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I found this site which claimed that Ancient India was an extremely advanced civilization whose technology equaled & in some cases even surpassed current technology. None of the claims have external, reliable citations. Can anyone support or debunk any of the claims made?

Guns:

Some people in medieval Europe heard of powerful fire weapons of the India. Marco Polo (in 13th century) was financed by the king of his country with the specific purpose of finding the secret of the Indian fire weapons. Marco Polo was given gold coins and precious stones.

And finally,

Who invented nuclear weapons?

You may have heard about the great Astras mentioned in our Puranas. But you may not have read about them in detail:

“The Mahabharata – an ancient Indian epic compiled 3000 years ago – contains a reference to a terrible weapon. Regrettably, in our age of the atomic bomb, the description of this weapon exploding will not appear to be an exaggeration: ‘…. a blazing shaft possessed of the effulgence of a smokeless fire (was) let off…’. That was how this weapon was perceived. The consequences of its use also evoke involuntary associations. ‘… This makes the bodies of the dead unidentifiable. … The survivors lose their nails and hair, and their food becomes unfit for eating. For several subsequent years the Sun, the stars and the sky remain shrouded with clouds and bad weather’. This weapon was known as the Weapon of Brahma or the Flame of Indra

As far as I know, the Mahabharata is just a story. But even if we assume that the technology described in the book is not a product of the author's imagination, then could anyone confirm whether the above paragraph is actually taken from a reliable translation of the epic? It is possible that the writer of the article perverted the story to fit his hypothesis.

And also: Did our ancients know radars and laser weapons?

Yes, the technology was given in the Sanskrit manuscript Samarangana Sutra Dhara.

Sklivvz
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Green Noob
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    I'm new to skeptics. What is the recommended policy for answering (dare I say) questions with quite ludicrous assertions? – Joel Cornett Jun 11 '12 at 02:16
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    @JoelCornett As far as I know, the only requirement is that you provide reliable citations. – Green Noob Jun 11 '12 at 02:56
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    Sounds like someone is reading what they want to read in a poetic interpretation. I'm sure you could read a passage in Moby Dick and get something that describes a nuclear submarine if you try hard enough... – JasonR Jun 11 '12 at 11:29
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    @JoelCornett - With well written and referenced evidence supporting your answer. The same as any other question. – Chad Jun 11 '12 at 13:26
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    It's almost impossible to prove something DIDN'T happen. Prove me there is no blue dinosaure living somewhere on Earth right now! "Nobody saw one" doesn't prove anything. – Alexis Dufrenoy Jun 11 '12 at 15:30
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    @Traroth: but... ancient aliens!!!! – Joel Cornett Jun 11 '12 at 15:48
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    @GreenNoob: In this situation, I believe the burden of proof is on the proponents of this (not widely accepted) assertion to present evidence in support of it. The site you linked to contains many inaccuracies and it seems to use only a wikipedia article, and a website called "hinduwisdom" as it's sources. – Joel Cornett Jun 11 '12 at 16:04
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    @GreenNoob: What sort of evidence would it take to falsify this website's assertions? – Joel Cornett Jun 11 '12 at 16:09
  • @JoelCornett Nice point Joel. If you could find a reliable translation of the epic, we can come to a conclusion about the nuclear warfare claim. About Marco Polo, a citation from a reliable history book & about the laser weapons, a translation of the mentioned manuscript. I admit all this is easier said than done though. – Green Noob Jun 12 '12 at 09:03
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    Stories about "fire weapons" reaching back to Europe is within the realm of reason even if they didn't exist in India due to stories getting distorted with distance. – rjzii Jun 12 '12 at 11:52
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    @Brightblades Already (sort of) been done: http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html :) – Kit Sunde Jun 12 '12 at 18:56
  • The book Chariots Of The Gods (by Erich von Dänike) makes similar assertions, particularly about Indian texts describing nuclear weapons. (Obviously, it is not accepted by most historians.) – Dan R. Jun 13 '12 at 15:02
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    One way to disprove this ancient nuclear weapons theory is via isotope dating. It looks that no supernatural levels of radiation existed on Earth until 1940's. – Tadeusz A. Kadłubowski Jun 15 '12 at 08:43
  • @TadeuszA.Kadłubowski - That might depend upon knowing where to look and what to look for. There is strong evidence of [natural nuclear reactors](http://www.damninteresting.com/natures-nuclear-reactors/) in nature and the [background radiation in Hiroshima](http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kids/KPSH_E/question_box/question12.html) has returned to normal levels so just looking for areas of high radiation is unlikely to be helpful. – rjzii Jul 31 '12 at 02:15
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    But modern technology would leave traces. And one might imagine that the knowledge would not be readily lost. The burden of proof in on the claim to show how there are not traces and no thread of knowledge left. Poetic (and easy to misinterpret) descriptions are not strong evidence. – matt_black Jul 31 '12 at 09:28
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    Imagine a society capable of building nuclear weapons, lasers, semiconductor chips, etc. Oh, ours for example. Now fast forward that society, a few thousand years, assuming it dies. You will still find non-working, corroded remnants of that society all over. Our junk piles would remain. It would be unmistakable. And the lack of even a single such remnant would tell you there was no such advanced manufacturing capability. –  Jul 31 '12 at 10:20
  • @woodchips, matt_black - The History Channel covered this pretty well on [Life After People](http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people); however, there is a question as to how wide spread the civilization and the technology is coupled with knowing where to look. With the vast majority of modern technology, if it doesn't work you aren't going to have a clue what it does which could lead to an advanced society dismissing it unless they recognize what it is. – rjzii Jul 31 '12 at 12:07
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    If Indians had invented radar they would have detected the British coming to colonize their country and would have nuked them. – Daniel R Hicks Feb 16 '18 at 00:43
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    I'd start from the fact that Marco Polo's country (Venice) had no king. – Federico Feb 16 '18 at 12:59
  • Bear in mind that many fiction writers of the Jules Verne school no doubt described fantastical weapons that would sound like quaint descriptions of modern weapons. There is no reason to believe that Indian writers would not have invented similar fictions. After all, no one knows what a Star Trek "phaser" really is, but likely in another 100 years they will exist. – Daniel R Hicks Feb 16 '18 at 19:58

