[HN Gopher] Mysorean Rockets
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Mysorean Rockets
        
       Author : Thevet
       Score  : 171 points
       Date   : 2021-11-02 04:46 UTC (18 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | qart wrote:
       | Does anyone here know who developed this technology? A frequent
       | complaint I have with Indian historiography is that the actual
       | inventors and developers are forgotten, and kings get all the
       | credit. All that my middle-school textbooks said was Tipu Sultan
       | used them against the Brits.
        
         | knadh wrote:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rockets
        
           | qart wrote:
           | This was one of the first links in the article on Mysorean
           | Rockets. In what way do you believe this answers my question?
        
         | hiyer wrote:
         | According to this book[1] war rockets were used in India at
         | least as early as the 14th century, and mughal emperor Akbar
         | used metal-headed ones in the 16th. So it would seem neither
         | rockets nor metal ones were invented by Tipu. However it
         | doesn't answer your question of who _did_ invent the war rocket
         | :-)
         | 
         | 1. The Mughal Empire at War: Babur, Akbar and the Indian
         | Military Revolution, 1500-1605 (Asian States and Empires)
         | https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01EX69NJ0/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_DMX...
         | 
         | Edit: added the link
        
           | hiyer wrote:
           | But IIUC what you want to who under Tipu's rule invented (or
           | revived) this rocket. You're probably right in thinking it
           | wasn't Tipu himself who did this, since he was a king and not
           | a scientist. But i suspect the real inventor's name is lost
           | to history.
        
             | qart wrote:
             | > IIUC what you want to who under Tipu's rule invented (or
             | revived) this rocket.
             | 
             | Precisely. Tipu's subjects, but also subjects from other
             | Indian kingdoms who invented and developed stuff.
        
         | kamaal wrote:
         | >>All that my middle-school textbooks said was Tipu Sultan used
         | them against the Brits.
         | 
         | The area that is now Karnataka, or erst while state of
         | Mysore/Deccan has a rich culture of knowledge and art that has
         | been pervasive regardless of the political entities that have
         | ruled over them.
         | 
         | Its also understandable as that area has relatively more peace,
         | stability and tolerance compared to other areas in the sub-
         | continent, hence economic-knowledge prosperity follows from
         | there.
         | 
         | Tipu like many before him was the beneficiary of a long going
         | positive social inertia. No doubt he was good, but he had a lot
         | going for him.
         | 
         | Even as of now. Karnataka has done relatively compared to bulk
         | of India since Independence.
        
           | rep_movsd wrote:
           | Tipu is respected by a lot of people, but the genocide of
           | Coorgis who opposed him is well known history.
           | 
           | There are a lot of movements against historically
           | whitewashing his rule.
        
             | kamaal wrote:
             | Even a child with a Mobile phone today can read what they
             | want to read. What's whitewashing in this world?
             | 
             | That's with anything today, not just history.
        
               | ClumsyPilot wrote:
               | "Even a child with a Mobile phone today can read what
               | they want to read."
               | 
               | And yet ignorance is just and high and snake oil salesmen
               | have record profits
        
               | naruvimama wrote:
               | A child searching for 'hakken kreuz' on wikipedia would
               | be quite confused, if only the child would actually read
               | what the man who came up with it wrote about it in his
               | book.
               | 
               | A lot of motivated misinformation exists even for the
               | most studied symbol.
               | 
               | Let us not underestimate the deliberate whitewashing or
               | brownwashing that happens in India.
        
       | fmajid wrote:
       | In _The Star-Spangled Banner_ , the "rocket's red glare" refers
       | to British Congreve rockets that were copies of Mysore's rockets
       | made when they captured the arsenals after defeating Tipu Sultan
       | by treachery.
        
         | NoImmatureAdHom wrote:
         | "Copies" isn't quite correct. They were much improved.
        
         | lazyninja987 wrote:
         | Tipu Sultan was a cruel ruler, and got soundly defeated by a
         | superior, well supplied force despite Tipu having access to
         | rockets.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Mysore_Wars
         | 
         | What is this treachery you are talking about ?
        
