ANEKAL SUBBARAYA SHASTRY—Pioneer in the science of Aviation
And
SB. TALPADE —World’s First Creator of an Aircraft.
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its fragrance in the desert air”-----Thomas Gray
When I read these immortal lines of the poet in his ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” I recollected the life and achievements of two of the greatest scientists of our country who remain unnoticed, unrecognized and unhonoured in their own land of birth even today. One is Anekal Subbaraya Shastry of Bangalore [1866-1940] who pioneered the study of aeronautics in accordance with the magnificent treatise on aeronautics written in Sanskrit by Sage Bharadhwaja thousands of years ago and called ‘Brihad Vaimanika Shastra’. The other is S.B.Talpade [1864-1916] from Bombay who had flown the first unmanned aircraft built by himself called ‘Marut Sakha’ to a height of 1,500 feet in the Chowpathy Beach, Bombay in 1895 before it crashed, eight years before the Wright Brothers flew a manned aircraft in America on 17th December 1903
Anekal Subbaraya Shastry: Anekal Subbaraya Shastry was born in a village called Tagare in Anekal Taluk, Bangalore in 1866 as the eldest son. His parents were Lakshsamma and Krishna Shastry-- a pious and devout Brahmin couple. Krishna Shastry was an erudite Vedic scholar. He was extremely poor and it was a day- to- day struggle for existence for him to maintain the family. In keeping with the then prevailing tradition, he got Subbaraya married to one girl Nanjamma in Anekal when the boy was just eight years old. Sometime after his marriage, Subbaraya contacted leprosy, considered contagious. Opressed both physically and mentally, he even tried to commit suicide. One day, sometime in 1890 at the age of 24 years he left the house and moved out to an unknown destination without informing any one. He roamed from place to place and finally landed on the slopes of a thick forest in Kolar district. He lived wandering in the forest for nine years, subsisting on whatever he could get in the form of vegetables, fruits etc available in that forest area.
Extremely exhausted and thirsty, one day he went to a river side to drink water. Suddenly he felt giddy and lost consciousness and fell into the river. When he regained consciousness and woke up, he found himself on the banks of the river at a distance in the midst of beautiful natural surroundings. He saw a great sage in front of him who blessed him. This blessing had the effect of curing Shastry of his leprosy .Thereafter he spent quite sometime in the company of the sage. It was this unknown sage who initiated Shastry into Vedantic wisdom and taught him the famous Vedantic Treatise on aeronautics “Brihad Vaimanika Shastra” of Sage Bharadwaja, in addition to teaching him the secrets of Shastras like ‘Bhautika Kala Nidhi’ and Jala Tantra.
The Brihad Vaimanika Shastra is monumental treatise on aeronautics written in Sanskrit thousands of years ago by Sage Bharadwaja. It consists of 3,000 verses [shlokas] and 500 sutras [aphorisms] like grammarian Panini’s Ashtadhayi. The very first sutra defines an aircraft when it states ‘Vegasamyath Vimanah Andajam iti’ which means
‘An aircraft is like a flying bird’. The treatise describes in detail the construction and manufacture of an aircraft with all the relevant drawings, different types of aircrafts, metals used in the manufacture, varieties of machines and yantras required etc including details of dress to be worn by the pilot while flying etc. A condensed version of the treatise is available in the Oriental Library, Baroda.
After Shastry was given sufficient instructions on the Vimana Shastra and allied sciences, he was asked by the sage to return home and renew his life as a householder. In keeping with the advice, Shastry returned to Anekal and spent the next 25 years of his life in Anekal. It is only in the last few years that he shifted to Bangalore. When Shastry’s name and achievements spread by word of mouth, several leading scientists of the country such as Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sir C.V.Raman went to Anekal and got enlightened by Shastry’s Vedic knowledge on aeronautics. It is learnt that it was at the instance of Sir J.C.Bose that Shastry agreed to share this rare knowledge and gave some details about his career and the knowledge that he had acquired from the sage. As he was not himself not well read nor did he write down anything, he dictated whatever he had learnt to one Gotur Venkatachala Sharma who was an erudite Sanskrit scholar. Sharma took down all these dictations during a five year period between 1918 and 1923. In the early seventies, one G.R.Josyer of the International Academy of Sanskrit in Mysore brought out the English translation of Sharma’s book.. In his introduction to the book, Josyer confirms that Shastry dictated the treatise to Gotur Venkatachala Sharma.
Anekal Subbaraya Shastry passed away in 1940—unrecognized, unhonoured and unsung in his own motherland.
S.B.Talpade: The credit for putting India on the top in the history of world aviation belongs to a Bombay based scientist by name S.B.Talpade. He was the first to fly an unmanned aircraft to a height of 1,500 feet before it crashed. This feat was achieved by him at the Chowpathy Beach, Bombay in 1895, eight years before the launch of the world’s first manned aircraft into space in America on 17th December 1903. This magnificent feat was witnessed by no less celebrities than the Maharaja of Baroda Sayyaji Rao Gaekwad and Justice M.G.Ranade, well known freedom fighter and nationalist.
