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Vimana: Flying Machines of the Ancients
According to early Sanskrit texts the ancients had several types of airships called vimanas. Like aircraft of today, vimanas were used to fly through the air from city to city; to conduct aerial surveys of uncharted lands; and as delivery vehicles for awesome weapons. David Hatcher Childress, popular Lost Cities author and star of the History Channel's long-running show Ancient Aliens, takes us on an astounding investigation into tales of ancient flying machines. In his new book, packed with photos and diagrams, he consults ancient texts and modern stories and presents astonishing evidence that aircraft, similar to the ones we use today, were used thousands of years ago in India, Sumeria, China and other countries. This means that these ancient civilizations had advanced metal technology, electricity and the engineering knowledge of flight many thousands of years before our own era of flight technology. Childress discusses ancient UFO sightings, the fascinating lore of ancient flight and the technology allegedly used in the flying machines of the ancients.
- GenresNonfiction
408 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2013
12 people are currently reading
279 people want to read
About the author
David Hatcher Childress
66 books207 followersDavid Hatcher Childress (born 1957) is an American author and publisher of books on topics in alternative history and historical revisionism. His works often cover such subjects as pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, the Knights Templar, lost cities and vimana aircraft. Despite his public involvement in the general field of study, Childress claims to have no academic credentials as a professional archaeologist.
Born in France, and raised in Colorado, Childress began his world travels at age nineteen in pursuit of his archaeological interests. In 1983 Childress relocated to Stelle, Illinois, a community founded by New Age writer Richard Kieninger, after Childress was given a book authored by Kieninger while touring Africa. Childress chronicled his explorations in his Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries series of books, whose core concepts were influenced by the ideas of Kieninger.
While residing in Stelle, Childress began self publishing his own works and later other authors, which focus on presenting fringe scientific theories regarding ancient civilizations and little-known technologies, as well as establishing a travel business in partnership with Kieninger. In 1991, in the nearby town of Kempton, Illinois, Childress, along with historian and linguist Carl W. Hart, founded the World Explorers Club, a group that often travels to the places he writes about, and an affiliated magazine, World Explorer.
David Hatcher Childress has appeared on several television programs on NBC ("The Mysterious Origins of Man"), Fox Network (Sightings and Encounters), Discovery Channel, A&E, The History Channel, as a commentator on subjects such as the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and UFOs.
Childress has been involved in two lawsuits regarding his publishing activities, one of which failed due to the expiry of a statute of limitations and the other, involving his company's publication of a master's thesis without permission, which was settled out of court.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha...
Born in France, and raised in Colorado, Childress began his world travels at age nineteen in pursuit of his archaeological interests. In 1983 Childress relocated to Stelle, Illinois, a community founded by New Age writer Richard Kieninger, after Childress was given a book authored by Kieninger while touring Africa. Childress chronicled his explorations in his Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries series of books, whose core concepts were influenced by the ideas of Kieninger.
While residing in Stelle, Childress began self publishing his own works and later other authors, which focus on presenting fringe scientific theories regarding ancient civilizations and little-known technologies, as well as establishing a travel business in partnership with Kieninger. In 1991, in the nearby town of Kempton, Illinois, Childress, along with historian and linguist Carl W. Hart, founded the World Explorers Club, a group that often travels to the places he writes about, and an affiliated magazine, World Explorer.
David Hatcher Childress has appeared on several television programs on NBC ("The Mysterious Origins of Man"), Fox Network (Sightings and Encounters), Discovery Channel, A&E, The History Channel, as a commentator on subjects such as the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and UFOs.
Childress has been involved in two lawsuits regarding his publishing activities, one of which failed due to the expiry of a statute of limitations and the other, involving his company's publication of a master's thesis without permission, which was settled out of court.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ha...
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 27, 2018
This is the first book of David Hatcher Childress I read – and my review can be summed up in just one word “WOW”!!!!!
The first men to fly in an aeroplane were the Wright Brothers in 1905 – right – NO COMPLETELY WRONG. Human beings have been flying from times immemorial in ancient times – Chinese, Hindus (Indians), Sumerians, Assyrians and Egyptians among other ancient people have travelled in aircrafts or seen them with alien (both this and other worldly) passengers as evidenced by their texts, pictures and carvings.
