War in Ancient India c10.9

c10.9

In the recently published *Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra* of Bhoja, a whole chapter of about 230 stanzas⁴ is devoted to the principles of construction underlying the various flying machines and other engines used for military and other purposes. The various advantages of using machines, especially flying ones, are given elaborately. Special mention is made of their attacking visible as well as invisible objects, of their use at one's will and pleasure, of their uninterrupted movements, of their strength and durability, in short of their capability to do in the air all that is done on earth. After enumerating and explaining a number of other advantages, the author concludes that even impossible things could be effected through them. Three movements are usually ascribed to these machines,—ascending, cruising thousands of miles in different directions in the atmosphere and lastly descending. It is said that in an aerial car one can mount up to the Sūryamaṇḍala, ‘solar region’ and the Nakṣatra maṇḍala (stellar region) and also travel throughout the regions of air above the sea and the earth. These cars are said to move so fast as to make a noise that could be heard faintly from the ground.⁵ Still some writers have expressed a doubt and asked ‘Was that true?’ But the evidence in its favour is overwhelming.