details of any kind are available of any of
the flying machines enumerated by the sage in his works. This paper
should have been presented rather at some conference on oriental
studies, where it would have been in proper order of things.
There
is a valid reason for my saying this. A
research paper
titled as “A Critical Study of the work “Vymanika Shastra”
authored by H.S. Mukunda, S.M. Deshpande and others from Indian
Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was published in 1974. The book
“Vymanika Shastra” or Science of Aeronautics, along with another
book titled as “Brihad Vimana Shastra” by Shri Bramhamuni
Parivrajaka ( published in the year 1959), according to authors of
this paper, contain verses in Sanskrit, describing aircraft, with
their Hindi translations. These books contain verses which according
to their texts, are supposed to form only part (about a fortieth) of
“Yantra Sarvaswa” by sage Bharadwaja, which is devoted to a
summary of the work on Vimana Vigyana (aeronautics) by a number of
other sages and is said to be for the benefit of all
mankind.
After
a detailed and critical analysis of the books and the flying machines
described therein, the authors of this research paper conclude;
“ Any
reader by now would have concluded the obvious that the planes
described above (in the report) are at the best poor concoctions
rather than expressions of something real. None of the planes has
properties or capabilities of being flown the geometrics are
unimaginably horrendous from the point of view of flying; and the
principles of propulsion make them resist rather than assist flying.”
I
had the privilege of knowing one of the authors of this paper; Dr.
S.M Deshapande, rather closely; when he was studying for his masters
degree at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, many decades
ago. He is now considered as an authority in Aeronautical Engineering
in India and I have no hesitation in believing, what he has concluded
in above report.
However,
the point I am trying to make here is not about, whether ancient
Indians from Vedic periods had the capabilities to make flying
machines or not. It is better to leave that to experts. My contention
here is whether Indian Science Congress is the right platform for
such kind of claims, for which no experimental verification to prove
them conclusively is possible today or any time in future for lack of
sufficient and enough knowledge about them.
Another
small observation; The paper read at science congress says that
7,000 years ago, ancient people made aeroplanes, which travelled from
one country to another, one continent to another and one planet to
another. 7000 years ago, works out to 5000 BCE; the period when even
Indus-Sarswati culture had not developed, leave alone Vedic culture,
which developed much later around 1200 BCE. At this period of time
inhabitants in Indian subcontinent had just come out of
hunter-gatherer stage and were setting up small habitats like at
Mehrgarh, currently in Balochistan, Pakistan.
Presentation
of this or such papers at Indian Science congress appears to me as
odd and even embarrassing for the Indian scientific community in
general. I can only hope that the organizers would be more careful in
future.
7th
January 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment