Justice Markandey Katju sparks another row

Should we teach the kids Ramayana and the Mahabharata in their schools? That is the question that Justice Dave, the retired Supreme Court judge has answered in the affirmative.
Some people say that in ancient India we had aeroplanes, atom bombs and guided missiles. In support of this argument they refer to the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

It is true that the Ramayan mentions Pushpak Viman, an alleged flying chariot, on which Lord Ram is said to have brought Sita from Lanka to Ayodhya, after defeating Ravan. On this basis it is claimed that there were aeroplanes in ancient India.

My reply to such people is this :

We must first understand what are Ramayana and Mahabharata ? They are epic poems ( mahakavyas). In poetry there is a thing called 'poetic licence', which gives a poet the right to exaggerate. So one must not take all things in the Ramayana or Mahabharata literally. As in much of poetry, many things are imaginative.

Everyone in the world knows that the first aeroplane in the world ( the Kitty Hawk ) was built by the Wright brothers in 1903. Hence we make ourselves a laughing stock before the whole world by claiming that there were aeroplanes in ancient India.

If there were aeroplanes in ancient India then there must have been engines in ancient India ( because an aeroplane requires an engine). In that case soldiers should have fought in tanks instead of in chariots and horses in the Mahabharat.



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