The Evolution of the Vimāna.
From Divine Chariot to King Bhoja’s Flying Machine
The Indian imagination has always reached for the skies — from hymns that praised the flight of the gods to the later dreams of mechanical birds and flying palaces. The Sanskrit word “Vimāna” (विमान) captures this upward vision perfectly.
Over centuries, its meaning evolved — from a celestial chariot of the gods in the Vedas to a mechanical flying craft in King Bhoja’s Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, and later to a symbol of rediscovered heritage in the modern Vaimānika Śāstra.
The journey of the vimāna mirrors the journey of Indian thought itself — from myth to mechanics, from spirit to science.
The Vedic Roots — Chariots of the Gods
In the Rigveda (c. 1500–1200 BCE), the idea of flight was already alive, though the word vimāna was not yet used.
The gods — Indra, Agni, and the Aśvins — are described riding celestial chariots (rathas) that move “swift as the mind.”
“Indra’s ratha moves swift as thought.” — Rigveda 3.38.2
These chariots are divine metaphors, not mechanical vehicles. They represent the mobility of consciousness, speed of divine action, and the mind’s power to traverse realms.
In this earliest vision, flight was not a feat of engineering but a symbol of illumination — a movement between the earthly and the cosmic.
The Epic Age — The Pushpaka Vimāna of the Ramayana
By the time of the Ramayana (c. 500 BCE–200 CE), the concept of the vimāna had become more defined.
The famous Pushpaka Vimāna, “the flowery aerial car,” belonged to Kubera, the god of wealth, but was seized by Ravana and later used by Rama after the great war.
“The Pushpaka vimāna, shining like the sun, vast and swift,
can travel anywhere at the will of its master.” — Ramayana, Yuddha Kāṇḍa 123.1.
Here, the vimāna is a celestial vehicle, powered not by fuel or fire, but by divine will.
It reflects the freedom of the soul — the ability to move unhindered between realms.
The Pushpaka symbolizes grace, kingship, and liberation, rather than invention or technology.
King Bhoja’s Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra — The Vision of a Mechanical Sky
A thousand years later, India’s golden age of scholarship gave rise to King Bhoja of Malwa (11th century CE) — a ruler, poet, and polymath.
His encyclopedic treatise, the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, covers architecture, sculpture, urban design, iconography, and mechanics (yantra-vidyā).
In Chapter 31, Bhoja takes a remarkable leap — describing machines and aerial craft built by human hands.
Definition of a Machine
“Yantraṃ nāma calana-sthāpanād-upakaraṇa-saṃyoga-viśeṣaḥ.”
“A machine (yantra) is a special combination of parts designed for movement and stability.”
This is one of the earliest mechanical definitions in world literature — precise, functional, and scientific in tone.
Construction of the Vimāna
“Vimānaṃ tu laghu kartavyaṃ dṛḍhaṃ susaṃhataṃ śubham,
Vāta-yantra-samāyuktaṃ tu gati-śakti-yutaṃ bhavet.”
“The vimāna should be light, strong, well-joined, and fitted with air mechanisms to gain motion.”
Bhoja imagines a lightweight, air-powered craft.
He even describes chambers of fire (agni-koṣṭha) and mercury mechanisms (rasa-yantra) to generate motion — suggesting an intuitive grasp of propulsion and balance.
“When the mechanism, filled with fluid and aided by the force of air, is set in motion,
the vimāna moves swiftly in the sky.”
Bhoja also mentions self-moving chariots, mechanical birds, and yantra-puruṣas — humanoid figures that could hold lamps or mirrors.
“Svayaṃ-cālita-yantrāṇi calanti hi nabhaḥ-sthale,
Yantra-puruṣa-vad vastra-gṛhīta-darpaṇādikam.”
“Self-moving machines roam about, like mechanical men holding garments and mirrors.”
These marvels were created, Bhoja says, “for royal amusement and the wonder of people.”
He ends the chapter by praising this science:
“Yantra-vidyā ca vipulā sarva-loka-vismaya-pradā…”
“The science of machines is vast and inspires wonder throughout the worlds.”
Thus, in Bhoja’s world, the vimāna is no longer divine — it is human imagination reaching the heavens through art and engineering.
The Vaimānika Śāstra — A Modern Revival
In the early 1900s, a text named Vaimānika Śāstra appeared in Mysore, said to be a revelation of Sage Bharadvāja to Pandit Subbaraya Shastry.
It describes four kinds of flying machines — Shakuna, Rukma, Sundara, and Tripura vimāna — complete with designs, materials, and operating manuals.
“The Shakuna vimāna moves by mercury engines and solar heat.”
Though presented as ancient, modern scholars and a 1974 IISc (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) study found its aeronautical principles scientifically unfeasible and linguistically modern.
Still, it symbolizes India’s continuing yearning to rediscover her lost scientific heritage — a poetic bridge between faith and invention.
From Myth to Mechanics — The Evolution of the Vimāna
Vedic Age Rigveda Celestial chariots (rathas) Power of the mind, divine mobility
Epic Age Ramayana Pushpaka vimāna (divine craft) Grace, kingship, liberation
Medieval Age Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra (Bhoja) Human-built machine Fusion of science, art, and spirituality
Modern Age Vaimānika Śāstra Symbolic aircraft Cultural pride, national rediscovery
Across time, the vimāna has never been merely a vehicle — it is a metaphor for transcendence.
Each era reimagined it according to its vision of human possibility:
The Vedic seer saw it as the chariot of the mind.
The epic poet turned it into a vehicle of dharma and divine will.
The medieval king built it from art and engineering.
The modern dreamer sought it again in memory and myth.
Through all, one truth shines — the Indian spirit has always sought to bridge the earth and the sky, to make imagination a form of knowledge and wonder.
King Bhoja’s Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra stands as a monument to a civilization that saw no divide between art, science, and divinity.
Its vimāna verses reveal a vision both poetic and technical — where geometry mirrors the cosmos, and mechanics becomes meditation.
“By combining air, fire, and liquid power, the vimāna flies —
a creation of divine art and human intellect.”
From Indra’s chariot to Rama’s Pushpaka, from Bhoja’s mechanical birds to modern dreams of flight —
the vimāna remains a timeless Indian symbol of the urge to rise, to imagine, and to unite heaven and earth.