           | Guessnotgauss wrote:
           | From the first Amazon book I could find on India "Britain
           | held back political progress in India for as long as possible
           | - a policy which led to unimaginable chaos and suffering when
           | independence was granted, and which created a legacy of
           | hatred and distrust that continues to this day. "
           | 
           | Ever heard the saying "divde and conquer" its an Roman
           | saying(?) but the British used this tactic often during their
           | colonialism. Their oppression in the region goes much deeper,
           | you can read up on it since there are many books.
        
             | naruvimama wrote:
             | The strength of a nation is decided by the weakest link,
             | political weakness (and correctness) provided an
             | opportunity to political forces backed by religious
             | fanaticism.
             | 
             | This applies to both Islamic as well as Christian
             | colonisation. It does not not make one necessarily better
             | than the other when it comes to native people.
             | 
             | To those objecting to the later, a little bit of study will
             | show that the doctrine of christian discovery was the
             | primary driver and that the missionaries were not only the
             | scouts but also enthusiastically took part in all forms of
             | colonialism including the slave trade.
        
           | saimiam wrote:
           | The link you supplied makes no mention of Tipu Sultan being a
           | cruel ruler. Even Tipu Sultan's own wiki page @
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipu_Sultan does not contain
           | the word 'cruel'.
           | 
           | Not sure how to read your comment but this is what I found.
        
             | naruvimama wrote:
             | Tipu like his contemporary Islamic rulers carried out
             | frequent massacres of Hindus. Perhaps because it was too
             | common among the islamic rulers that it is often not
             | considered unique enough to Tipu.
             | 
             | There has also been plenty of whitewashingg of both Islamic
             | & colonial-christian history under a "secular independent
             | India". But social media is starting to open up alternative
             | voices, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLMjUk9utaU&t=75s
        
               | pkd wrote:
               | Claims about Tipu Sultan's "cruelty" come primarily from
               | English "scholars" who were actually fighting against
               | him. It was a well-known policy of the British to portray
               | their enemies as tyrants to gather legitimacy for their
               | warmongering. Any such claims should be taken with a
               | massive dollop of salt.
               | 
               | I'm surprised how many of these "alternative voices"
               | reject western narratives about India but are all too
               | happy to parrot colonial talking points about Muslims.
        
               | lazyninja987 wrote:
               | We dont need english historians to show how psycopath
               | tipu was.
               | 
               | Tipu issued many decree's claiming how he converted lakhs
               | of hindus, and describing in detail what he will do to
               | people who didn't convert. In some cases, going into
               | detail on how the non-believers will be striken down like
               | moses struck the pharoahs.
               | 
               | "I'm surprised how many of these "alternative voices"
               | reject western narratives about India but are all too
               | happy to parrot colonial talking points about Muslims."
               | 
               | The same can be said about you, Indians dont talk trash
               | about qutub shahi's, who are just & kind. But, when the
               | topic of aurangazeb and tipu's cruelty comes up, gets
               | triggered with out looking at evidence.
        
               | naruvimama wrote:
               | Islamic colonisation is real and no less cruel that the
               | European one.
               | 
               | Indian muslims are still largely colonised and therefore
               | the partition of India and the massacre of millions of
               | Hindus even as recently as 1971 in Bangladesh.
               | 
               | It is indeed sad to see that Indian muslims today
               | continue to associate themselves with the islamic
               | conquerors who had raped, killed and/or forced their
               | ancestors to convert.
               | 
               | The whitewashing of Islamic tyranny in India is so
               | obvious that even children do not accept it as it is
               | taught in schools.
        