“It has long been held by the pundits of higher learning that ancient texts, legends, traditions and even actual artefacts such as models and frescoes are not sufficient proof of anything, especially when it runs contrary to the established academic dogma.” And this exactly is what has happened to these evidence and the scholars who profess these ideas which were subjected to ridicule and rejected. No academician is interested in coming out of his comfort zone even though it can be conclusively proved that earth is round and sun is the centre of our solar system. And so ancient vimanas comprising of aircrafts and spacecrafts DID INDEED EXIST – but who cares for myths and legends.
The book is extremely well written. I was hooked from the first page. Being an Indian and practicing Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), I grew up with these tales of ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ as daily bedtime stories. In the past fifteen years or so, I have perused these works in original (Sanskrit).
The first chapter deals with the Kurukshetra War the major theme of ‘Mahabharata’. Shorn of the trappings of divinity and religious fervour, Childress take on the epic is absolutely correct, though an Hindu fanatic would see signs of disrespect to his faith and irreverence in its presentation – but yes the war of wars – Kurukshetra – was fought for sitting on the throne of Hastinapura and as a revenge by the spurned rejected suitors of Draupadi – the wife of the Pandava King Yudhisthira. The Pandavas too had cause for revenge as Yudhisthira having staked his wife and lost her to servitude, was forced to watch the disrobing and stripping naked of his wife in the full assembly of the court. That she was not completely stripped was due to the miraculous power of Sri Krishna, who ensured that there was a piece of clothing covering Draupadi’s shame. With the help of Sri Krishna Pandavas win the war, but inherit a land filled with sorrow and bereft of Kshatriyas – the ruling class. At the end of the Kurukshetra war only twelve kings were left alive of whom two being Brahmin warriors were not likely to rule any country. The eleven Yudhisthira and his four brothers – the Pandavas – Satyaki the Vrishni chieftain who fought on the side of Pandavas, Kirtivarman the Vrishni chieftan who fought on the side of Kauravas, Rukmi the King of Vidarbha who was neutral, Sri Krishna and his elder brother Balarama, rulers of Dwaraka and the two Brahmin warriors Ashvattama and his uncle Kripacharya. No other kings and their heirs returned alive from Kurukshetra. Childress approach is more or less of a research scholar, much as a non-Christian would approach the stories in the Bible and it is quiet appreciable.
While reading the second chapter, there was a glaring error regarding ancient Hindu texts. Childress states “There are many other ancient texts from India that provide fascinating and incredible information on the highly technological ancient world, of which ancient India was only a part. ‘The Bhagavad Gita’ (known as Srimad-Bhagavatam to Hindus) is part of the ‘Mahabharata’.” While Childress has admitted that he depends on translations and could not read these texts in original – his statement that The Bhagavad Gita is known as Srimad Bhagavatam to Hindus is absurd. In July 1966 the International Society for Krishna Conciseness (ISKCON) was established in New York by Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Bhaktivedanta has translated, explained and annotated the Bhagavad Gita in English. He has also in twenty-seven volumes done the same with Srimad Bhagavatam. Therefore, any reader of English should be aware that the two books are completely different and they are, both being compositions of Sage Vyasa. This mistake apart, this chapter too is wonderfully presented, informative and provides textual references to Vimanas (aircrafts and spacecrafts).
In chapter three the author states “Rama and Lakshmana, meanwhile, have jumped into their vimana and are in hot pursuit.” I have not come across any such reference in the three Ramayanas I have read – Valmiki, Tulsidas and Kamban – Sanskrit, Hindi and Tamil. Where did Childress get this information? Another error is his claim that Rama was banished to the forest for twelve years – it was fourteen years and not twelve. Regarding Sita’s refusal to succumb to the lure of Lanka, Childress says “ .....Rama, who everyone knew was a great guy, but who lived in a crummy cottage in the forest.” This again is factually incorrect – by the time Ravana abducted Sita, the period of banishment of fourteen years was nearing its end. It should not be forgotten that at the completion of this period, he could return to his opulent life style in the palaces of Ayodhya – may not be as opulent as Lanka – but it definitely was no crummy cottage in some forest.
