tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-384164637428539842024-03-13T11:30:32.644+07:00live of my lifeSTEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.comBlogger212125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-29209040892498366022011-09-20T21:43:00.005+07:002011-09-20T21:51:14.523+07:00The Ark Of Covenant<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gTPcNlU1gVw/TnioJCFM6bI/AAAAAAAABQE/vMDGtRc5Ln4/s1600/D-News2005_dn_p4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gTPcNlU1gVw/TnioJCFM6bI/AAAAAAAABQE/vMDGtRc5Ln4/s400/D-News2005_dn_p4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654454205294635442" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i3ugI4AqakM/Tnimw21FleI/AAAAAAAABPs/Tk1mIzVWBRQ/s1600/D-news2005_dn_p5.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 231px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i3ugI4AqakM/Tnimw21FleI/AAAAAAAABPs/Tk1mIzVWBRQ/s320/D-news2005_dn_p5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654452690445768162" /></a>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-39937861589551985102011-03-19T11:06:00.004+07:002011-03-19T11:11:00.683+07:00The Origin of Numbers : Why 1 is One and 2 is Two<span style="font-style:italic;">From : zenverse.net</span><br /><br /><br /><br />The numbers we write are made up of algorithms, (1, 2, 3, 4, etc) called arabic algorithms, to distinguish them from roman algorithms (I, II, III, IV, etc)<br /><br />The Arabs popularise these algorithms, but their origin goes back to the phenecian merchant that used them to count and do their commercial contability.<br /><br />Have you ever asked why 1 is “one” and 2 is “two”? What is the logic that exist in the arabic algorithms?<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zNLooCjTF34/TYQsvgaDKbI/AAAAAAAABPg/dSENQzaRuwo/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zNLooCjTF34/TYQsvgaDKbI/AAAAAAAABPg/dSENQzaRuwo/s320/1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585638632510925234" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PqVKD2ssp8M/TYQspben4kI/AAAAAAAABPY/Yw5UT2yv2kg/s1600/2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PqVKD2ssp8M/TYQspben4kI/AAAAAAAABPY/Yw5UT2yv2kg/s320/2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585638528108716610" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oe7kn3szFbU/TYQseU5Rl9I/AAAAAAAABPQ/0gqQ4S6lUlc/s1600/3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oe7kn3szFbU/TYQseU5Rl9I/AAAAAAAABPQ/0gqQ4S6lUlc/s320/3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585638337362892754" /></a>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-74079834383705159702011-01-22T12:07:00.002+07:002011-01-22T12:10:04.334+07:00[B]Latihan Mata yang Bisa Pertajam Otak[B]Merry Wahyuningsih - detikHealth<br /><br /><br /><br />Jakarta, Latihan mata tak hanya bisa memperkuat otot-otot sekitar mata dan meningkatkan penglihatan, tetapi juga dapat meningkatkan kemampuan dan ketajaman otak. Bagaimana caranya?<br /><br />Selain bermanfaat untuk kemampuan penglihatan, latihan mata dapat pula meningkatkan konsentrasi, memori dan fokus.<br /><br />Dilansir Livestrong, Sabtu (22/1/2011), berikut beberapa cara latihan otak yang dapat mempertajam otak:<br /><br />[B]1. Latihan untuk fokus[B]<br />Untuk melatih pikiran fokus dan perhatian, mintalah bantuan seseorang untuk memegang dua benda kecil dengan warna berbeda, misalnya pensil warna, bola-bola kecil dari benang, koin atau benda semacam itu, di depan atau disamping bahunya.<br /><br />Kemudian Anda cobalah untuk fokus hanya pada satu objek untuk beberapa detik, lalu pindahkan fokus pada objek kedua. Variasikan urutan fokus dan waktu yang dihabiskan untuk melihat objek yang berbeda.<br /><br />[B]2. Latihan pelacakan[B]<br />Pelacakan tidak hanya melatih otot mata, tetapi juga membantu otak mengantisipasi dan mengikuti jalan benda yang bergerak. Lakukan ini latihan sendiri atau dengan pasangan.<br /><br />Tahan objek seperti pensil di tangan dan perlahan bergerak menjauhi Anda. Fokus pada akhir pensil, kemudian pindahkan pensil dalam pola, seperti wiper kaca depan mobil, kemudian beralih ke pola lingkaran, searah jarum jam dan kemudian berlawanan.<br /><br />Latihan ini membantu mempertahankan fokus dan perhatian pada objek bergerak dan sering digunakan sebagai pengobatan untuk gangguan perhatian.<br /><br />[B]3. Latihan untuk memori[B]<br />Mainkan permainan memori dengan menggunakan kartu atau benda semacamnya ditempatkan menghadap ke bawah. Putar lebih dari dua kartu sekaligus untuk mencocokkan kartu identik sehingga dapat meningkatkan memori.<br /><br />Anda juga dapat meningkatkan memori dengan latihan mata bergoyang, menurut riset yang dikutip dalam The Sunday Times. Latihan ini dapat meningkatkan interaksi antara belahan otak kanan dan otak kiri.<br /><br />Caranya, di pagi hari cobalah alihkan fokus bolak-balik antara dua benda diam selama 30 detik. Misalnya, geser pandangan dari satu sisi layar komputer ke yang lain atau dari satu sisi tempat tidur ke yang lain.<br /><br />[B]4. Video game[B]<br />Menurut National Geographic, video game yang mengharuskan melacak objek ketika menggunakan mouse atau tombol untuk mencapai tujuan selama bermain game dapat meningkatkan koordinasi antara tangan dan mata. Permainan semacam itu juga dapat membantu persepsi kedalaman dan kemampuan untuk berpikir dan memecahkan masalah pada saat yang sama.<br /><br /><br /><br />(mer/ir)STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-72007412253617205982010-05-26T13:10:00.008+07:002010-05-26T13:19:59.015+07:00HAND SHADOW<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9hQy3VFI/AAAAAAAABO4/4GxWZWOb7nU/s1600/TURTLE+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 172px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9hQy3VFI/AAAAAAAABO4/4GxWZWOb7nU/s320/TURTLE+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475459626117321810" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">TURTLE SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9Z_QBwHI/AAAAAAAABOw/1b0ohkZIQFY/s1600/SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9Z_QBwHI/AAAAAAAABOw/1b0ohkZIQFY/s320/SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475459501148717170" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9QxqsEYI/AAAAAAAABOo/rZrivEAsZ7w/s1600/RABIT+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9QxqsEYI/AAAAAAAABOo/rZrivEAsZ7w/s320/RABIT+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475459342883623298" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">RABBIT SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9HfrE0BI/AAAAAAAABOg/NuXy8odxUy0/s1600/PIG+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 283px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9HfrE0BI/AAAAAAAABOg/NuXy8odxUy0/s320/PIG+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475459183434584082" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">PIG SHADOW</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9AJz_5hI/AAAAAAAABOY/ybXGV8ftGlY/s1600/PEOPLE+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 261px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y9AJz_5hI/AAAAAAAABOY/ybXGV8ftGlY/s320/PEOPLE+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475459057307346450" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">HUMAN SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y82hM80ZI/AAAAAAAABOQ/QMS4R9C5aFg/s1600/PEOPLE+2+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y82hM80ZI/AAAAAAAABOQ/QMS4R9C5aFg/s320/PEOPLE+2+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475458891787325842" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">HUMAN HEAD</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y8cCy_b2I/AAAAAAAABOI/CtCzHktK5Ks/s1600/ELEPHANT+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y8cCy_b2I/AAAAAAAABOI/CtCzHktK5Ks/s320/ELEPHANT+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475458436948782946" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">ELEPHANT SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y8Spw3CTI/AAAAAAAABOA/UPw7uY-RTyk/s1600/DOG+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y8Spw3CTI/AAAAAAAABOA/UPw7uY-RTyk/s320/DOG+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475458275610134834" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">DOG SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y8FEtzumI/AAAAAAAABN4/mIH9rzA4yYE/s1600/CAMEL+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y8FEtzumI/AAAAAAAABN4/mIH9rzA4yYE/s320/CAMEL+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475458042326923874" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CAMEL SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y77kwnyFI/AAAAAAAABNw/Ukr7U0ogosY/s1600/BULL+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 297px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y77kwnyFI/AAAAAAAABNw/Ukr7U0ogosY/s320/BULL+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475457879129966674" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BULL SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y7x318mCI/AAAAAAAABNo/rtY-yE0rsf4/s1600/BID+DOG+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 262px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y7x318mCI/AAAAAAAABNo/rtY-yE0rsf4/s320/BID+DOG+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475457712453883938" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BIG DOG SHADOW</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y7k0DIVzI/AAAAAAAABNg/UvF2zeLUgWQ/s1600/BID+DOG+SHADOW.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 262px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_y7k0DIVzI/AAAAAAAABNg/UvF2zeLUgWQ/s320/BID+DOG+SHADOW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475457488097138482" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BIRD SHADOW</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-2673528719227664492010-05-26T13:10:00.000+07:002010-05-26T13:11:04.561+07:00HAND SHADOWSTEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-36942857630504961232010-05-21T11:07:00.011+07:002010-05-21T11:26:33.171+07:00Islam and Muslims in America before Columbus By : Salih YUCELHistorical facts concerning many established information on diverse fields continue to be unraveled to the astonishment of us all. One of these facts, previously little-known by many, is that Muslims had actually set foot on American soil centuries before Columbus’ illustrious expedition. We hope as you read ahead in this essay that some information and documents, excerpts from various sources, and the results of archeological excavations will demonstrate the truth of the aforementioned proposition.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Did the Companions of the Prophet go to America?</span><br />Research conducted in the West during the twentieth century has proven the existence of Muslims on the American mainland approximately seven centuries before Christopher Columbus. Similarly, archeological excavations, linguistic, and philological analyses of languages and settlement names in the region, the fact that coins, household tools and other utensils were discovered there that were similar to those of the Abbasids in the eighth and ninth centuries are all justifications of the theory that Muslims, beginning from 650 CE, made their way to the continent for settlement, during which time they erected mosques and schools, leaving a prolonged impact on the natives, i.e. American Indians.<br />The Islamic sources carry no information as regards Muslim settlement in America, although research undertaken by Professor Barry Fell of Harvard University confirms that Muslims reached the continent at the time of Uthman, the third Caliph, concomitantly indicating the significant possibility that some of the Companions could have arrived there as well.<br />Many Western researchers acknowledge the famous map of Piri Reis as proof of Muslim presence in America long before the endeavors of Columbus, as it minutely comprises the map of America, as well as extremely accurate measurements of the distance between America and Africa.<br />According to Salvatore Michael Trento, former director of the Center for Archeological Research in Middletown, New York, before embarking on his first voyage to America, Columbus had read the book of Roger Bacon of Oxford University, which comprised information, compiled from a variety of Arabic resources, about geographical regions on the other side of the Atlantic; hence Columbus’ previous knowledge of the islands in the Atlantic Ocean and other places.1<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Proofs in Western sources</span><br />1. Professor Barry Fell, retired lecturer from Harvard University and also a member of the American Academy of Science and Arts, the Royal Society, the Epigraphy Society and the Society of Scientific and Archeological Discoveries, is adamant about the arrival of Islam in America in the 650s,2 predicating this argument upon the Cufic calligraphy belonging to that era found in various diggings across America. If the words of Professor Fell have truth-value, then the Muslims had arrived in America during the era of Uthman, or at least that of Ali, the fourth caliph. Such information, however, is not found in Muslim sources.<br />Professor Fell again uses the results of various archeological diggings undertaken across many regions in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Indiana to assert the construction of Muslim schools during 700-800 CE. Writings, drawings, and charts inscribed on rocks discovered in the most remote and untainted terrains of Western America are relics bestowed by the elementary and intermediate systems of Muslim education at the time. These documents were written in the old Cufic letters of North African Arabic, covering subjects such as reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, history, geography, mathematics, astronomy, and navigation. The descendants of these settlers are thought to be the current native tribes of Iroquois, Algonquin, Anasazi, Hohokam, and Olmec.<br /><br />2. The second evidence offered by Professor Fell is that the inscription of “In the Name of God” (picture 1), found on a rock during archeological work in Nevada, belongs to the seventh century, when the haraka sign system had not yet been developed. Likewise, the stone bearing the inscription “Muhammad is the Prophet of God” (picture 2) is pertinent to the same era. As seen by comparison of the two pictures, the inscriptions are not in the style of Modern Arabic; conversely they are in a Cufic style relevant to the seventh century.3<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKzS3P0OI/AAAAAAAABNY/wgMj_EZn1KM/s1600/17.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKzS3P0OI/AAAAAAAABNY/wgMj_EZn1KM/s320/17.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473574273468584162" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKoGvAcUI/AAAAAAAABNQ/FpG4OkoqpI4/s1600/16.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 299px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKoGvAcUI/AAAAAAAABNQ/FpG4OkoqpI4/s320/16.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473574081234235714" /></a><br />The Arabs, according to the findings of Professor Fell, settled in Nevada during the seventh and eighth centuries. The earlier existence of a school, which taught Islam and science, particularly navigation, has come to light following the archeological investigation undertaken by Professors Heizer and Baumhoff of California University around site WA 25 in Nevada. The excavations in Nevada have uncovered writings in Naskhi Arabic and Cufic style that are inscribed on rocks which carry information about this school (picture 3). The application of the mathematical formula “five diamonds equal an alif” (alif is the first letter of Arabic alphabet) may be seen in this picture (pictures 3b and 3c). The Arabic letters in pictures 3b and 3c, found amid excavations in Nevada, are in exactly the same style as North African Arabic. Again similarly, another rock was found in Nevada bearing the name “God”, the style of which is yet again reminiscent of the prevalent technique of seventh and eighth-century North Africa. The calligraphical similarities between various writing styles of the Prophet’s name over diverse periods, particularly those relating to Africa and America, found during archeological investigations are striking indeed. Figure A of picture 4 was found in al-Ain Lahag, Morocco and figure B in East Walker River; both are currently at the University of California. Figure C was discovered in Nevada and figures C and D were located in Churchill County and are also currently preserved at the University of California; likewise figure F was discovered in al-Haji Minoun, Morocco, while figure G, inscribed on ceramic, was revealed in al-Suk, Tripoli, Libya and figure H, at the University of California, was discovered at Cottonwood Canyon, while finally figure I was located on the border of Morocco and Libya. All these inscriptions belong to the eighth and ninth centuries, clearly illustrating the resemblance in style between North America and North Africa, as well as overtly suggesting a migration that occurred from Africa to America.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKY7tlUlI/AAAAAAAABNI/WUKNoB2YOyM/s1600/15.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKY7tlUlI/AAAAAAAABNI/WUKNoB2YOyM/s320/15.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473573820577436242" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKJWHDaFI/AAAAAAAABNA/e6IjdYkmFYg/s1600/14.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YKJWHDaFI/AAAAAAAABNA/e6IjdYkmFYg/s320/14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473573552785680466" /></a><br /><br />3. In the twelfth century the Athapcan Tribe, comprised of native Apaches and Navajos, raided the area inhabited by the Arabs, who either ended up fleeing or were exiled toward the South. These illiterate natives were spellbound by the schools founded by the Arabs, and, perhaps with the assistance of captives, attempted to imitate the same subjects, transforming the geometrical shapes into mythical beasts, which carried on for centuries.<br /><br />4. Picture 5 is the Cufic writing found in 1951 in the White Mountains, close to the town of Benton on the border of Nevada. The words Shaytan maha mayan, i.e. the Devil is the source of all lies, have been written in a Cufic style peculiar to the seventh century.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YJqUAyAhI/AAAAAAAABM4/99tFTbwQJSI/s1600/13.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 202px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YJqUAyAhI/AAAAAAAABM4/99tFTbwQJSI/s320/13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473573019646558738" /></a><br /><br />5. Once more, a rock inscription belonging to post-650 CE, bearing the Cufic letters H-M-I-D of the word Hamid (picture 6), is another Arabic script discovered on the Atlata rocks in the Valley of Fire in Nevada.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YJePQl-jI/AAAAAAAABMw/0f1vGs1ntlw/s1600/10.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 114px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YJePQl-jI/AAAAAAAABMw/0f1vGs1ntlw/s320/10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473572812212271666" /></a><br /><br />6. While traveling from Malden to Cambridge in the state of Massachusetts in 1787 (on what is now RT. 16), the Reverend Thaddeus Mason Harris noticed some coins discovered by workers during road construction. The workers, not putting much value on these coins, presented him with a handful. Consequently, Harris decided to send these coins to the library of Harvard College for examination (picture 7). The study yielded that these were in fact Samarqand dirhams from the eighth and ninth centuries. As can be seen in the picture, the coins manifestly display the inscriptions La ilaha ill-Allah Muhammadun Rasulullah (There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger) and Bismillah (in the name of God).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YJKLME4tI/AAAAAAAABMo/7YGcGfRfpiY/s1600/12.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 119px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YJKLME4tI/AAAAAAAABMo/7YGcGfRfpiY/s320/12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473572467522200274" /></a><br /><br />7. Picture 8 shows a piece of rock discovered in a cave in the region of Corinto in El Salvador, bearing the inscription Malaka Haji mi Malaya; this has been identified as belonging to the thirteenth century, suggesting a possible arrival of Muslims in South America, perhaps coming from somewhere near Indonesia.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YI8uxezoI/AAAAAAAABMg/_S_1BQ4aG_k/s1600/11.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 141px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YI8uxezoI/AAAAAAAABMg/_S_1BQ4aG_k/s320/11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473572236556160642" /></a><br /><br />8. During his second voyage, Columbus was told by the natives of Espanola (Haiti) of black men who had appeared on the island before him and they showed him the lances that had been left there by these Africans to support their assertions. The tips of the lances were of a metal, an alloy of gold, which they called guanin, a word which is semantically remarkably similar to the Arabic word ghina, meaning richness. Columbus had in fact brought some of this guanin back to Spain, recording that it was composed of 56.25% gold, 18.75% silver and 25% copper, ratios that were prevalent in African Guinea as standards for the processing of metals.<br /><br />9. On his third voyage to the New World, Columbus visited Trinidad, where the sailors noticed the symmetrically patterned cotton and colorful handkerchiefs of the natives. Afterward, Columbus realized that the handkerchiefs, which the natives called almayzar, were all much the same in color, style, and use as the headscarves and waist bands used in Guinea. The word almayzar is Arabic, and denotes a cover, tie, apron, or skirt, and is a component of the regional costumes of the Moors, Arabs and, Berbers of North Africa, who had conquered Spain in the eighth century. Columbus observed that the local women wore cotton garments and wrote in astonishment that they had learned of the concept namus, i.e. chastity. In much the same vein, Hernan Cortes, another Spanish explorer, later recorded that the clothing of local women consisted of long veils and skirts decorated with ornaments that were similar to those of the Moors. Ferdinand, Columbus’ son, was also quick to notice the resemblance between the cotton dresses of the natives and the ornamented shawls fashioned by Moorish women in Granada. The cradles used by the natives, furthermore, very closely resembled those of North Africa.<br /><br />10. Columbus recorded on 21 October 1492 that he had noticed a mosque on top of a mountain while sailing around Cibara on the northeast coast of Cuba. Relics of mosques carrying Qur’anic inscriptions on their minarets have been found in Cuba, Mexico, Texas, and Nevada since these times.<br /><br />11. Leo Weiner, a well-known Harvard historian and linguist, stated in his book The Discovery of Africa and America, written in 1920, that Columbus was aware of the existence of Mandinka, an ethnic group of West Africa, in the New World. The same book also affirms that Columbus was aware that West African Muslims were living across North America, including the south, middle regions and Canada, as well as in the Caribbean, and that they had marital and commercial ties with the native tribes of Iroque and Algonquin.<br /><br />12. A preponderance of the voyages embarked upon by Columbus and other Spanish and Portuguese explorers toward the other side of the Atlantic were undertaken only in the light of the geographical and navigational knowledge prepared by Muslims. Al-Masudi’s (871-957 CE) work Muruj’uz-Zahab, for instance, was written with this sort of data compiled by Muslim traders from across Africa and Asia. Two of Columbus’ captains on the first voyage, in actual fact, were Muslims: Martin Alonso Pinzon was in charge of the Pinta, while his brother Vicente Yanez Pinzon was the designated captain of Nina; both were from the Moroccan Marinid dynasty, descendants of Sultan Abu Zayan Muhammad III (r. 1362-1366). Formerly well-to-do ship riggers, they assisted Columbus in organizing his voyage of exploration, preparing the Santa Maria, the flagship, and covering all its expenses.<br /><br />13. Christopher Columbus has recorded the custom of nose piercing, which used to be and still popular in the Middle Eastern and Arab countries, as being prevalent in some islands across the Atlantic also mentions the writing of letters in Arabic.<br /><br />14. In the account of sixteenth century missionaries in America, the local copper mines, found particularly in Virginia, Tennessee, and Wisconsin were not operated by the natives, but instead by people from the Middle East, towards whom the natives nurtured a profound sympathy.<br /><br />15. A sum of 565 names, 484 in America and 81 in Canada, of villages, towns, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers and etcetera, are etymologically Arabic, designated by locals long before the arrival of Columbus. Many of these names are in fact the same as names of Islamic places; Mecca in Indiana, Medina in Idaho, Medina in New York, Medina and Hazen in North Dakota, Medina in Ohio, Medina in Tennessee, Medina in Texas, Medina and Arva in Ontario, Mahomet in Illinois and Mona in Utah, are just a few noticeable names at the outset. A closer analysis of the names of native tribes will immediately reveal their Arabic etymological ancestry; Anasazi, Apache, Arawak, Arikana, Chavin, Cherokee, Cree, Hohokam, Hupa, Hopi, Makkah, Mohician, Mohawk, Nazca, Zulu, and Zuni are only a few.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">House and building Structures</span><br />Archeological excavations conducted throughout North America and North Africa reveal a corresponding architectural resemblance between ninth century buildings. The structure of a Berber house of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco (picture 9), for instance, is exactly the same as that of a house in New Mexico (picture 10). The same similarity can be traced between the Castle of Montezuma discovered in Arizona and the remnants found in Mesa Verde in Colorado and the general structure of Berber buildings (picture 11-12).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YH-KQly5I/AAAAAAAABMY/GJHDpXWBBu4/s1600/7.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 157px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YH-KQly5I/AAAAAAAABMY/GJHDpXWBBu4/s320/7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473571161602640786" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YHqBp5kgI/AAAAAAAABMQ/ijUIyEZ4Fbs/s1600/9.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YHqBp5kgI/AAAAAAAABMQ/ijUIyEZ4Fbs/s320/9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473570815695491586" /></a><br /><br />The research undertaken by Professor Cyrus Thomas of the Smithsonian Institute shows that a small cabin built from piles of rock found in Ellenville, New York is virtually the same as the cabin, again of rock, found around Aqabah, Southern Arabia, both of which are thought to have been built around the start of the eighth century (picture 13).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YHTz2i2EI/AAAAAAAABMI/djOaK3veJDE/s1600/8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 236px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YHTz2i2EI/AAAAAAAABMI/djOaK3veJDE/s320/8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473570434033309762" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YHTz2i2EI/AAAAAAAABMI/djOaK3veJDE/s1600/8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 236px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YHTz2i2EI/AAAAAAAABMI/djOaK3veJDE/s320/8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473570434033309762" /></a><br />Arabic words prevalent among natives prior to the arrival of Eu ropeans<br />The pervasiveness of many Islamic words across the continent prior to European influx is verified by the following terms discovered in the regions currently known as New England and Nova Scotia, in America and Canada respectively. Fell pointed to some words as example of Arabic influence on Native Americans. All of the words listed below are derived from the Arabic language. However, time had eroded their original meanings and most are not used in Arabic today.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YGkoOJVnI/AAAAAAAABMA/KRtGxsCoZbI/s1600/6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 141px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S_YGkoOJVnI/AAAAAAAABMA/KRtGxsCoZbI/s320/6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473569623457224306" /></a><br />The last Muslim stronghold in Spain, Granada, fell just before the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1492. Non-Christians were forced to either convert to Catholicism to save themselves from the tyranny of the Inquisition or were exiled from the country. Documents exist which prove the existence of immigrant Muslims in Spanish America before 1550. In 1539 an edict from Spanish King Charles V was put into practice which forbade the immigration of Muslims to settlements in the West. This edict was later expanded to expel all Muslims from overseas Spanish colonies in 1543. The existence of Muslims in overseas islands and regions was known along with the fact that the Spanish king issued such an edict. Again, in many Islamic sources, it is noted that Muslims living in Spain and North Africa made overseas voyages during the Andalusia period. Scientific research on this subject will bring out many documents into the daylight, documents which have escaped the notice of both Muslims in America and those throughout the world, which will perhaps serve, in the future if not immediately, as a starting point for a re-evaluation of the history of America.