There was Pushpak Vimaan before Wright brothers: Shivraj Chouhan

Bhopal: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that ancient India’s science and technology were highly advanced when the world was in the dark of ignorance.

Addressing the 12th convocation of The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal (IISER Bhopal) Tuesday, he said that ‘Pushpak Vimaan existed when there was no trace of the Wright brothers’.

However, the country’s prowess in technology suffered a setback when it ‘fell into the abyss of slavery’.

‘This is the land where, when the world was covered in the darkness of ignorance, India lit the lamp of knowledge. Our science and our technology were highly advanced. The Pushpak Vimaan existed when there was no trace of the Wright brothers,’ Chouhan reportedly said.

Referencing weapon technology of ancient India, he said that in ancient India there weapons that would return to the quiver after hitting the target.

‘You must have read about Agniastra, Varunastra, and Brahmastra in India. These were used in the Mahabharata. And those weapons were such that after hitting the target, they would return to the quiver. Today, when missiles are being launched and drones are being sent, our country already achieved such things long ago, ‘he was quoted as saying.

However, when India fell into ‘abyss of slavery’, the country’s science and technology could not progress, he added.

Calling India an ‘an ancient and great nation that goes back thousands of years’, he said those days the hymns of vedas had already been composed and Upanishads got recited when today’s so-called developed nations were still in dark.

‘This is the nation whose teachers and sages, not today but thousands of years ago, declared: ‘Truth is one, the wise describe it in different ways. Whichever path you take, you will reach the same destination’,’ he reportedly said.