Following Childress line of thought, though that was not the thought of the original author of Ramayana, Ayodhya also was a prosperous kingdom – maybe not as prosperous as Lankapuri – in refusing to succumb to charms of Ravana and glitz and lucre of his capital city, Sita exhibited far sightedness proving she was not just another dumb blonde with beauty and no brains. As was the practice of the time Ravana had a number of wives, and being a conqueror of the three worlds, he had a harem full of beautiful women from all countries of the worlds – devas, asuras, yakshas, nagas, kinnaras, vanaras, etc. Even if had kept his promise and married Sita making her his Chief Queen and not just another concubine, Sita was aware her beauty and youth would some day fade. If Ravana was willing to relegate his other wives to second class status, at some time in the future, he could do the same to her. On the other hand Rama had a fairly prosperous kingdom and she was his only wife, she could control the keys of the kingdom – smart gal eh!!!
The fifth chapter deals with the Ancient Indian text on vimanas – The Vimanika Shastra Book. There is controversy over the age of this book. Childress has given a detailed background, but he quotes the comments of one J.B.Hare in the Wikipedia article on ‘Vimanika Shastra’ and who was apparently unaware of Kanjilal’s investigation into the source of the book:
“The ‘Vimanika Shastra’ was first committed to writing between 1918 and 1923, and nobody is claiming that it came from some mysterious antique manuscript. The fact is, there are no manuscripts of this text prior to 1918, and nobody is claiming that there are. So on one level, this is not a hoax. You just have to buy into the assumption that ‘channelling’ works. …there is no exposition of the theory of aviation (let alone antigravity). In plain terms, the VS never directly explains how Vimanas get up in the air. The text is top-heavy with long lists of often bizarre ingredients used to construct various subsystems. …There is nothing here which Jules Verne couldn’t have dreamed up, no mention of exotic elements or advanced construction techniques. The 1923 technical illustrations based on the text… are absurdly unaerodynamic. They look like brutalist wedding cakes, with minarets, huge ornithopter wings and dinky propellers. In other words, they look like typical early 20th century fantasy flying machines with an Indian twist.”
With the arrogance of modern scientist, whose ignorance of the laws of nature and sciences is far greater than what is known [in an alien abduction case in the 1960’s the woman reported under hypnosis that the aliens inserted a needle into her navel to detect if she was pregnant – the academics, scientists, doctors, etc dubbed the entire episode hoax – medical science did not have any such procedure to detect pregnancy – today detection or termination????] a 1974 study by the Indian Institute of Sciences Bangalore “found that the heavier-than-air aircraft that the ‘Vimanika Shastra’ described were aeronautically unfeasible. The authors remarked that the discussion of the principles of flight in the text were largely perfunctory and incorrect, in some cases violating Newton’s laws of motion. The study concluded:
“Any reader by now would have concluded the obvious — that the planes described above are at best poor concoctions, rather than expressions of something real. None of the planes has properties or capabilities of being flown; the geometries are unimaginably horrendous from the point of view of flying; and the principles of propulsion make them resist rather than assist flying.” The conclusion a lay reader can draw and that probably is correct – the images are not thematically correct to correspond to the text and are more like modern machines – the illustrator T.K.Ellappa was a trained engineer and hence is realistic approach to machines – but as we know even in our life time, modern aircrafts have become sleeker and more aerodynamically friendly in the last three or four decades to what they were in the 1950s – it is likely that images of Vimanas we find in the book are an oxymoron.
In this chapter, after describing the vimanas, Childress concludes “So what are we to think about the ‘Vimanika Shastra’ text? Was it just the imaginings of a Hindu scholar who knew his ancient texts and scholars very well? It seems to me that there was once a book called the ‘Vimanika Shastra’ that did exist, and is part of Maharishi Bharadwaja’s epic encyclopedia “All About Machines” or “Yantra Sarvasva.”
