Ramesh Pokhriyal also claimed that ancient physician Sushruta was the world's first surgeon.

Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Saturday claimed that US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has acknowledged that in future if speaking computers become a reality, it would be "primarily due to the contribution of Sanskrit, the world's only scientific language".

"According to NASA in the near future if a talking computer were to be a reality, then it will only be possible because of Sanskrit. NASA is saying this because Sanskrit is a scientific language in which words are written exactly the way they are spoken," Mr Pokhriyal, who is the education minister, said while addressing students at IIT-Bombay at the institute's 57th convocation ceremony.

The HRD minister also claimed that Charaka Rishi, known to be one of the principal contributors of Ayurveda, was the first person who researched and discovered atoms and molecules.

"Who conducted research on atoms and molecules? Charaka Rishi was the one who researched atoms and molecules, discovered them," he said.

The minister also claimed that ancient physician Sushruta was the world's first surgeon.