Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.216

c2.216

There may be some lacunæ in the description, and Bhoja does not fail to mention that some vital knowledge is kept back as a secret, an idea which we noticed in the *Bṛhatkathā* story also. It is, however, clear that mercury vapour ought not to be confused as providing any lifting power; it was evidently converted into mechanical power, and the machine must have risen, as is expressly stated here, and implied by the mention of its cock-shape in the *Bṛhatkathā* story, by the flapping of the wings, and further movement must have been due to the manipulation of the wings and the flow of air itself, on the analogy of the flight of birds.³⁷