<br /><br />Notes<br />1. Trento, Salvatore Michael. The Search for Lost America, p.15 Penguin Books, New York: 1978.<br />2. Fell, Dr. Barry. Saga America, p. 190, Time Books, New York: 1980.<br />3. ibid. p. xiv.<br />4. ibid. pp. 332-333.<br />5. ibid. pp. 333-334.<br />6 ibid. p. 182.<br />7. ibid. p. 243.<br />8. ibid. p. 26.<br />6. ibid. p. 276.<br />7. Teacher, John Boyd. Christopher Columbus, p. 380, New York: 1950.<br />8. Columbus, Ferdinand. The Life of Admiral Christopher Columbus, p. 232 Rutgers Uni. Press, 1959.<br />9. Obregon, Mauricio. The Columbus Papers, The Barcelona Letter of 1493.<br />10. The Landfall Controversy, and the Indian Guides, McMillan Co., New York: 1991.<br />11. Weiner, Dr. Leo. Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol.2 p. 365-366 Philadelphia: 1920.<br />12. Obregon, 1493.<br />13. Trento, 1978, p. 23.<br />14. ibid. p. 29.<br />15. ibid. p. 65.<br />16. Fell, 1980. 250-252.<br />17. Trento, 1978, p. 15.<br />18. Fell, 1980. p. 400-403.STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-76014390479439107532010-05-21T11:01:00.003+07:002010-05-21T11:02:06.697+07:00Islam in America before Columbus By : Hisham Zoubeir, 14 February 1998Before I begin this article, I would like to extend my thanks to the creators of the Internet. It was there that I found my research on the topic that follows, and it is to the people who wrote the various articles and references that credit for this article should go to. I merely put two and two together for the benefit of those reading this now.<br /><br /> The history surrounding the followers of our proud faith is one of two shades; the truth and the lie. The lies surrounding our history have been spread to every corner of the globe; that we were and are (?) barbarians, no better than animals. The truth is that although there were certain parts of history that do show that some of our followers were ruthless and brutal (such as the Ottoman Empire), this is not unlike every nation and country in the world. And we have a much more worthy things to focus on.<br /><br /> Before the West declared themselves the great scientists of the earth, before their own Renaissance, Muslims already were making discoveries in science that took the West hundreds of years to even begin to imagine. What a shame that people in Europe were being persecuted by the Church for their suppositions that the earth was round; they should have come to the Islamic world--- an Afghan Muslim had proved that in 793 C.E.!<br /><br /> However, the studying of the universe brought forth more questions, and more curiosity. The Muslims in West Africa were so intrigued by what was on the other side of the Great Sea, that they began their expeditions into the great unknown. Early reports of these travels are sketchy, but we can be sure that they crossed the Atlantic by 889 C.E.<br /><br /> That was 603 years before Columbus. And that is not counting the actual physical evidence in the United States today that dates back even further; however, we do know, as De Lacy O'Leary pointed out, that Muslims definitely had the scientific knowledge and skill to make journeys across the Atlantic ocean.<br /><br /> We were in the Americas, hundreds of years before Columbus, and of that we can be sure.<br /><br /> Clyde-Ahmad Winters. Barry Fell. Alexander Von Wuthenau. Ivan Van Sertima. What do they have in common? A lot. They all provided evidence to the above statement; and it is a statement of fact, not an opinion, although many have chosen to ignore it in the past.<br /><br /> Now, we are all aware of the grave tragedy that befell the various African people after the discovery of America. Many people from there were forcefully taken from their homes to America, to serve the people who had taken over that land. Black slavery. We also know, for a fact, that many of these people were indeed Muslims; that has never been in dispute, nor should it be. Clyde Ahmad Winters has given us details of how huge numbers of Muslims were brought to Latin America in a 1978 issue of Al-Ittihad: A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Studies, although later on in 1543, Muslims in Spanish colonies were ejected from them by the residing government.<br /><br /> Dr. Barry Fell, a noted New Zealand archaeologist and linguist of Harvard University showed detailed existing evidence in his work, "Saga America" that Muslims were not only in the Americas before Columbus arrived, but very active there as well. The language of the Pima people in the South West and the Algonquian language had many words in their vocabulary that were Arabic in origin, and Islamic petroglyphs were found in places such as California.<br /><br /> In the Inyo county of the State of California, according to Fell, there is another petroglyph that states, "Yasus bin Maria" which means in Arabic, "Jesus, son of Mary". This is not a Christian phrase; in fact, the phrase is to be found in the verses and ayahs of the Holy Quran. This glyph, as Fell believes, is centuries older than the US. In the Western states of the US he found texts, diagrams and charts engraved on rocks that were used for schooling that dated back to 700-800 C.E. The schooling was in subjects such as mathematics, history, geography, astronomy and sea navigation. The language of instruction was Kufic Arabic, from North Africa.<br /><br /> The German art historian, Alexander Von Wuthenau, also provides evidence that Islamic peoples were in America, in the time between 300 and 900 C.E. This was at least half a millennium before Columbus was born! Carved heads, that were described as "Moorish-looking" were dated between 300 and 900 C.E. and another group of heads dated between 900 and 1500 C.E. An artifact found in the earlier group was photographed, and when later examined was found to resemble an old man in a Fez, like the Egyptians.<br /><br /> Ivan Van Sertima is widely renowned for his work, "They Came Before Columbus" which showed that there was definitely contact between the ancient and early African people with the Native Americans. This and another of his works, "African Presence in Early America" both prove that there were African Muslim settlements in the Americas, before the expedition of Columbus was even conceived. His research has shown that Arab Muslim trade was active in America and one can only imagine that the marvellous culture that the Native Americans had that shared so much with Islamic teachings was of great attraction to the Muslims that came so far across the sea.<br /><br /> And for the record, Christopher Columbus, the man who so-called discovered America, himself declared that his impression of the Carib people (i.e., Caribbean people) were "Mohemmedans." He knew of the Mandinka presence in the New World (Muslims) and that Muslims from the West coast of Africa had settled down in the Carribean, Central, South and North America. Unlike Columbus, they had not come to enslave the populations or plunder the land; they had come to trade and they married among the Natives. Columbus further admitted that on October 21st, 1492, as he was sailing past Gibara on the coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque, and remnants of other masjids have been found in Cuba, Mexico, Texas and Nevada.<br /><br /> On the second voyage Columbus took to the West Indies, the people of Haiti told him that "black" people had been there before him. They showed him spears of these visitors, and further study of the metals involved in their construction showed that they could have been made only in one place: Guinea.<br /><br /> Another historian, P.V. Ramos, also showed in his essay in "African Presence in Early America" that the dietary regulations of the Carib were similar to Islamic teachings.<br /><br /> But let us say that we are wrong. Perhaps it is all just a coincidence; after all, there are no living survivors of the Native American Muslims, are they?<br /><br /> Wrong. And this last part is what originally drew me into this quest for knowledge: an exposé written by a Native Muslim.<br /><br /> Brother Mahir Abdal-Razzaaq El wrote in his account, recently posted on the Internet, about the Native Americans that were Muslims. He is of the Cherokee tribe; known as Eagle Sun Walker, and a Pipe Carrier Warrior of the Cherokees in New York. He tells of Muslim travellers that came to his land over one thousand years ago, and what is more important, existing evidence of legislation, treaties and resolutions that prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt that Muslims were in the Americas and very active. Although these documents have not been written after 1492, it is still interesting to note that Islam was in fact there. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1787 have the signatures of Abdel-Khak and Mohammed Bin Abdulla. According to a federal court case from the Continental Congress,<br /><br /> Native Muslims helped put life into the constitution.<br /><br /> These are a matter of record; they cannot be disputed. Go to the National Archives or the Library of Congress and see for yourself; the Treat of 1987 show that the Natives abided by an Islamic system in commerce, maritime shipping and government. The records of the State of Carolina has the Moors Sundry Act of 1790. The Cherokee Chief of 1866 was a man called Ramadhan Bin Wati. Native clothing up until 1832 was full Islamic wear. The name Tallahassee actually means," Allah will deliver you sometime in the future." In North America, there are no less than 565 names of tribes, villages, cities, mountains and other lands sites of Islamic or Arabic roots.<br /><br /> The truth of Islam and the truth of the Native American culture is one and the same; many people hundreds of years ago realised that. The protection of the land and of the animals; the non-wastage of resources and the non-pollution of nature are all Islamic concepts.<br /><br /> I finish this article with a few Native sayings. And then, I want you to tell me that Islam is not nurtured in the hearts of these people.<br /><br /> "Our belief is that the Great Spirit has created all things. Not just mankind but animals, all plants, all rocks, all on earth and amongst the stars with true soul. For us, all life is holy. All of nature is within us and we are part of all nature." Chief White Cloud<br /><br /> "What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night." Crowfoot<br /><br /> "In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty- the duty of prayer - the daily recognition of the Unseen and the Eternal." Ohiyesa<br /><br /> Allahu akbar. Salaam wa allaykum wa rakhmatullah wa barakatu.<br /><br /> When this article was written] Hisham Zoubeir is at the University of Sheffield undertaking a multi-disciplinary degree in law. He has lived in Abu Dhabi, Cairo and London. His main interests delves into peace, equality, righteousness and spirituality.STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-43110857473708735532010-03-17T11:20:00.014+07:002010-03-18T18:21:51.614+07:00AMERICA BUILD FROM PAPUA GOLD<span style="font-weight:bold;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BgGM-jQqI/AAAAAAAABL4/SJkDpg1lVuQ/s1600-h/11f5a2c008a0ac83df7a6010.L._SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BgGM-jQqI/AAAAAAAABL4/SJkDpg1lVuQ/s320/11f5a2c008a0ac83df7a6010.L._SL500_AA240_.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449461208797364898" /></a>
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">NEGARA AMERIKA DIBANGUN DARI EMAS PAPUA</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">ARKILAUS ARNESIUS BAHO Minggu, 24 Januari 2010
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>Oleh: Subhan Hassannoesi
<br />Aktivis Dakwah Papua yang juga anggota Majlis Muslim Papua ( MMP )
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">By : Subhan Hassannoesi
<br />
<br /></span>
<br />
<br />Freeport adalah pertambangan emas terbesar di dunia! Namun termurah dalam biaya operasionalnya. Sebagian kebesaran dan kemegahan Amerika sekarang ini adalah hasil perampokan resmi mereka atas gunung emas di Papua tersebut. Freeport banyak berjasa bagi segelintir pejabat negeri ini, para jenderal dan juga para politisi busuk, yang bisa menikmati hidup dengan bergelimang harta dengan memiskinkan bangsa ini. Mereka ini tidak lebih baik daripada seekor lintah!
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Freeport is the largest gold mines in the world! But the cheapest in operational costs. Part of the greatness and splendor of America today is the result of their official robbery of a mountain of gold in Papua. Freeport much a boon to the few officials of this country, the generals and politicians, too bad, who can enjoy life to wallow wealth with impoverished nation. They are no better than a leech!</span>
<br />
<br />Akhir tahun 1996, sebuah tulisan bagus oleh Lisa Pease yang dimuat dalam majalah Probe. Tulisan ini juga disimpan dalam National Archive di Washington DC. Judul tulisan tersebut adalah "JFK, Indonesia, CIA and Freeport".
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">End of 1996, an excellent article by Lisa Pease, published in Probe magazine. This paper is also stored in the National Archive in Washington DC. The title was "JFK, Indonesia, CIA and Freeport".</span>
<br />
<br />Walau dominasi Freeport atas gunung emas di Papua dimulai sejak tahun 1967, namun kiprahnya di negeri ini sudah dimulai beberapa tahun sebelumnya. Dalam tulisannya, Lisa Pease mendapatkan temuan jika Freeport Sulphur, demikian nama perusahaan itu awalnya, nyaris bangrut berkeping-keping ketika terjadi pergantian kekuasaan di Kuba tahun 1959.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Despite the dominance of the mountain of gold Freeport in Papua, starting in 1967, but their work in this country have begun several years earlier. In his writings, Lisa Pease get if Freeport Sulfur findings, so the company name was originally, almost bankcroupt to pieces when there is turnover of power in Cuba in 1959.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Saat itu Fidel Castro berhasil menghancurkan rezim diktator Batista. Oleh Castro, seluruh perusahaan asing di negeri itu dinasionalisasikan. Freeport Sulphur yang baru saja hendak melakukan pengapalan nikel produksi perdananya terkena imbasnya. Ketegangan terjadi. Menurut Lisa Pease, berkali-kali CEO Freeport Sulphur merencanakan upaya pembunuhan terhadap Castro, namun berkali-kali pula menemui kegagalan.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">As Fidel Castro's regime managed to destroy the Batista dictatorship. By Castro, all foreign companies were nationalized in the country. Freeport Sulfur is just about to make its first shipment of nickel production receive the effects. Tension occurs. According to Lisa Pease, many times the CEO Freeport Sulfur planning assassination attempts against Castro, but also repeatedly failed.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Ditengah situasi yang penuh ketidakpastian, pada Agustus 1959, Forbes Wilson yang menjabat sebagai Direktur Freeport Sulphur melakukan pertemuan dengan Direktur pelaksana East Borneo Company, Jan van Gruisen. Dalam pertemuan itu Gruisen bercerita jika dirinya menemukan sebuah laporan penelitian atas Gunung Ersberg (Gunung Tembaga) di Irian Barat yang ditulis Jean Jaques Dozy di tahun 1936. Uniknya, laporan itu sebenarnya sudah dianggap tidak berguna dan tersimpan selama bertahun-tahun begitu saja di perpustakaan Belanda. Van Gruisen tertarik dengan laporan penelitian yang sudah berdebu itu dan membacanya.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Amid the uncertain situation, in August 1959, Forbes Wilson who served as director of Freeport Sulfur have a meeting with executive director of East Borneo Company, Jan van Gruisen. In the meeting if Gruisen told her to find a research report on Mount Ersberg (Copper Mountain) in West Irian, written Jean Jacques Dozy in 1936. Uniquely, the report actually was considered not useful and saved for years just in the Dutch library. Van Gruisen interested in the research report was dusty and read it.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Dengan berapi-api, Van Gruisen bercerita kepada pemimpin Freeport Sulphur itu jika selain memaparkan tentang keindahan alamnya, Jean Jaques Dozy juga menulis tentang kekayaan alamnya yang begitu melimpah. Tidak seperti wilayah lainnya diseluruh dunia, maka kandungan biji tembaga yang ada disekujur tubuh Gunung Ersberg itu terhampar di atas permukaan tanah, jadi tidak tersembunyi di dalam tanah. Mendengar hal itu, Wilson sangat antusias dan segera melakukan perjalanan ke Irian Barat untuk mengecek kebenaran cerita itu. Di dalam benaknya, jika kisah laporan ini benar, maka perusahaannya akan bisa bangkit kembali dan selamat dari kebangkrutan yang sudah di depan mata.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">With fiery, Van Gruisen told Freeport Sulfur's leader if in addition to describing the natural beauty, Jean Jacques Dozy also write about its natural resources so abundant. Unlike other regions around the world, then the content of existing copper ore body al over Ersberg Mountain was lying on the ground, so it is not hidden in the ground. Hearing this, Wilson was enthusiastic and immediately traveled to West Irian to check the truth of the story. In his mind, if the story of this report is true, then the company will be able to bounce back and survive the bankruptcy is in sight.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Selama beberapa bulan, Forbes Wilson melakukan survey dengan seksama atas Gunung Ersberg dan juga wilayah sekitarnya. Penelitiannya ini kelak ditulisnya dalam sebuah buku berjudul The Conquest of Cooper Mountain. Wilson menyebut gunung tersebut sebagai harta karun terbesar yang untuk memperolehnya tidak perlu menyelam lagi karena semua harta karun itu telah terhampar di permukaan tanah. Dari udara, tanah disekujur gunung tersebut berkilauan ditimpa sinar matahari.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">For several months, Forbes Wilson carefully surveyed the Mount Ersberg and surrounding areas. His research was later wrote in his book The Conquest of Cooper Mountain. Wilson called the mountain as the greatest treasure to obtain it does not need to dive again because of all the treasure had been lying on the ground. From the air, all over mountain soil sparkling from the sunshine.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Wilson juga mendapatkan temuan yang nyaris membuatnya gila. Karena selain dipenuhi bijih tembaga, gunung tersebut ternyata juga dipenuhi bijih emas dan perak!! Menurut Wilson, seharusnya gunung tersebut diberi nama <span style="font-weight:bold;">GOLD MOUNTAIN</span>, bukan Gunung Tembaga. Sebagai seorang pakar pertambangan, Wilson memperkirakan jika Freeport akan untung besar dalam waktu tiga tahun sudah kembali modal. Pimpinan Freeport Sulphur ini pun bergerak dengan cepat. Pada 1 Februari 1960, Freeport Sulphur meneken kerjasama dengan East Borneo Company untuk mengeksplorasi gunung tersebut.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Wilson also get the fact that almost drive him crazy. Because beside the mountain full copper ore, the mountain was also filled with gold and silver ore! According to Wilson, the mountain should be named <span style="font-weight:bold;">GOLD MOUNTAIN</span>, not Mount Copper. As a mining expert, Wilson estimates that if Freeport will fortune within three years had returned capital. Chairman Freeport Sulfur is also moving quickly. On February 1, 1960, Freeport Sulfur signed cooperation with East Borneo Company to explore the mountain.</span>
<br />
<br />Namun lagi-lagi Freeport Sulphur mengalami kenyataan yang hampir sama dengan yang pernah dialaminya di Kuba. Perubahan eskalasi politik atas tanah Irian Barat tengah mengancam. Hubungan Indonesia dan Belanda telah memanas dan Soekarno malah mulai menerjunkan pasukannya di Irian Barat.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">But again the reality of Freeport Sulfur is get the same fact they got from Cuba. Changes in the political escalation of land threatens the middle of West Irian. Relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands have been heated and begins to precipitate Sukarno forces in West Irian.</span>
<br />
<br />Tadinya Wilson ingin meminta bantuan kepada Presiden AS John Fitzgerald Kennedy agar mendinginkan Irian Barat. Namun ironisnya, JFK malah spertinya mendukung Soekarno. Kennedy mengancam Belanda, akan menghentikan bantuan Marshall Plan jika ngotot mempertahankan Irian Barat. Belanda yang saat itu memerlukan bantuan dana segar untuk membangun kembali negerinya dari puing-puing kehancuran akibat Perang Dunia II terpaksa mengalah dan mundur dari Irian Barat.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Wilson had wanted to ask for U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy help to cool down the West Irian situation. But ironically, even JFK supporting Sukarno. Kennedy threatened the Netherlands, will stop the Marshall Plan aid, if Netherland determined to maintain West Irian. Dutch then require fresh funds to help rebuild the country from the rubble of the devastation of World War II and forced to withdraw from West Irian</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Ketika itu sepertinya Belanda tidak tahu jika Gunung Ersberg sesungguhnya mengandung banyak emas, bukan tembaga. Sebab jika saja Belanda mengetahui fakta sesungguhnya, maka nilai bantuan Marshall Plan yang diterimanya dari AS tidak ada apa-apanya dibanding nilai emas yang ada di gunung tersebut.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">When it seems the Dutch do not know if the mountain contains many Ersberg real gold, not copper. For if only the Dutch know the real facts, then the value of Marshall Plan aid received from the United States is not nothing compared to the gold value in the mountain.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Dampak dari sikap Belanda untuk mundur dari Irian Barat menyebabkan perjanjian kerjasama dengan East Borneo Company mentah kembali. Para pemimpin Freeport jelas marah besar. Apalagi mendengar Kennedy akan menyiapkan paket bantuan ekonomi kepada Indonesia sebesar 11 juta AS dengan melibatkan IMF dan Bank Dunia. Semua ini jelas harus dihentikan!
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The impact of the Dutch attitude to withdraw from the West Irian cause cooperation agreement with East Borneo Company back to zero. Freeport leaders clearly furious. Moreover heard Kennedy will prepare economic aid package to Indonesia by 11 million U.S. involving IMF and World Bank. All of this clearly must be stopped!</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Segalanya berubah seratus delapan puluh derajat ketika Presiden Kennedy tewas ditembak pada 22 November 1963. Banyak kalangan menyatakan penembakan Kennedy merupakan sebuah konspirasi besar menyangkut kepentingan kaum Globalis yang hendak mempertahankan hegemoninya atas kebijakan politik di Amerika.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Everything totally changed when President Kennedy was shot to dead on November 22, 1963. Many people said the shooting Kennedy is a big conspiracy regarding the interests of the Globalis who want to maintain hegemony over political policy in America</span>
<br />
<br />Presiden Johnson yang menggantikan Kennedy mengambil sikap yang bertolak belakang dengan pendahulunya. Johnson malah mengurangi bantuan ekonomi kepada Indonesia, kecuali kepada militernya. Salah seorang tokoh di belakang keberhasilan Johnson, termasuk dalam kampanye pemilihan presiden AS tahun 1964, adalah Augustus C.Long, salah seorang anggota dewan direksi Freeport.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">President Johnson who succeeded Kennedy took the opposite stance with his predecessors. Johnson actually reduce economic aid to Indonesia, except the military. One of the figures behind the success of Johnson, including in the U.S. presidential election campaign in 1964, is the Augustus C. Long, a member of Freeport's board of directors.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Tokoh yang satu ini memang punya kepentingan besar atas Indonesia. Selain kaitannya dengan Freeport, Long juga memimpin Texaco, yang membawahi Caltex (patungan dengan Standard Oil of California). Soekarno pada tahun 1961 memutuskan kebijakan baru kontrak perminyakan yang mengharuskan 60persen labanya diserahkan kepada pemerintah Indonesia. Caltex sebagai salah satu dari tiga operator perminyakan di Indonesia jelas sangat terpukul oleh kebijakan Soekarno ini.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This Figure did have a big interest of Indonesia. Besides relation to Freeport, Long also led Texaco, in charge of Caltex (a joint venture with Standard Oil of California). Sukarno in 1961 decided a new policy that requires petroleum contracts 60persen returns submitted to the Indonesian government. Caltex as one of the three operators a clear oil in Indonesia was devastated by Soekarno's policy.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Augustus C.Long amat marah terhadap Soekarno dan amat berkepentingan agar orang ini disingkirkan secepatnya.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Augustus C. Long was angry against Sukarno and very concerned that this person has to be removed as soon as possible.</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">http://berita.liputan6. com/progsus/ 200209/41945/ class=%27vidico% 27</span>
<br />
<br />Mungkin suatu kebetulan yang ajaib. Augustus C.Long juga aktif di Presbysterian Hospital di NY dimana dia pernah dua kali menjadi presidennya (1961-1962). Sudah bukan rahasia umum lagi jika tempat ini merupakan salah satu simpul pertemuan tokoh CIA.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This could be a miraculous coincidence. Augustus C. Long is also active in Presbysterian Hospital in NY where he had twice become its president (1961-1962). It's not a secret anymore if this place is one of the CIA concluded the meeting. </span>
<br />
<br />Lisa Pease dengan cermat menelusuri riwayat kehidupan tokoh ini. Antara tahun 1964 sampai 1970, Long pensiun sementara sebagai pemimpin Texaco. Apa saja yang dilakukan orang ini dalam masa itu yang di Indonesia dikenal sebagai masa yang paling krusial.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Lisa Pease carefully trace the life history of this character. Between 1964 to 1970, Long retired as a leader Texaco. What did this person do in that era in Indonesia known as the most crucial period. </span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Pease mendapatkan data jika pada Maret 1965, Augustus C.Long terpilih sebagai Direktur Chemical Bank, salah satu perusahaan Rockefeller. Augustus 1965, Long diangkat menjadi anggota dewan penasehat intelejen kepresidenan AS untuk masalah luar negeri. Badan ini memiliki pengaruh sangat besar untuk menentukan operasi rahasia AS di Negara-negara tertentu. Long diyakini salah satu tokoh yang merancang kudeta terhadap Soekarno, yang dilakukan AS dengan menggerakkan sejumlah perwira Angkatan Darat yang disebutnya sebagai Our Local Army Friend.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Pease get the data when in March 1965, Augustus C. Long was elected as Director of Chemical Bank, one of the Rockefeller company. August 1965, Long was appointed as a member of the advisory board of the U.S. presidential intelligence for foreign affairs. This agency has a huge influence to determine the U.S. covert operations in certain countries. Long believed to be one of the design coup against Sukarno, the U.S. conducted by moving a number of Army officers called Our Friend Local Army. </span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Salah satu bukti sebuah telegram rahasia Cinpac 342, 21 Januari 1965, pukul 21.48, yang menyatakan jika kelompok Jendral Suharto akan mendesak angkatan darat agar mengambil-alih kekuasaan tanpa menunggu Soekarno berhalangan. Mantan pejabat CIA Ralph Mc Gehee juga pernah bersaksi jika hal itu benar adanya.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">One proof of a secret telegram Cinpac 342, January 21, 1965, at 21:48, which states if the group would urge General Suharto army to take over power without waiting for the Soekarno absent. Former CIA officer Ralph Mc Gehee also testify if it was true.</span>
<br />
<br />Awal November 1965, satu bulan setelah tragedi terbunuhnya sejumlah perwira loyalis Soekarno, Forbes Wilson mendapat telpon dari Ketua Dewan Direktur Freeport, Langbourne Williams, yang menanyakan apakah Freeport sudah siap mengekplorasi gunung emas di Irian Barat. Wilson jelas kaget. Ketika itu Soekarno masih sah sebagai presiden Indonesia bahkan hingga 1967, lalu darimana Williams yakin gunung emas di Irian Barat akan jatuh ke tangan Freeport?
