Shivkar Bapuji Talpade

Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
Born 1864
Bombay (Now Mumbai), Bombay Presidency
Died 1916
Nationality Indian
Education Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art

Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade (1864 – 1916)[1] was an Indian scholar who is said to have constructed an unmanned airplane in 1895. Talpade lived in Bombay and was a scholar of Sanskrit literature and the Vedas.[2]

Early life and inspiration

Talpade was born in the Chira Bazaar neighborhood of Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra[1] in a Pathare Prabhu family.[3] He completed his school education in Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art. During his time there he came to know about ancient Indian aeronautics through his teacher Chiranjilal Verma, who led Talpade to read Swami Dayanand Saraswati's works related to ancient aeronautics, such as ‘Rigvedādic Bhāshya Bhumikā’ and ‘Rigved and Yajurveda Bhāshya’. However, some sources also suggests that his works were based on the work done by Maharishi Bharadwaja in the Rigveda.[4] Inspired by these texts he decided to construct the Vedic Vimāna described in the Vedas, and started learning Vedic Sanskrit language.

Pratap Velkar, the principal source for most information on Talpade,[3] says that Talpade also studied the achievements of aviation pioneers such as Thomas Alva Edison, who flew in a balloon, and machine gun inventor Hiram Maxim, who made a captive steam-driven aircraft. According to Velkar, Talpade studied these flights, which inspired him to make an aircraft and fly.[5]

Marutsakhā

Talpade's airplane was named Marutsakhā, derived from the Sanskrit Marut ('air' or 'stream') and sakhā ('friend') which together mean 'Friend of wind'. As suggested by D. K. Kanjilal's 1985 Vimana in Ancient India: Aeroplanes Or Flying Machines in Ancient India, as well as contemporary reports in the Marāthi-language newspaper Kesari,[6] Marutsakhā is supposed to have been inspired from Vimāna, ancient flying-machines in Hindu mythology.

Contemporary accounts of a successful flight or evidences of such an achievement are scarce and the technical feasibility is dubious. The technical basis of the Vedic Ion Design which was supposedly used by Talpade has been debunked by research into the technological feasibility of such flights.[4]

One of Talpade's students, Pt. S. D. Satawlekar, wrote that Marutsakhā sustained flight for a few minutes.[5] According to K.R.N. Swamy "a curious scholarly audience headed by a famous Indian judge and a nationalist, Mahadeva Govinda 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".[1] The presence of Mahadev Govind Ranade and Sayajirao Gaekwad III during the flight is also cited in "Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute".[7]

On the other hand, Pratap Velkar in "Maharashtracha Ujwal Itihaas" stated that "It wasn't a well-publicized event. It was more like a sporting event. Apart from a few curious onlookers, the only people present were some friends who had showed up to watch him." Moreover, Marutsakhā was apparently a cylindrical structure made of bamboo and filled with liquid mercury. The contraption was supposed to fly when the mercury reacts with sunlight to release hydrogen, which is lighter than air. But, according to Velkar, the plane did not get very high or stay up too long; it rose to a small height and crashed within minutes. A former Indian defense officer stated in 2004 that Marutsakhā failed to operate to its full design limits due to technical reasons.[5] This issue was also raised by Steven J. Rosen[8] in his book The Jedi in the Lotus: Star Wars and the Hindu Tradition.

After the experiment, Marutsakhā apparently was stored at Talpade's house until well after his death. Velakara quotes one of Talpade's nieces, Roshan Talpade, as saying the family used to sit in the aircraft's frame and imagine they were flying.[6] 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.[5]

A film based on life of Talpade, Hawaizaada, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, was released on 30 January 2015. The film was earlier titled Bambai Fairytale.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Flying high". Deccan Herald. 2003-12-16. Archived from the original on 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-02-03.
  2. ↑ Asia: Asian Quarterly of Culture and Synthesis, American Asiatic Association, Published 1942, Page 40
  3. 1 2 Lhendup G Bhutia (2015-01-30). "The Myth of the Indian Aviator". OPEN Magazine. Talpade is believed to have been born in 1864 in the Pathare Prabhu community in a South Mumbai home
  4. 1 2 H.S. Mukunda; S.M. Deshpande; H.R. Nagendra; A. Prabhu; S.P. Govindraju (1974). "A critical study of the work "Vyamanika Shastra"" (PDF). Scientific Opinion: 5–12. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Pradeep Vijayakar (2004-10-18). "A flight over Chowpatty that made history". The Times of India. Retrieved 2015-02-03.
  6. 1 2 Pratāpa Velakara, Pāṭhāre prabhūñcā itihāsa: nāmavanta lekhakāñcyā sas̃́odhanātmaka likhāṇāsaha : rise of Bombay from a fishing village to a flourishing town, Pune, Śrīvidyā Prakāśana (1997)
  7. ↑ Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Volume 69. The Institute. 1989. p. 365. JSTOR i40079502.
  8. ↑ Rosen 2010
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