Chapter Six deals with ancient masters, megaliths and machines. There is nothing special in this chapter as the stories of wise sages, flying machines, and the huge megalithic temples – Baalbek, Black Pagoda, Mahabalipuram and others across the globe - and the surprise at how the ancients could move such huge boulders of such weight, when modern science has yet to make a crane to lift such megaliths, the usual theories of levitation, acoustics, et al. Still the facts are presented succinctly whether the reader agrees with it or not.
Chapter Seven is all about hidden underground fortresses in the mountains of the world, Tibet, Nepal, India, Mongolia, China, South America, Mount Shasta in California and others. The chapter traces mentions from ancient texts of a White Island in Gobi Sea (now desert), Kun-lun in China, Mount Meru in Mongolia, Mount Kailash, Mount Gauri Shankar, and Kanchenjunga in the Himalayan Range. This chapter is once again well annotated and keeps the readers interest intact.
Overall the book keeps a reader interested, whether as a student or a sceptic, but it tantalisingly leaves a number of questions unanswered which would require a serious reader t further read up matters of the ancient sciences and technology.
The book is well, written, interesting and immensely readable. Except for the theories of Alternate History – Merovingian descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, whom Childress links to Mount Meru in Mongolia Meru-Vingian – where in 1934 Henry Wallace then Secretary of Agriculture in FDR’s first term sent a team to Mongolia led by mystic Roerich to trace out the reincarnation of Jesus – the Second Coming – to lead the increasingly violent world towards the new Order and peace, the presence of Shiva, the Destroyer of the Hindu Trinity living inside Mount Kailash, and such other claims, I found the book a good commentary on ancient aeronautics and technology.
I liked reading the book, my first written by David Hatcher Childress.
The first men to fly in an aeroplane were the Wright Brothers in 1905 – right – NO COMPLETELY WRONG. Human beings have been flying from times immemorial in ancient times – Chinese, Hindus (Indians), Sumerians, Assyrians and Egyptians among other ancient people have travelled in aircrafts or seen them with alien (both this and other worldly) passengers as evidenced by their texts, pictures and carvings.
“It has long been held by the pundits of higher learning that ancient texts, legends, traditions and even actual artefacts such as models and frescoes are not sufficient proof of anything, especially when it runs contrary to the established academic dogma.” And this exactly is what has happened to these evidence and the scholars who profess these ideas which were subjected to ridicule and rejected. No academician is interested in coming out of his comfort zone even though it can be conclusively proved that earth is round and sun is the centre of our solar system. And so ancient vimanas comprising of aircrafts and spacecrafts DID INDEED EXIST – but who cares for myths and legends.
The book is extremely well written. I was hooked from the first page. Being an Indian and practicing Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), I grew up with these tales of ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ as daily bedtime stories. In the past fifteen years or so, I have perused these works in original (Sanskrit).
The first chapter deals with the Kurukshetra War the major theme of ‘Mahabharata’. Shorn of the trappings of divinity and religious fervour, Childress take on the epic is absolutely correct, though an Hindu fanatic would see signs of disrespect to his faith and irreverence in its presentation – but yes the war of wars – Kurukshetra – was fought for sitting on the throne of Hastinapura and as a revenge by the spurned rejected suitors of Draupadi – the wife of the Pandava King Yudhisthira. The Pandavas too had cause for revenge as Yudhisthira having staked his wife and lost her to servitude, was forced to watch the disrobing and stripping naked of his wife in the full assembly of the court. That she was not completely stripped was due to the miraculous power of Sri Krishna, who ensured that there was a piece of clothing covering Draupadi’s shame. With the help of Sri Krishna Pandavas win the war, but inherit a land filled with sorrow and bereft of Kshatriyas – the ruling class. At the end of the Kurukshetra war only twelve kings were left alive of whom two being Brahmin warriors were not likely to rule any country. The eleven Yudhisthira and his four brothers – the Pandavas – Satyaki the Vrishni chieftain who fought on the side of Pandavas, Kirtivarman the Vrishni chieftan who fought on the side of Kauravas, Rukmi the King of Vidarbha who was neutral, Sri Krishna and his elder brother Balarama, rulers of Dwaraka and the two Brahmin warriors Ashvattama and his uncle Kripacharya. No other kings and their heirs returned alive from Kurukshetra. Childress approach is more or less of a research scholar, much as a non-Christian would approach the stories in the Bible and it is quiet appreciable.