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">In the Beginning November 1965, one month after the tragedy of the killing of several officers of Sukarno loyalists, Forbes Wilson got a call from the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freeport, Langbourne Williams, who asked if Freeport is ready to explore the mountain of gold in New Guinea. Wilson clearly surprised. When that Sukarno was still valid as the president of Indonesia even until 1967, then from where Williams was sure gold in the mountains of West Irian would fall into the hands of Freeport?</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">penampakan tambangnya yang parah :</span>
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BaBaV9h9I/AAAAAAAABK4/7W94q89UOVY/s1600-h/RI2b4b8a055b28d8b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BaBaV9h9I/AAAAAAAABK4/7W94q89UOVY/s320/RI2b4b8a055b28d8b.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449454529416103890" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BaWLaukbI/AAAAAAAABLA/1uBvW-3iA7A/s1600-h/Tihi4b8a055b74879.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BaWLaukbI/AAAAAAAABLA/1uBvW-3iA7A/s320/Tihi4b8a055b74879.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449454886186815922" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BdDAQ9ycI/AAAAAAAABLI/LAni3CXZhUw/s1600-h/tU6A4b8a055bbb164.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 219px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BdDAQ9ycI/AAAAAAAABLI/LAni3CXZhUw/s320/tU6A4b8a055bbb164.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449457855310449090" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BdWeSmZOI/AAAAAAAABLQ/O_FRn_858ok/s1600-h/C3km4b8a055c062d8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BdWeSmZOI/AAAAAAAABLQ/O_FRn_858ok/s320/C3km4b8a055c062d8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449458189787882722" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />Lisa Pease mendapatkan jawabannya. Para petinggi Freeport ternyata sudah mempunyai kontak dengan tokoh penting di dalam lingkaran elit Indonesia. Mereka adalah Menteri Pertambangan dan Perminyakan <span style="font-weight:bold;">Ibnu Soetowo</span> dan <span style="font-weight:bold;">Julius Tahija</span>. Orang yang terakhir ini berperan sebagai penghubung antara Ibnu Soetowo dengan Freeport. Ibnu Soetowo sendiri sangat berpengaruh di dalam angkatan darat karena dialah yang menutup seluruh anggaran operasional mereka.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Lisa Pease had the answer. Freeport officials were already in contact with important figures in the Indonesian elite circle. They are the Minister of Mines and Petroleum <span style="font-weight:bold;"> Ibn Soetowo </ span> and <span style="font-weight:bold;"> Julius Tahija </ span>. The last person is acting as a liaison between Ibn Soetowo with Freeport. Ibn Soetowo itself very influential in the army because he is closing all of their operational budget. </span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Sebab itulah, ketika UU no 1/1967 tentang Penanaman Modal Asing (PMA) yang draftnya dirancang di Jenewa-Swiss yang didektekan Rockefeller, disahkan tahun 1967, maka perusahaan asing pertama yang kontraknya ditandatangani Suharto adalah Freeport!. Inilah kali pertama kontrak pertambangan yang baru dibuat. Jika di zaman Soekarno kontrak-kontrak dengan perusahaan asing selalu menguntungkan Indonesia, maka sejak Suharto berkuasa, kontrak-kontrak seperti itu malah merugikan Indonesia.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">That's the reason, when Law No. 1 / 1967 on Foreign Investment (PMA), which draft was designed in Geneva, Switzerland that dictation Rockefeller, enacted in 1967, the first foreign companies signed contracts Suharto is Freeport!. This is the first time a new mining contract was made. If the Sukarno era contracts with foreign firms is always profitable Indonesia, since Suharto's rule, such contracts were in fact harming Indonesia. </span></span>
<br />
<br />Untuk membangun konstruksi pertambangan emasnya itu, Freeport mengandeng Bechtel, perusahaan AS yang banyak mempekerjakan pentolan CIA. Direktur CIA John McCone memiliki saham di Bechtel, sedangkan mantan Direktur CIA Richards Helms bekerja sebagai konsultan internasional di tahun 1978.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">To establish that the gold mining construction, Freeport joint with Bechtel, the U.S. companies that employ many CIA frontman. CIA Director John McCone has a stake in Bechtel, while Richards, former CIA Director Helms worked as an international consultant in the year 1978. </span>
<br />
<br />Tahun 1980, Freeport menggandeng McMoran milik "Jim Bob" Moffet dan menjadi perusahaan raksasa dunia dengan laba lebih dari 1,5 miliar dollar AS pertahun.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">In 1980, Freeport McMoRan's arm "Jim Bob" Moffett and become the world giant companies with profits of more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars annually.</span>
<br />
<br />Tahun 1996, seorang eksekutif Freeport-McMoran, George A.Maley, menulis sebuah buku berjudul "Grasberg" setelab 384 halaman dan memaparkan jika tambang emas di Irian Barat itu memiliki deposit terbesar di dunia, sedangkan untuk bijih tembaganya menempati urutan ketiga terbesar didunia.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">In 1996, a Freeport-McMoRan executive, George A. Maley, wrote a book called "Grasberg" after 384 pages and describe when a gold mine in New Guinea had the world's largest deposits, whereas for the copper ore was ranked third largest in the world. </span>
<br />
<br />Maley menulis, data tahun 1995 menunjukkan jika di areal ini tersimpan cadangan bijih tembaga sebesar 40,3 miliar dollar AS dan masih akan menguntungkan 45 tahun ke depan. Ironisnya, Maley dengan bangga juga menulis jika biaya produksi tambang emas dan tembaga terbesar di dunia yang ada di Irian Barat itu merupakan yang termurah di dunia!!
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Maley writes, the data in 1995 shows this area if the stored reserves of copper ore, 40.3 billion U.S. dollars and still be profitable next 45 years. Ironically, Maley is proud to also write if the cost of producing gold and copper mines in the world's largest in West Irian is the cheapest in the world!! </span>
<br />
<br />Istilah Kota Tembagapura itu sebenarnya menyesatkan dan salah. Seharusnya EMASPURA. Karena gunung tersebut memang gunung emas, walau juga mengandung tembaga. Karena kandungan emas dan tembaga terserak di permukaan tanah, maka Freeport tinggal memungutinya dan kemudian baru menggalinya dengan sangat mudah. Freeport sama sekali tidak mau kehilangan emasnya itu dan membangun pipa-pipa raksasa dan kuat dari Grasberg-Tembagapur a sepanjang 100 kilometer langsung menuju ke Laut Arafuru dimana telah menunggu kapal-kapal besar yang akan mengangkut emas dan tembaga itu ke Amerika. Ini sungguh-sungguh perampokan besar yang direstui oleh pemerintah Indonesia sampai sekarang!!!
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">City Tembagapura term actually misleading and wrong. Should EMASPURA. Because the mountain is a mountain of gold, though also contain copper. Because gold and copper contents were scattered on the ground, then pick and Freeport lived then very easy to dig. Freeport did not want to lose the gold and build the giant pipes and stronger than a Tembagapur Grasberg-along 100 miles directly to the Arafuru Ocean where it has been waiting for large ships that would carry the gold and copper it to America. It's really a big robbery sanctioned by the government of Indonesia until now!</span>
<br />
<br />Kesaksian seorang reporter CNN yang diizinkan meliput areal tambang emas Freeport dari udara. Dengan helikopter ia meliput gunung emas tersebut yang ditahun 1990-an sudah berubah menjadi lembah yang dalam. Semua emas, perak, dan tembaga yang ada digunung tersebut telah dibawa kabur ke Amerika, meninggalkan limbah beracun yang mencemari sungai-sungai dan tanah-tanah orang Papua yang sampai detik ini masih saja hidup bagai di zaman batu.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">A CNN reporter Testimonium who was allowed to cover the Freeport gold mine area from the air. With the helicopter he was covering the gold mountain that in the year of 1990s had turned into a deep valley. All gold, silver, and copper are the mountains has been taken away to America, leaving behind toxic waste that pollutes the rivers and the lands of Papuans who until this moment still live like in the stone age. </span>
<br />
<br />Freeport merupakan ladang uang haram bagi para pejabat negeri ini, yang dari sipil maupun militer. Sejak 1967 sampai sekarang, tambang emas terbesar di dunia itu menjadi tambang pribadi mereka untuk memperkaya diri sendiri dan keluarganya. Freeport McMoran senidir telah menganggarkan dana untuk itu yang walau jumlahnya sangat besar bagi kita, namun bagi mereka terbilang kecil karena jumlah laba dari tambang itu memang sangat dahsyat. Jika Indonesia mau mandiri, sektor inilah yang harus dibereskan terlebih dahulu.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Freeport is a tainted money field to officials of this country, that the civilian and military. Since 1967 until now, the largest gold mines in the world it becomes their personal mines to enrich themselves and their families. Freeport McMoRan senidir has allocated funds for it that even very large amount for us, but for their relatively small because the amount of profits from the mine it was very powerful. If you want an independent Indonesia, this sector should be dealt with first.</span>
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6Bd4PMwz0I/AAAAAAAABLY/NduI_rqvjyA/s1600-h/tCo04b8a0bf884081.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6Bd4PMwz0I/AAAAAAAABLY/NduI_rqvjyA/s320/tCo04b8a0bf884081.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449458769852419906" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BeUbis0mI/AAAAAAAABLg/NUbpA3CfI6o/s1600-h/fFgT4b8a0bf8e4392.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BeUbis0mI/AAAAAAAABLg/NUbpA3CfI6o/s320/fFgT4b8a0bf8e4392.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449459254201995874" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BekdQr9xI/AAAAAAAABLo/jSqWysZjY64/s1600-h/dqTN4b8a0bf937229.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6BekdQr9xI/AAAAAAAABLo/jSqWysZjY64/s320/dqTN4b8a0bf937229.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449459529541220114" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6Bey9auv2I/AAAAAAAABLw/TJ7W88QOQu4/s1600-h/W0Rc4b8a0cc1ddbe6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S6Bey9auv2I/AAAAAAAABLw/TJ7W88QOQu4/s320/W0Rc4b8a0cc1ddbe6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449459778691448674" /></a></span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-37971667628385030732010-03-04T11:01:00.010+07:002010-03-04T11:20:26.788+07:00Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono<span style="font-weight:bold;">" Ing donya mung kebak kangelan,<br />sing ora gelem kangelan aja ing donya. "<br /><br /> " Di dunia penuh dengan kesusahan, yang tidak mau susah jangan di dunia. "<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Suzaku Musha View Post</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S480cHxfbGI/AAAAAAAABKw/lH2xrv4H0TM/s1600-h/PapanTulisDar-UsSalamolehMbahSosro-.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 286px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S480cHxfbGI/AAAAAAAABKw/lH2xrv4H0TM/s320/PapanTulisDar-UsSalamolehMbahSosro-.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444628132241828962" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sekilas Biografi<br /></span><br /> Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono lahir di Mayong pada hari Rabu Pahing tanggal 10 April 1877 M. Beliau adalah putera R.M. Adipati Ario Sosroningrat, bupati Jepara. Semenjak kecil beliau sudah mempunyai keistimewaan, beliau cerdas dan mempunyai kemampuan membaca masa depan.<br /> Kakak dari ibu kita Kartini ini, setelah tamat dari Eropesche Lagere School di Jepara, melanjutkan pendidikannya ke H.B.S. di Semarang. Pada tahun 1898 meneruskan sekolahnya ke negeri Belanda. Mula-mula masuk di sekolah Teknik Tinggi di Leiden, tetapi merasa tidak cocok, sehingga pindah ke Jurusan Bahasa dan Kesusastraan Timur. Beliau merupakan mahasiswa Indonesia pertama yang meneruskan pendidikan ke negeri Belanda, yang pada urutannya disusul oleh putera-putera Indonesia lainnya. Dengan menggenggam gelar Docterandus in de Oostersche Talen dari Perguruan Tinggi Leiden, beliau mengembara ke seluruh Eropa, menjelajahi pelbagai pekerjaan.<br /><br />Pada tahun 1917, koran Amerika The New York Herald Tribune, di kota Wina, Ibukota Austria, membuka lowongan kerja sebagai wartawan perang untuk meliput Perang Dunia I. Salah satu tes adalah menyingkat-padatkan sebuah berita dalam bahasa Perancis yang panjangnya satu kolom menjadi berita yang terdiri atas kurang lebih 30 kata, dan harus ditulis dalam 4 bahasa yaitu Inggris, Spanyol, Rusia dan Perancis sendiri. Drs Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono, putra Bumiputra yang ikut melamar, berhasil memeras berita itu menjadi 27 kata, sedangkan para pelamar lainnya lebih dari 30 kata. Persyaratan lainnya juga bisa dipenuhi oleh RMP Sosrokartono sehingga akhirnya ia terpilih sebagai wartawan perang surat kabar bergengsi Amerika, The New York Herald Tribune.<br /><br />Agar supaya pekerjaannya lancar ia juga diberi pangkat Mayor oleh Panglima Perang Amerika Serikat.<br /><br />RMP Sosrokartono seorang poliglot, ahli banyak bahasa. Ia menguasai 24 bahasa asing dan 10 bahasa suku di tanah Nusantara. Sebelum ia menjadi wartawan the New York Herald Tribune, ia bekerja sebagai penterjemah di Wina, ibukota Austria. Di Wina ia terkenal sebagai seorang “jenius dari Timur”. Ia juga bekerja sebagai wartawan beberapa surat kabar dan majalah di Eropa. Di dalam buku ‘Memoir’ Drs Muhammad Hatta diceritakan kalau RMP Sosrokartono mendapat gaji 1250 Dollar dari surat kabar Amerika. Dengan gaji sebesar itu ia dapat hidup mewah di Eropa.<br /><br />Sebelum Perang Dunia I berakhir, pada bulan November 1918, RMP Sosrokartono terpilih oleh blok Sekutu menjadi penterjemah tunggal, karena ia satu-satunya pelamar yang memenuhi syarat-syarat mereka yaitu ahli bahasa dan budaya di Eropa dan juga bukan bangsa Eropa. Dalam ‘Memoir’ tulisan Drs Muhammad Hatta ditulis kalau RMP Sosrokartono juga menguasai bahasa Basque, menjadi penterjemah pasukan Sekutu kala melewati daerah suku Basque. Suku Basque adalah salah satu suku yang hidup di Spanyol. Ketika Perang Dunia I menjelang akhir, diadakan perundingan perdamaian rahasia antara pihak yang bertikai.<br /><br /> Pihak-pihak yang berunding naik kereta api yang kemudian berhenti di hutan Compaigne di Perancis Selatan. Di dalam kereta api, pihak yang bertikai melakukan perundingan perdamaian rahasia. Di sekitar tempat perundingan telah dijaga ketat oleh tentara dan tidak sembarangan orang apalagi wartawan boleh mendekati tempat perundingan dalam radius 1 km. Semua hasil perundingan perdamaian rahasia tidak boleh disiarkan, dikenakan embargo sampai perundingan yang resmi berlangsung. Dalam Sejarah Dunia, Perundingan Perdamaian Perang Dunia ke I yang resmi berlangsung di kota Versailles, di Perancis.<br /><br /> Ketika banyak wartawan yang mencium adanya ‘perundingan perdamaian rahasia’ masih sibuk mencari informasi, koran Amerika The New York Herald Tribune ternyata telah berhasil memuat hasil perundingan rahasia tersebut. Penulisnya ‘anonim’, cuma menggunakan kode pengenal ‘Bintang Tiga’. Kode tersebut di kalangan wartawan Perang Dunia ke I dikenal sebagai kode dari wartawan perang RMP Sosrokartono. Konon tulisan itu menggemparkan Amerika dan juga Eropa. Yang menjadi pertanyaan bagaimana RMP Sosrokartono bisa mendapat hasil perundingan perdamaian yang amat dirahasiakan dan dijaga ketat? Apakah RMP Sosrokartono menjadi penterjemah dalam perundingan rahasia tersebut? Kalau ia menjadi penterjemah dalam perundingan rahasia itu lalu bagaimana ia menyelundupkan beritanya keluar? Seandainya ia tidak menjadi penterjemah dalam perundingan perdamaian rahasia itu, sebagai wartawan perang, bagaimana caranya ia bisa mendapat hasil perundingan perdamaian rahasia tersebut? Sayangnya dalam buku Biografi RMP Sosrokartono tidak ada informasi mengenai hal ini. Namun tak dapat disangkal lagi, berita tulisan RMP Sosrokartono di koran New York Herald Tribune mengenai hasil perdamaian rahasia Perang Dunia I itu merupakan salah satu prestasi luar biasa Sosrokartono sebagai wartawan perang.<br /><br /> Tahun 1919 didirikan Liga Bangsa-Bangsa (League of Nations) atas prakarsa Presiden Amerika Serikat Woodrow Wilson. Dari tahun 1919 sampai 1921, RMP Sosrokartono, anak Bumiputra, mampu menjabat sebagai Kepala Penterjemah untuk semua bahasa yang digunakan di Liga Bangsa-Bangsa. Ia berhasil mengalahkan poliglot-poliglot dari Eropa dan Amerika sehingga meraih jabatan tersebut. Liga Bangsa-Bangsa kemudian berubah nama menjadi Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa (United Nations Organization) pada tahun 1921. Tahun 1919 RMP Sosrokartono juga diangkat menjadi Atase Kebudayaan di Kedutaan Besar Perancis di Belanda.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S480JB448LI/AAAAAAAABKo/iG9IAHpJdyU/s1600-h/IMG-2088.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 284px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S480JB448LI/AAAAAAAABKo/iG9IAHpJdyU/s320/IMG-2088.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444627804244734130" /></a><br /><br />Sampai suatu ketika terdengar berita tentang sakitnya seorang anak berumur ± 12 tahun. Anak itu adalah anak dari kenalannya yang menderita sakit keras, yang tak kunjung sembuh meki sudah diobati oleh beberapa dokter. Dengan dorongan hati yang penuh dengan cinta kasih dan hasrat yang besar untuk meringankan penderitaan orang lain, saat itu juga beliau menjenguk anak kenalannya yang sakit parah itu. Sesampainya di sana, beliau langsung meletakkan tangannya di atas dahi anak itu dan terjadilah sebuah keajaiban. Tiba-tiba si bocah yang sakit itu mulai membaik dengan hitungan detik, dan hari itu juga ia pun sembuh.<br />Kejadian itu membuat orang-orang yang tengah hadir di sana terheran-heran, termasuk juga dokter-dokter yang telah gagal menyembuhkan penyakit anak itu. Setelah itu, ada seorang ahli Psychiatrie dan Hypnose yang menjelaskan bahwa sebenarnya Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono mempunyai daya pesoonalijke magneetisme yang besar sekali yang tak disadari olehnya.<br /><br />Mendengar penjelasan tersebut, akhirnya beliau merenungkan dirinya dan memutuskan menghentikan pekerjaannya di Jenewa dan pergi ke Paris untuk belajar Psychometrie dan Psychotecniek di sebuah perguruan tinggi di kota itu. Akan tetapi, karena beliau adalah lulusan Bahasa dan Sastra, maka di sana beliau hanya diterima sebagai toehoorder saja, sebab di Perguruan Tinggi tersebut secara khusus hanya disediakan untuk mahasiswa-mahasiswa lulusan medisch dokter.<br />Beliau kecewa, karena di sana beliau hanya dapat mengikuti mata kuliah yang sangat terbatas, tidak sesuai dengan harapan beliau. Di sela-sela hati yang digendam kecewa, datanglah ilham untuk kembali saja ke tanah airnya.<br /><br /> RMP Sosrokartono pulang ke tanah air tahun 1925. Ia kemudian menetap di kota Bandung. Supaya RMP Sosrokartono tidak ikut kegiatan politik yang sedang marak saat itu. RMP Sosrokartono kemudian ditawari berbagai jabatan dari Pemerintah Kolonial Belanda seperti jabatan Bupati, Adviseur Voor Inlandse Zaken dan Direktur pada Museum Bataviaasch Genootschaap Van Kunsten en Wetenschappen di Jakarta. Namun tawaran jabatan itu ditolak RMP Sosrokartono. RMP Sosrokartono memilih menjadi Kepala Sekolah di Perguruan Taman Siswa, nationale Middlebare School yang baru didirikan di Bandung.<br /><br /> Guru-guru di sekolah Taman Siswa itu antara lain Ir Soekarno, Dr Samsi, Mr Sunario dan Mr Usman Sastroamidjoyo. RMP Sosrokartono juga ikut aktif dalam kegiatan politik saat zaman pergerakan nasional Indonesia. Kegiatan Sosrokartono dapat dilihat dari laporan para pejabat kolonial Belanda. Dalam laporan rahasia tahun 1962 yang dibuat Van Der Plas pejabat Adviseur Voor Inlandse Zaken tertulis kalau Drs Sosrokartono termasuk pelopor gerakan nasional Indonesia dan tidak dapat dipercaya oleh Pemerintah Kolonial Belanda. Laporan ‘Komisi Istimewa’ yang terdiri Herwerden dan Toxopeus langsung kepada Ratu Wilhelmina berisikan kalau Sosrokartono penganjur swadesi dan sangat berbahaya bagi berlangsungnya ketentraman dan kedamaian di Hindia Belanda.<br /><br /> Tahun 1927, RMP Sosrokartono terpaksa keluar dari Perguruan Taman Siswa karena tekanan Pemerintah Kolonial Belanda terhadapnya sudah tak tertahankan lagi. RMP Sosrokartono kemudian sering melakukan ‘tarak brata’, tidak mau menikmati kemewahan, bahkan dalam beberapa hari di tiap harinya beliau hanya makan dua buah cabe atau sebuah pisang. Selanjutnya ia jadi suka berpuasa tanpa berbuka dan bersahur, dan juga tidak tidur selama berhari-hari, biasanya sampai 40 hari lebih.<br /><br /> Dan pada 30 April 1930 ia mulai mengadakan penyembuhan spiritual dengan air putih yang dilakukan di tempat tinggalnya di Jalan Pungkur Bandung (sekarang Jl Dewi Sartika), yang kemudian disebut Darus Salam (Tempat Nan Damai). Orang Jawa yang berobat kepadanya menyebut beliau ‘Ndoro Sosro’, Orang Sunda menyebutnya ‘Dokter Cai’ atau ‘Juragan Dokter Cai Pengeran’ atau Dokter Alif, Orang Belanda dan Indo Belanda menyebutnya ‘Oom Sos’ dan kalangan kedokteran menyebutnya ‘Wonder Dokter’ (bahasa Belanda artinya dokter ajaib). Beliau tidak menikah, tidak punya murid dan wakil.<br /><br />Pada hari Jum'at Pahing, tanggal 8 februari 1952 di rumah Jl. Pungkur No. 19 Bandung, yang terkenal dengan sebutan Dar-Oes-Salam, Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono kembali ke Sang Pencipta dengan tenang, tentram.<br />Presiden Soekarno memerintahkan AURI (Angkatan Udara Republik Indonesia) untuk mengantarkan jenazah RMP Sosrokartono dengan pesawat terbang militer ke kota Semarang. Jenazahnya kemudian dimakamkan di pemakaman keluarga Sedhomukti di kota Kudus.<br />Dalam buku Biografi RMP Sosrokartono tulisan Solichin Salam, Mr Ahmad Soebardjo, mantan ketua organisasi Perhimpunan Indonesia di Belanda, berkomentar kalau<br /><br /> Drs Sosrokartono memang luar biasa di segala bidang kehidupan manusia baik lahir maupun batin. Sosrokartono senantiasa dicurigai oleh penjajah karena pengaruhnya di masyarakat Indonesia sangat besar. Dan Drs Sosrokartono dapat dibanggakan sebagai Putra Indonesia Sejati.<br /><br />Kutipan komentar Prof Mr Muhammad Yamin tentang RMP Sosrokartono,<br /><br /> “..seorang putera Indonesia yang pernah berjuang, menderita dan mendapat kemenangan sampai pulang ke pangkuan bumi di makam Sedhomukti, setelah bekerja dengan menggerakkan perbagai tenaga untuk kebahagiaan manusia dan kemajuan bangsa. Bapak Sosrokartono adalah penganjur orang berilmu yang mengendalikan tenaga jasmani dan rohani untuk kebahagiaan Indonesia dan dunia, “ <br /><br />Kutipan komentar Bung Karno tentang RMP Sosrokartono.<br /><br /> “..Drs Sosrokartono almarhum adalah salah seorang sahabat saya dan beliau adalah seorang putera Indonesia yang besar, “ <br /><br />Bpk Ahmad Soebardjo, Bpk Muhammad Yamin dan Bung Karno adalah pahlawan-pahlawan Indonesia. Komentar-komentar mereka menunjukkan kalau RMP Sosrokartono seorang tokoh Indonesia yang besar. Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono adalah pahlawan Indonesia yang kurang dikenal oleh masyarakat Indonesia sendiri. Banyak orang menyepelekan jabatan Sosrokartono sebagai Kepala Penerjamah di Liga Bangsa-Bangsa. Padahal jabatan itu yang sangat prestisius. Penterjemah di organisasi kelas dunia seperti Liga Bangsa-Bangsa pasti seorang ahli bahasa luar biasa. Menjadi penterjemah bertaraf internasional itu susah sekali. Apalagi kalau berhasil bekerja sebagai penterjemah di lembaga dunia seperti Liga Bangsa-Bangsa yang sekarang namanya Perserikatan Bangsa Bangsa<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mandor Klungsu</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48zqgQmVbI/AAAAAAAABKg/H8Mm2KTUzpM/s1600-h/MandorKlungsu.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 227px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48zqgQmVbI/AAAAAAAABKg/H8Mm2KTUzpM/s320/MandorKlungsu.