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade was born in 1864 in a locality known as Dukkurwadi in Bombay. He hailed from a Maharashtrian Brahmin family. He was a well read scholar in Sanskrit, well versed in most of the Sanskrit scriptures. Right from his younger days he used to evince a lot of interest in flying and flight mechanics. When he heard about the great aviation treatise ‘Brihad Vaimanika Shastra’ of Sage Bharadwaja, he cherished a desire to study it under a scholar who could teach him about it. At that time Anekal Subbaraya Shastry was the only known person who was knowledgeable about it and who could teach. Talpade was keen on going to Shastry at Anekal and study. But since he hailed from a poor family he could not afford it. Fortunately he came in contact with the Maharajah of Baroda, himself a great supporter of sciences in India. The Maharajah volunteered to assist Talpade in the acquisition of this rare knowledge. Talpade’s joy knew no bounds when he felt he could realize his long cherished desire to fly an aircraft. He wasted no time in getting lessons from Shastry and finally built his own aircraft in Bombay as per the guidelines from the Vaimanika Shastra.
The D-Day finally arrived sometime in 1895 when the first flying machine built by Talpade and named “Marut Sakha’ [Friend of the Wind] took off from ground before a large scholarly audience at the Chowpathy Beach in Bombay. The witnesses to this rare event included the famous nationalist and freedom fighter Justice M.G.Ranade and the Maharajah of Baroda. The aircraft took off to a height of 1,500 feet before it crashed. The event was reported with pride and jubilations by the Marathi newspaper from Poona ‘Kesari’ founded by Lokamanya Bala Gangadhar Tilak. Talpade was profusely congratulated by Justice Ranade and the Maharajah of Baroda.
However, the success of the Indian scientists was not liked by the British Government who arrested Talpade on some flimsy grounds. However Talpade was soon released due to the intervention of some influential leaders. The British Government also warned of dire consequences such as withholding the Privy Purse to the Maharaja of Baroda, if he continued to assist Talpade. In the meanwhile, Talpade lost his wife and was not in a frame of mind to continue his work with no one to back him up. It is learnt that with a view to discharging the loans he had raised towards his dream project, Talpade had to sell the salvage materials of ‘Marut Sakha’ to a British firm by name Raleigh Bros. Thus ended the saga of a glorious beginning on a sad note.
With a view to giving wide publicity to the glorious achievements of S.B.Talpade and emphasize the importance of Vedic wisdom even in sciences, Several Indian intellectuals and scholars got together and honoured Talpade with the title ‘Vidya Prakasha Pradeep”.
B.M.N.Murthy
And
SB. TALPADE —World’s First Creator of an Aircraft.
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its fragrance in the desert air”-----Thomas Gray
When I read these immortal lines of the poet in his ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” I recollected the life and achievements of two of the greatest scientists of our country who remain unnoticed, unrecognized and unhonoured in their own land of birth even today. One is Anekal Subbaraya Shastry of Bangalore [1866-1940] who pioneered the study of aeronautics in accordance with the magnificent treatise on aeronautics written in Sanskrit by Sage Bharadhwaja thousands of years ago and called ‘Brihad Vaimanika Shastra’. The other is S.B.Talpade [1864-1916] from Bombay who had flown the first unmanned aircraft built by himself called ‘Marut Sakha’ to a height of 1,500 feet in the Chowpathy Beach, Bombay in 1895 before it crashed, eight years before the Wright Brothers flew a manned aircraft in America on 17th December 1903
Anekal Subbaraya Shastry: Anekal Subbaraya Shastry was born in a village called Tagare in Anekal Taluk, Bangalore in 1866 as the eldest son. His parents were Lakshsamma and Krishna Shastry-- a pious and devout Brahmin couple. Krishna Shastry was an erudite Vedic scholar. He was extremely poor and it was a day- to- day struggle for existence for him to maintain the family. In keeping with the then prevailing tradition, he got Subbaraya married to one girl Nanjamma in Anekal when the boy was just eight years old. Sometime after his marriage, Subbaraya contacted leprosy, considered contagious. Opressed both physically and mentally, he even tried to commit suicide. One day, sometime in 1890 at the age of 24 years he left the house and moved out to an unknown destination without informing any one. He roamed from place to place and finally landed on the slopes of a thick forest in Kolar district. He lived wandering in the forest for nine years, subsisting on whatever he could get in the form of vegetables, fruits etc available in that forest area.
Extremely exhausted and thirsty, one day he went to a river side to drink water. Suddenly he felt giddy and lost consciousness and fell into the river. When he regained consciousness and woke up, he found himself on the banks of the river at a distance in the midst of beautiful natural surroundings. He saw a great sage in front of him who blessed him. This blessing had the effect of curing Shastry of his leprosy .Thereafter he spent quite sometime in the company of the sage. It was this unknown sage who initiated Shastry into Vedantic wisdom and taught him the famous Vedantic Treatise on aeronautics “Brihad Vaimanika Shastra” of Sage Bharadwaja, in addition to teaching him the secrets of Shastras like ‘Bhautika Kala Nidhi’ and Jala Tantra.