While reading the second chapter, there was a glaring error regarding ancient Hindu texts. Childress states “There are many other ancient texts from India that provide fascinating and incredible information on the highly technological ancient world, of which ancient India was only a part. ‘The Bhagavad Gita’ (known as Srimad-Bhagavatam to Hindus) is part of the ‘Mahabharata’.” While Childress has admitted that he depends on translations and could not read these texts in original – his statement that The Bhagavad Gita is known as Srimad Bhagavatam to Hindus is absurd. In July 1966 the International Society for Krishna Conciseness (ISKCON) was established in New York by Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Bhaktivedanta has translated, explained and annotated the Bhagavad Gita in English. He has also in twenty-seven volumes done the same with Srimad Bhagavatam. Therefore, any reader of English should be aware that the two books are completely different and they are, both being compositions of Sage Vyasa. This mistake apart, this chapter too is wonderfully presented, informative and provides textual references to Vimanas (aircrafts and spacecrafts).
In chapter three the author states “Rama and Lakshmana, meanwhile, have jumped into their vimana and are in hot pursuit.” I have not come across any such reference in the three Ramayanas I have read – Valmiki, Tulsidas and Kamban – Sanskrit, Hindi and Tamil. Where did Childress get this information? Another error is his claim that Rama was banished to the forest for twelve years – it was fourteen years and not twelve. Regarding Sita’s refusal to succumb to the lure of Lanka, Childress says “ .....Rama, who everyone knew was a great guy, but who lived in a crummy cottage in the forest.” This again is factually incorrect – by the time Ravana abducted Sita, the period of banishment of fourteen years was nearing its end. It should not be forgotten that at the completion of this period, he could return to his opulent life style in the palaces of Ayodhya – may not be as opulent as Lanka – but it definitely was no crummy cottage in some forest.
Following Childress line of thought, though that was not the thought of the original author of Ramayana, Ayodhya also was a prosperous kingdom – maybe not as prosperous as Lankapuri – in refusing to succumb to charms of Ravana and glitz and lucre of his capital city, Sita exhibited far sightedness proving she was not just another dumb blonde with beauty and no brains. As was the practice of the time Ravana had a number of wives, and being a conqueror of the three worlds, he had a harem full of beautiful women from all countries of the worlds – devas, asuras, yakshas, nagas, kinnaras, vanaras, etc. Even if had kept his promise and married Sita making her his Chief Queen and not just another concubine, Sita was aware her beauty and youth would some day fade. If Ravana was willing to relegate his other wives to second class status, at some time in the future, he could do the same to her. On the other hand Rama had a fairly prosperous kingdom and she was his only wife, she could control the keys of the kingdom – smart gal eh!!!
The fifth chapter deals with the Ancient Indian text on vimanas – The Vimanika Shastra Book. There is controversy over the age of this book. Childress has given a detailed background, but he quotes the comments of one J.B.Hare in the Wikipedia article on ‘Vimanika Shastra’ and who was apparently unaware of Kanjilal’s investigation into the source of the book:
“The ‘Vimanika Shastra’ was first committed to writing between 1918 and 1923, and nobody is claiming that it came from some mysterious antique manuscript. The fact is, there are no manuscripts of this text prior to 1918, and nobody is claiming that there are. So on one level, this is not a hoax. You just have to buy into the assumption that ‘channelling’ works. …there is no exposition of the theory of aviation (let alone antigravity). In plain terms, the VS never directly explains how Vimanas get up in the air. The text is top-heavy with long lists of often bizarre ingredients used to construct various subsystems. …There is nothing here which Jules Verne couldn’t have dreamed up, no mention of exotic elements or advanced construction techniques. The 1923 technical illustrations based on the text… are absurdly unaerodynamic. They look like brutalist wedding cakes, with minarets, huge ornithopter wings and dinky propellers. In other words, they look like typical early 20th century fantasy flying machines with an Indian twist.”