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444627279821297074" /></a><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Suzaku Musha View Post<br /><br />"... para Pangeran ingkang sesami rawuh perlu manggihi pun Klungsu, ..."<br /><br /> "... para pangeran yang berdatangan perlu menemui si Klungsu, ..."<br /><br />"Salam alaikum, Kula pun Mandor Klungsu."<br /><br /> "Salam alaikum, Saya si Mandor Klungsu."<br /><br />"Taklimi pun Mandhor ... Pak Klungsu."<br /><br /> "Taklimnya Mandhor ... Pak Klungsu."<br /><br />"Salam taklimipun lan padonganipun. Pak Klungsu."<br /><br /> "Salam taklimnya dan do'anya. Pak Klungsu."<br /><br />Kutipan- kutipan di atas menunjukkan bahwa Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono menyebut dirinya sebagai "Mandor Klungsu".<br />Klungsu artinya biji asam, bentuknya kecil tapi keras (kuat) yang ketika ditanam dan dirawat sebaik-baiknya, maka akan menjelma sebuah pohon yang besar-kekar, berdaun rimbun dan berbuah lebat.<br />Bukan sekedar biji buah asam, melainkan kepala/pimpinannya.<br />Pohon asam mulai dari pohon sampai bijinya, semua dapat dimanfaatkan. Selain itu, mempunyai sifat kokoh dan tegar.<br /><br /> Ketika melihat kiprahnya sehari-hari, maka beliau hanya seorang Mandor, Mandor Klungsu, yang harus menjalankan perintah Sang Pimpinan (Tuhan), serta mempertanggungjawabkan semua karyanya selama itu kepada Tuhannya.<br /><br />"Kula dermi ngelampahi kemawon."<br /><br /> Maksudnya, "Saya hanya menjalankan saja."<br /><br />"Namung madosi barang ingkang sae, sedaya kula sumanggaken dhateng Gusti."<br /><br /> Maksudnya, "Saya hanya mencari sesuatu yang baik, semuanya saya serahkan kepada Tuhan."<br /><br />"Kula saged nindhakaken ibadat inggih punika kuwajiban bakti lan suwita kula dhateng sesami."<br /><br /> Maksudnya, "Saya bisa menjalankan ibadah, yaitu kewajiban berbakti dan pengabdian saya kepada sesama."<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jaka Pring</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48zZaSUsWI/AAAAAAAABKY/oDHY41irhHs/s1600-h/DjokoPring.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48zZaSUsWI/AAAAAAAABKY/oDHY41irhHs/s320/DjokoPring.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444626986160140642" /></a><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Suzaku Musha View Post<br />"... Nyuwun pangestunipun para sedherek dhumateng pun Djoko Pring."<br /><br /> "... mohon do'a restunya saudara-saudara untuk si Jaka Pring."<br /><br />"Saking Ulun, Djoko Pring."<br /><br /> "Dari saya, Jaka Pring."<br /><br />Selain untuk dijadikan nama, Drs. R.M.P Sosrokartono juga pernah menuliskannya sebagai berikut:<br /><br />"Pring padha pring<br />Weruh padha weruh<br />Eling tanpa nyanding."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Bambu sama-sama bambu, tahu sama-sama tahu, ingat tanpa mendekat."<br /><br />Versi lain berbunyi:<br /><br />"Susah padha susah; seneng padha seneng; eling padha eling; pring padha pring."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Susah sama-sama susah; senang sama-sama senang; ingat sama-sama ingat; bambu sama- sama bambu."<br /><br />Jaka adalah jejaka/laki-laki yang belum (tidak) menikah dan Pring adalah bambu.<br />Pohon bambu adalah pohon yang sekujur tubuhnya dapat dimanfaatkan oleh siapa saja yang berkepentingan dengannya. Pohon Bambu dapat dimanfaatkan untuk membuat rumah, mulai dari tiang, atap, dinding, pagar, sampai atap-atapnya. Bukankah orang-orang dahulu menjadikan daun bambu sebagai genteng rumah mereka? Ranting-rantingnya dapat dijadikan kayu bakar atau pagar. Bambu dapat digunakan untuk membuat balai-balai, sangkar, keranjang, tempayan, tembikar, kursi, dll. Cikal bakal dari pohon bambu dapat dimanfaatkan untuk sayur/dimakan. Yang jelas, semuanya dapat dimanfaatkan, semuanya dapat difungsikan atau dibutuhkan sesuai kehendak orang yang bersangkutan.<br />Satu hal lagi, jenis bambu itu bermacam-macam. Sesuai dengan hajat seseorang dalam memfungsikan bambu, maka ia mempunyai pilihan terhadap jenis bambu yang mana ia butuhkan. Apakah bambu pethung, bambu ori, bambu wuluh, bambu apus dan lain sebagainya.<br /><br /> Kutipan di atas juga mengutarakan bahwa, apapun jenis kita, bangsa kita, agama kita, ras, warna kulit, perbedaan bahasa dan suku kita, kita tetap sama, sama-sama tahu, sama-sama manusia.<br /> Apapun jenis, warna dan bentuknya bambu, tetap bambu. Tak ada perbedaan, semua sama belaka. Manusia yang satu dengan manusia yang lain adalah sama. Seperti ketika beliau melakukan perjalanan ke luar Jawa, kemudian beliau bertemu oleh sekian jenis manusia dengan status sosial yang berbeda. Bagi beliau, semua manusia disejajarkan. Sikap egalitarisme tetap dijaga dan dilestarikan.<br /> Dalam kondisi dan situasi bagaimanapun dan di manapun, ingat akan keterciptaan, teringat akan sesama, saling mengingatkan dan ingat kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa, Yang Maha Pemurah. Ketika manusia itu ingat kepada Tuhannya, maka Tuhanpun akan ingat kepadanya.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Guru Sejati</span><br /><br />"Murid, gurune pribadi<br />Guru, muride pribadi<br />Pamulangane, sengsarane sesami<br />Ganjarane, ayu lan arume sesami."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Murid gurunya diri pribadi. Guru, muridnya diri pribadi. Tempat belajarnya/pelajarannya, penderitaan sesama. Balasannya, kebaikan dan keharuman sesama."<br /><br />Untaian itu mengandung pengertian bahwa sesungguhnya dalam diri seseorang terdapat seorang guru dan diri seseorang itu sendiri menjadi murid, murid dari guru sejati.<br />Sebab, pada intinya, segala bentuk ilmu dan pengetahuan itu hanya datang dari Tuhan, karena guru selain Tuhan itu hanya sebagai perantara belaka.<br /><br />"Sinau ngarosake lan nyumerepi tunggalipun manungsa, tunggalipun rasa, tunggalipun asal lan maksudipun agesang."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Perlu belajar ikut merasakan dan mengetahui bahwa manusia itu satu, rasa itu satu, berasal dari tempat yang sama, dan belajar memahami arti dari tujuan hidup."<br /><br />"Tansah anglampahi dados muriding agesang."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Selalu menjalani jadi murid kehidupan/sesama hidup."<br /> Kehidupan itulah sang guru, karena kehidupan itu juga mengajarkan kepada kita.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sang Alif</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48ynyAXI9I/AAAAAAAABKQ/86sdIwBK6TE/s1600-h/PapanTulisDar-UsSalamolehMbahSosro-.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 286px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48ynyAXI9I/AAAAAAAABKQ/86sdIwBK6TE/s320/PapanTulisDar-UsSalamolehMbahSosro-.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444626133533795282" /></a><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Suzaku Musha View Post<br /><br />"... Ping kalihipun perlu babat lan ngatur papan kangge masang Alif. (Masang Alif punika inggih kedah mawi sarana lampah. Boten kenging kok lajeng dipun canthelaken kemawon, lajeng dipun tilar kados mepe rasukan)."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Yang keduanya perlu membuka dan mengatur tempat untuk memasang Alif. (Memasang Alif itu harus dengan sarana penghayatan. Tidak boleh hanya dicantolkan begitu saja, lalu ditinggal layaknya menjemur pakaian.)<br /><br />"Ngawula dateng kawulaning Gusti lan memayu ayuning urip, ..."<br /><br /> Maksudnya adalah mengabdi kepada abdinya Tuhan dan memperbaiki keindahan hidup.<br /><br />Diungkapkan bahwa Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono memiliki tiga buah Alif, yaitu :<br /><br /> 1. Sang Alif warna hitam, dengan dasar putih.<br /> 2. Sang Alif warna putih, dengan dasar biru muda.<br /> 3. Sand Alif warna putih, dengan dasar merah.<br /><br />Ketika melayani dan mengobati orang-orang yang sakit, Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono selalu berdiri. Beilau kuat sekali berdiri berjam-jam atau berhari-hari. Setelah mengobati orang-orang sampai pukul 12 malam, Dar-Oes-Salam ditutup. Namun beliau tidak langsung tidur, beliau seringkali bermain catur sampai jam 3, 4 pagi, itupun beliau lakukan sambil berdiri.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Kanthong Bolong</span><br /><br />"Nulung pepadhane, ora nganggo mikir<br />wayah, wadhuk, kanthong.<br />Yen ana isi lumuntur marang sesami."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Menolong sesama, tidak perlu memakai pikiran waktu, perut, saku. Jika (saku) berisi mengalir kepada sesama."<br /><br />Dengan demikian, maksud dari "Ilmu Kanthong Bolong" adalah sebuah pengetahuan konkrit tentang sebentuk tempat yang selalu kosong, yang secara pasti tempat itu tak pernah membiarkan sesuatu yang dimilikinya tetap ada, karena tempat itu berlobang, maka apapun yang ditaruh di sana selalu mengalir, sehingga menjadi kosong dan sunyi dari apa saja.<br /><br />"Nulung tiyang kula tindakaken ing pundi-pundi, sak mangsa-mangsa, sak wanci-wanci."<br /><br /> Maksudnya, menolong orang itu dilaksanakan di mana-mana, sewaktu-waktu, kapan saja.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sugih Tanpa Bandha</span><br /><br />"Sugih tanpa bandha.<br />Digdaya tanpa hadji.<br />Ngalurug tanpa bala.<br />Menang tanpa ngasoraken."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Kaya tanpa harta. Sakti tanpa azimat. Menyerang tanpa balatentara. Menang tanpa merendahkan."<br /><br />Demikianlah kata-kata mutiara yang tertera pada salah satu batu nisan makam Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono di Sidhomukti Kudus.<br /><br />Ajaran Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono ini tidak mengajak orang-orang Indonesia jadi orang yang melarat, miskin, tak punya harta, sehingga mudah dipermainkan oleh mereka yang berharta. Tapi sesungguhnya, kembali pada penjelasan bahwa orang kaya itu bukanlah karena banyak harta bendanya, melainkan orang kaya itu adalah orang yang kaya hatinya, yang kaya mentalnya.<br /><br />“Puji kula mboten sanes namung sugih-sugeng-seneng-ipun sesami.”<br /><br /> Maksudnya, si miskin akan akan tetap jadi miskin atau makin miskin karena bermental miskin.<br /><br />Bukankah orang kaya itu orang yang sudah tak lagi membutuhkan sesuatu, karena semuanya telah terpenuhi? Meskipun anda tak berharta, tapi anda sudah merasa cukup dengan apa yang anda dapatkan di dunia ini, maka andalah orang kaya itu. Sebaliknya, meskipun anda banyak berharta, tapi anda masih menginginkan dan membutuhkan sesuatu yang begini dan begitu, maka anda bukanlah orang kya, karena anda masih fakir (butuh) dan kebutuhan anda belum tercukupi.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Digdaya Tanpa Aji</span><br /><br />“Ajinipun inggih boten sanes namung aji tekad; ilmunipun ilmu pasrah; rapalipun adilipun Gusti.”<br /><br /> Artinya, “Ajiannya tidak lain hanyalah ajian tekad, ilmunya ilmu pasrah, manteranya keadlan Tuhan.”<br /><br />Perbuatan taat dan meninggalkan maksiat itulah sumber energi yang dapat membuat seseorang sakti mandraguna, disamping kemampuan diri mengekang gejolak syahwat dan dari perintah nafsu yang buruk.<br />Rumusan beliau “Digdaya tanpa Aji” ada pada tiga tahapan, yaitu :<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Tekad</span><br /> Tekad adalah sifat yang merujuk pada semangat dan keberanian diri dalam menghadapi segala masalah, seperti rekayasa hidup, fitnah dan bujukan dunia. Tekad ada karena ada niat, sementara segala sesuatu itu tergantung pada niatnya. Jika niatnya itu baik, maka baiklah jadinya. Selain itu, dengan tekad manusia dapat menyelesaikan tugas-tugasnya. Tekad bukan berarti spekulasi miring, tapi lebih mengarah pada sikap tidak takut pada apapun dan siapapun, sehingga hasil yang dicapaipun menjadi maksimal. Tekad dapat dijadikan senjata, yakni senjata psikis dalam menghadapi setiap masalah. Oleh karena itu tekad dapat dijadikan ajian, azimat pamungkas dalam segala urusan. Untuk mendapatkan “aji tekad” tidak perlu melakukan laku (tirakat), tidak pula belajar ilmu kanuragan dahulu, tetapi “aji tekad” dapat diperoleh dengan menanam keberanian, kepasrahan, keadilan dan niat yang baik dalam diri.<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pasrah</span><br /> Ilmu pasrah dapat juga disebut ilmu tawakal. Memasrahkan diri sepenuhnya kepada Yang Maha Kuasa. Ilmu tawakal ini bisa diperoleh dengan menanamkan pemahaman dalam diri bahwa tak ada kuasa dan daya selain kuasa dan daya Tuhan Yang Maha Agung. Hidup dan mati itu urusan Tuhan, sukses dan gagal atas kehendak Tuhan. Intinya, menyerahkan permasalahan hidup ini kepada Tuhan, karena Dialah sebaik-baiknya Wakil. Pasrahkan jiwa dan raga kepada-Nya; Dibalik tawakkal ada keselamatan, karena ketika manusia telah menyerahkan hidup-matinya, segala urusannya kepada Yang Maha Esa, maka Dialah yang akan melindungi dan menyelamatkannya dari bahaya dan bencana.<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Keadilan</span><br /> Keadilan disini adalah lafal, kata/tanda yang disandarkan kepada Tuhan. Keadilan ini sulit didapat dan sulit dipraktekkan, kaena keadilan adalah puncak dari kebaikan. Ketika manusia tak dapat berbuat adil, maka Tuhanlah yang akan memberikan keadilan. Keadilan Tuhan ini sangat menakutkan, karena Yang Maha Adil itu takkan memandang siapa yang akan diadili, sehingga keadilan benar-benar ditegakkan.<br /> Ketika keadilan-Nya telah berbicara, maka kebenaranlah yang ada. Ketika keadilan Tuhan telah menjadi ucapan seseorang dalam denyut kehidupannya, maka kebenaran dan kebaikanlah yang diperolehnya.<br /><br />“Tanpa aji, tanpa ilmu, kula boten gadhah ajrih, sebab payung kula Gusti kula, tameng kula inggih Gusti kula.”<br /><br /> Artinya, “Tanpa ajian, tanpa ilmu (kanuragan), saya tidak takut, sebab payung atau pelindung saya adalah Tuhan dan perisai saya juga hanya Tuhan.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bertempur Tanpa Pasukan</span><br /><br />"Ngalurug tanpa Bala" adalah merupakan sebagian kebenaran hidup yang harus dihayati dan diamalkan, karena ungkapan ini merujuk pada istilah berkarya dengan tangan sendiri. Tak perlu bantuan, tak perlu teriak-teriak meminta pertolongan, karena diri pribadi sudah dapat mengatasi apa yang dialami.<br /><br /> Sesungguhnya musuh manusia adalah setan, baik setan manusia maupun setan jin, maka kepada keduanyalah manusia harus melakukan perlawanan. Sekali lagi, setan-setan itulah yang harus dilawan, diperangi, dan kalau bisa, dimusnahkan saja. Dengan bekal teksd dan keberanian yang suci, maka tak ada yang tak dapat dihancurkan, karena semua mahluk akan binasa kecuali Dzat-Nya.<br /> Kasih sayang dapat melunakkan musuh, dapat menolong, dapat dijadikan pelindung, dan dengan tekad asih, kita tidak akan merasa takut terhadap siapapun dan apapun.<br /><br />"Ingkang kula dalaken dede tekad pamrih, ananging tekad asih."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Yang saya pergunakan bukan tekad pamrih, tapi tekad asih."<br /><br />"Anglurug tanpa bala, tanpa gaman; Ambedhah, tanpa perang tanpa pedhang."<br /><br /> Maksudnnya, mengejar (musuh) tanpa tentara, tanpa senjata; menundukkan (musuh) tanpa perang tanpa pedang.Tak perlu teman, tak perlu senjata. Hindarilah peperangan, pertarungan, atau kekerasan.<br /> Yakinlah bahwa orang yang berjalan dengan membawa cinta kasih kepada sesama mahluk akan senantiasa mendapatkan pertolongan dan perlindungan Tuhan.<br /><br />Meskipun manusia tidak mencari masalah atau musuh, permasalahan atau musuh itu datang dengan sendirinya dan akan meniupkan gangguan-gangguan. Akan tetapi, permasalahan dan musuh yang ada di dalam diri kita sendiri. Tekanan batin, penderitaan mental, atau nafsu-nafsu kotor yang menghuni lembah diri kita itulah permasalahan dan musuh kita yang berat lagi membahayakan, karena tak tampak tetapi dapat kita rasakan.<br /><br /> Nafsu-nafsu jahat yang menghuni diri manusia bermacam-macam. Nafsu-nafsu itulah yang pada umumnya membuat manusia menjadi sombong, kikir, dengki, jahat dan segala bentuk sifat buruk sering bercokol dalam dirinya, sehingga kehinaan dan kenestapaanlah yang diperoleh, bukan kemuliaan dan keselamatan. Maka, sangat elegan jika Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono mencetuskan rumusan "Ngalurug tanpa Bala" yang mempunyai muatan ajaran spiritual dalam rangka menghalau segala bentuk keburukan yang ada didalam diri manusia, supaya manusia tidak menjadi hina, karena barang siapa yang dikalahkan dengan hawa nafsunya maka kehinaanlah yang akan bersanding mesra dengannya. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Trimah Mawi Pasrah</span><br /><br />"Trimah mawi pasrah.<br />Suwung pamrih, tebih ajrih.<br />Langgeng tan ana susah, tan ana seneng.<br />Antheng mantheng sugeng jeneng."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Menerima dengan pasrah. Tiada pamrih, jauh dari takut. Abadi tiada duka, tiada suka. Tenang memusat, bahagia bertakhta."<br /><br />Konsep "trimah mawi Pasrah", oleh Drs. R. M. P. Sosrokartono, diperjelas dengan apa yang pernah beliau katakan di bawah ini :<br /><br />"Ikhlas marang apa sing wes kelakon.<br />Trimah apa kang dilakoni.<br />Pasrah marang apa bakal ana."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Ikhlas terhadap apa yang telah terjadi. Menerima apa yang dijalani. Pasrah terhadap apa yang akan ada."<br /><br />Jadi, selain bergandengan dengan ilmu sabar, ilmu pasrah dan ilmu trimah juga bergandengan dengan ilmu ikhlas, tidak mencari pamrih, tidak karena ingin dipuji, tidak pamer kepada orang lain. Apa yang telah terjadi, biarlah terjadi, karena kepasrahan akan membawa keridhaan, dan keridhaan akan membawa keikhlasan, dan itulah sabar, sebuah sifat yang sangat disukai oleh Tuhan.<br /><br />"Trimah mawi Pasrah" juga dapat diartikan bahwa manusia hanya dapat berusaha, sedangkan Tuhanlah yang menentukan segalanya. Oleh karena itu, janganlah terlalu menyesali nasib, karena dibalik derita ada bahagia, dibalik kesusahan ada kemudahan. Yang pasrah akan mendapat kemudahan, yang ridha akan mendapatkan ganti, yang sabar akan mendapatkan kemuliaan dan yang ikhlas akan mendapat ketenangan dan kebahagiaan hati.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br /><br />Suwung Pamrih Tebih Ajrih</span><br /><br />" ... Suwung pamrih, suwung ajrih, namung madosi barang ingkang sae, sedaya kula sumanggaken dhateng Gusti ... "<br /><br /> Artinya, " ... Tiada pamrih, tiada takut, hanya mencari sesuatu yang baik, semua saya serahkan kepada Tuhan ... "<br /><br />"Yen kula ajrih, kenging dipun wastani ngandut pamrih utawi ancas ingkang boten sae."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Jika saya takut, boleh dikatakan (bahwa saya) menyimpan pamrih atau niat yang tidak baik."<br /><br />"Luh ingkang medal sangking manah punika, dede luh ipun tangis pamrih, nanging luh peresanipun manah suwung pamrih."<br /><br /> Artinya, "Air mata yang keluar dari hati ini, bukanlah air matanya tangis pamrih, tetapi air mata perasan hati yang kosong pamrih."<br /><br />Ketika anda menangis, menangislah karena syukur dan ikhlas, bukan karena menginginkan imbalan yang tak kunjung tiba. Apalah artinya menantikan imbalan, jika semua yang ada tak mengizinkan. Apalah artinya tangisan hanya gara-gara ingin dipuji, dibalas atau diberi, jika kemuliaan jauh dari kita. Yang terpenting adalah kedamaian, ketentraman, aman, kebahagiaan dan kemuliaan.<br /><br />Pamrih itu hanya membuat seseorang menjadi penakut, picik, menderita, menjenuhkan, bahkan dapat membuat orang menjadi hina.<br /><br />Apalah artinya berpegang kepada kesementaraan, jika di alam baka kita dicambuk derita ?!<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Padhang Ing Petheng</span><br /><br />" ... Wosipun inggih punika ngupadosi padhang ing peteng; seneng ing sengsara, tunggaling sewu yuta ... "<br /><br /> Artinya, "Yang jelas adalah mencari terang di dalam gelap; senang dalam kesengsaraan, ribuan juta contohnya."<br /><br />Apa saja yang ada di dunia ini relatif. Di bumi ini selalu ada dualisme, seperti padhang-peteng; seneng-sengsara; sehat-sakit; hujan-panas dan lain sebagainya. Demikianlah yang namanya kehidupan. Peteng terus itu tidak ada. Padhang terus juga tidak ada. Seneng terus itu juga tidak ada. Sengsara terus itupun tidak ada. Oleh karena itu, yang bertentangan itu dibutuhkan dalam kehidupan ini. Dengan adanya panjang, kita tahu pendek; dengan adanya sakit, kita bisa merasakan sehat. Dengan mengetahui baik, maka kita tahu apa itu buruk.<br /><br /> Hujan dan panas, keduanya dibutuhkan dalam kehidupan ini. Kalau orang tidak mau peteng dan selalu ingin yang padhang saja, apa jadinya dunia ini? Kapan kita istirahat, kapan kita tidur? Kalau peteng terus, apa saja yang semula tumbuh pasti mati. Sebab tidak terkena sinarnya matahari. Kalau panas terus, bumi ini akan kering kerontang, kematian akan tersebar di muka bumi. Kalau hujan terus, pasti terjadi banjir di mana-mana. Daratan akan tenggelam, kelaparan melanda dunia disertai kematian umat manusia. Dimana-mana yang ada cuma air! Apa jadinya bumi ini?<br /><br />Senang dan sengsara harus diterima seperti apa adanya, karena kedua-duanya membawa manfaat dan didalamnya ada hikmah yang tersembunyi. Janganlah kita terikat atau terbelenggu oleh senang dan susah. Jika kesengsaraan datang, terimalah. Jika kesenangan datang, sambutlah. Mengapa? Supaya hidup ini dapat dijalani dengan tenang.<br /><br />Di manapun anda temukan kegelapan, maka terangilah. Di manapun anda temukan kesengsaraan, maka berilah kesenangan. Janganlah berhenti melakukan tugas itu, karena berjuta-juta yang membutuhkan cahaya terang dan sinar kebahagiaan.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Catur Murti</span><br /><br />Catur itu empat, sedangkan Murti itu penjelmaan. Jadi yang dimaksudkan adalah empat yang dijelmakan menjadi satu. Menurut Aksan, Catur Murti adalah bersatunya empat faal, yaitu pikiran, perasaan, perkataan dan perbuatan.<br /><br />Berawal dari keinginan atau kehendak (perasaan), itulah yang menyebabkan berpikir dan tindak lanjutnya adalah berkata, terakhir berbuat. Pikiranlah yang mendorong kita untuk berkata maupun berbuat. Sekarang tergantung kepada pikirannya. Kalau pikirannya baik/benar, maka akan mengeluarkan kata-kata yang baik/benar. Kalau pikirannya baik/benar, akan mendorong untuk berbuat baik/benar. Jika pikirannya jahat/tidak benar, akan mendorong orang untuk berkata yang jahat dan berbuat jahat.<br /><br />Kebencian jangan diberi kesempatan untuk merajalela di alam pikiran kita. Kita harus menjinakkan kebencian yang ada di dalam pikiran kita, kemudian kita pudarkan atau kita kecilkan, agar pikiran jahat itu dapat kita hilangkan. Kalau sudah begitu, jangan diingat-ingat lagi orang yang pernah membuat anda jadi benci. KAta-katanya, perilakunya, jangan diingat lagi. Dengan berjalannya waktu, anda akan melupakan itu semuanya. Berterima kasihlah kepada Tuhan, karena anda dikaruniai sifat lupa, kalau anda tidak diberi lupa, maka anda akan ingat segala-galanya, apakah anda tidak bertambah pusing?<br /><br />Ada kalanya kita menggunakan pikiran yang baik, namun masih dianggap kurang cukup. Menggunakan perasaan yang baik pun masih ada kekurangannya.<br /><br /> Sebagai contoh : Anda sedang berjalan dengan seorang teman. Kebetulan teman itu tidak punya uang sama sekali. Dan sama-sama lapar, tetapi uang anda hanya Rp 2000. Anda mampir di warung, nasi satu piring Rp 2000. jadi yang makan hanya anda sendiri. Sebab, uang itu adalah uang anda sendiri dan anda sangat lapar. Teman anda menunggu sambil berdiri, di luar warung. Sampai hatikah anda berbuat begitu?<br /> Contoh lainnya : Uang Rp 2000 anda berikan kepada teman anda, teman anda yang makan. Anda hanya duduk saja di dalam warung, sambil mengamati teman anda yang sedang menikmati makanannya.<br /><br />Pada contoh yang pertama, anda egoistis. Sekalipun berpikir benar. Pada contoh yang kedua, anda adalah orang gila yang baik hati. Sekalipun berperasaan benar. Nah, coba anda mencari makanan yang harganya Rp 1000 saja. Anda dan teman anda sama-sama dapat makan. Anda makan tidak kenyang, tetapi sudah makan. Teman anda tidak kelaparan. Jadi sebelum anda berbuat, pikiran yang benar harus diselaraskan dengan perasaan yang benar. Artinya, ada unsur penyelarasan. Dengan begitu, dalam konteks tersebut, perbuatan anda adalah "Perbuatan benar".