Kolkata: The controversy surrounding topics like aeroplanes existed 7000 years ago and surgery had its roots in India overshadowed the Indian Science Congress in Kolkata.
A paper on aviation by Captain Anand J Bodas, part of a session on 'Ancient sciences through Sanskrit', said, "These aeroplanes travelled from one country to another, from one continent to another and from one planet to another. There is a reference of ancient aviation in the Rigveda."
In fact, the paper is the subject of an online campaign by NASA scientist Dr Gandhiraman which, he claims, mixes science with Vedic mythology. The paper said ancient India had advanced planes centuries before they were invented by the Wright Brothers in 1903.
The paper said ancient India had advanced planes centuries before they were invented by the Wright Brothers in 1903.
Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan gave credit to the discovery of the Pythagoras theorem to India and said India allowed Greece to take the credit.
Former union minister, Congress' Shashi Tharoor backed Harshvardhan. He tweeted, "To mock the credulous exaggerations of the Hindutva brigade, you don't need to debunk the genuine accomplishments of ancient Indian science! Modernists sneering at @drharshvardhan should know he was right, as I pointed out in 2003."
The big question then are references from Vedic times the stuff of mythology, or based on facts? Is the line between fact and fiction blurred?
Dr Naresh Chandra, local secretary, Indian Science Congress, said, "We have to look at the achievements of the past to work in the future. Young generation should look into the past and see if there are solutions in there for the future. There are so many herbal pastes and all from ancient times, it hasn't been scientifically proven, but they still work."
Perhaps the need of the hour, a serious inter-disciplinary research between various branches of science and ancient Sanskrit texts.
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