2 Answers2

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The text

Aiming at all his visible and invisible foes, the preceptor's son, the slayer of hostile heroes, inspired with mantras a blazing shaft possessed of the effulgence of a smokeless fire, and let it off on all sides, filled with rage. Dense showers of arrows then issued from it in the welkin.

can be found on page 481 of this translation. The context does not suggest nuclear weapons any more than other massive weapons. And nuclear weapons are not normally associated with arrows. This extra context seriously undermines the interpretation of the partial quote given in the source.

An free e-book edition of volume 6 of The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated Into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text by Pratap Chandra Roy can be found here

matt_black
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Henry
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    This isn't a full [referenced answer](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/5), but more of a clarification. Please expand it into a full answer – Sklivvz Jun 12 '12 at 23:30
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    @Sklivvz: Not a clever comment. The question was "could anyone confirm whether the above paragraph is actually taken from a reliable translation of the epic?". I have shown with a full reference where the phrase ‘…. a blazing shaft possessed of the effulgence of a smokeless fire (was) let off…’ came from in the Mahabharata, with a link, the title of the book, the name of the translator and the original page number. – Henry Jun 12 '12 at 23:41
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    You are still only very partially addressing the question, though. Yep, I know it's a wide one... – Sklivvz Jun 13 '12 at 20:26
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No, it did not.

Those are imaginary weapons of the gods like Thor's lightning.

Jason Colavito has answered this and written a free PDF book: Ancient Atomic Bombs.

There is a new scholarly translation of the Mahabharata and it does not say this. The so-called "Roy" translation included such invented statements as it was written after WWII.

The 1983- translation by Buitenen, J. A. B. van. It is multi-volume set.

Laurence Clark Crossen
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    [Welcome to Skeptics!](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users) This looks like it might be the basis of a good answer, but it is currently rather unclear. What are Colavito's arguments? Why would we trust him? Why does it matter than van Buitenen didn't include the details in the 1983 translation? What is the Roy translation, and why do you say the statements were invented? – Oddthinking Apr 07 '18 at 01:20