Technology in Jain Harivansh Purana: With Special Focus on Travelling by Air

Abstract

Jagdish Chandra Bose proved through his experiments that all the plants and trees are alive and have feelings just like a human being has. He proved that plants react, laugh, and also feel sad. This was proved in the late nineties. But Jain Agamas have been the source of this information for the last 2500 years. The Acharang Sutra speaks a lot about ‘Vanaspati Kayik Jeeva’ (souls living in the bodies of plants and trees) and their feelings. The details are so alive that one gets emotional for these so-called non-living things. Not only vanaspati (plants) but also prithvi (earth), Apkaay (water), tejas (fire), and Vayu (air) are also alive as per Jain Canons. Unfortunately, modern generations do not believe these facts until and unless they are proved by some scientific approach. Hence, plants are considered to be alive after Jagdish Chandra Bose’s experiments, while the other four types of Kayik Jeevas are considered to be non-living things still now. No one believed the stories of ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ in the Epic Ramayana, as ‘people flying in air’ was not a scene that men of that era could imagine, but today we can see a large number of aeroplanes taking a lot of humans from one place to the other by air. Though the inclination of scientists towards Indian Hindu literature is appreciable, they are exploring ancient scriptures of Hindus for old technologies and ancient theories with new searches and research based on the information provided in ancient literature, but Jain literature has not been explored well till now, while they have case studies of modern sciences like dream interpretation, medical sciences, color therapies, etc. This study attempts to explore an ancient Jain book, ‘Harivansh Purana,’ for case studies of air travel. The authors have listed and interpreted case studies from the book, which give us a glimpse of flying technologies used in that era and users of the technology. Further scope of this study can be to prove all the technological evidence in modern theories and references. Modern interpretation of these theories may bring out the truth that ancient Indian stories are not just myths; they have strong technological roots and evidence in their ancient literature. Further scope of study can be to analyze the case studies in Harivansh Purana for other sciences and technologies also. The authors have focused on flying technology in Harivansh Purana, but the fact is that the book is dotted with case studies of many other sciences and technologies like dream interpretation, medical science, architectural sciences, numerology, etc., too. A list of armors used in the battles can also be listed. A list of sciences and technologies available in that era has also been given in the book, like Pragyapti and Maya, etc. Experts of various fields should come forward to explore the Jaina treasure of sciences for the modern world.