Blog Post: The Vimanas of Ancient India - Alien Craft or Lost Technology?

Author: Juniper Ravenwood
Published: May 11, 2025

Blog: The Shadow Blog at shadowfrequencypodcast.com

The skies of ancient India hum with secrets. In Episode 101 of The Shadow Frequency, we dove into the chilling mystery of vimanas—flying machines described in the Mahabharata that defy everything we think we know about history. Were these glowing, multi-story chariots the work of extraterrestrial visitors, as ancient astronaut theorist Erich von Däniken suggests, or the remnants of a hyper-advanced human civilization lost to time? The evidence is as haunting as it is compelling, and it’s left us questioning the very fabric of our past.

The Mahabharata, one of India’s oldest epics, paints a vivid picture of vimanas soaring through the heavens. In the Drona Parva, warrior Arjuna describes boarding a craft that rockets him to the stars, surrounded by thousands of airborne chariots gleaming like comets. These aren’t vague myths—the texts detail propulsion systems, quicksilver engines, and maneuvers that sound eerily like modern aircraft or even UFOs. Von Däniken, in Chariots of the Gods?, argues these were spacecraft piloted by aliens, pointing to descriptions of gods like Shiva traveling to the moon on bird-like crafts. The Vaimanika Shastra, a later text, adds technical blueprints: mercury-powered engines, cloaking devices, and mirrored hulls. Whether channeled from ancient knowledge or not, its precision is unsettling.

The creepiest evidence lies in the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, an Indus Valley city that collapsed around 2000 BCE. Archaeologists uncovered skeletons sprawled in the streets, some holding hands, as if frozen by sudden catastrophe. A family lies buried under ash, their bones allegedly radiating unnatural levels of radioactivity—levels rivaling those found in Hiroshima. Vitrified bricks, melted into glass by temperatures no natural fire could achieve, dot the site, and a layer of radioactive ash near Jodhpur hints at a cataclysm. The Mahabharata’s accounts of weapons brighter than a thousand suns, leaving hair loss, poisoned food, and unidentifiable corpses, read like a nuclear war playbook. Could vimanas have been the chariots of an alien invasion, or did humans once wield technology we can’t comprehend?

Skeptics urge caution. Some archaeologists argue Mohenjo-Daro’s 37 skeletons were buried over centuries, not killed in a single blast, and their radioactivity is unconfirmed. Vitrified bricks might stem from ancient kilns, not a cosmic weapon. Yet, the Mahabharata’s technical details—measurements in light-years, atomic-scale distances—defy easy dismissal. Why would ancient scribes describe such concepts without witnessing them? Whether alien or human, the vimanas challenge our understanding of history, whispering of a past where the skies were alive with power and terror.

Join us on The Shadow Frequency as we chase these shadows. Visit shadowfrequencypodcast.com to listen to Episode 101, explore our Shadow Blog, and leave a voicemail sharing your thoughts. Are vimanas proof of extraterrestrial contact, or a forgotten chapter of human ingenuity? The truth is out there, waiting in the eerie glow of ancient skies.