In Brief: “The Pushpaka Vimana that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent Vimana going everywhere at will … that chariot resembling a bright cloud in the sky … and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent chariot at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere.’”

Hindu mythology is filled with incredible tales, stories mythologies and most importantly written texts.

In previous articles, we covered the Mahabharata and the countless powerful weapons described in it.

According to Ancient Hindu history –one of the most extensive on the planet– their ancient sacred texts called the ‘Vedas’ speak of incredible flying ships that visited our planet over 6000 years ago.

In this article, we take a look at the Vimana, more specifically, the ancient Pushpaka Vimana, a powerful ancient flying vehicle described in Hindu texts and Sanskrit epics.

The Pushpaka Vimana of king Ravana (who captured the Vimana from Lord Kubera; and Rama returned it to Kubera) is the most quoted example of a vimana.

Vimanas are also mentioned in Jain texts—Jainism, an ancient Indian religion.

If we take a look at ancient Sanskrit and the etymology of the Vimana, we will find that it means “measuring out, traversing” or “having been measured out”.

Reference to the ancient Vimana can be found in the Mahabharata, which is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India:

“At Rama`s behest, the magnificent chariot rose up to a mountain of cloud with a tremendous din. Another passage reads: Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm.

Author Monier Monier-Williams—the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University describes the Ancient Vimana as “a car or a chariot of the gods, any self-moving aerial car sometimes serving as a seat or throne, sometimes self-moving and carrying its occupant through the air; other descriptions make the Vimana more like a house or palace, and one kind is said to be seven stories high,” quoting the Pushpaka Vimana as one of the most worthy examples.

In modern languages, Vimana is usually translated to aircraft.

In many depictions of Vimana, we see these powerful, alleged machines, depicted as being as big as a temple.

The Vimana predecessor

In ancient Sanskrit Epics, the Vimana were the so-called flying chariots used by a number of different ancient Gods.

Various Vedic deities are described as using, flying, wheeled chariots to move from one place to another.

Some verses of ancient texts have been interpreted by different authors as evidence of ‘mechanical birds’.

In the Rigveda (an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns), for example, we find the following description:

“Dark the descent: the birds are golden-coloured; up to the heaven they fly robed in the waters. Again, descend they from the seat of Order, and all the earth is moistened with their fatness. Twelve are the fellies, and the wheel is single; three are the naves. What man hath understood it? Therein are set together spokes three hundred and sixty, which in nowise can be loosened.”—The Hymns of the Rigveda by Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith.

According to Swami Dayananda Saraswati— a renowned scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language—the ancient Vimana were powerful spacecraft:

“jumping into space speedily with a craft using fire and water … containing twelve stamghas (pillars), one wheel, three machines, 300 pivots, and 60 instruments.”—A critical study of the work “vymanika shastra”.

The Pushpaka Vimana

The Pushpaka Vimana is usually described as a mythological flying palace or chariot.

In the Ramayana, we find another extraordinary description of the Vimana, more specifically the Pushpaka Vimana:

“The Pushpaka Vimana that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent Vimana going everywhere at will … that chariot resembling a bright cloud in the sky … and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent chariot at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere.’”

The Pushpaka Vimana appears as the first flying vimana mentioned in existing Hindu texts. The powerful Pushpaka Vimana was built e by Vishwakarma for Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. This Vimana was later given by Brahma to Kubera, the God of wealth. Eventually, the Pushpaka Vimana was stolen, along with Lanka, by his half-brother, king Ravana.

Featured Image Credit: Leon Tukker

While there are countless weapons mentioned in Hindu mythology and the Mahabharata, two (better said three) specific weapons caught my attention mostly because of their ancient descriptions, and what they seem to resemble to, in modern times.

Belonging to the group of the so-called Brahma weapons are the Brahmastra, and its variants the Brahmashirsha Astra and the Brahmanda Astra. All of these weapons are mention in ancient Sanskrit writings, and all of them were considered supernatural weapons.

One of them—the Brahmashirsha astra—perhaps the second most powerful of them all, was described as a weapon that could destroy the world. In Mahabharata, it is explained that when the Brahmashirsha astra is invoked, “It blazes up with terrible flames within a huge sphere of fire. Numerous peals of thunder were heard, thousands of meteors fell and all living creatures became terrified with great dread. The entire sky seemed to be filled with noise and assumed a terrible aspect with flames of fire. The whole earth with her mountains and waters and trees trembled.” When it strikes an area it will cause complete destruction and nothing will ever grow, not even a blade of grass for the next 12 years. It will not rain for 12 years in that area and everything including metal and earth becomes poisoned.

The Brahmastra, in turn, was a weapon that according to ancient Sanskrit writing, was capable of destroying the entire universe.

Depending on which ancient writing you look at, the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas, the three weapons are commonly called Brahmastra.

In the Purana, for example, the Bramhastra is considered one of the most powerful supernatural weapons to have ever existed.

Descriptions of the Brahmastra suggest that this mighty weapon never missed its mark, and had to be used with a very specific intent against an army, as its target would be completely destroyed.

Furthermore, Sanskrit writings suggest that the Brahmastra is invoked by a key phrase or invocation, that is given to its user when the weapon is given to him. This is something I find very interesting as it sort of reminds me of Nuclear weapons and nuclear lunch codes belonging to countries. You can’t have one without the other.

The target, when hit by a Brahmastra, would be completely annihilated.

The Brahmashirsha Astra—Brahma’s head missile—was often described as the fifth head of Brahma. This is a weapon that is said to manifests with the fifth head of Brahma at its tip.

According to the Mahabharata, Arjuna and Ashwatthama used the Astra against each other at the end of the Kurukshetra war.

We find the description of the weapons power in the book Ānanda Bhāratī: Dr. K. Krishnamoorthy Felicitation Volume, where we read that the Brahmastra is considered a fiery weapon, that once used, created a massive fireball that threatened the entire world with destruction.

Furthermore, after the weapon was used, the Earth would see decreased rainfall and the soil would develop cracks, like what happens with a drought.

In numerous epics and Vedas, the Brahamastra is considered a weapon of last resort, that must be avoided at all costs in combat.

The best description of the power of this weapon can be found in the Mahabharata where the Brahmastra is defined as a weapon which is said to be a single projective, that contains the power of the universe. It was a mighty weapon. A Powerful Weapon. A weapon of last resort. A weapon that could bring complete annihilation to the world.

“It blazes up with terrible flames within a huge sphere of fire. Numerous peals of thunder were heard, thousands of meteors fell and all living creatures became terrified with great dread. The entire sky seemed to be filled with noise and assumed a terrible aspect with flames of fire. The whole earth with her mountains and waters and trees trembled.”

The Brahmastra was used to destroy inferior divine weapons or counter them. It was described as being as heavy as a mountain but could travel as fast as the wind nevertheless. The Brahmastra was painful as poison and as energetic as fire.