Engineering: An ancient treasure!!

"Ancient India was not only a land of philosophy and religion but also a fertile ground for science and technology. Many great sages authored vast literature on science and technology."

- Quote from Sanskriti Magazine

We binged watching Ramayana and Mahabharat in this Lockdown or may it even be in our childhood. We enjoyed those mythological serials and movies. But I always wondered if it was true and happened in real. What made me think so were some sequences in them!! Let me give an example: abduction of Mother Sita by Ravan, he carries her from Panchavati, currently in Nasik (Maharastra) to his palace in Sigiriya, Sri lanka by Pushpaka Viman. He travels via Hampi and Lepakshi which falls in straight line with the place from where Mother Sita was abducted and his palace in Sri Lanka and thus took the shortest distance he could have taken to escape quick !!

Was it a pure coincidence that he managed to take the shortest route at the times when there was no GPS nor any google maps? or was there some technical knowledge behind it?! How did Ravan manage to build the aircraft that can fly over for about 2600 Kilometers even overseas with the speed of thought? How did it even come in the imaginations of Shri Maharshi Valmiki? All this happened in between 7th century to 6th century BCE. Astonishing part is that even though people in India knew that there can be some vehicle which can fly from a long time, yet airplane was invented by Wright Brothers in early 20th century! Many questions left unanswered.

Route taken by Pushpak Viman after abducting mother Sita

Shri Valmiki Ramayan describes different types of aircrafts and their uses in it. This depicts advancements of Engineering fields at that time of era itself. Other examples can be Lord Shri Krishna's Sudarshan Chakra which returned back to him after slaying demons. It depicts the use of boomerang concept! Lord Balaram always carried axe with him to forests and was a great agriculturist! Shri ram was able to build a bridge between India and Sri Lanka in no more than 5 days! The skillful carvings in pillars with such high precision is unimaginable now. Not only architecture, aeronautical or agriculture field but vast domains like mechanical, civil, architecture, mathematics, physics, astronomy were advanced in ancient India. Beginning of engineering in India can be identified to pre historic times. The architectural wonders of temples which stand still and sound from time immemorial, and their beautifully carved designs give a standard proof of engineering and technology. How about building those antiques and temples at these cell phones and laptop centered times?!! The quest of getting answers to these puzzles must continue and should be passed onto our future generations.

Glimpse of beautiful architecture portrayed in Chennakeshava Temple, Karnataka

Images Courtesy: Google