Hindu scriptures

Viman Shastra

Bharatam Reawakening

Dr Prahlada Ramarao

DRDO

aeronautical engineer

"When I started asking questions, the organisers asked me to leave. I refused and said they were free to call security. I was expecting such a backlash -Aniket Sule

Aniket Sule

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education

HBCSE

Mumbai: Smoother ride on Western Express Highway during evening rush hour Traffic police will not allow mini trucks, mini tempos to ply between 5 pm and 9 pm on the 27-km stretch; heavy vehicles had been banned last year.

Mumbai: Tutor held for sexually assaulting 11-year-old girl The Vinoba Bhave Nagar Police have arrested a 55-year-old tuition teacher for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year old girl on Monday. The accused lives in Kurla.

One of the posters inviting participation for the Viman Shastra talk

Listening to arguments makes sense only if there is evidence. However, every single question seemed to disturb the audience. If the speaker has no problem, why was the audience affected? Dr Rohini Karandikar-Dange

Bhima Koregaon riots ‘pre-planned’: Report Fact-finding panel says police were ‘mute spectators’ to violence, did not stop it.

When a bunch of scientists from a reputed city institute received WhatsApp messages about an event claiming that India’s prowess in aeronautics is credited to events in, they decided to call the organisers’ bluff by applying a scientific lens. However, in a dramatic turn of events, they got thrown out. It wasn’t just the ‘blind-faith’ audience that stunned the experts, it was the theories being propagated by scientists themselves. They found it shocking when they heard that mercury and donkey’s urine fuelled the planes in ancient times.What’s worse, the speakers of the event – titled ‘’ and organised by a group called ‘’ – were scientists themselves. Whileis former vice chancellor of Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) and former chief controller of, Kavya Vaddadi is anThe scientists who somewhat caused a stir at the event at a Dadar school hall were, scientist at(HBCSE), Dr Rohini Karandikar-Dange, PhD in Bioscience from IIT-B and post-doctoral fellow at, and Satakshi Goyal, a PhD scholar at HBCSE. Part of a movement to promote scientific temper, the three asked such pointed questions that they, in fact, riled the audience who demanded their exit from the event.One of the posters describing the lecture had said, “Get answers to questions like ‘Are we really the pioneer of air transport?’ ‘Did we have a scripture talking about aeronautical engineering aeons before Wright Brothers?’” Largely circulated through social media, such posters had attracted about 100 people. Expecting being asked to leave, Sule, Dange and Goyal strategically sat apart to avoid getting targeted as a group.“When I started asking questions, the organisers asked me to leave. I refused, saying that they were free to call the security. I was expecting such a backlash,” Sule told Mirror, adding that they were clear about their single mindedness to bust the myth. “We thought if such events are being held and if students and youths are attending it, it was important that they know that such claims are not supported by evidence,” he said, adding that the participants insisted that they were there to listen to the lecture and not their questions. Later, some even tried to physically push Sule out of the hall.Countering a claim made at the event that mercury was used to fuel aircraft in Vedic times, Sule said, “I asked where was mercury mined? There are no mercury mines in India. I also asked if such research has a valid basis; and why are there no peer reviewed publications?” According to Dange, the three wanted to understand how people are propagating pseudo-science and the words and examples they use.“More importantly, we wanted to inculcate the culture of asking questions and not trouble the speaker,” she said, adding, “Listening to arguments makes sense only if there is evidence. However, every single question seemed to disturb the audience. If the speaker has no problem, why was the audience affected?” Posing a query on Vaddadi’s claim of donkey-urine being used in aircraft as per scriptures, when Dange asked to demonstrate if even a car can be moved using donkey-urine, there was an angry uproar around her. While the audience accused the scientists of trying to spoil the event, the speakers chose to field both the science and the inquisitiveness.Later in her defence, Vaddadi told Mirror, “Ancient texts say it (donkey’s urine) is used for ‘vimana’. Vimana Shastra has descriptions of herbal propellants. There are herbs which can melt and mix metals.” She said some persons were “targeting” Dr Ramarao with “stupid questions”.Dr Ramarao, on his part, said he had welcomed the expert queries. “They were asking technical questions, but the audience was a mixed group and didn’t understand. Shivkar Talpade is believed to have built an aircraft based on Vedic scriptures before the Wright Brothers. However, there is no evidence in terms of photographs, drawings, sketches or piece of the machine, so there is scepticism. However, there could be some information in the scriptures that could be helpful in aeronautics,” he told Mirror.The audience also took exception when Sule and Dange did not stand for Vande Mataram. “They said stand for the national anthem. I pointed out to them that ‘Vande Mataram’ was not the national anthem and there was no such protocol,” Sule retorted. When Mirror asked the organisers for a video of the talk, he said he would confirm later.