Did Indians Make Airplanes 7000 Years Ago?

When did mankind first create airplanes and space shuttles? Recent history tells us that the Wright brothers launched the first successful flight in 1903, and the first space shuttle was built in 1976. But what if planes and space shuttles existed thousands of years ago? Not only that, but they were much more advanced than what we have today.

A controversial paper presented at the prestigious science conference, the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai, claims human aviation and advanced space flight were achieved and mastered by the ancient Indians thousands of years ago. The paper, presented by Captain Anand Bodas, a retired principal of a pilot training facility, within a session titled "Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit," details that ancient texts from 7,000 years ago describe planes as being able to fly backward and side to side. They could also shuttle between countries, continents, and even planets.

The more than 3,000-year-old manuscript also describes ancient pilots' diets and clothing. According to Bodas, during specific periods, pilots drank the milk of buffalo, cow, and sheep, and they wore clothes made from vegetation grown underwater. Bodas indicated that there is official history and unofficial history. Official history only notes that the Wright brothers flew the first plane in 1903, but the inventor of the airplane was really a sage named Baradwaja who lived around 7,000 years ago. He also said that ancient planes had 40 small engines.

The Vedas are a large collection of Sanskrit texts originating in ancient India and constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. Some collections, such as the Samhitas, are known to date back to at least 1700 BCE, although it is believed that many go back much further.

The subject of flying machines has been a popular topic among ancient astronaut theorists who argue that some extracts are evidence of extraterrestrial visitations. However, Captain Bodas said that ancient Indians invented the technology and that it was later forgotten because of the passage of time, foreign rulers, and things being stolen from the country.

The Times of India reports that the paper presented at the conference, which included six Nobel laureates and award-winning academics and scientists in its roster, has been met with skepticism. Claims of pseudoscience and the argument that the theory undermines empirical evidence by citing ancient religious texts.

The Indian Science Congress Association is a premier scientific organization of India with more than 30,000 scientist members. Their mandate is to publish journals, hold conferences, and advance and promote the cause of science.

NASA scientist Dr. Ram Pad Gandhi Ramen started an online petition before the conference to oppose certain lectures, which were thought to advance a mix of science, mythology, and the politics of Hindu nationalists. However, others, such as an Indian scientist from the US who attended the conference, seem to find the examination of ancient testimony compelling, saying, "Knowledge always grows; its flow never stops. So if all this knowledge was available in the ancient days, I need to know where it stopped. Why did it fail to grow? Why was there no advancement? When did it stop? I am not aware of the chronology of events, but I am definitely willing to learn more and find out."

The concept of ancient civilizations creating airplanes is not new. Gold trinkets resembling airplanes were found in an area covering Central America. This object, which looks like an airplane, was found in 1898 in a tomb in Egypt and was later dated as having been created near 200 BCE