Lucknow: The governor of Uttar Pradesh, Anandiben Patel, claimed that it was the Vedic-era sage Bharadwaj who conceptualised the idea of aircraft and not the Wright brothers. She claimed that instead of the sage, the Wright Brothers enjoyed the credit for the idea. She also claimed that Kumbhakarana (Ravana’s giant brother as per Ramayana) was a ‘technocrat’ and opposed to popular belief that he slept 6 months, he was ‘secretly building machines’.
Addressing the ninth convocation of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University in Lucknow on Monday, the governor opined that students must study ancient Indian texts to appreciate the unparalleled research and discoveries made by their ancestors, PTI reported.
"The sages and scholars of ancient India made remarkable discoveries and innovations that are benefiting the world even today," she was quoted as saying in a statement issued by Raj Bhavan.
She said, "The sages and scholars of ancient India made remarkable discoveries and innovations that are benefiting the world even today.”
"He (sage Bharadwaj) had conceptualised the idea of an aircraft, but the credit for its invention was given to another nation, and it is now recognised as the invention of the Wright Brothers,” she claimed.
About Kumbhakarna, she said that he used to build machines secretly to prevent countries from taking his technology.
"This was Ravan's will that he should not come out of his workshop and work for six months. But the word was spread that he used to sleep for six months and stay up the next six," Patel added.
Bharadwaj, a prominent sage from the Vedic age, is mentioned in both the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.