<br /><br />Dengan demikian, Catur Murti itu merupakan kesatuan, tidak boleh dipisahkan, jangan ambil protholannya saja, ambillah kesatuannya, keseluruhannya. itu baru namanya Catur Murti. Selain itu, Catur Murti bukan hanya sekedar dihafalkan, tapi harus dihayati dan diamalkan. Berlatih Catur murti tanpa berhenti, baru ada manfaatnya. Sehingga menyatu dengan jiwa kita, sehingga kita terbiasakan untuk berpikir benar, berperasaan benar, berkata benar dan berbuat benar. Dalam situai dan kondisi apapun reaksi kita jadi cepat dan dalam mengambil keputusan bisa dengan tepat dan benar.<br /><br />Tuhan telah memberi kita 2 buah mata, 2 buah telinga dan 1 mulut. 2 buah mata, artinya banyak-banyaklah melihat. 2 buah telinga, artinya banyak-banyaklah mendengar. 1 buah mulut, kalau tidak perlu sebaiknya ditutup. Sebab mulut adalah pintu gerbang yang mendatangkan bahaya.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Benci (kebencian)</span><br /> Hidup ini jadi tegang dan gelisah. Kebencian dapat melahirkan dendam. Dendam dapat melahirkan ketidaktenangan. Gelisah dan gundah gulana itu juga akibat dari sebuah kebencian.<br /> Serakah<br /> Keserakahan menyebabkan hati kita tertutup. Hati yang tertutup tidak dapat melihat kepentingan orang lain, tidak dapat merasakan penderitaan orang lain. Yang dipikirkan hanya kepentingan, kesenangan dan keselamatan dirinya sendiri.<br /> Iri Hati<br /> Orang yang iri hati selalu merasa tidak senang, jika orang lain senang. Ia tidak merasa bahagia kalau orang lain bahagia. Ia merasa kecil hati melihat orang lain sukses. Orang yang iri hati itu hatinya kerdil, karena ia tidak mau menerima kenyataan dengan lapang dada atau mengakui kesuksesan orang lain, kegembiraan orang lain, kebahagiaan orang lain. Orang iri hati cepat sekali untuk memfitnah orang, menggunjing atau menjelekkan orang lain yang sukses.<br /> Fitnah<br /> Selama kita benar, jangan takut terhadap fitnah. Kalau kita tak berbuat yang neko-neko, kita merasa benar, tak perlu memikirkan fitnah itu. Biarkan saja, diamkan saja dan hadapi dengan kesabaran.<br /> Bodoh (kebodohan)<br /> Bilamana kita sedang marah, sedang membenci, sedang iri hati, sedang serakah, pada saat itu kita dalam keadaan bodoh, yang artinya tidak punya kemampuan untuk mengendalikan diri/lepas kontrol. Saat itu pikiran kita jadi gelap, tidak sadar, tidak bijaksana, kita jadi bodoh (tidak seperti biasanya, cerdas, bijaksana). Karena bodoh, ada kemungkinan kita memukul atau membunuh tanpa kesadaran. Melakukan hal-hal membahayakan untuk diri sendiri dan orang lain, dan kita pun menderita lahir batin. Kita baru sadar, setelah itu semua terjadi. Kesadaran yang datangnya terlambat.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mutiara-mutiara</span><br /><br />"... Kula badhe nyobi prabotanipun wong lanang, inggih punika: bares, mantep, wani. ..."<br /><br /> "... Saya akan mencoba identitas seorang lelaki, yaitu: jujur, mantab, wani ..."<br /><br />"Boten kenging tiyang jaler ngunduri utawi nyingkiri bebaya utami, saha cidra dhateng pengajeng-ajeng lan kepercadosipun sesami."<br /><br /> Intinya, seorang pemberani jangan takut menghadapi apapun..<br /><br />"Yen kapergok aja mlayu."<br /><br /> ..dan jika bertemu suatu bahaya, jangan lari. (Bertanggungjawab)<br /><br />"Ing donya mung kebak kangelan, seng ora gelem kangelan aja ing donya."<br /><br /> "Di dunia penuh dengan kesusahan, yang tidak mau susah jangan di dunia."<br /><br /> "Ajinipun inggih boten sanes naming aji tekad, ilmunipun ilmu pasrah, rapalipun adiling Gusti."<br /><br /> Intinya, tak perlu mempelajari ajian-ajian, cukup dengan tekad yang baik, dengan kepasrahan yang benar dan selalu berlindung di bawah sifat adil tuhan.<br /><br /> "Kula bade ngukur dedeg kula, nimbang botin kamantepan, njajagi gayuhanipun budi."<br /><br /> Intinya, di dalam sebuah pengembaraan, sebaiknya seseorang juga perlu mempertimbangkan keyakinan yang dimilikinya dan mendalami raihan budi. Sejauh mana keyakinan dan raihan budinya, dapat dilihat setelah seseorang menjalani pengembaraan, karena di sanalah kedua hal tersebut dapat teruji dan terbukti.<br /><br /> "Pakerti asor numusi anak putu lan mbekta kasengsarane tiyang katah."<br /><br /> Intinya, harus tahu bahwa perbuatan atau akhlak yang buruk dapat terwarisi oleh sang anak dan dapat mendatangkan kesengsaraan orang lain.<br /><br /> "Aja dumeh, tepa slira, ngerti kuwalat."<br /><br /> Intinya, janganlah merasa hebat. Terhadap siapapun harus tenggang rasa. Dan harus tahu kena tuah (semisal hukum karma).<br /><br /> "Wani mengku: anteping ati, kencenging pikir, boboting kekuatane."<br /><br /> Intinya, kemantapan dan kekuatan hati, pikiran yang kuat atau teguh dan bobotnya kekuatan harus dimiliki.<br /><br />"Nekad: Kekendelan, ngluwihi kekuatan."<br /><br /> Intinya, bertekad bahwa kepastian (di dalam diri) itu melebihi kekuatan.<br /><br />"Dede tekad pamrih, nanging tekad asih."<br /><br /> Intinya, berdasarkan pada tekad asih, bukan tekad pamrih.<br /><br />"Tiyang mlampah punika, sangunipun lan gembolanipun satunggal, inggih punika : "maksudipun"."<br /><br /> Intinya, orang berjalan hanya mempunyai satu bekal, yaitu niat.<br /><br />"Barang sanesipun saged dipun wastani ngriribedi lan ngrawati lampah, kenging dipun wastani ugi : Ngendoni niyat utawi "ngeker ancas lan tujuning lampah"."<br /><br /> Intinya, barang lainnya selain niat yang baik, hanya akan menjadi penghalang dan memperberat langkah, dapat juga dinamakan sesuatu yang bisa mengendorkan niat, bisa memutar tujuan perjalanan. Gara-gara mencari sesuatu yang tak jelas, niat seseorang dapat berubah.<br /><br />"Ingkang tansah dados ancasipun lampah kula mboten sanes namung sunyi pamrih, puji kula mboten sanes namung sugih, senengipun sesami."<br /><br /> Intinya, dalam menjalankan tugasnya niat beliau tak lain adalah sunyi pamrih, tidak mencari imbalan, sedangkan puji beliau adalah puji cukup, selamat dan kesenangan orang lain.<br /><br />"Prabot kula boten sanes badan lan budi."<br /><br /> Intinya, atribut yang hanya bisa dibawa kapan saja adalah badan dan budi.<br /><br />"Nyebar wiji sederekan lan wiji utamining kejawen ing manca negari."<br /><br /> Intinya, benih-benih persaudaraan dan keutamaan orang Jawa-lah yang harus diperjuangkan. Itu jika anda orang Jawa. Jika bukan, ya keutamaan bangsa anda yang harus anda perjuangkan, sebarkan ke mana saja anda berada. Namun yang terpenting disini ialah persaudaraan bukan permusuhan. (Perlu diingat bahwa sewaktu beliau menulis mutiara-mutiara ini, Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia belum berdiri.)<br /><br /> "Tumraping kula piyambak, kejawi urun batos, raos, kula kedah wani urun badan, urun dada, urun bahu."<br /><br /> Intinya, memberikan pertolongan kepada sesama, bahkan dalam sebuah pengembaraan, selain menyumbangkan batin dan rasa, juga harus berani menyumbangkan badan, dada dan bahu. Sekujur tubuh, lahir dan batin harus bersedia disumbangkan demi kebahagiaan bersama. <br /><br /> "Ngawula dateng kawulaning Gusti lan memayu ayuning urip, tanpa pamrih tanpa ajrih, jejeg mantep, mawi pasrah. Sebab payung kula Gusti kula, tameng kula inggih Gusti kula."<br /><br /> Intinya, dalam menjalani kehidupan disarankan mengabdikan diri kepada abdinya Tuhan, menyempurnakan kebahagiaan hidup, tanpa pamrih tanpa takut, tegak, mantap dengan jalan tawakkal. Sebab, yang patut dijadikan tempat berlindung dan bergantung hanyalah Tuhan.<br /><br /> "Yen kula mundur sebab ajrih, kula kenging dipun wastani kirang dhateng Gusti."<br /><br /> Intinya, seseorang yang mundur dari sebuah pertempuran (perjalanan dalam hidupan) karena takut, itu dapat dinilai sebagai orang yang kurang pasrah kepada Tuhan.<br /><br />"Angungkup kabeh, anyandak siji."<br /><br /> Intinya, semuanya harus diraih, tapi hanya satu yang menjadi sumbernya, yaitu ridha Ilahi.<br /><br />"Ambuka netra, tegesipun anutup netra. Anggelar pemandeng, tegesipun angringkes pemantheng."<br /><br /> Intinya, mata yang dibuka adalah mata yang ditutup. Meluaskan pandangan adalah konsentrasi. Mata bathinlah yang harus diutamakan, agar tidak mudah tergiur oleh gemerlap dunia yang hanyalah semu.<br /><br />"Perlunipun lan maksudipun inggih punika nyukani urunan piwulang, pitedah lan tulada dhateng para sederek ing ngriki, ingkang asor inggih ingkang luhur, ingkang mlarat ingkang sugih."<br /><br /> Intinya, semua yang dilakukan itu dijadikan pelajaran untuk diri sendiri dan orang lain, sebagai petunjuk bersama, bahwa sesungguhnya yang hina itulah yang luhur, yang miskin itulah yang kaya. Penampilan seseorang tidak dapat dijadikan pertanda, melainkan apakah ada yang baik dibalik penampilan yang baik, atu mungkin orang yang seakan baik tapi berhati jahat.<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by WitGedhangMabur View Post<br />" Je moet leren om te doorvoelen.<br />dat het leven een is, Ti.<br />Alles is in dat ene.<br />En dat leven is juist in jou.<br />Onthou dat.<br />Alles is in jou.<br />En jij, je ben in alles. . . . . "<br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by zeth View Post<br />"Kamu harus belajar untuk merasakan. bahwa kehidupan itu adalah satu, Ti Semuanya ada didalam satuan itu. Dan kehidupan itu justru ada di dalam mu. Ingatlah. Semuanya ada didalam mu Dan kamu, kamu adalah semuanya"<br />"Ikhlas marang apa sing wis kelakon. Trimah apa kang dilakoni. Pasrah marang apa kang bakal ana. "<br /><br /> Artinya, ikhlas terhadap apa yang telah dijalani. Menerima apa yang sedang dialami. Pasrah terhadap apa yang akan dihadapi.<br /><br />"Jen kersa njangoni, sampun njangoni uwas, nanging njangoni mantep lan pasrah. Punika sangunipun wong lanang."<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Kepustakaan</span><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Suzaku Musha View Post<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48yTx3TmjI/AAAAAAAABKI/1AOJfOf-7RA/s1600-h/SuratTanjungPura-MonosukoBandung.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48yTx3TmjI/AAAAAAAABKI/1AOJfOf-7RA/s320/SuratTanjungPura-MonosukoBandung.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444625789898431026" /></a><br /><br /> * Indy G. Hakim, Tafsir Surat-surat & Mutiara-mutiara Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, (Pustaka Kaona, April 2008)<br /> * Pa' Roesno, Karena Panggilan Ibu Sejati : Riwayat Hidup dari Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, (Djakarta : 1954)<br /> * Panitya Buku Riwayat Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, Kempalan Serat-serat : Drs. Sosrokartono, (Surabaya : Panitya Buku Riwayat Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, 1992)<br /> * Serat Saking Medan, 12 Mei 1931 dalam Suxmantojo, Kempalan Serat-serat Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono<br /> * Serat Saking Binjei, 5 Juli 1931<br /> * Serat Saking Binjei, 9 Juli 1931<br /> * Serat Saking Tanjung Pura (Langkat), 26 Oct. 1931<br /> * Serat Saking Tanjung Pura, 11 Oct. 1931<br /> * Djoko Pring, "Aji Pring", (Binjei, 12 Nov. 1931)<br /> * Djoko Pring, Omong Kosong, (Binjei, 12 Nov. 1931)<br /> * R. Mohammad Ali, Ilmu Kantong Bolong, Ilmu Kantong Kosong, Ilmu Sunji Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono<br /> * Djoko Pring, Lampah lan Maksudipun, (Binjei 12 Nov. 1931)<br /> * Blog Arienda @ http://arienda.livejournal.com/<br /> * Blog Inggra @ http://parandaru.multiply.com/journal/item/1/Coba_direnungkan_saja<br /> * Blog Wib @ http://wib711.multiply.com/photos/album/226<br /> * Artikel Ir. Budi Setiaji di Kedaulatan Rakyat @ http://222.124.164.132/web/detail.php?sid=174451&actmenu=39<br /><br />Quote:<br />Originally Posted by Suzaku Musha View Post<br />sudah tak beredar mas di toko2 buku kaya gitu, saya dapatnya di toko buku bekas dan kuno di Solo.<br /><br />1. Kempalan serat-serat (Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono), cetakan asli thn.1992<br /><br />2. Ilmu dan laku, fotokopian thn.88<br /><br />3. Ilmu kantong kosong, ilmu kantong bolong, ilmu sunji, fotokopian th 66<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48x_5MwVDI/AAAAAAAABKA/3Ig8bbcv7tI/s1600-h/IMG-2086.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/S48x_5MwVDI/AAAAAAAABKA/3Ig8bbcv7tI/s320/IMG-2086.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444625448270058546" /></a><br /><br />( > ^ ^)> DOWNLOAD PDF <(^ ^ < )<br /><br />http://rapidshare.com/files/168155206/KaryaRMPSosrokartono.pdf<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">" Ikhlas marang apa sing wis kelakon. Trimah apa kang dilakoni. Pasrah marang apa kang bakal ana. "<br /><br />" Ikhlas terhadap apa yang telah dijalani. Menerima apa yang sedang dialami. Pasrah terhadap apa yang akan dihadapi. "</span><br /><br /><br />Saya senang terhadap ajaran beliau, saya pernah ziarah makam beliau di sidomukti kudus dan di makam beliau ada yang jual buku-buku karangan beliau ....... Kala gak salah ada tokoh nasional yang menaungi yayasan khusus untuk mengenang jasa beliau serta melestarikan ajaran beliau sebagai salah satu kekayaan budaya jawa. Menurut salah seorang penggemar ndoro sosrokartono , beliau sangat berjasa bagi bangsa ini antara lain ide pancasila sebenarnya dari beliau....... , pemberitaan tentang keberadaan indonesia di mata internasional adalah berkat jasa beliau. Selain itu beliau juga menjadi ketua volkwagen pertama ( DPR/MPR ). Terakhir saya dengar bahwa gaji beliau selama bertahun-tahun menjadi wartawan belum diambil sampe sekarang dan yang unik adalah selain memiliki kemampuan 35 bahasa baik asing maupun daerah , ketika beliau melakukan pemberitaan selama jadi wartawan bukan dengan saksi mata melainkan dengan kemampuan spiritual beliau.......... Beliau juga terkenal jasanya dengan membantu/mengobat masyarakat berkeliling dengan berbekal nasi aking dan cabe kering. Selain itu rutin melakukan ritual pengusir hama ketika panen menjelang serta menyediakan pengobatan gratis dengan sarana air putih di bandung bahkan ada yang percaya semua area dimensi 100 meter dari beliau akan tawar semua hawa negatif baik yang kasat mata maupun yang tidak. Ada juga yang meyakini bahwa beliau adalah paranormal terhebat pada abad 2000.... Dan desas-desusnya sukarno adalah murid setianya dan pengangkatan kartini sebagai pahlawan adalah untuk menghargai jasa beliau karena beliau tidak mau diagung-agungkan. Mungkin melalui media ini kita generasi muda bisa belajar dari pendahulu kita meski sayangnya sangat sedikit media informasi tentang beliau.......... Beliau juga terkenal dengan caturmurti-nya bicara yang baik , berpikir yang baik , berbuat yang baik dan berperasaan yang baik... CMIIW... Tapi yang mengena di hati adalah ; "Sekti tanpo aji-aji , Ngluruk tanpa bala , menang tan ngasorake"......... Kebetulan saya memiliki guru spiritual yang juga murid beliau dan ternyata kata-kata tersebut bukan merupakan "sekedar petuah" melainkan kunci sebuah ilmu spiritual.... <br /><br /><br /><br />Perjalanan Hidup. Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono lahir pada tanggal 10 April 1877 dan wafat pada tanggal 8 Februari 1952. Berdasarkan sistem kalender Jawa Saka lahir pada tanggal dengan weton kelahiran Rabu Pahing. Tempat kelahirannya di kaki G. Muria - Jawa Tengah, tepatnya di suatu kota kecil bernama Mayong. Sejak masa kanak-kanak sudah tampak bakat supranaturalnya. RA. Kartini, seorang pahlawan nasional yang juga adik kandung dari Sosrokartono menyampaikan suatu cerita yang didengar dari ibunya. Waktu itu Sosrokartono masih berusia 3 tahun. Suatu hari Ibundanya, RMA. Ngasirah melihat Sosrokartono kecil sibuk mengumpulkan mainan-mainannya. Saat ditanya mengapa sibuk mengumpulkan mainan, Sosrokartono kecil menjawab : "Kita akan pindah ke Jepara". Beberapa bulan kemudian, keluarga Sosrokartono pindah dari Mayong-Rembang ke Jepara. Kepindahannya karena Ayahanda Sosrokartono, RM Adipati Aryo Samingoen Sosroningrat mendapat promosi jabatan menjadi Bupati di Jepara. Pada umur 20 tahun, Sosrokartono berangkat ke Eropa untuk belajar di High Technical School di Delft- Belanda. Kemudian pindah ke Universitas Leiden dan mengambil studi tentang Sastra dan Filsafat, namun tidak menyelesaikan disertasinya. Sosrokartono kemudian menjadi koresponden berita harian Amerika The New York Herald. Selama hampir 29 tahun lamanya beliau berkeliling Eropa, utamanya sebagai Jurnalis. Wartawan kawakan Rosihan Anwar menyatakan bahwa Sosrokartono adalah koresponden pertama Indonesia yang meliput Perang Dunia I ( 1914-1918 ). Gajinya saat itu, menurut Mohammad Hatta sebesar US$1 ,250 per bulan. Dengan gaji sebesar itu seseorang dapat hidup bak jutawan, namun Sosrokartono tetap hidup seperti orang biasa tidak bermewah-mewahan. Agar dapat bebas meliput di medan perang, dia diangkat sebagai tentara dan diberi pangkat Mayor oleh Sekutu, tetapi menolak untuk dipersenjatai. Masa setelah perang, Sosrokartono bekerja di Kedutaan Perancis di Hague. Selain itu juga bekerja sebagai penerjemah di Liga Bangsa-Bangsa yang baru dibentuk di Jenewa-Swiss. Kemampuan bahasa Sosrokartono luar biasa, sebagian orang menyatakan dia menguasai secara baik 26 bahasa, tetapi ada yang menyatakan 17 macam bahasa, termasuk bahasa: Latin, Yunani, Rusia, Sansekerta, Cina, Jepang, Arab, Perancis, Belanda, Jerman, Spanyol, Slavia dsb. Hatta pernah menyatakan, Sosrokartono juga lancar menguasai bahasa etnik Basque di Spanyol. Karena kemampuan bahasanya, Sosrokartono diundang dalam Konggres ke-25 Bahasa dan Sastra Belanda di tahun 1899, atas referensi dari mentornya di Universitas Leiden Prof.Dr. J.H.C. Kern. Konggres yang berlangsung di Gent-Belgia ini membahas mengenai keberadaan bahasa dan satra Belanda di berbagai negara. Sewaktu diberi kesempatan berbicara di depan Konggres, Sosrokartono berkata: "Dengan tegas saya menyatakan akan menjadi musuh bagi siapa saja yang akan mengubah kami (Hindia Timur) menjadi orang Eropa atau setengah negara Eropa dan juga siapa saja yang akan menginjak-injak adat dan tradisi kami yang suci dan adiluhung. Selama matahari dan bulan masih bersinar, saya akan menentangnya!" Setelah 29 tahun di Eropa sejak tahun 1897 , Sosrokartono kembali ke Indonesia pada tahun 1926 , kemudian mendirikan perpustakaan "Panti Sastra" di Tegal bersama dengan adik kandungnya RA. Kardinah. Sesuai dengan panggilan hatinya, Sosrokartono kemudian pindah ke Bandung dan mendirikan Darussalam di Jalan Pungkur 7. Selain itu dia juga memimpin Sekolah Menengah Taman Siswa di Bandung. Sesaat sampai di tanah kelahiran yang demikian dicintainya, Pemerintah Kolonial yang kuatir terhadap dirinya menuduh Sosrokartono sebagai komunis. "Itu merupakan fitnah yang sangat jahat yang belum pernah saya alami tetapi saya tidak memiliki kekuatan apapun untuk melawannya," tulis Sosrokartono dalam suratnya kepada Mrs. Abendanon. Selanjutnya dalam surat tersebut Sosrokartono menulis : "Tetapi untukmu, wanita yang terhormat (Mrs. Abendanon), saya bersumpah demi pusara Ayahku dan Kartini bahwa saya tidak pernah memeluk komunisme sebelumnya atau sekarang. Tak ada apapun yang saya inginkan kecuali hanya bekerja untuk mendidik bangsa kami seperti yang Kartini cita-citakan". Selama di Darussalam, tamu-tamu berbagai bangsa tak pernah berhenti datang dan pergi untuk berdiskusi berbagai hal, ataupun meminta pertolongan beliau untuk membantu menyembuhkan berbagai penyakit dan menyelesaikan bermacam masalah kehidupan. Sukarno juga sering terlihat datang untuk belajar bahasa selain berdiskusi mengenai berbagai hal. Kemampuan penyembuhannya diketahui dunia saat di Perancis diminta untuk menyembuhkan seorang anak kecil. Sosrokartono hanya meletakkan tangannya di dahi anak tesebut, dan berdoa; seketika anak kecil tersebut sembuh. Bahkan seorang Paramoedya Ananta Toer yang skeptis terhadap kemampuan spiritual perlu menuliskan dalam "Panggil Aku Kartini" (Hasta Mitra, 1997 ) : disekitar tahun 1930an seorang Dokter berkebangsaan Belanda di Rumah Sakit Umum Jakarta (CBZ, sekarang RSU Dr. Cipto Mangoenkusumo) menuliskan laporan yang berisi kesaksian bahwa Sosrokartono mampu menyembuhkan seorang wanita yang menurut ilmu kedokteran sudah tidak dapat ditolong lagi. Wanita itu sembuh setelah minum air putih pemberian Sosrokartono. Suryatie Ganie, cucu perempuan RA Sulastri Tjokrohadi Sosro yang merupakan saudara tua Sosrokartono menceritakan kemampuan Sosrokartono dalam membaca pikiran orang. Di tanah air selain sibuk menerima tamu yang datang ke Darussalam, Sosrokartono juga sering melakukan perjalanan. Beberapa yang tercatat dalam kumpulan suratnya, dia mendatangi ke berbagai daerah dan kerajaan di Sumatera. Disana melakukan pelayanan penyembuhan terhadap masyarakat dan anggota kerajaan. Banyak kisah menarik yang ditulis dalam surat- suratnya, salah satunya adalah bagaimana sibuknya Raja, Permaisuri dan anggota kerajaan lainnya di Tanah Sumatera tersebut melayani dirinya. Dengan maksud untuk menghormatinya, maka dimasakan sajian khusus ala Jawa oleh Permaisuri, namun dengan halus semua makanan yang enak-enak tersebut ditolak oleh Sosrokartono. Dia lebih memilih makan cabe tiap harinya, dan minum air putih. Seperti disaksikan banyak orang, Sosrokartono hampir setiap saat berpuasa, bila tidak dia hanya minum santan sedikit. Waktu istirahatnya sangat pendek, setiap saat selalu disibukkan oleh orang-orang yang minta tolong disembuhkan dan dipecahkan masalahnya. Dalam melayani, dia tidak pernah membedakan warna kulit, kebangsaan, agama dan kepercayaan. Dia juga dikenal sebagai penyayang binatang dan tumbuhan. Baginya dalam setiap makhluk hidup memiliki percikan Ke-Ilahian dari Tuhan Yang Maha Esa. Sumber : Serat2 RMP.Sosrokartono; <br /><br /><br /><br />Kaum bangsawan di Belanda menjulukinya Pangeran dari Tanah Jawa, DE Mooie Sos atau Sos yang ganteng. Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono, kakak R.A. Kartini, selama 29 tahun, sejak 1897, mengembara ke Eropa. Ia bergaul dengan kalangan intelektual dan bangsawan di sana. Mahasiswa Universitas Leiden itu kemudian menjadi wartawan perang Indonesia pertama pada Perang Dunia I. R.M. Sosrokartono lahir pada tanggal 10 April 1877 di Mayong. Beliau adalah anak ketiga dari delapan bersaudara putra pasangan Bupati Jepara, R.M. Aryo Sosroningrat dengan Mas Ajeng Ngasirah. Ia kakak kandung R.A. Kartini yang paling disayangi. Setelah menamatkan Hogere Burger School (setingkat SMA) di Semarang. Menurut artikel Koentjoro Purbopranoto berjudul Ter nagedachtenis van Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono (Pemikiran-pemikiran Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono) yang dimuat dalam majalah Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde vol. 129 (1973), awalnya ia masuk sekolah teknik di Delft. Tidak betah, ia pindah ke fakultas sastra dan filsafat di Leiden. Untuk masuk ke Leiden ia harus menempuh ujian negara di bidang bahasa Latin dan Yunani. Ketika dirinya pindah ke Belanda untuk meneruskan kuliah, RA Kartini adalah orang yang paling kehilangan. Selama di Belanda, RA Kartini selalu menceritakan dan meminta pendapat dari kakaknya tersebut. DE Mooie Sos atau Sos yang ganteng. Begitulah Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono dipanggil semasa tinggal di Eropa selama 29 tahun. Panggilan lain: De Javanese Prins atau Pangeran dari Tanah Jawa. Kecakapan Sosrokartono dalam berbahasa dan bergaul adalah faktor utama yang menyebabkan orang-orang asing cepat berteman dengannya. Seniman Belanda Van Eeden dalam buku hariannya 4 Mei 1915 menulis perihal kekagumannya pada Sosrokartono. "Ia orang Jawa yang simpatik, sangat terpelajar. Ia sama sekali tidak tertutup atau pendiam. Saya lebih merasakannya sebagai bangsa saya sendiri daripada gerombolan Eropa yang berkeluyuran di Scheveningen itu," tulis Van Eeden seperti dikutip Elisabeth Keesing dalam Betapa Besar Pun Sebuah Sangkar: Hidup, Suratan dan Karya Kartini terbitan PT Djambatan perwakilan KITLV pada 1996. Pembimbing utama Kartono di Leiden adalah Profesor Dr Johan Hendrik Kern, seorang Orientalis. Ia segera menjadi murid kesayangan Kern. Meski baru pindah kampus, Kern sudah menyuruhnya bicara di Kongres Sastra Belanda di Gent, Belgia, pada September 1899. Kartono membawakan pidato Het Nederlandsch in Indie (Bahasa Belanda di Hindia Belanda). Seruan patriotik agar Belanda mengajarkan bahasanya lebih luas bagi rakyat Jawa itu dimuat di majalah bulanan Neerlandia sebulan kemudian. Nama lain seperti Van Vollenhoven, guru besar ilmu hukum di Leiden dan ahli Sanskerta Speyer, serta guru besar De Groot dan Niewenhuis ikut mengajarnya, selain juga ahli bahasa Arab dan agama Islam, Snouck Hurgronje. Saat menerima gelar doctorandus dalam bidang sastra dan bahasa, Keesing menyebutkan Kartono memakai topi bulat dan kerah tinggi, laiknya politisi pada masa itu. Semua literatur tentang Kartono menyinggung kemampuannya yang luar biasa dalam bidang bahasa. Siti Soemandari dalam Biografi Kartini menyebut kemampuan bahasa Kartono mencapai 17 bahasa asing. Buku Drs. RMP Sosrokartono, Sebuah Biografi karya Solichin Salam (terbitan Yayasan Pendidikan Sosrokartono, 1979) menambah sepuluh bahasa Tanah Air ke jumlah itu. "Kemampuan inilah yang membantu perjalanan hidupnya di Eropa di kemudian hari," Koentjoro menulis. Studinya belum lagi selesai di Belanda ketika Kartono merantau ke Belgia, Jerman, Prancis, Swiss, dan Austria sebagai koresponden harian Amerika The New York Herald selama Perang Dunia I (1914-1918). Buku Mono Perjuangan Jiwa Besar Kaliber Internasional, Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono karangan Ki Sumidi Adisasmita terbitan 1972 menyebut, Kartono menjadi satu-satunya mahasiswa yang lulus tes koran itu. Ia dites menerjemahkan artikel panjang menjadi satu kolom berisi 27 kata dalam bahasa Inggris, Prancis, dan Rusia. The New York Herald adalah koran yang diterbitkan di New York dan bertahan hidup dari 1835 sampai 1924. Pada Perang Dunia I, koran ini juga terbit dalam edisi Eropa. Surat kabar ini kemudian melakukan merger dengan The New York Tribune, menjadi The New York Herald Tribune yang terbit sampai hari ini. Ketika bertugas dalam medan perang, Kartono diberi pangkat mayor oleh pihak Sekutu. Tapi ia menolak membawa senjata. "Saya tidak akan menyerang orang, karena itu saya pun tak akan diserang. Jadi apa perlunya membawa senjata?" kata Kartono, seperti dikutip dalam naskah Drs. RMP Sosrokartono, Sarjono-Satrya Pinandita karya Amin Singgih. Salah satu keberhasilan Kartono sebagai wartawan perang adalah ketika ia memuat hasil perundingan antara Jerman yang kalah perang dan Prancis yang menang perang. Perundingan antara Stresman yang mewakili Jerman dan Foch yang mewakili Prancis itu berlangsung secara rahasia di sebuah gerbong kereta api di hutan Campienne, Prancis, dan dijaga sangat ketat. Nama penulis berita itu tak disebutkan, selain kode tiga bintang, kode samaran Kartono. Kemampuan bahasa Kartono juga mengantarnya menjadi juru bahasa tunggal di Volken Bond atau Liga Bangsa-Bangsa, tak lama setelah Perang Dunia I usai. Tapi Amin Singgih mengutip kegeraman Kartono terhadap politik organisasi cikal bakal PBB itu, yang ia nilai tak netral. Dia meninggalkan Jenewa, tempat Volken Bond bermarkas, dan pindah ke Prancis untuk menjadi mahasiswa pendengar di Universitas Sorbonne, jurusan psikometri dan psikoteknik. Kartono tertarik mempelajari ilmu kejiwaan setelah mendapat rekomendasi dari seorang dokter di Jenewa. Kebetulan dokter itu melihat Kartono menyembuhkan seorang anak kerabatnya, berusia 12 tahun, yang tak sadarkan diri setelah terserang demam tinggi. Sang dokter kemudian menganjurkannya sekolah di Sorbonne. Tapi Kartono tak lama kuliah di Sorbonne. Pada 1921, pemerintah Prancis mengangkatnya sebagai pegawai tinggi dengan jabatan atase Kedutaan Besar Prancis di Den Haag. Kartono membawa pulang surat pengangkatannya dan menunjukkannya kepada Ki Sumidi pada 1931. Di periode 1920-an inilah Ki Sumidi menyebut Kartono telah menerima banyak uang hingga puluhan ribu poundsterling. Uang itu tersimpan di bank Swiss. "Hingga sekarang tak ada yang mengurus," Ki Sumidi menulis. Cerita ini paralel dengan cerita Dahlan Abdullah kepada Mohammad Hatta. Wakil presiden pertama RI itu dalam buku Memoir terbitan Tirta Mas Indonesia pada 1979 menulis, menurut Dahlan, pendapatan Sosrokartono pada masa itu mencapai US$ 1.250 per bulan. "Dengan gaji sebanyak itu, ia dapat hidup sebagai miliuner di Wina," tulis Hatta. Namun berita tentang kekayaan di bank Swiss ini bertolak belakang dengan perkara utang Kartono yang disinggung Keesing. Sumber beritanya adalah pasangan Abendanon. Dan dari mereka pula berita tentang utang-utang Kartono sampai ke Jepara (baca: Hurgronje dan Sang Kakak yang Malang). Hatta mengetahui cerita Kartono dalam perjalanannya bersama Dahlan ke Wina pada Januari 1922. Menurut Dahlan, ada seorang Indonesia yang sudah lama tinggal di Wina, yakni kakak almarhum Raden Ajeng Kartini. Dahlan mengatakan, "Sosrokartono sangat pintar dan tergolong manusia jenial." Dalam Memoir Hatta yang memuat penuturan Dahlan juga menyebut bahwa Sosrokartono tak pernah ikut serta dalam Indische Vereeniging, cikal bakal Perhimpunan Indonesia. Dahlan pun tak merasa perlu mengajak Hatta mengunjungi seniornya itu di Wina. Padahal di semua literatur tentang Sosrokartono, kakak Kartini itu disebut ikut mendirikan Indische Vereeniging di Belanda pada awal abad ke-20 itu. Solichin Salam mengutip dokumen pendirian Indische pada 1908berubah nama menjadi Indonesische Vereeniging (1922) dan Perhimpunan Indonesia (1925)yang membubuhkan nama Sosrokartono bersama Hussein Djajadiningrat, Noto Soeroto, Notodiningrat, dan Soemitro Kolopaking di antaranya. Buku tipis Drs. RMP Sosrokartono, Menumbuhkan Sikap Patriotisme, Membangun Karakter Bangsa karya Aksan (terbitan Grasindo, 2005) mengutip saat Indonesische mengirim buku Sumbangsih kepada Boedi Oetomo, nama Sosrokartono terdapat di redaksi penyusun buku. Namanya juga tercantum dalam daftar dewan redaksi harian Bintang Timoer yang terbit di Belanda pada 1903, pimpinan Drs. Abdoel Rivai. Perjalanan Sosro berakhir di Southampton, Inggris, saat ia menulis surat perpisahan kepada pasangan Abendanon dari kapal Grotius, 5 Juli 1925. Surat ini beserta dua surat lainnya dimuat di Surat-surat Adik R.A. Kartini terbitan Djambatan 2005. Dalam surat itu, De Mooie Sos yang tengah berada dalam perjalanan pulang ke Jawa memohon maaf tak sempat berpamitan kepada pasangan Abendanon yang tinggal di Amsterdam. Di Jawa, kata Kartono, "Saya bertekad memperbaiki dan menyelamatkan kehidupan saya. Ada keinginan dan kemauan, dan di atas itu ambisi, untuk menyumbangkan pengalaman-pengalaman yang telah saya dapat kepada bangsa saya." Pulang ke Indonesia pada 1926, ia dituduh komunis oleh pemerintah jajahan. Sosrokartono kemudian memilih mendirikan perpustakaan ?Panti Sastra? di Tegal bersama sang adik, R.A. Kardinah. Kemudian ia menetap di Bandung, mendirikan perpustakaan Dar-es-salam di Jalan Pungkur 7. Ia juga diangkat sebagai Kepala Sekolah Nationale Middelbare School (Sekolah Menengah Nasional) oleh para aktivis Taman Siswa. Di perpustakaan itulah Sosrokartono kerap didatangi Soekarno, yang ingin belajar bahasa padanya. Ia memiliki bakat supernatural sejak usia 3 tahun. Adik-adik Kartini yang mendengar kisah sang ibu menceritakan, pada suatu hari Sosrokartono mengumpulkan benda-benda mainannya. Waktu ditanya mengapa ia mengumpulkan mainannya, ia menjawab, ?Mau pindah ke Jepara.? Beberapa bulan kemudian keluarga Sosroningrat pindah dari Mayong Rembang ke Jepara lantaran ayah Sosrokartono itu diangkat dari jabatan Wedana Mayong menjadi Bupati Jepara. Ketika masih di Prancis, Sosrokartono pernah dimintai tolong menyembuhkan seorang anak yang sakit. Sosrokartono hanya meletakkan tangan di dahi si anak dan membaca doa, sang anak sembuh. Dalam Panggil Aku Kartini Saja (Hasta Mitra, Jakarta, 1997), Pramoedya Ananta Toer menuliskan, pada 1930-an seorang dokter Belanda di RSUP (CBZ) Jakarta menulis laporan dalam salah satu koran tentang pengalamannya menyaksikan Sosrokartono menyembuhkan wanita melahirkan yang menurut para dokter tak tertolong lagi. Wanita itu sembuh setelah minum air putih yang diberikan Sosrokartono. Kemampuan menyembuhkan kemudian semakin berkembang ketika Sosrokartono tinggal di Bandung. Ia juga pernah diundang Sultan Langkat untuk mengobati anggota keluarga kerajaan yang sakit. Sisi spiritual Sosrokartono, termasuk memberikan ajaran-ajaran hidup dalam bahasa Jawa, di kemudian hari melahirkan para ?pengikut?. Paguyuban Sosrokartanan, komunitas pencinta Sosrokartono, kini telah ada di empat kota: Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Semarang, dan Surabaya. Pada setiap pengobatan, Kartono biasanya memberikan air putih dan secarik kertas bertulisan huruf Alif (singkatan dari Allah) kepada pasien. Kartini Pudjiarto masih menyimpan lukisan sederhana berbingkai kayu yang berisi goresan Alif di kertas putih pemberian Eyang Sosro. "Katanya buat jaga-jaga," ujar Kartini. Ada pula secarik kertas putih yang berisi nasihat Eyang Sosro bertulisan "Sugih tanpa banda / Digdaya tanpa aji / Nglurug tanpa bala / Menang tanpa ngasorake" (Kaya tanpa harta/ Sakti tanpa azimat/ Menyerbu tanpa pasukan/ Menang tanpa merendahkan yang dikalahkan) yang ditempel dengan selotip di dinding. Ia juga menyimpan tongkat Kartono, yang merupakan jatah warisan keluarga yang dibagi-bagi setelah sang eyang meninggal. Air putih, huruf Alif, nasihat-nasihat hidup yang ia tulis dalam bahasa Jawa, dan laku berpuasa berhari-hari, adalah bagian dari "wajah mistik" Sosrokartono, orang Indonesia pertama yang terjun ke medan peperangan di Perang Dunia I di Eropa sebagai wartawan. Ucapan-ucapan Sosrokartono<br />• Saya minta dengan sangat dan bersungguh-sungguh, hendaklah kepada insulinde ditumpahkan cinta kasih, cinta kasih yang wajib diberikan kepadanya sebagai hak miliknya. Hai, kamu bangsa penjajah, pada tangan kirimu kamu menggenggam lambang utusan/ajaran untuk damai di antara sesama manusia, dengan tangan kananmu kamu memegang tongkat lambang peradaban, maka dari itu hidupkanlah rasa persaudaraan antara bangsamu dan bangsa yang engkau jajah!? - Pidato Sosrokartono dalam Kongres ke-25 Bahasa dan Sastra Belanda di Gent, Belgia, 29 Agustus 1899.<br />• Masih saja ada orang yang, meski telah memiliki masa dinas di Hindia selama bertahun-tahun, tidak mengambil pelajaran dari situ dan beranggapan dapat memperlakukan tiap orang pribumi sebagai kuli?. Birokrat-birokrat dan otokrat-otokrat yang telah ?jatuh ke atas? (orang tak berbobot yang naik menduduki jabatan tinggi) tidak kami butuhkan di Hindia. - Surat Sosrokartono kepada Tuan dan Nyonya Abendanon, 14 Juli 1925.<br />• Nun di suatu masa nanti, Terusan Suez bakal bermandikan darah, tapi yang berkobar dahsyat di Benua Asia dan Afrika. Akhirnya kedua benua akan berpaut menyatu-padu di kota ini.?--Ucapan Sosrokartono pada usia 40 tahun dalam Wajah Bandung Tempo Doeloe karangan Haryoto Kunto.<br />• Sampaikan kepada Bung Karno, Dik, bahwa perjuangan kemerdekaan ini memerlukan waktu yang lama, akan banyak berjatuhan korban, diiringi oleh kerusuhan-kerusuhan dan kekacauan, tetapi akhirnya Indonesia merdeka juga. Saya akan membantu, tetapi Bung Karno harus eling? - Ucapan Sosrokartono kepada Dr R. Suharto, dokter pribadi Bung Karno, suatu malam menjelang kemerdekaan Indonesia, dalam Dr R. Suharto Saksi Sejarah terbitan PT. Gunung Agung, Jakarta.<br />• Sugih tanpa banda, Digdaya tanpa aji, Nglurug tanpa bala, Menang tanpa ngasorake? (Kaya tanpa harta, Sakti tanpa azimat, Menyerbu tanpa pasukan, Menang tanpa merendahkan yang dikalahkan) <br /><br /><br />Begawan Ciptoning, itulah nama yang tepat bagi eyang sosro kartono. Beliau sudah banyak mengajarkan kepada kita tentang bahayanya permainan pikiran. Bukankah hidup ini hanya sekedar permainan pikiran? pikiran akan melahirkan keinginan, keinginan adalah sebab dan semua sebab pasti akan berakibat. SUDAMALA KARMAPALA WIBHANGGA, "AKU ADALAH PEWARIS KARMA KU, TERLAHIR DAN TERHUBUNG DENGAN KARMA KU. SUKA DUKA DAN SEGENAP RASA YANG ADA DALAM HIDUP KU ADALAH BUAH HASIL ATAS KARMA KU. KARMAKU TIDAK KUBELI DARI SIAPAPUN MELAINKAN KUWARISI DARI SIKAP DAN PERBUATAN KU"<br /><br />Sejatine tan ono opo-opo, sabab sing ono iku sejatine dudu.<br />Urip pindo ilining banyu. Manjing manuksma jroning suwung, wruh waspodo mring mubah mosiking bawono. Waskito, wibowo, wicaksono.<br />Om namo hyang maha adi budhaya.<br /><br />"sejatinya semua adalah kosong, karena semua itu hanya ilusi.<br />Hidup laksana air yang mengalir. Bersatulah dalam keheningan, mewaspadai segenap perubahan yang terjadi di alam. sadar, wibawa, bijaksana. Om namo hyang maha adi budhaya."<br /><br /><br />Kepustakaan<br /><br /> * Indy G. Hakim, Tafsir Surat-surat & Mutiara-mutiara Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, (Pustaka Kaona, April 2008)<br /> * Pa' Roesno, Karena Panggilan Ibu Sejati : Riwayat Hidup dari Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, (Djakarta : 1954)<br /> * Panitya Buku Riwayat Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, Kempalan Serat-serat : Drs. Sosrokartono, (Surabaya : Panitya Buku Riwayat Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono, 1992)<br /> * Serat Saking Medan, 12 Mei 1931 dalam Suxmantojo, Kempalan Serat-serat Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono<br /> * Serat Saking Binjei, 5 Juli 1931<br /> * Serat Saking Binjei, 9 Juli 1931<br /> * Serat Saking Tanjung Pura (Langkat), 26 Oct. 1931<br /> * Serat Saking Tanjung Pura, 11 Oct. 1931<br /> * Djoko Pring, "Aji Pring", (Binjei, 12 Nov. 1931)<br /> * Djoko Pring, Omong Kosong, (Binjei, 12 Nov. 1931)<br /> * R. Mohammad Ali, Ilmu Kantong Bolong, Ilmu Kantong Kosong, Ilmu Sunji Drs. R.M.P. Sosrokartono<br /> * Djoko Pring, Lampah lan Maksudipun, (Binjei 12 Nov. 1931)<br /> * Blog Arienda @ http://arienda.livejournal.com/<br /> * Blog Inggra @ http://parandaru.multiply.com/journal/item/1/Coba_direnungkan_saja<br /> * Blog Wib @ http://wib711.multiply.com/photos/album/226<br /> * Artikel Ir. Budi Setiaji di Kedaulatan Rakyat @ http://222.124.164.132/web/detail.php?sid=174451&actmenu=39STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-27559547799440152452009-12-21T20:22:00.008+07:002009-12-21T20:36:57.962+07:00Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama - Kyokushin Karate Founder<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95u6DrVFI/AAAAAAAABJ4/jnljwDnr4mA/s1600-h/oyamatopright.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 50px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95u6DrVFI/AAAAAAAABJ4/jnljwDnr4mA/s320/oyamatopright.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417682723515618386" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">An early start</span><br /><br /> Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama was born Yong I-Choi on the 27th of July, 1923, in a village not far from Gunsan in Southern Korea. At a relatively young age he was sent to Manchuria, in Southern China, to live on his sister's farm. At the age of nine, he started studying the Southern Chinese form of Kempo called Eighteen hands from a Mr. Yi who was at the time working on the farm. When Oyama returned to Korea at the the age of 12, he continued his training in Korean Kempo.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95icRRqPI/AAAAAAAABJw/XlsdJF8qGpE/s1600-h/sosai_masutatsu_oyama.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 247px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95icRRqPI/AAAAAAAABJw/XlsdJF8qGpE/s320/sosai_masutatsu_oyama.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417682509361162482" /></a><br /> In 1938, at the age of 15, he travelled to Japan to train as an aviator, to be like his hero of the time, Korea's first fighter pilot. Survival on his own at that age proved to be more difficult than he thought, especially as a Korean in Japan, and the aviator training fell by the wayside.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Gichin Funakoshi</span><br /><br /> He did however continue martial arts training, by participating in judo and boxing, and one day he noticed some students training in Okinawan Karate. This interested him very much and he went to train at the dojo of Gichin Funakoshi at Takushoku University, where he learned what is today known as CyberDojo home pages.<br /><br /> His training progress was such that by the age of seventeen he was already a 2nd dan, and by the time he entered the Japanese Imperial Army at 20, he was a fourth dan. At this point he also took a serious interest in judo, and his progress there was no less amazing. By the time he had quit training in Judo.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">So Nei Chu</span><br /><br /> The defeat of Japan and the subsequent indignity of Occupation almost proved to be too much for Mas Oyama, who nearly despaired. Fortunately for all of us, So Nei Chu came into his life at that time. Master So, another Korean (from Oyama's own province) living in Japan, was one of the highest authorities on Goju Ryu in Japan at the time. He was renowned for both his physical and spiritual strength. It was he who encouraged Mas Oyama to dedicate his life to the Martial Way. It was he too who suggested that Oyama should retreat away from the rest of the world for 3 years while training his mind and body.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95RL088KI/AAAAAAAABJo/kErDxTx2Jvk/s1600-h/soneichu1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 149px; height: 170px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95RL088KI/AAAAAAAABJo/kErDxTx2Jvk/s320/soneichu1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417682212889620642" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mountain Training</span><br /><br /> When he was 23 years old, Mas Oyama met Eiji Yoshikawa, the author of the novel Musashi, which was based on the life and exploits of Japan's most famous Samurai. Both the novel and the author helped to teach Mas Oyama about the Samurai Bushido code and what it meant. That same year, Oyama went to Mt. Minobu in the Chiba Prefecture, where Musashi had developed his Nito-Ryu style of swordfighting. Oyama thought that this would be an appropriate place to commence the rigours of training he had planned for himself. Among the things he took with him was a copy of Yoshikawa's book. A student named Yashiro also came with him.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95HBtvWCI/AAAAAAAABJg/VB5mzLQav5w/s1600-h/OyamaMakiwara5.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 219px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy95HBtvWCI/AAAAAAAABJg/VB5mzLQav5w/s320/OyamaMakiwara5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417682038376323106" /></a><br /> The relative solitude was strongly felt, and after 6 months, Yashiro secretly fled during the night. It became even harder for Oyama, who wanted more than ever to return to civilisation. So Nei Chu wrote to him that he should shave off an eyebrow in order to get rid of the urge. Surely he wouldn't want anyone to see him that way! This and other more moving words convinced Oyama to continue, and he resolved to become the most powerful karate-ka in Japan.<br /><br /> Soon however, his sponsor informed him that he was no longer able to support him and so, after fourteen months, he had to end his solitude.<br /><br /> A few months later, in 1947, Mas Oyama won the karate section of the first Japanese National Martial Arts Championships after WWII. However, he still felt empty for not having completed the three years of solitude. He then decided to dedicate his life completely to karate-do. So he started again, this time on Mt. Kiyozumi, also in Chiba Prefecture. This site he chose for its spiritually uplifting environment.<br /><br /> This time his training was fanatical — 12 hours a day every day with no rest days, standing under (cold) buffeting waterfalls, breaking river stones with his hands, using trees as makiwara, jumping over rapidly growing flax plants hundreds of times each day. Each day also included a period of study of the ancients classics on the Martial arts, Zen, and philosophy.<br /><br /> After eighteen months he came down fully confident of himself, and able to take control of his life. Never again would he be so heavily influenced by his society around him. (Though it is probably safe to say that his circumstances were also probably never again as traumatic!)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bulls, Challengers, and the Godhand</span><br /><br /> In 1950, Sosai (the founder) Mas Oyama started testing (and demonstrating) his power by fighting bulls. In all, he fought 52 bulls, three of which were killed instantly, and 49 had their horns taken off with knife hand blows. That it is not to say that it was all that easy for him. Oyama was fond of remembering that his first attempt just resulted in an angry bull. In 1957, at the age of 34, he was nearly killed in Mexico when a bull got some of his own back and gored him. Oyama somehow managed to pull the bull off and break off his horn. He was bedridden for 6 months while he recoverd from the usually fatal wound. Today of course, the animal rights groups would have something to say about these demonstrations, despite the fact that the animals were already all destined for slaughter.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy949DS5aTI/AAAAAAAABJY/jrevHOBfkOE/s1600-h/OyamaGogen.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 209px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy949DS5aTI/AAAAAAAABJY/jrevHOBfkOE/s320/OyamaGogen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417681867001915698" /></a><br /><br /> In 1952, he travelled the United States for a year, demonstrating his karate live and on national televison. During subsequent years, he took on all challengers, resulting in fights with 270 different people. The vast majority of these were defeated with one punch! A fight never lasted more than three minutes, and most rarely lasted more than a few seconds. His fighting principle was simple — if he got through to you, that was it.<br /><br /> If he hit you, you broke. If you blocked a rib punch, you arm was broken or dislocated. If you didn't block, your rib was broken. He became known as the Godhand, a living manifestation of the Japanese warriors' maxim Ichi geki, Hissatsu or "One strike, certain death". To him, this was the true aim of technique in karate. The fancy footwork and intricate techniques were secondary (though he was also known for the power of his head kicks).<br /><br /> It was during one of his visits to the United States that Mas Oyama met Jacques Sandulescu, a big (190 cm and 190 kg of muscle) Romanian who had been taken prisoner by the Red Army at the age of 16, and sent to the coal mines as a slave labourer for two years. They quickly became friends and remained so for the rest of Oyama's life, and Jacques still trains and acts as advisor to the IKO(1) to this day. You can read a short biography of his on this site or read his autobiography at http://donbas.com.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Oyama Dojo</span><br /><br /> In 1953, Mas Oyama opened his first "Dojo", a grass lot in Mejiro in Tokyo. In 1956, the first real Dojo was opened in a former ballet studio behind Rikkyo University, 500 meters from the location of the current Japanese honbu dojo (headquarters). By 1957 there were 700 members, despite the high drop-out rate due to the harshness of training.<br /><br /> Practitioners of other styles came to train here too, for the jis-sen kumite (full contact fighting). One of the original instructors, Kenji Kato, has said that they would observe those from other styles, and adopt any techniques that "would be good in a real fight". This was how Mas Oyama's karate evolved. He took techniques from all martial arts, and did not restrict himself to karate alone.<br /><br /> The Oyama Dojo members took their kumite seriously, seeing it primarily as a fighting art, so they expected to hit and to be hit. With few restrictions, attacking the head was common, usually with the palm heel or towel-wrapped knuckles. Grabs, throws, and groin attacks were also common. Kumite rounds would continue till one person loudly conceded defeat. Injuries occurred on a daily basis and the drop out rate was high (over 90%). They had no official do-gi and wore whatever they had.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bobby Lowe</span><br /><br /> In 1952, Mas Oyama gave a demonstration in Hawaii. A young Bobby Lowe saw him and was stunned by the power Oyama demonstrated. It was not as though Bobby Lowe was inexperienced in martial arts. Though still quite young, his achievements to date were not much less than those of Mas Oyama himself. His father had been a Kung Fu instructor, and he had participated in any fighting art he could find. By the age of 23, he was yondan in judo, nidan in kempo, shodan in aikido, and a highly regarded welterweight boxer.<br /><br /> It was not long before Bobby Lowe became the first Kyokushin uchi deshi or "live-in student" of Mas Oyama's. He trained daily with Mas Oyama for one and a half years. Eventually, an uchi deshi's time became "1000 days for the beginning". These uchi deshi became known as Wakajishi, or the "Young Lions" of Mas Oyama and only a few of the hundreds of applicants were chosen each year for the privilege of training full time under the Master.