             | lazyninja987 wrote:
             | Tipu's wikipedia page has been so whitewashed even
             | caucasians are jealous of it.
             | 
             | Tipu relocated men of kodagu to various corners of his
             | empire, so that they wont fight him erasing their identity,
             | converted all wives and daughters of these kodagu fighters
             | and distributed among his army like livestock.
             | 
             | he rounded up thousands of mangalore christians apparently
             | for no reason, and kept them as slaves under appalling
             | conditions for over 10 years until most of them converted.
             | Post his death, whoever held through this torture were
             | liberated by british army.
             | 
             | The reason why they were held captive? Tipu felt like it &
             | since they are not muslims, they deserve this treatment.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captivity_of_Mangalorean_Cath
             | o...
             | 
             | British may be conniving, once british looted you, they
             | would leave you & your culture alone. Tipu on the other
             | hand, will kill you, rape your women, wipe out of your
             | culture. So, its no wonder kodagu people silently supported
             | british in their fight with tipu.
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
       | Recreated and flown -
       | 
       | https://ne-np.facebook.com/peaceworld313/videos/tipu-sultan-...
        
       | major505 wrote:
       | I love the fact that someone in the drawing just put a bayonet in
       | a rocket. That's some taticool thing over there...
        
         | major505 wrote:
         | By attaching these blades to rockets they became very unstable
         | towards the end of their flight causing the blades to spin
         | around like flying scythes, cutting down soldiers in their
         | path.
        
       | wanderingmind wrote:
       | "Towards the end of my visit at NASA, I went to the Wallops
       | Flights Facility at Wallops Island in East coast, Virginia. This
       | place was the base for NASA's sounding rocket programme. Here I
       | saw a painting prominently displayed in the reception lobby. It
       | depicted a battle scene with a few rockets flying in the
       | background. A painting with this theme should be the most common
       | place thing at a flight facility, but the painting caught my eye,
       | because the soldiers on the side launching the rockets were not
       | white but were dark skinned, with racial features found in South
       | Asia. It turned out to be Tipu Sultans army fighting the British.
       | The painting depicted a fact forgotten in Tipu's own country but
       | commemorated here on the other side of the planet."
       | 
       | Source -- Wings of fire, an autobiography of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul
       | Kalam.
        
         | anitil wrote:
         | There's an interesting episode about Tipu Sultan on the podcast
         | 'Stuff the British Stole' by Marc Fenell ('that movie... guy'
         | for any aussies of a certain age), if anyone is interested.
         | 
         | https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/stuff-the-brit...
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | overtomanu wrote:
         | APJ Abdul Kalam was also known as the 'Missile Man of India'
         | for his contribution to the development of India's missile
         | projects, Prithvi and Agni missiles. India became a nuclear
         | power under Kalam who was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the
         | Prime Minister between 1992 and 1999
        
       | account-5 wrote:
       | Thanks, I love this sort of thing. I'm always amazed how advanced
       | we were throughout history, mostly with war.
        
         | OneTimePetes wrote:
         | War makes the rulers forget for one moment, the fragile system
         | of controlled stagnation on the inside and allow those who
         | would otherwise be condemned to rot in forgotten labs to shine
         | for a second. War removes the anti-disruption brakes inherent
         | to any power system.
        
           | account-5 wrote:
           | Is that a quote, or something you came up with?
        
       | sandGorgon wrote:
       | This is so cool. Never knew this !
       | 
       | Tipu Sultan was awesome.
        
       | vishnugupta wrote:
       | While we are at it, don't miss this reference to Bangalores[1] in
       | Saving Private Ryan[2].
       | 
       | Interestingly enough, the unit in question, Madras Sappers[3] and
       | MEG (Madras Engineers Group, I think) still exists in Bangalore
       | when the city in question (Madras) itself has changed its name to
       | Chennai ;-)                 [1]
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore_torpedo       [2]
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlCItO2jEJw       [3]
       | https://goo.gl/maps/3EKcbYuNbJ9Ury7h9
        
       | phekunde wrote:
       | One thing that is curious about the Indian sub-continent is their
       | mythological texts. There are two well-known epic texts: The
       | Mahabhrat and The Ramayan. Both these texts talk about
       | aeroplanes, teleportations, rockets, test-tube baby, body
       | preservation and medicines that heal serious battle injuries. And
       | it is talked about in a matter-of-fact way, as if there is no
       | novelty in these technologies. The frustrating part of these
       | texts is the mixing of facts with fiction. So it becomes
       | difficult to know what was really available back then. But the
       | sheer thought that ancient humans atleast dreamt these advance
       | ideas makes one wonder what type of civilisation was there back
       | then?
        
