Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade (1864–17 Sep 1917) was born in 1864 in Mumbai. He belongs to the Pathare Prabhu community en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivkar_Bapuji_Talpade https://youtube/watch?v=pjtN0IV_lJc Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade (1864–17 Sep 1917) was born in 1864 in Mumbai. He belongs to the Pathare Prabhu community.[1] It is argued that he had constructed and flown Indias first airplane in the year 1895.[2] This event is supposed to have occurred 8 years before the Wright brothers Wright Flyer, the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight. Talpades airplane was named Marutsakhā, a term used for the goddess Sarasvati in the Rigveda (RV 7.96.2) -- a portmanteau of Marut meaning stream of air and Sakha meaning friend. Talpade lived in Mumbai and was a scholar in Sanskrit literature and Vedas.[3] Talpade is supposed to have constructed Marutsakhā under the guidance of Pandit Subbarāya Shāstry. However, according to a study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, it is not possible to construct such a flying machine.[4] Moreover, contemporary accounts of a successful flight or evidences of such an achievement are scarce and the technical feasibility is highly dubious. However, the Vedic Ion Design of Talpade is matter of debate [5] and exploration [6] in present times. This issue was also raised by Steven J. Rosen [7] in his book The Jedi in the Lotus: Star Wars and the Hindu Tradition. Shāstry was the author of the Vaimānika Shāstra, an early 20th-century Sanskrit text on aeronautics supposedly obtained by Vedic studies and automatic writing. Marutsakhā may have been constructed based on Vimāna, mythological flying machines from Vedic literature. This is suggested by D. K. Kanjilals 1985 Vimana in Ancient India: Aeroplanes Or Flying Machines in Ancient India, as well as reports contemporary to Talpade in the Marāthi-language newspaper Kesari.[8] One of Talpades students, Pt. S. D. Satawlekar, wrote that Marutsakhā sustained flight for a few minutes.[9] Deccan Herald in 2003 stated scholarly audience headed by a famous Indian judge and a nationalist, Mahadeva Govin-da Ranade and H H Sayaji Rao Gaekwad, respectively, had the good fortune to see the unmanned aircraft named as ‘Marutsakthi’ take off, fly to a height of 1500 feet and then fall down to earth.[10] The presence of Mahadev Govind Ranade and Sayajirao Gaekwad III during the flight is also cited in Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.[11] A former Indian defense officer stated in 2004 that Marutsakhā failed to operate to its full design limits due to technical reasons.[9] Jonathan Glancey, an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects has documented this historical piece of technological adventure in his book Harrier.[12] After the experiment, Marutsakhā apparently was stored at Talpades house until well after his death. Velakara quotes one of Talpades nieces, Roshan Talpade, as saying the family used to sit in the aircrafts frame and imagine they were flying.[8] A model reconstruction of Marutsakhā was exhibited at an exhibition on aviation at Vile Parle, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has preserved documents relating to the experiment.[9]
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:19:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015