Re: Modern Technology in Historical Times
Are u talking about the iron pillar in delhi ? It boggles the mind how the ancient Indians came up with that marvel.
yes that is what I was talking about
Re: Modern Technology in Historical Times
How about the nuclear warfare described in the Mahabharata and Ramayana ? For something written before the first nuke was detonated, it does an awesome job of describing a nuclear blast and deaths due to radiation poisoning.
Oppenheimer thought it may have happened. He was very familiar with the ancient Hindu epics being a sanskrit scholar himself. When asked if this was the first ever detonation of of a nuclear bomb, he said. “Yes, in modern times”. :biggthumb:
This is from the Mahabharata:“Gurkha, flying a swift and powerful vimana [fast aircraft],
hurled a single projectile [rocket]
charged with the power of the Universe [nuclear device].
An incandescent column of smoke and flame,
as bright as ten thousand suns,
rose with all its splendour.
It was an unknown weapon,
an iron thunderbolt,
a gigantic messenger of death,
which reduced to ashes
the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
The corpses were so burned
as to be unrecognizable.
Hair and nails fell out;
Pottery broke without apparent cause,
and the birds turned white.
…After a few hours
all foodstuffs were infected…
…to escape from this fire
the soldiers threw themselves in streams
to wash themselves and their equipment.”
** A second passage.**“Dense arrows of flame,
like a great shower,
issued forth upon creation,
encompassing the enemy.
A thick gloom swiftly settled upon the Pandava hosts.
All points of the compass were lost in darkness.
Fierce wind began to blow
Clouds roared upward,
showering dust and gravel.
Birds croaked madly…
the very elements seemed disturbed.
The sun seemed to waver in the heavens
The earth shook,
scorched by the terrible violent heat of this weapon.
Elephants burst into flame
and ran to and fro in a frenzy…
over a vast area,
other animals crumpled to the ground and died.
From all points of the compass
the arrows of flame rained continuously and fiercely.” — The Mahabharata
From the Ramayana: ”(It was a weapon) so powerful
that it could destroy the earth in an instant–
A great soaring sound in smoke and flames–
And on it sits death…” .
Check out the YouTube video in the link which is an excerpt from a documentary from the History Channel which describes said warfare:
Nuclear weapons - mentioned in the Mahabharat? - IBTL
Re: Modern Technology in Historical Times
From the Agasthya Samhita which was a text composed by a vedic age sage which gives directions for constructing electrical batteries:
“Place a well-cleaned copper plate in an earthenware vessel.
* Cover it first by copper sulfate and then moist sawdust.*
* After that put a mercury-amalgamated-zinc sheet on top of*
* an energy known by the twin name of Mitra-Varuna. Water will*
* be split by this current into Pranavayu and Udanavayu. A*
* chain of one hundred jars is said to give a very active*"
*and effective force.” *
MITRA-VARUNA is now called cathode-anode, and Pranavayu and Udanavayu are to us oxygen and hydrogen.