         | bladewolf47 wrote:
         | I could be wrong because I haven't read unabridged versions of
         | either. My sense is we tend to relate what was described
         | abstractly with advancements we see around us.
         | 
         | For e.g. with flying vehicles in ancient epics I'm skeptical
         | that they describe in any detail how flight was achieved
         | besides magic or divine power.
        
           | phekunde wrote:
           | > My sense is we tend to relate what was described abstractly
           | with advancements we see around us.
           | 
           | How is the mention of ""vaayu yaan" abstract? Can we
           | similarly say that to the mention of present day "aeroplane"
           | abstract and dismiss it as non-existent?
           | 
           | > For e.g. with flying vehicles in ancient epics I'm
           | skeptical that they describe in any detail how flight was
           | achieved besides magic or divine power.
           | 
           | In present day writings(fiction or otherwise) when we mention
           | flights or aeroplane, we don't mention every nut and bolt of
           | the aeroplane. So saying the ancient text did not give much
           | details is unfair to those texts. As I mentioned in my
           | original post, these advance ideas were mentioned in a
           | matter-of-fact way as if it is not a novelty, similar to how
           | we now mention air travel or space flights.
        
             | blackoil wrote:
             | There is a lack of consistency and continuity. We had
             | aeroplane in stories but no similar ground vehicle like
             | Car/train, which should have been invented earlier if
             | technology was present. We had vision across space/time but
             | no knowledge of places outside India.
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | We had teleportation ;) Jokes aside, the link between
               | car/trains and aerial vehicles is superficial. There is
               | no hard requirement that one has to come before the
               | other.
        
             | thechao wrote:
             | > were mentioned in a matter-of-fact way as if it is not a
             | novelty
             | 
             | You've said this twice now. In persuasive writing, once you
             | state a fact, you must draw a conclusion, clearly. Please,
             | draw for me your conclusion.
             | 
             | Since we're asynchronous, it appears that the conclusion
             | you're drawing is that these texts refer to real things
             | that actually existed: heavier than air flight,
             | spaceflight, test-tube babies, etc. Since we know _where_
             | (fairly precisely) these things took place, we should have
             | significant archaeological evidence for them. Could you
             | point me to the physical proof of these? Because, I feel
             | like these objects would 've come up in my readings,
             | before.
             | 
             | If you're not drawing the conclusion they actually existed,
             | what conclusion are you drawing?
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | > it appears that the conclusion you're drawing is that
               | these texts refer to real things that actually existed
               | 
               | Please read the last line of my original post.
               | 
               | > If you're not drawing the conclusion they actually
               | existed, what conclusion are you drawing?
               | 
               | I am saying, that the description given in the text is
               | too specific for it to be dismissed right away. And even
               | if it is hokum, then the sheer level of imagination of
               | ancient civilisation to mention flying vehicles,
               | missiles, teleportation, body preservation and test-tube
               | baby is appreciable. It will be good to know what type of
               | civilisation was that that was able to imagine these
               | advance concepts.
               | 
               | > Since we know where (fairly precisely) these things
               | took place, we should have significant archaeological
               | evidence for them.
               | 
               | Sure, I am all for scientific evidence. In fact I would
               | like to see that it is either supported or refuted with
               | evidence. From some of the comments it looks like for
               | rejecting a hypothesis no evidence is required, but for
               | supporting it evidence is demanded. If there is no
               | evidence to either support or refute it, then the matter
               | should be inconclusive rather than concluding it either
               | way.
        