With the arrogance of modern scientist, whose ignorance of the laws of nature and sciences is far greater than what is known [in an alien abduction case in the 1960’s the woman reported under hypnosis that the aliens inserted a needle into her navel to detect if she was pregnant – the academics, scientists, doctors, etc dubbed the entire episode hoax – medical science did not have any such procedure to detect pregnancy – today detection or termination????] a 1974 study by the Indian Institute of Sciences Bangalore “found that the heavier-than-air aircraft that the ‘Vimanika Shastra’ described were aeronautically unfeasible. The authors remarked that the discussion of the principles of flight in the text were largely perfunctory and incorrect, in some cases violating Newton’s laws of motion. The study concluded:
“Any reader by now would have concluded the obvious — that the planes described above are at best poor concoctions, rather than expressions of something real. None of the planes has properties or capabilities of being flown; the geometries are unimaginably horrendous from the point of view of flying; and the principles of propulsion make them resist rather than assist flying.” The conclusion a lay reader can draw and that probably is correct – the images are not thematically correct to correspond to the text and are more like modern machines – the illustrator T.K.Ellappa was a trained engineer and hence is realistic approach to machines – but as we know even in our life time, modern aircrafts have become sleeker and more aerodynamically friendly in the last three or four decades to what they were in the 1950s – it is likely that images of Vimanas we find in the book are an oxymoron.
In this chapter, after describing the vimanas, Childress concludes “So what are we to think about the ‘Vimanika Shastra’ text? Was it just the imaginings of a Hindu scholar who knew his ancient texts and scholars very well? It seems to me that there was once a book called the ‘Vimanika Shastra’ that did exist, and is part of Maharishi Bharadwaja’s epic encyclopedia “All About Machines” or “Yantra Sarvasva.”
Chapter Six deals with ancient masters, megaliths and machines. There is nothing special in this chapter as the stories of wise sages, flying machines, and the huge megalithic temples – Baalbek, Black Pagoda, Mahabalipuram and others across the globe - and the surprise at how the ancients could move such huge boulders of such weight, when modern science has yet to make a crane to lift such megaliths, the usual theories of levitation, acoustics, et al. Still the facts are presented succinctly whether the reader agrees with it or not.
Chapter Seven is all about hidden underground fortresses in the mountains of the world, Tibet, Nepal, India, Mongolia, China, South America, Mount Shasta in California and others. The chapter traces mentions from ancient texts of a White Island in Gobi Sea (now desert), Kun-lun in China, Mount Meru in Mongolia, Mount Kailash, Mount Gauri Shankar, and Kanchenjunga in the Himalayan Range. This chapter is once again well annotated and keeps the readers interest intact.
Overall the book keeps a reader interested, whether as a student or a sceptic, but it tantalisingly leaves a number of questions unanswered which would require a serious reader t further read up matters of the ancient sciences and technology.
The book is well, written, interesting and immensely readable. Except for the theories of Alternate History – Merovingian descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, whom Childress links to Mount Meru in Mongolia Meru-Vingian – where in 1934 Henry Wallace then Secretary of Agriculture in FDR’s first term sent a team to Mongolia led by mystic Roerich to trace out the reincarnation of Jesus – the Second Coming – to lead the increasingly violent world towards the new Order and peace, the presence of Shiva, the Destroyer of the Hindu Trinity living inside Mount Kailash, and such other claims, I found the book a good commentary on ancient aeronautics and technology.
I liked reading the book, my first written by David Hatcher Childress.
January 9, 2016
A compilation of material about vimana from a tireless researcher on such things. I don't know if they're real, but they have generated a lot of material and point to mysterious gaps in our history and knowledge. Compels me to investigate more strange things . . .
April 13, 2023
An interesting read, although amateurishly written. It reads like a school assignment. The book is just one giant quotation. There are too many passages of the parts of Vimana which may be interesting to engineers but not so much to the average reader. There are also a lot of speculation about the Ancients still living inside giant hangars built into mountains which even I found farfetched. Still, I always wanted to read Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the book offers a nice recap, so there's that.
March 21, 2025
Such a cool subject. Presented very well here.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews