2015 Indian Science Congress ancient aircraft controversy

Protest against a conference presentation April 2026 September 2025 The 2015 Indian Science Congress ancient aircraft controversy refers to protests that occurred during the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai on 4 January 2015 when a paper claiming to prove that aircraft were invented in the Vedic age was allowed to be presented.Ancient India Had Planes: Controversial Claim At Science Congress http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ancient-india-had-planes-controversial-claim-at-science-congress-643885 25 January 2015 NDTV 5 January 2015 Overview In December 2014, it was announced that Anand J. Bodas and his copresenter Ameya Jadhav, who claim that aircraft more advanced than today's versions existed in ancient India, would be allowed to speak at the Indian Science Congress and present a paper on aviation in the Vedic age. During an interview, he said that such aircraft were huge and could fly to other planets. He also said that those planes could fly backwards, left, or right, contrary to modern aircraft that can fly only forward.Aeroplanes in Vedic age could fly between planets: Speaker at Indian Science Congress https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/aeroplanes-vedic-age-could-fly-between-planets-speaker-indian-national-congress-232961-2014-12-26 25 January 2015 India Today 26 December 2014Indian Science Congress organisers slip Vedic mythology about aviation into programme schedule http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Indian-Science-Congress-organisers-slip-Vedic-mythology-about-aviation-into-programme-schedule/articleshow/45643060.cms 25 January 2015 Mumbai Mirror 26 December 2015 Bodas, who was a principal at a pilot training school in Kerala, and Jadhav, currently a lecturer at the Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College in Mumbai,At Science Congress, Vedic aeroplanes and virus-proof suits http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/at-science-congress-vedic-aeroplanes-and-virus-proof-suits/99/ 25 January 2015 The Indian Express 3 January 2015 cited a text called Vaimanika Prakaranam (also called Vaimānika Shāstra) as evidence. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science studied the text in 1974, concluding that "craft is a decided impossibility" and that the Vaimānika Shāstra was written no earlier than 1904.Gandhi Divya An 'ancient' treatise no older than 1904 https://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/sunday-anchor-grounded-before-take-off/article62119956.ece1 31 January 2016 The Hindu January 11, 2015 Bodas stated that modern science rejects anything that it cannot explain. He claimed that of the 500 guidelines described in the text, only 100 to 120 survive today. He attributed this loss to the passage of time, foreign rulers of India and artefacts which had been stolen from India during that time. The five-day conference was held at the Kalina Campus of Mumbai University starting on 3 January 2015. The paper was presented on 4 January as a part of the larger symposium on "Ancient Sciences Through Sanskrit". Other papers presented in the symposium were "Engineering applications of Ancient Indian botany", "Neuroscience of yoga: understanding the process", "Advances in surgery in Ancient India" and "Scientific principles of Ancient Indian architecture and civil engineering". Criticism and protests In late December 2014, Ram Prasad Gandhiraman, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, started a petition to prevent the paper from being presented at the conference. By 31 December, 220 scientists and academics had signed the petition. Gandhiraman criticised the paper as pseudo-science and said that mythology should not be mixed with science.Pseudo-science must not figure in Indian Science Congress http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/Pseudo-science-must-not-figure-in-Indian-Science-Congress/articleshow/45698353.cms 25 January 2015 Mumbai Mirror 31 December 2014 S. M. Deshpande, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who has written a paper with four others on aircraft in Sanskrit texts, said that we should not reject such claims as pseudoscience outright but examine them with intellectual curiosity. His paper, however, states that the aircraft described in the Vaimānika Shāstra text would not be capable of flying, and the text itself cannot be traced to any date before 1904. H.S. Mukunda, another professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who was a co-author of the paper, criticised the organisers and said that both sides of the debate should be presented. He asked why there had been no working models made if the persons who presented the paper were convinced that they were right.The organisers did a disservice to science http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150112/jsp/knowhow/story_7878.jsp 4 April 2020 The Telegraph (India) 12 January 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150611151100/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150112/jsp/knowhow/story_7878.jsp 11 June 2015 Roddam Narasimha, director of National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), said that there is no credible evidence that aviation existed in ancient India. He added that the Vaimānika Shāstra text has been studied scientifically, and the consensus is that descriptions in the text are unscientific. Notable Indian astrophysicist and founding director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pune, India, Jayant Narlikar reacted to the controversy, saying that it was good to be proud of ancient Indian science, but scientists should not make claims about things they did not have proof of. He commented, "We can boast of things, but it should be restricted to what we have proof of. But we shouldn't claim things of which there is no evidence or proof, as it reduces the credibility of what our scientists have achieved in the past." He further asserted, "Even the West recognises the knowledge of mathematics held by Indians. If we start making outlandish claims, the scientific community of the world will not look up to us as it does now".Outlandish claims diminish respect for ancient Indian science: Narlikar http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Outlandish-claims-diminish-respect-for-ancient-Indian-science-Narlikar/articleshow/45877872.cms 2 February 2015 The Times of India 14 January 2015 Economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen commented that some evidence is required in the controversial claims made in the Indian Science Congress regarding the achievements of ancient Indians. He said, "The idea that human beings can fly is known to human beings from birth. The idea that human beings might be able to be on the air has been talked about a lot. If that was true, then we would like to find some evidence." Further, he elaborated, "As our epics show, Indians have thought about flying for a long time. But it would be fanciful to say that India invented the aeroplane. If ancient India had airfare technology, we would like to see some evidence. I agree there are a lot of claims that have nothing to do with achievements."Claims made in Science might need evidence, says Amartya Sen http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india/claims-made-in-science-might-need-evidence-says-amartya-sen/521455-3.html https://archive.today/20150201064626/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india/claims-made-in-science-might-need-evidence-says-amartya-sen/521455-3.html dead 1 February 2015 2 February 2015 CNN-IBN 6 January 2015 Support Gauri Mahulikar, the head of the department of Sanskrit at Mumbai University, said that the paper would have been easily dismissed if it had been presented by Sanskrit professors. But, since Bodas was a pilot and Ameya Jadhav had a Master of Technology and a Master of Arts in Sanskrit, it supposedly could not be rejected easily. See also Vimana Hindutva pseudohistory Ancient astronauts References Further reading Abstract: Ancient Indian Aviation Technology http://sanskritbhavan.com/abs/Aviation.html Department of Sanskrit, Mumbai University Anand Bodas Ameya Jadhav January 2015 2015-01-25 https://web.archive.org/web/20150104185955/http://sanskritbhavan.com/abs/Aviation.html 2015-01-04 dead Mazur Eric Michael Taylor Sarah McFarland Religion and Outer Space Taylor & Francis Abingdon, Oxon New York, NY 2023-07-07 The Myth Of Ancient Indian Airplanes https://books.google.com/books?id=TBi-EAAAQBAJ Wendy Doniger 978-1-000-90469-7 Category:Controversies in India Category:2015 controversies Category:Transport controversies Category:Pseudohistory Category:Pseudoscience