               | thechao wrote:
               | Off the top of my head "flying vehicles" and "body
               | preservation" are well-attested in many other cultures
               | (Ancient Egypt; Mayans) that I'm 100% certain had
               | neither. You are _for sure_ reading too much into this.
               | 
               | > And even if it is hokum
               | 
               | I 99% believe that you think these things are real; I
               | don't know if you're a von Danikenite, but you sure talk
               | like one.
               | 
               | > If there is no evidence to either support or refute it
               | 
               | There _is_ evidence that there 's no evidence: we've been
               | digging holes all over the world for centuries, looking
               | for raw materials -- quadruply so, very recently, in the
               | Indian subcontinent. If there was a civilization capable
               | of supporting space-age technology, we'd've found it by
               | now.
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | > I 99% believe that you think these things are real;
               | 
               | Again, go read the last sentence of my original post.
               | 
               | > There is evidence that there's no evidence: we've been
               | digging holes....very recently, in the Indian
               | subcontinent.
               | 
               | Hmmm.
        
               | dr_dshiv wrote:
               | I'll bite!
               | 
               | The conclusion is that there were ancient civilizations
               | that we don't currently have archeological evidence for.
               | If you know anything about archeological research in
               | India, you know that it is far, far from comprehensive.
               | 
               | Here's a small example: Shiva is often represented
               | smoking a chillum. Yet, the accepted understanding is
               | that smoking was developed in the Americas and no smoking
               | in the old world took place pre-1492. It would therefore
               | be a major discovery to establish that a chillum was
               | precolumbian. There simply isn't a research base (no
               | funding, no training) to investigate even simple
               | questions like this.
               | 
               | Might we find evidence of, say, metallurgy that is 10,000
               | years old in India? Perhaps! Should we expect to?
               | Probably not. Should we do more archaeological research
               | in India? 100% Who will fund it?
        
               | vanattab wrote:
               | Nobody thinks smoking originated in the new world.
               | Smoking TOBACCO originated in the new world, because at
               | that time it was the only place tobacco grew.
        
               | thechao wrote:
               | Smoking is attested both archeologically, and
               | historiographically dating back something like 7000 years
               | in the old world. People have been smoking opium &
               | marijuana in the middle east for probably 2000 years.
               | Smoking culture in India goes back at least 3000 years.
               | Anyone who's accidentally put the wrong thing on a fire
               | will immediately recognize the source for "smoking".
               | 
               | This makes me feel like the rest of your comment is
               | probably not accurate, either.
        
               | dr_dshiv wrote:
               | Bro. Smoking is not the same as putting the wrong thing
               | on a fire. And, while evidence of hotboxing cannabis in
               | tents goes back 3000 years, there is minimal evidence of
               | pipe smoking in the old world. Maybe a bit in Africa--
               | but not conclusive.
               | 
               | No evidence for smoking pipes in India before 1500.
               | Source:
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_smoking
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | You can say the same thing about mythology from other cultures
         | (Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Chinese, Arthurian and hundreds
         | more). Ultimately human imagination works the same way
         | worldwide.
        
         | blackoil wrote:
         | Most of these were novel and rare mostly given as a boon by the
         | Gods. We also have monkeys, vulture, bear with human like or
         | beyond intelligence. The numbers were off by all practical
         | imaginations. Armies were of order of 10^7 - 10^70.
        
           | jimsimmons wrote:
           | But but my WhatsApp forward said ancient Indians also had VR
           | and AR so anything is possible. /s
        
         | tablespoon wrote:
         | > Both these texts talk about aeroplanes, teleportations,
         | rockets, test-tube baby, body preservation and medicines that
         | heal serious battle injuries. And it is talked about in a
         | matter-of-fact way, as if there is no novelty in these
         | technologies. The frustrating part of these texts is the mixing
         | of facts with fiction. So it becomes difficult to know what was
         | really available back then. But the sheer thought that ancient
         | humans atleast dreamt these advance ideas makes one wonder what
         | type of civilisation was there back then?
         | 
         | If ancient civilization actually realized any of those
         | technologies, I'm certain it would have left a significant
         | archeological trace that would have been discovered by now. For
         | instance: an actual airplane (as opposed to a glider) would
         | need a significant industrial base for the engine and fuel that
         | we'd probably see all kinds of evidence for. I don't think
         | that's the kind of thing a solo inventor or even a city-state
         | could manage independently.
        
           | snambi wrote:
           | Depends on, how long ago those events happened and the amount
           | of human activity in the area.
        