<br /><br /> In 1957, Bobby Lowe returned to Hawaii to open the first School of Oyama outside Japan.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The beginning of Kyokushin</span><br /><br /> The current World Headquarters were officially opened in June 1964, where the name Kyokushin, meaning "Ultimate truth" was adopted. In the same year the International Karate Organization (IKO) was established. From then, Kyokushin continued to spread to more than 120 countries, and registered members exceed 10 million making it one of the largest martial arts organisations in the world. Among the the better known Kyokushin yudansha (black belts) are Sean Connery (Honorary shodan), Dolph Lundgren (sandan, former Australian heavyweight champion), and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa (Honorary hachidan), and most recently (June 1988), the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard (Honorary godan) who was awarded the grade at the official opening of the Sydney Kyokushin dojo.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The End?</span><br /><br /> Sadly, Sosai Mas Oyama died, of Akiyoshi Matsui in charge of the organisation. This has had many political and economic ramifications throughout the Kyokushin world, which are still being resolved. In the end, the result may well be a splintering of Kyokushin, much like Shotokan now appears to have done, with each group claiming to be the one-and-only true heir of Mas Oyama's Kyokushin, either spiritually or even financially. It has even been suggested, not entirely in jest, by one Kyokushin writer in Australia (Harry Rogers) that maybe Oyama created the turmoil on purpose, because he didn't want Kyokushin to survive without him! It is however reasonably certain that all Kyokushin groups, regardless of their ultimate allegiance, will still maintain the standards set by Mas Oyama.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy94yAG4K5I/AAAAAAAABJQ/M8rfr4YMxhg/s1600-h/OyamaAged-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 167px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy94yAG4K5I/AAAAAAAABJQ/M8rfr4YMxhg/s320/OyamaAged-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417681677167635346" /></a><br /><br /><br /> Maybe a Kyokushin diaspora will be a good thing, since in all good families, some of the children eventually do leave home and start their own families. Some of the splinter groups may remain faithful to the Kyokushin principles, such as Hanshi Steve Arneil in Great Britain did in 1991. Many others, such as Shigeru Oyama in the U.S., have taken it further by developing their own style based on Kyokushin.<br /><br />Today, the IKO, headed by Kancho Shokei Matsui, is the largest karate organization in the world with over twelve million members in 135 countries<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mas Oyama's Brief History</span><br /><br />July 27th, 1923, born in Southern Korea.<br /><br /> Learns Chinese Fist of Chakuriki in the land of Manchuria. <br /> He was 9 years old.<br /><br />1938, becomes student under Master Gichin Funakoshi of Shotokan <br /> Karate.<br /><br />1946, enters the mountain for training.<br /><br />1947, becomes the champion of All Japan Karate-do Tournament.<br /><br />He studies Goju-ryu Karate extensively under Master Gogen Yamaguchi, and becomes Vice Chairman in the organization, holding 9th Dan degree.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy94hi4bhZI/AAAAAAAABJI/U4d9hn1jQ-U/s1600-h/OyamaYouth2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 166px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sy94hi4bhZI/AAAAAAAABJI/U4d9hn1jQ-U/s320/OyamaYouth2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417681394444502418" /></a><br /><br />1948, enters the mountain alone for 18 months of training.<br /><br />1950, starts training against the live bulls, living beside the cattle <br /> butchery. Out of 47 bulls, 4 killed in instant.<br /><br />1952, visits America for Karate instructions and demonstrations in 32 <br /> locations. Has 7 times of real matches.<br /><br />1953, visits America, he fights against a bull in Chicago, where he <br /> breaks its horn by Shuto strike (knife hand).<br /><br />1955, goes all around South America and Europe with Bepford Davy, <br /> President of Chrysler Corp. He fights numerous mix matches.<br /><br />1956, starts small Oyama Dojo at an old ballet studio.<br /><br />1957, fights against a bull in Mexico City.<br /><br />1958 January, publishes "What is Karate" which becomes a best seller of 500,000 <br /> copies.<br /><br /> September, invited by FBI in Washington D.C. for Karate <br /> instructions and demonstrations.<br /><br /> October, invited by West Point Military Academy for Karate <br /> instructions and demonstrations.<br /><br />1964, Thai Boxing challenges Karate-do, where Oyama Dojo alone accepts. <br /> 3 matches 2 wins.<br /><br />1971, though a popular comic book series "Karate Baka Ichidai," and the <br /> movie "World's Strongest Karate" in 1975, his name and of <br /> Kyokushin become known all over Japan.<br /><br />1975, helds Kyokushin Kai's First World Karate-do Open Tournament.<br /><br />April 26, 1994. Dies of lung cancer at the age of 70.<br /><br /> <br />In addition to described above, he visits elsewhere researching and fighing real matches against other Martial Arts of the world. Kyokushin as the largest Karate organization, he has students numbered 12,000,000 in 140 nations worldwide. He is also noted for starting the Full-Contact, Bare-Knuckle tournament system. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Source : http://www.masutatsuoyama.com/masoyama.htm</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-79402889592324696042009-12-03T21:02:00.007+07:002009-12-03T21:21:22.606+07:00The 47 Ronin: A Japanese Samurai Story<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfJDaLmahI/AAAAAAAABJA/pLjpqrxQ4os/s1600-h/47_ronin_ttile.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfJDaLmahI/AAAAAAAABJA/pLjpqrxQ4os/s320/47_ronin_ttile.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411014537713707538" /></a> Forty-six warriors stealthily crept up to the mansion and scaled the walls. A drum sounded in the night, "boom, boom-boom." The ronin launched their attack.<br /><br />The tale of the 47 Ronin is one of the most famous in Japanese history - and it is a true story.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Background to the Story of the 47 Ronin:</span><br /><br />During the Tokugawa era in Japanese history, the country was ruled by the shogun, or highest military official, in the name of the emperor. Under him were a number of regional lords, the daimyo, each of whom employed a contingent of samurai warriors.<br /><br />All of these military elites were expected to follow the code of bushido - the "way of the warrior." Among the demands of bushido were loyalty to one's master, and fearlessness in the face of death.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The 47 Ronin, or the Faithful Retainers:</span><br /><br />In 1701, the emperor Higashiyama sent imperial envoys from his seat at Kyoto to the shogun's court at Edo (Tokyo). A high shogunate official, Kira Yoshinaka, served as master of ceremonies for the visit. Two young daimyo, Asano Naganori of Ako and Kamei Sama of Tsumano, were in the capital performing their alternate attendance duties, so the shogunate gave them the task of looking after the emperor's envoys.<br /><br />Kira was assigned to train the daimyo in court etiquette. Asano and Kamei offered gifts to Kira, but the official considered them totally inadequate and was furious. He began to treat the two daimyo with contempt.<br /><br />Kamei was so angry about the humiliating treatment he wanted to kill Kira, but Asano preached patience. Fearful for their lord, Kamei's retainers secretly paid Kira a large sum of money, and the official began to treat Kamei better. He continued to torment Asano, however, until the young daimyo could not endure it.<br /><br />When Kira called Asano a "country bumpkin without manners" in the main hall, Asano drew his sword and attacked the official. Kira suffered only a shallow wound to his head, but shogunate law strictly forbade anyone from drawing a sword within Edo castle. The 34-year old Asano was ordered to commit seppuku.<br /><br />After Asano's death, the shogunate confiscated his domain, leaving his family impoverished and his samurai reduced to the status of ronin.<br /><br />Ordinarily, samurai were expected to follow their master into death rather than facing the dishonor of being a masterless samurai. Forty-seven of Asano's 320 warriors, however, decided to remain alive and seek revenge.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfIipC-vlI/AAAAAAAABIw/0Si-olJF8I0/s1600-h/utagawa_47_ronin.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 233px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfIipC-vlI/AAAAAAAABIw/0Si-olJF8I0/s320/utagawa_47_ronin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411013974768402002" /></a><br />Led by Oishi Yoshio, the 47 Ronin swore a secret oath to kill Kira at any cost. Fearful of just such an event, Kira fortified his home and posted a large number of guards.<br /><br />The Ako ronin bided their time, waiting for Kira's vigilance to relax.<br /><br />To help put Kira off his guard, the ronin scattered to different domains, taking menial jobs as merchants or laborers. One of them married into the family that had built Kira's mansion, so that he could have access to the blueprints.<br /><br />Oishi himself began to drink and spend heavily on prostitutes, doing a very convincing imitation of an utterly debased man. When a samurai from Satsuma recognized the drunk Oishi laying in the street, he mocked him and kicked him in the face, a mark of complete contempt.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfIKi6GTaI/AAAAAAAABIo/bvIJ5epA1wc/s1600-h/chushingura11_5.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 208px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfIKi6GTaI/AAAAAAAABIo/bvIJ5epA1wc/s320/chushingura11_5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411013560803675554" /></a><br />Oishi divorced his wife and sent her and their younger children away, to protect them. His oldest son chose to stay.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Ronin Take Revenge:</span><br /><br />As snow sifted down on the evening of December 14, 1702, the forty-seven ronin met once more at Honjo, near Edo, prepared for their attack. One young ronin was assigned to go to Aso and tell their tale.<br /><br />The forty-six first warned Kira's neighbors of their intentions, then surrounded the official's house armed with ladders, battering rams and swords.<br /><br />Silently, some of the ronin scaled the walls of Kira's mansion, then overpowered and tied up the startled night watchmen. At the drummer's signal, the ronin attacked from the front and rear. Kira's samurai were caught asleep, and rushed out to fight shoeless in the snow.<br /><br />Kira himself, wearing only undergarments, ran to hide in a storage shed. The ronin searched the house for an hour, finally discovering the official cowering in the shed amongst heaps of coal.<br /><br />Recognizing him by the scar on his head left by Asano's blow, Oishi dropped to his knees and offered Kira the same wakizashi (short sword) that Asano had used to commit seppuku. He soon realized that Kira did not have the courage to kill himself honorably, however - the official showed no inclination to take the sword, and was shaking in terror. Oishi beheaded Kira.<br /><br />The ronin reassembled in the mansion's courtyard. All forty-six were alive. They had killed as many as forty of Kira's samurai, at the cost of only four walking wounded.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfI2MnZcsI/AAAAAAAABI4/XJDXpeOZzVM/s1600-h/47ronin.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 228px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfI2MnZcsI/AAAAAAAABI4/XJDXpeOZzVM/s320/47ronin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411014310733902530" /></a><br /><br />At daybreak, the ronin walked through town to the Sengakuji Temple, where their lord was buried. The story of their revenge spread through town quickly, and crowds gathered to cheer them along the way.<br /><br />Oishi rinsed the blood from Kira's head, and presented it at Asano's grave. The forty-six ronin then sat and waited to be arrested.<br /><br />Hoping for a last-minute reprieve, the four daimyo who had custody of the ronin waited until nightfall, but there would be no pardon. The forty-six ronin, including Oishi and his 16-year-old son, committed seppuku.<br /><br />The ronin were buried near their master at the Sengkuji Temple in Tokyo. Their graves instantly became a site of pilgrimage for admiring Japanese. One of the first people to visit was the samurai from Satsuma who had kicked Oishi in the street. He apologized, and then killed himself as well.<br /><br />The fate of the forty-seventh ronin is not entirely clear. Most sources say that when he returned from telling the tale at the ronins' home domain of Aso, the shogun pardoned him due to his youth. He lived to a ripe old age, and then was buried alongside the others.<br /><br />To help calm public outrage over the sentence handed down to the ronin, the shogun's government returned the title and one-tenth of Asano's lands to his eldest son.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The 47 Ronin in Popular Culture:</span><br /><br />During the Tokugawa era, Japan was at peace. Since the samurai were a warrior class with little fighting to do, many Japanese feared that their honor and their spirit were fading away. The story of the Forty-seven Ronin gave people hope that some true samurai remained.<br /><br />As a result, the story was adapted into countless kabuki plays, bunraku puppet shows, woodblock prints, and later films and television shows. Fictionalized versions of the story are known as Chushingura, and continue to be very popular to this day.<br /><br />People from all over the world still travel to Sengkuji Temple to see the burial site of Asano and the Forty-seven Ronin. They can also view the original receipt given to the temple by the friends of Kira, when they came to claim his head for burial.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sources:<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />De Bary, William Theodore, Carol Gluck and Arthur E. Tiedemann. Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.<br /><br />Ikegami, Eiko. The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.<br /><br />Marcon, Federico and Henry D. Smith II. "A Chushingura Palimpsest: Young Motoori Norinaga Hears the Story of the Ako Ronin from a Buddhist Priest," Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Winter, 2003) pp. 439-465.<br /><br />Till, Barry. The 47 Ronin: A Story of Samurai Loyalty and Courage, Beverly Hills: Pomegranate Press, 2005.</span><br /><br />*************************************************************************************<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfH2D3z35I/AAAAAAAABIg/gIld9RZ77yA/s1600-h/roninposter.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfH2D3z35I/AAAAAAAABIg/gIld9RZ77yA/s320/roninposter.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411013208875196306" /></a><br /> In Japan, under the feudal system, a Samurai who had renounced his clan or who had been discharged or ostracized and had become a wanderer without a lord was known as Ronin...<br /><br />The History of The 47 Ronin<br /> <br /><br />The true story of the 47 ronin (masterless samurai) of the province of Harima is probably the best-known story of the valor and ideals (the Code of Bushido) of Japan's famous samurai warriors. Our tale begins in 1701, a time of relative peace during the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Shogun Tsunayoshi lived and ruled from Edo, while the Emperor, who had little political power, lived in Kyoto. To show respect to the Emperor, Tsunayoshi sent gifts and envoys to Kyoto for the New Year's celebrations, and in return, the Emperor sent his own envoys to Edo in March. To receive the Imperial envoys, Tsunayoshi appointed two young daimyos (feudal provincial lords), Naganori Asano-Takuminokami, The Lord of the Castle of Ako in Harima Province, and Munehare Date, Lord of Sendai to act as hosts during the forthcoming visit of a member of the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Because the daimyos were inexperienced in entertaining high born guests, the Shogun appointed an elderly high official named Yoshinaka Kira-Kozukenosuke to assist them.<br /><br />Kira, whom history describes as greedy and conceited, became very angry with Lord Asano for not presenting him with expensive gifts (to show appreciation, respect, etc.) and instead of helping Lord Asano became very abusive and insulting towards him. Kira, determined to get even, used every opportunity to publicly humiliate Asano. After two months of abuse, Asano's tolerance was gone.<br /><br />On March 14, unable to take the insults from Kira anymore, Lord Asano drew his sword (itself a capital offense when done inside Edo Castle) and struck Kira wounding him slightly. For his offense, The Shogun Tsunayoshi ordered Lord Asano to immediately commit seppuku (ritual suicide). Kira, on the other hand, received no punishment; in fact, he became an object of sympathy and was allowed to continue his official duties.<br /><br />The Shogun's failure to have Kira share in the responsibility angered the followers of Asano, who felt that Kira's improper actions were ignored and Asano's punishment too harsh.<br /><br />By law, when a samurai lord committed seppuku, his castle was confiscated by the Shogun, his family was disinherited, and his 321 samurai retainers were ordered to disband, thus becoming Ronin or masterless warriors. Asano's samurai were unsure of how to act in the wake of this disaster. Some thought they should refuse to turn over the castle to the Shogun, some thought they should plot revenge and kill Kira, and others thought they should respect the law and surrender peacefully.<br /><br />Oishi Kuranosuke, Asano's Chief Councilor, listened to the varying opinions and finally decided on a plan. He would petition the Shogun to reestablish the House of Asano with Lord Asano's younger brother, Daigaku, as it's head. If that failed the samurai of Lord Asano would refuse to turn over the castle and defend it to the death.<br /><br />In the next few days, as the Shogun's agents were on the road enroute to the Ako, all of the Asano samurai which were opposed to the petition deserted the castle, leaving only 60 loyal samurai behind. Before the shogun's men could reach the castle, Daigaku Asano sent a letter to Oishi, asking him to obey the orders of the Shogun and hand the castle over.<br /><br />Oishi and the 59 other samurai accepted Daigaku's request as binding on them as the word of Lord Asano himself, but before they quit the castle they made plans to avenge their Lord Asano's disgrace by killing Kira, whose un-samurai like character had brought their lord and house to such a tragic end. Only this would restore Asano's rightful honor.<br /><br />The men split up to conceal their plans from Kira, who naturally suspected that Asano's retainers would try to get revenge against him. Oishi went to Yamashina, a suburb of Kyoto, where he earned a reputation as a drunken gambler, a ruse that successfully deceived the Shogun's police and Kira's many spies.<br /><br />The Shogun, still concerned that the affair might not be ended, ordered the arrest of Daigaku Asano and sentenced him to confinement in the main villa of the Asano family, thus ending any remaining hope that the House of Asano might be reestablished.<br /><br />For nearly two years they waited, disguised as merchants, street vendors and even drunks to get information on Kira and to be close to him should an opportunity arise to storm Kira's mansion. Finally, Kira and his allies finally relaxed their suspicions of Oishi and his men.<br /><br />At a secret meeting, Oishi and the other 59 ronin decided that the time had come to move against Kira. But Oishi would allow only 46 of the men to participate with him in the attempt. He sent the other 13 back home to their families.<br /><br />One by one Oishi and his men infiltrated Edo, and on a snowy winter night of December 14, 1702 the 47 ronin attacked the mansion of Kira while he was having a tea party. The 47 ronin divided into two bands and stormed the mansion from the front and rear gates. In the great battle that followed, the 47 ronin entered into battle against Kira's 61 armed guards. At the end of the 1 1/2 hour battle, Asano's ronin had either subdued or killed all of Kira's men without any losses of their own.<br /><br />After a thorough search, Kira was found hiding in an outhouse. The ronin brought Kira to the courtyard and offered him the same chance their Lord Asano was given to honorably commit seppuku. Kira could not commit seppuku, so the ronin beheaded him. Then, to symbolize the completion of their mission, the 47 returned to Asano's grave at Sengaku-ji Temple and set Kira's head before it, thus declaring their Lord's honor redeemed.<br /><br />Prepared to die for their deed, Oishi sent two delegates to the Magistrate of Edo, informing him of what had been done and telling the official that they would be waiting at the Sengaku-ji Temple, awaiting orders from the Shogun.<br /><br />The Shogun Tsunayoshi, instead of being angry, was deeply impressed with the loyalty demonstrated by the 47 ronin. This made Tsunayoshi decision all the more difficult. Although clearly sympathetic to their heroic act, he was nonetheless faced with a dilemma. Should he spare the 47 ronin in recognition of their great display of bushido and their defense of their Lord Asano's honor, or should they be punished according to the law. If he overlooked their crime for sentimental reasons would that belittle their honor and weaken the samurai code? After 47 days of deliberation, Tsunayoshi ordered that Oishi and 45 of his men were to execute themselves not as criminals but as honored warriors. The youngest of the ronin, who had been sent to Ako with the news of Kira's death was spared from the sentence.<br /><br />On February 4, 1703, the 46 ronin were divided into four groups and handed over to four different daimyo, who were ordered to supervise and witness their deaths. Oishi and the other 45 ronin all committed seppuku simultaneously, dignifying themselves in their valiant sacrifice. Upon their deaths, the 46 ronin were buried side by side next to their master at Sengaku-ji Temple.<br /><br />Today, the memory of the 47 ronin is celebrated in a play called Chusingura which moves the audience to tears and excitement as it develops the theme of the magnificent sacrifice of the 47 ronin. Additionally, each year thousands of Japanese visit the gravesite of the 46 ronin at Sengaku-ji Temple to pay homage to the honor and loyalty of the 47 ronin and their dedication to the code of bushido.STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-55395246653348367512009-12-03T20:55:00.002+07:002009-12-03T21:01:58.061+07:00The Origin of the Samurai<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfELh6VPMI/AAAAAAAABIY/2Gr12eNKy9c/s1600-h/CropSamuraiWoodcut1869.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfELh6VPMI/AAAAAAAABIY/2Gr12eNKy9c/s320/CropSamuraiWoodcut1869.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411009179669576898" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Woodcut Print of "Ronin (Masterless Samurai) Fending Off Arrows" - 1869<br />Artist- Yoshitoshi Taiso. No known restrictions due to age.</span><br /><br />The samurai, a class of highly skilled warriors, gradually developed in Japan after the Taika reforms of 646 A.D. The reforms included land redistribution and heavy new taxes, meant to support an elaborate Chinese-style empire. As a result, many small farmers had to sell their land and work as tenant farmers.<br /><br />Meanwhile, a few large landholders amassed power and wealth, creating a feudal system similar to medieval Europe's. This top-heavy system proved unwieldy, and crumbled within a few centuries.<br /><br />As in Europe, the new feudal lords needed warriors to defend their riches. Thus, the samurai warrior (or "bushi") was born.