Vimāna (vi-MAH-nah): Flying chariot or palace. Think UFO + luxury yacht.
Astra (AH-struh): Divine weapon activated by mantra; arrows that become fire, storms, or floods.
Vajra (VAHJ-rah): Indra’s thunderbolt cannon, reusable lightning strike.
Gāṇḍīva (gahn-DEE-vah): Arjuna’s legendary bow, endless arrows.
Māyā (MAH-yah): Illusions and deception on the battlefield.
Pushpaka (POOSH-puh-kah): Rāvaṇa’s flying palace, stolen from the gods.
Śakti (SHAHK-tee): Karna’s one-shot spear of destruction.
Pāśupata Astra (pah-SHOO-puh-tah AH-struh): Śiva’s ultimate doomsday weapon, apocalypse in a mantra.
Dharma (DURR-mah): The principle of cosmic order, balance, and duty.
The Sanskrit epics weren’t just poetry, they were warnings. Flying palaces, thunderbolt cannons, serpent-weapons, and arrows that split into firestorms. Were they myths, or records of something we’ve lost? In this episode, we rip open the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa to uncover the wars of the sky — Vimānas, astras, gods, demons, and the first doctrines of annihilation.
From Arjuna’s sky duels to Rāvaṇa’s stolen Pushpaka palace, from Karna’s one-shot curse to Śiva handing over the ultimate doomsday weapon, this is ancient war told in modern voice, cinematic, unfiltered, and relentless.
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von Däniken, Erich. Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past. Putnam, 1968.
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