           | Apocryphon wrote:
           | There's the ancient atomic war theory:
           | 
           | https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/thedanispost/resea.
           | ..
           | 
           | https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4541
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | renewiltord wrote:
         | It's just sci fi. If you read a modern sci fi book you'll find
         | casual references to spaceplanes, wormholes, and stuff like
         | that.
         | 
         | In many of them, the characters won't even remark about the
         | wormholes. It's normal.
         | 
         | Like almost all ancient literature, Gods are just the primary
         | medium via which the ideas are delivered. So sci fi becomes
         | divine sci fi, drama becomes divine drama, etc.
        
           | phekunde wrote:
           | Yep, this could be one potent reasoning. And that is why I
           | said in my original post that it will be interesting to find
           | out about that ancient civilisation that was able to think
           | about so many advance concepts.
        
         | ajuc wrote:
         | There's a weird effect with these things - myths from other
         | cultures seem fascinating and indicate Atlantis-like
         | civilizations. Similar myths from you own culture are obviously
         | just boring metaphors and scary stories to make children
         | behave.
         | 
         | For example the Tower of Babel could be interpreted as aliens
         | destroying a space program (possibly space elevator) with mind-
         | control technology. But with the cultural baggage of the
         | christian civilization we interpret it very differently.
         | 
         | The story about Jericho could be about nuclear weapons or
         | orbital bombardment.
         | 
         | The story about Lazarus could be some advanced medicine.
         | 
         | There's a lot of this stuff in any culture - but they seem more
         | awesome when you weren't indoctrinated about the "correct"
         | interpretations since you were a child.
        
           | JumpCrisscross wrote:
           | > _they seem more awesome when you weren 't indoctrinated
           | about the "correct" interpretations since you were a child_
           | 
           | This isn't totally true in India. I've had relatives
           | seriously contemplate ancient Indian civilizations with
           | heavier-than-air flight, nuclear weapons and even orbital
           | capabilities. (A similar thing happened in industrializing
           | Britain and Prussia, so maybe it's just a natural thing in a
           | culture undergoing rapid industrialization.)
        
           | ArnoVW wrote:
           | As an aside, for those interested : this sort of "paleo-
           | contact" ideas were proposed by Erich von Daniken. Aztec
           | lines are space-ports, the flaming angel from the bible is a
           | landing space craft, etc.
           | 
           | Someone even made a sci-fi cartoon about it, that 8-year-old
           | me enjoyed =) It can't be that hard to find a PDF somewhere.
           | 
           | https://wearethemutants.com/2020/04/30/ancient-astronaut-
           | com...
        
           | phekunde wrote:
           | > For example the Tower of Babel could be interpreted as...
           | 
           | But there is no need for interpretation or misinterpretation
           | of some of these texts because the text directly mentions the
           | transportation e.g. in Raamaayan, the then king of
           | Lanka(present day Shri Lanka), Raavan, flew from Lanka on his
           | "vaayu yaan"(i.e. aeroplane) to Panchavati(in present day
           | Nashik in the western state of Maharashtra in India) to
           | kidnap Sitaa, wife of Raam.
        
             | JumpCrisscross wrote:
             | > _flew from Lanka on his "vaayu yaan"(i.e. aeroplane)_
             | 
             | That _id est_ contains a large interpretive leap. Is every
             | culture 's flying chariot also a heavier-than-air flying
             | machine? And every chariot carrying the Moon a lunar
             | lander?
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | > Is every culture's flying chariot also a heavier-than-
               | air flying machine?
               | 
               | Who said it was a chariot? I think you are linking some
               | "flying chariot" from other text to "vaayu yaan" from
               | some different text. "vaayu" means "air" and "yaan" means
               | "vehicle". This is far more specific that "flying
               | chariot".
               | 
               | > And every chariot carrying the Moon a lunar lander?
               | 
               | Just curious, isn't carrying a Moon very different from
               | landing on the Moon? Equating "carrying a Moon" to
               | "landing on Moon" does not even mean same thing, so that
               | can be thought as extrapolation. But the more specifics
               | of "using vaayu yaan" to travel on earth from Lanka(which
               | exists today) to Panchavati(which also exists today) does
               | not need the extrapolation as was required in the
               | previous sentence.
        
