Vimanika Shastra

From TinWiki.org

Vimanika Shastra (often spelled differently) is according to believers, an ancient Indian text dealing with the construction and operation of aircraft.

1 Modern Publication
2 Earliest Publication
3 See Also
4 Relevant Discussion Threads
5 References

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Modern Publication

The book is known to have been in print by 1918. It's existence prior to 1918 is a subject of some contention.

The book was dictated by Pandit Subbaraya Shastry to a Sanskrit scholar named Sri. G. Venkatachala Sharma. Shastry claimed to channel the information from an ancient Vedic sage named Maharishi Baradwaja.

By 1919, copies of the Vimanika Shastra were deposited at the Oriental Library at Baroda and Oriental Research Center at Poona, in India.

In 1923, a draftsman named TK Ellappa finished completing technical drawings of the machines described in the book. One of these drawings is featured on the cover of the 1973 English translation, shown above.

The book was published in Sanskrit in 1943 by Dayanand Bhavan.

In 1952, a man named GR Josyer bought the original dictation of the book, contained in 23 notebooks, at an exhibition held by the International Academy of Sanskrit Research.

In 1959 the copy possessed by the Oriental Library, Baroda, was translated into Hindi, edited by Swami Brahma Muni Parivrajak Gurukul Kangdi, and published by Sarvadeshika Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Dayanand Bhavan. This is known as the Bruhad Vimana Shastra.

In 1973, the first English translation was made available by GR Josyer, along with the drawings produced by TK Ellappa

In 1991, David Hatcher Childress, realizing that the copyright to the book had been orphaned by the death of Josyer and his son, reprinted it in "Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India and Atlantis", published by Adventures Unlimited.

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