The Brihad Vaimanika Shastra is monumental treatise on aeronautics written in Sanskrit thousands of years ago by Sage Bharadwaja. It consists of 3,000 verses [shlokas] and 500 sutras [aphorisms] like grammarian Panini’s Ashtadhayi. The very first sutra defines an aircraft when it states ‘Vegasamyath Vimanah Andajam iti’ which means
‘An aircraft is like a flying bird’. The treatise describes in detail the construction and manufacture of an aircraft with all the relevant drawings, different types of aircrafts, metals used in the manufacture, varieties of machines and yantras required etc including details of dress to be worn by the pilot while flying etc. A condensed version of the treatise is available in the Oriental Library, Baroda.
After Shastry was given sufficient instructions on the Vimana Shastra and allied sciences, he was asked by the sage to return home and renew his life as a householder. In keeping with the advice, Shastry returned to Anekal and spent the next 25 years of his life in Anekal. It is only in the last few years that he shifted to Bangalore. When Shastry’s name and achievements spread by word of mouth, several leading scientists of the country such as Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sir C.V.Raman went to Anekal and got enlightened by Shastry’s Vedic knowledge on aeronautics. It is learnt that it was at the instance of Sir J.C.Bose that Shastry agreed to share this rare knowledge and gave some details about his career and the knowledge that he had acquired from the sage. As he was not himself not well read nor did he write down anything, he dictated whatever he had learnt to one Gotur Venkatachala Sharma who was an erudite Sanskrit scholar. Sharma took down all these dictations during a five year period between 1918 and 1923. In the early seventies, one G.R.Josyer of the International Academy of Sanskrit in Mysore brought out the English translation of Sharma’s book.. In his introduction to the book, Josyer confirms that Shastry dictated the treatise to Gotur Venkatachala Sharma.
Anekal Subbaraya Shastry passed away in 1940—unrecognized, unhonoured and unsung in his own motherland.
S.B.Talpade: The credit for putting India on the top in the history of world aviation belongs to a Bombay based scientist by name S.B.Talpade. He was the first to fly an unmanned aircraft to a height of 1,500 feet before it crashed. This feat was achieved by him at the Chowpathy Beach, Bombay in 1895, eight years before the launch of the world’s first manned aircraft into space in America on 17th December 1903. This magnificent feat was witnessed by no less celebrities than the Maharaja of Baroda Sayyaji Rao Gaekwad and Justice M.G.Ranade, well known freedom fighter and nationalist.
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade was born in 1864 in a locality known as Dukkurwadi in Bombay. He hailed from a Maharashtrian Brahmin family. He was a well read scholar in Sanskrit, well versed in most of the Sanskrit scriptures. Right from his younger days he used to evince a lot of interest in flying and flight mechanics. When he heard about the great aviation treatise ‘Brihad Vaimanika Shastra’ of Sage Bharadwaja, he cherished a desire to study it under a scholar who could teach him about it. At that time Anekal Subbaraya Shastry was the only known person who was knowledgeable about it and who could teach. Talpade was keen on going to Shastry at Anekal and study. But since he hailed from a poor family he could not afford it. Fortunately he came in contact with the Maharajah of Baroda, himself a great supporter of sciences in India. The Maharajah volunteered to assist Talpade in the acquisition of this rare knowledge. Talpade’s joy knew no bounds when he felt he could realize his long cherished desire to fly an aircraft. He wasted no time in getting lessons from Shastry and finally built his own aircraft in Bombay as per the guidelines from the Vaimanika Shastra.
The D-Day finally arrived sometime in 1895 when the first flying machine built by Talpade and named “Marut Sakha’ [Friend of the Wind] took off from ground before a large scholarly audience at the Chowpathy Beach in Bombay. The witnesses to this rare event included the famous nationalist and freedom fighter Justice M.G.Ranade and the Maharajah of Baroda. The aircraft took off to a height of 1,500 feet before it crashed. The event was reported with pride and jubilations by the Marathi newspaper from Poona ‘Kesari’ founded by Lokamanya Bala Gangadhar Tilak. Talpade was profusely congratulated by Justice Ranade and the Maharajah of Baroda.
However, the success of the Indian scientists was not liked by the British Government who arrested Talpade on some flimsy grounds. However Talpade was soon released due to the intervention of some influential leaders. The British Government also warned of dire consequences such as withholding the Privy Purse to the Maharaja of Baroda, if he continued to assist Talpade. In the meanwhile, Talpade lost his wife and was not in a frame of mind to continue his work with no one to back him up. It is learnt that with a view to discharging the loans he had raised towards his dream project, Talpade had to sell the salvage materials of ‘Marut Sakha’ to a British firm by name Raleigh Bros. Thus ended the saga of a glorious beginning on a sad note.
With a view to giving wide publicity to the glorious achievements of S.B.Talpade and emphasize the importance of Vedic wisdom even in sciences, Several Indian intellectuals and scholars got together and honoured Talpade with the title ‘Vidya Prakasha Pradeep”.
B.M.N.Murthy