               | blackoil wrote:
               | One problem with this line of logic is that we don't have
               | any written text 1000s of years old, so we don't know if
               | the words were changed in later renditions or if the
               | story itself has been modified for changing times.
        
               | JumpCrisscross wrote:
               | > _" vaayu" means "air" and "yaan" means "vehicle"_
               | 
               | Which is a valid translation for most mythology's flying
               | chariots. We use the translation "chariot" because, at
               | the time, the only vehicles we know of in the relevant
               | culture _were_ chariots.
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | > Which is a valid translation for most mythology's
               | flying chariots.
               | 
               | No, that is not true. Your own sentence use the word
               | "most". In Indian there is a distinction between
               | vehicle("yaan") and chariot("rath").
               | 
               | > We use the translation "chariot" because, at the time,
               | the only vehicles we know of in the relevant culture were
               | chariots.
               | 
               | How do you know? If the ancient text itself makes a
               | distinction between "vaayu yaan" and "rath" then that
               | indicates there were more than one modes of
               | transportation.
        
               | ethbr0 wrote:
               | That might just mean the authors were smarter than their
               | contemporaries, and realized that an air-traveling
               | vehicle probably wouldn't look like a chariot.
               | 
               | Which does speak to their scientific knowledge, even
               | absent an actual vehicle existing, given that their peers
               | couldn't reason past "this thing we have on land, but in
               | the air."
        
               | ben_w wrote:
               | I'm imagining a similar debate in antiquity as I witness
               | today whenever I suggest a helicopter does all the things
               | people say they want from a flying car.
        
               | JumpCrisscross wrote:
               | > Which is a valid translation for most mythology's
               | flying chariots
               | 
               | >> _No, that is not true. Your own sentence use the word
               | "most"._
               | 
               | This is a _non sequitur_. The claim was  "flying vehicle"
               | is a valid translation for what is commonly translated as
               | "flying chariot" in most cultures, _i.e._ non-Indian
               | cultures. (It 's certainly so for Ancient Egyptian myths,
               | for which, unlike _Ramayana_ , we have contemporaneous
               | sources.)
               | 
               | I'm actually struggling to think of a culture which (a)
               | had, at the very least, chariots or something like them
               | and (b) couldn't have some part of its ancient mythology
               | properly translated as "flying vehicle." Maybe Sumerian?
               | 
               | >> _In Indian there is a distinction between vehicle(
               | "yaan") and chariot("rath")._
               | 
               | Clarification: in modern Hindi.
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | >> In Indian there is a distinction between
               | vehicle("yaan") and chariot("rath").
               | 
               | > Clarification: in modern Hindi.
               | 
               | https://kosha.sanskrit.today/word/en/Chariot/sa
               | 
               | You don't know Samskrut, do you?
        
             | jimsimmons wrote:
             | Vaayu yaan means air travel not aeroplane. Your slight of
             | hand here and overall comment history suggests you're
             | parroting some right wing propaganda. Tell me something,
             | why do people like you always find things that exist now in
             | the past but not things that will exist? If airplanes and
             | testtube babies are mentioned, why aren't there any
             | mentions of things that modern society will invent in a few
             | years, decades or centuries? I'll give you a hint: you
             | don't have them because you can't retrofit those. Once
             | someone invents them, then you can find vaguely related
             | sentences in a large corpus of Indian origin and claim
             | _there was something there_.
        
               | blackoil wrote:
               | "Yaan" mean vehicle in Hindi/Sanskrit.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | jimsimmons wrote:
               | Prayaan(a) is traveling/marching in Hindi, Gujarati,
               | Kannada. No vehicle involved. Sanskrit and Hindi aren't
               | exchangeable.
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | "yaan" means both vehicle and travel. You both are
               | correct :)
        
             | ajuc wrote:
             | "Air vehicle" meaning "aeroplane" is an interpretation. I
             | could interpret it as sailing ship for example. Or a
             | ballon. Possibly something like a chinese lampion which
             | were already known 2000 years ago so it's not a big
             | stretch.
        
