Achieving self-reliance in defence manufacturing is one of the key national objectives of India today. The focus has been on reducing dependency on defence imports and indigenisation of the items presently being imported. A key area of action is the aerospace, which is not only cost intensive but also sees early obsolescence. The Germans, the Chinese and many others have been avid fans of India’s ancient past and the vast knowledge that is so well documented in the ancient manuscripts. Lot more information may be residing in millions of still unread documents held in thousands places of different Indian religions and sects. Some of them may be a gold mine of information that may propel India back to the position of glory it once held. Vimana is just one such story.

India is known to have given to the world most major concepts of Mathematics, some as far back as 1200 BC. The concept of zero, the decimal system, negative numbers, arithmetic and algebra were Indian contributions. Trigonometric functions sine and cosine were added by ancient Indians. Even practical mathematics covering measures of length, proportions, ratios, weights, geometric shapes were also evolved. Large numbers from 100 to a trillion were in use in the Vedic period. For construction, those days Pythagorean Theorem and geometric area equivalence were used. India is estimated to have about thirty million manuscripts dating back to 700 BC. The knowledge of Mathematics was germane to scientific research.

The Sanskrit word ‘Vimana’ (meaning a part that has been measured and set aside) first appeared in Vedas with several meanings ranging from temple or palace to mythological flying machine. References to these flying machines were common in ancient Indian texts, even describing their use in warfare, and being able to fly within Earth’s atmosphere. Vimanas were also said to be able to travel into space and under water. Rigveda also talks of “mechanical birds”. Later texts around 500 BC talk of self-moving aerial car without animals. In some modern Indian languages, the word 'vimana' means aircraft.