               | phekunde wrote:
               | > I could interpret it as sailing ship
               | 
               | In air? Then how is it better than the general
               | characterisation as "Air vehicle"?
               | 
               | > Or a ballon.
               | 
               | Yeah, could be. And flying a balloon from Sri Lanka to
               | Nashik(while crossing ocean) and back again would have
               | been an achievement in itself during that period.
        
               | ajuc wrote:
               | > In air?
               | 
               | Why "in" air? Could just mean it's a regular sailing ship
               | - after all they are powered by "air" so they are "air
               | vehicles". Or it could be made out of air. In which case
               | you could claim Indians had inflatable ships thousands of
               | years ago :)
               | 
               | > And flying a balloon from Sri Lanka to Nashik(while
               | crossing ocean) and back again would have been an
               | achievement in itself during that period.
               | 
               | Of course, my point was that there are many possible
               | interpretations and when you say no interpretation is
               | needed you're just showing your cultural baggage.
               | 
               | There's a legend about Pan Twardowski. In it a nobleman
               | makes a deal with the devil and forces him to do various
               | impossible feats to avoid going to hell. One of these
               | feats was "making a whip rope out of sand". Optical fiber
               | is basically a rope made out of sand :) After that the
               | nobleman escaped from the devil and landed on the moon
               | (where he lives to this day).
               | 
               | It's pretty obvious to me that it's just a legend, but if
               | I wanted to interpret it literally then Poles were on the
               | moon in 16th century and had optical internet :)
        
         | AkshatM wrote:
         | This is a well-known and popularized myth about the ancient
         | scriptures which plays on patriotic feeling by claiming
         | "uniqueness" and advancement in ancient India. It is manifestly
         | not true or based in fact that any of these technologies
         | existed at the time - there's simply too many holes (why didn't
         | any other culture reproduce these fantastic feats or obtain
         | access to these? where is the archaeological record? why did no
         | other text from the time corroborate this story?), and the best
         | "evidence" the scriptures even talk about this are generous
         | translations that don't accord with the actual historical or
         | linguistic data.
         | 
         | This sort of myth is yet another distortion of the past in
         | favour of a narrative enshrining pre-modern India as superior
         | that has taken ahold of my country. Only in India will people
         | claim Valmiki's is the only valid version of the Ramayana
         | (there are hundreds of versions of the Ramayana, some told as
         | far as Thailand, of which Valmiki's is just one - see A. K.
         | Ramanujam's "Three Hundred Ramayanas"); make homeopathy derived
         | from Ayurveda a nationally accredited field of medicine despite
         | overwhelming clinical evidence it is no better than a placebo;
         | and claim the Vedas predicted the inventions we take for
         | granted today. It is misplaced reverence untempered by an
         | awareness of how to interpret historical documents, and all it
         | serves is to blind people to facts and common sense.
        
         | adictator wrote:
         | Those are called ITIHAASA which literally means "it so
         | happened". In other words, they are history & not mythology.
         | Just because the current generation cannot comprehend them does
         | not mean they are myths. For example, I have personally seen
         | saadhus / yogis who have mastered Yoga live absolutely naked in
         | the sub-frigid temperatures of the himalayas. Science has not
         | been able to explain this other than calling them miracles or
         | like you calling them myths. Please show some respect & do not
         | call ITIHAASA as myths.
        
         | naruvimama wrote:
         | 'matter-of-fact' - what is more important is that the after
         | effects/side effect are eerily accurate so makes it hard to
         | dismiss it as mere imagination.
         | 
         | In the Hindu thought, everything is cyclical including the
         | birth and death of the universe. It is not human or earth
         | centric, talks about other planets or worlds requiring space
         | travel, space-time effects of travel. Nagas - advanced
         | reptilian people who precede humans and in some stories come to
         | the aid of humans sound alien or a parallel species.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-11-02 23:01 UTC)