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Early Feudal Era Samurai:</span><br /><br />Some samurai were relatives of the landowners, while others were simply hired swords. The samurai code emphasized loyalty to one's master, even over family loyalty. History shows that the most loyal samurai were usually family members or financial dependents of their lords.<br /><br />In the 900s, the weak emperors of the Heian Dynasty (794-1185) lost control of rural Japan. The country was riven by revolt; the emperor soon wielded power only within the capital. Across the country, the warrior class moved in to fill the power vacuum.<br /><br />By 1100, the samurai effectively held both military and political power over much of Japan.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">End of the Heian Era / Rise of Samurai Rule:</span><br /><br />The weak imperial line received a fatal blow to its power in 1156, when Emperor Toba died without a clear successor. His sons, Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought for control in a civil war called the Hogen Rebellion.<br /><br />In the end, both would-be emperors lost; the imperial office lost all its remaining power.<br /><br />During this civil war, the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans rose to prominence. They fought one another in the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. After their victory, the Taira established the first samurai-led government, or shogunate, with the emperor as a figurehead.<br /><br />The defeated Minamoto were banished from the capital at Kyoto.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Kamakura Period :</span><br /><br />The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War (1180-1185), which ended in victory for the Minamoto.<br /><br />Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate, which ruled much of Japan until 1333. While the Kamakura were powerful, they never conquered northern and western areas of the country. The shoguns also faced periodic resistance from other samurai clans.<br /><br />In 1268, an external threat appeared. Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of Yuan China, demanded tribute from Japan. Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded in 1274 with 600 ships, but a typhoon destroyed their armada. A second invasion fleet in 1281 met the same fate.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Fall of the Kamakura / Early Muromachi (Ashikaga) Period:</span><br /><br />Despite such incredible help from nature, the Mongol attacks cost the Kamakura dearly.<br /><br />Unable to offer land or riches to the samurai leaders who rallied to Japan's defense, the weakened shogun faced a challenge from Emperor Go-Daigo in 1318. The emperor was exiled in 1331, but returned and overthrew the Shogunate in 1333.<br /><br />This Kemmu Restoration of imperial power lasted only three years.<br /><br />In 1336, the Ashikaga Shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji reasserted samurai rule, but it was weaker than the Kamakura had been. Regional constables called "daimyo" developed considerable power, meddling in the shogunate's succession.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Later Muromachi Period:</span><br /><br />By 1460, the daimyo were ignoring orders from the shogun, and backing different successors to the imperial throne. When the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in 1464, a dispute between backers of his younger brother and his son ignited even more intense bickering among the daimyo.<br /><br />In 1467, this squabbling erupted into the decade-long Onin War. Thousands died, and Kyoto was burned to the ground.<br /><br />The Onin War led directly to Japan's "Warring States Period," or Sengoku. Between 1467 and 1573, various daimyo led their clans in a fight for national dominance. Nearly all of the provinces were engulfed in the fighting.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Azuchi-Momoyama Period / Restoration of Order:</span><br /><br />The Warring States Period began to draw to a close in 1568, when the warlord Oda Nobunaga defeated three other powerful daimyo, marched into Kyoto, and had his favorite, Yoshiaki, installed as shogun.<br /><br />Nobunaga spent the next 14 years subduing other rival daimyo, and quelling rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks.<br /><br />His grand Azuchi Castle, constructed between 1576 and 1579, became of symbol of Japanese reunification.<br /><br />In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi, another general, finished the unification and ruled as kampaku (regent).<br /><br />Hideyoshi invaded Korea in 1592 and 1597.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tokugawa Shogunate (Edo Period):</span><br /><br />Hideyoshi had exiled the large Tokugawa clan from the area around Kyoto to the Kanto region in western Japan. The Taiko died in 1598, and by 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the other western daimyo from his castle stronghold at Edo (the future Tokyo).<br /><br />Ieyasu's son, Hidetada, became shogun of the unified country in 1605, ushering in about 250 years of relative peace and stability for Japan.<br /><br />The strong Tokugawa shoguns domesticated the samurai, forcing them to either serve their lords in the cities, or give up their swords and farm. This transformed the warriors into a hereditary class of cultured bureaucrats.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Meiji Restoration and the Decline of the Samurai:</span><br /><br />In 1868, the Meiji Restoration signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai.<br /><br />The Meiji system of constitutional monarchy included such democratic reforms as term limits for public office and popular balloting. With public support, the Meiji Emperor did away with the samurai, reduced the power of the daimyo, and moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo.<br /><br />The new government created a conscripted army in 1873; many of the officers were drawn from the ranks of former samurai.<br /><br />In 1877, angry ex-samurai revolted against the Meiji in the Satsuma Rebellion; they lost the Battle of Shiroyama, and the era of the samurai was over.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Culture and Myth of the Samurai:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Samurai Culture</span><br /><br />The culture of the samurai was grounded in the concept of bushido - "the way of the warrior." The central tenets of bushido are honor and freedom from the fear of death. A samurai was legally entitled to cut down any commoner who failed to honor him (or her) properly. A warrior imbued with bushido spirit would fight fearlessly for his master, and die honorably rather than surrender in defeat.<br /><br />Out of this disregard for death, the Japanese tradition of seppuku evolved: defeated warriors (and disgraced government officials) would commit suicide with honor by ritually disemboweling themselves with a short sword.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Samurai Weapons</span><br /><br />Early samurai were archers, fighting on foot or horseback with extremely long bows (yumi). They used swords mainly for finishing off wounded enemies.<br /><br />After the Mongol invasions of 1272 and 1281, the samurai began to make more use of swords, as well as poles topped by curved blades called naginata, and spears.<br /><br />Samurai warriors wore two swords, together called daisho - "long and short." The katana, a curved blade over 24 inches long, was suitable for slashing, while the wakizashi, at 12-24 inches, was used for stabbing. In the late 16th century, non-samurai were forbidden to wear the daisho.<br /><br />Samurai wore full body-armor in battle, often including a horned helmet.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Samurai Myth</span><br />Modern Japanese honor the memory of the samurai, and bushido still infuses the culture. Today, however, the samurai code is invoked in corporate boardrooms rather than on the battlefield.<br /><br />Even now, everyone knows the story of the 47 Ronin, Japan's "national legend."<br /><br />In 1701, the daimyo Asano Naganori drew a dagger in the shogun's palace and tried to kill Kira, a government official. Asano was arrested, and forced to commit seppuku. Two years later, forty-seven of his samurai hunted down Kira and killed him, without knowing Asano's reasons for attacking the official. It was enough that he wanted Kira dead.<br /><br />Since the ronin had followed bushido, the shogun allowed them to commit seppuku instead of being executed.<br /><br />People still offer incense at the graves of the ronin, and the story has been made into a number of plays and films.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sources:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Ansart, Olivier (2007) "Loyalty in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Samurai Discourse," Japanese Studies, 27:2, 139-154.<br />Collcutt, Martin (1996) "The 'Emergence of the Samurai' and The Military History of Early Japan," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 56:1, 151-164.<br /><br />Hooker, Richard (1996) "Warring States Japan."</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-22764675566059666192009-12-03T20:45:00.004+07:002009-12-03T20:52:45.898+07:00History of the Ninja By Kallie Szczepanski<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfBy3VUAgI/AAAAAAAABIQ/fDl5PUfprNY/s1600-h/ninja1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 186px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfBy3VUAgI/AAAAAAAABIQ/fDl5PUfprNY/s320/ninja1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411006556899901954" /></a><br /><br />Black-clad figures with muffled faces skitter through a courtyard, swarming over walls like spiders and running lightly across rooftops, quick as cats.<br /><br />An unsuspecting samurai sleeps peacefully as these shadows permanently silence his body guards. The bedroom door slides open without a sound, an up-raised blade glints in the moonlight, and...<br /><br />This is the ninja of the movies and comic books, the stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and murder.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfBUGVV4eI/AAAAAAAABII/Zay67niVJxE/s1600-h/CropKotoNinjaToyokuniUtagawa.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 142px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SxfBUGVV4eI/AAAAAAAABII/Zay67niVJxE/s320/CropKotoNinjaToyokuniUtagawa.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411006028350611938" /></a><br /><br />This wraith-like being is very compelling, to be sure. But what is the historical reality behind the popular culture icon of the Ninja?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Origins of the Ninja:</span><br /><br />It is difficult to pin down the emergence of the first ninja, more properly called shinobi. After all, people around the world have always used spies and assassins.<br /><br />Japanese folklore states that the ninja descended from a demon that was half man and half crow. However, it seems more likely that the ninja slowly evolved as an opposing force to their upper-class contemporaries, the samurai, in early feudal Japan.<br /><br />Most sources indicate that the skills that became ninjutsu, the ninja's art of stealth, began to develop between 600-900 A.D. Prince Shotoku, (574-622), is said to have employed Otomono Sahito as a shinobi spy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mainland Influences on the Early Ninja:</span><br /><br />By the year 850, the Tang Dynasty in China was in decline. It would fall in 907, plunging China into 50 years of chaos; the collapse prompted some Tang generals to escape over the sea to Japan.<br /><br />These commanders brought new battle tactics and philosophies of war with them.<br /><br />Chinese monks also began to arrive in Japan in the 1020s, bringing new medicines and fighting philosophies of their own. Many of the ideas originated in India, and made their way across Tibet and China before turning up in Japan.<br /><br />The monks taught their methods to Japan's warrior-monks, or yamabushi, as well as to members of the first ninja clans.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The First Known Ninja School:</span><br /><br />For a century or more, the blend of Chinese and native tactics that would become ninjutsu developed as a counter-culture, without rules.<br /><br />It was first formalized by Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi.<br /><br />Daisuke had been a samurai, but he was on the losing side in a regional battle. He lost his lands and his samurai title.<br /><br />In 1162, Daisuke was wandering the mountains of southwest Honshu when he met Kain Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke renounced his bushido code, and together the two developed a new theory of guerrilla warfare called ninjutsu.<br /><br />Daisuke's descendants created the first ninja ryu, or school, the Togakureryu.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ninjutsu versus Bushido:</span><br /><br />Ninjutsu developed as an opposing force to the samurai code of bushido.<br /><br />Samurai valued loyalty and honor above all else.<br /><br />Going into battle, a samurai would select a single opponent, announce his challenge, list his family pedigree, and then attack. Samurai wore bright colors on their armor to announce their clan identity.<br /><br />Bushido was very noble, but it couldn't always get the job done.<br /><br />That is where ninjutsu came in: the ninja code valued accomplishing a mission by whatever means necessary. Sneak attacks, poison, seduction and spying were all shameful to the samurai, but fair play by the rules of the ninja.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Who Were the Ninja?:</span><br /><br />Some of the ninja leaders, or jonin, were disgraced samurai like Daisuke Togakure. They had lost in battle or had been renounced by their daimyo, but fled rather than committing seppuku.<br /><br />Most ordinary ninja were not from the nobility, though. They were villagers and farmers, who learned to fight by any means necessary for their own self-preservation.<br /><br />The most famous ninja strongholds were the Iga and Koga Provinces.<br /><br />Women also served in ninja combat. Female ninja, or kunoichi, infiltrated enemy castles in the guise of dancers, concubines or servants. They were successful spies, and sometimes acted as assassins as well.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Samurai Use of the Ninja:</span><br /><br />The samurai lords could not always prevail in open warfare, but they were constrained by bushido. So, they often hired ninja to do their dirty work.<br /><br />Secrets could be spied out, opponents assassinated, or misinformation planted... without sullying a samurai's honor.<br /><br />This system also transferred wealth to the lower classes, as ninja were paid handsomely for their work.<br /><br />Of course, a samurai's enemies could also hire ninja. As a result, the samurai needed, despised, and feared the ninja, in equal measure.<br /><br />The ninja "high man," or jonin, gave orders to the chunin, "middle man," who passed them on to the genin, ordinary ninja.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ninja Clothing, Tools and Weapons:</span><br /><br />In modern movies and comic books, ninjas are portrayed in all-black clothing, with only their eyes showing.<br /><br />This costume, however, comes from the kabuki theater.<br /><br />Actual ninjas wore navy blue for night operations. Usually, however, they dressed to blend in with their targets - as any sensible espionage agent would do.<br /><br />Ninja tools and weapons included: shinobigatana, medium-length swords; the bo and naginata, war staves and pikes; and martial arts like karate.<br /><br />Ninja also developed special equipment like the shuko, an iron hand-crampon used for climbing, and the tessen, a sharpened metal fan.<br /><br />They did not use throwing stars.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Ninja Techniques:</span><br /><br />Ninjutsu is practical; if a tactic is effective, then it is acceptable.<br /><br />The Eight Methods taught in many ryu were: Body skills, karate, spear fighting, staff fighting, blade-throwing, use of fire and water, fortification and strategy, and concealment.<br /><br />Many ninja weapons were modified from farm sickles, saws for wood cutting, pruning shears, etc. If discovered, these items would not give away a ninja's identity.<br /><br />Among the ninja were expert poisoners. Poison was added to food, or applied to a dart or blade.<br /><br />Some ninja disguised themselves as flute-playing mystics. The sturdy flute could be used as a club or blow-dart tube.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />The Rise and Fall of the Ninja:</span><br /><br />The ninja came into their own during the tumultuous era between 1336 and 1600. In an atmosphere of constant war, ninja skills were essential for all sides.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />The Nanbukucho Wars (1336-1392)</span><br /><br />For more than 50 years in the 14th century, Japan had two separate imperial courts, which fought for control of the country.<br /><br />The Northern Court was controlled by the shoguns. The Southern Court belonged to Emperor Go-Daigo, who wanted to rule in his own right.<br /><br />Ninja played an important role on both sides in this struggle, infiltrating castles as spies, and even burning down the South's Hachiman-yama Fortress.<br /><br />The Northern Court eventually won, and the puppet-Emperor system was retained.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Onin War (1467-1477)</span><br /><br />About 70 years later, the Onin War broke out. Ninja featured heavily in this conflict, as well.<br /><br />The war began as a succession fight within the ruling Ashikaga clan, but soon devolved into a nation-wide civil war.<br /><br />Although the Onin War ended after 10 years, it ushered in a century of turmoil called the Sengoku Jidai, or "Warring States Period" (though it was actually samurai clans fighting, rather than states).<br /><br />Ninja served a number of purposes during the Sengoku Period (1467-1568). They acted as kancho (spies), koran (agitators), teisatsu (scouts), and kisho (surprise attackers). They were most effective in castle sieges, infiltrating and distracting the defenders inside while the main besieging army attacked from outside.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Destruction of the Ninja Bases (1581)</span><br /><br />The ninja were an important tool during the Sengoku Period, but a destabilizing influence. When war-lord Oda Nobunaga emerged as the strongest daimyo and began to reunite Japan (1551-1582), he saw the ninja strongholds at Iga and Koga as a threat.<br /><br />Nobunaga's lightning-quick attack on Iga forced the ninja to fight open battles; they were defeated and scattered to nearby provinces or the mountains of Kii.<br /><br />While their power-base was destroyed, the ninja did not vanish entirely. Some went into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who later became shogun in 1603.<br /><br />The much-reduced ninja continued to serve both sides in struggles. In one famous incident from 1600, a ninja sneaked through a group of Tokugawa's defenders at Hataya castle, and planted the flag of the besieging army high on the front gate!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Edo and the End</span><br /><br />The Edo Period (1603-1868) brought stability and peace to Japan, bringing the ninja story to a close. Ninja skills and legends survived, though, and were embellished to enliven the movies, games and comic books of today.STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-15116746950032274132009-12-03T20:25:00.002+07:002009-12-03T20:40:17.513+07:00The Ancient Ankh, Symbol of Life by Taylor Ray Ellison<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_skXV5EI/AAAAAAAABIA/uFDyRru9eH4/s1600-h/ankh1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_skXV5EI/AAAAAAAABIA/uFDyRru9eH4/s320/ankh1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411004249705669698" /></a><br />The Ankh was, for the ancient Egyptians, the symbol (the actual Hieroglyphic sign) of life but it is an enduring icon that remains with us even today as a Christian cross. It is one of the most potent symbols represented in Egyptian art, often forming a part of decorative motifs.<br /><br />The ankh seems at least to be an evolved form of, or associated with the Egyptian glyph for magical protection, sa. However, what the sign itself represents is often disputed. For example, Sir Alan Gardiner thought that it showed a sandal strap with the loop at the top forming the strap, but if so, the symbolism is obscure and so his theory has found little real favor early on. However, this interpretation seems to have received some acceptance among modern writers. It would seem that the ancient Egyptians called that part of the sandal 'nkh (exact pronunciation unknown). Because this word was composed of the same consonants as the word "life", the sign to represent that particular part of the sandal, was also used to write the word "life".<br /><br />18th Dynasty ankh from the reign of Amenhotep II made of WoodAn early Ankh amulet made of Lapis Lazuli<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_iCsFNsI/AAAAAAAABH4/5B2rLLpxD5w/s1600-h/ankh2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 189px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_iCsFNsI/AAAAAAAABH4/5B2rLLpxD5w/s320/ankh2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411004068867159746" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Left: 18th Dynasty ankh from the reign of Amenhotep II made of Wood; <span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_X9cuxTI/AAAAAAAABHw/XUR4Yda46DA/s1600-h/ankh9.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_X9cuxTI/AAAAAAAABHw/XUR4Yda46DA/s320/ankh9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411003895661905202" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Right: An early Ankh amulet made of Lapis Lazuli<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Another theory holds that the ankh was symbolic of the sunrise, with the loop representing the Sun rising above the horizon, which is represented by the crossbar. The vertical section below the crossbar would then be the path of the sun <br /><br />An Osiris Pillar of Senusret I from the 12th DynastyThe Coffin of Ahmose Nefertari (18th Dynasty) holding on to life<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_KV784GI/AAAAAAAABHo/9Qjzm_fJ9Z4/s1600-h/ankh7.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 205px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe_KV784GI/AAAAAAAABHo/9Qjzm_fJ9Z4/s320/ankh7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411003661717135458" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Left: An Osiris Pillar of Senusret I from the 12th Dynasty;<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-_k1eYqI/AAAAAAAABHg/GozfkV-0eFk/s1600-h/ankh10.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 158px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-_k1eYqI/AAAAAAAABHg/GozfkV-0eFk/s320/ankh10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411003476737942178" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Right: The Coffin of Ahmose Nefertari (18th Dynasty) holding on to life<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Wolfhart Westendorf felt it was associated with the tyet emblem, or the "knot of Isis". He thought both were ties for ceremonial girdles. Winfried Barta connected the ankh with the royal cartouche in which the king's name was written, while others have even identified it as a penis sheath. The presence of a design resembling a pubic triangle on one ankh of the New kingdom Covering all the bases with an ankh, djed and was-sceptre as an amulet seems to allow for the idea that the sign may be a specifically sexual symbol. In fact, guides in Egypt today like to tell tourists that the circle at the top represents the female sexual organ, while the stump at the bottom the male organ and the crossed line, the children of the union. However, while this interpretation may have a long tradition, there is no scholarly research that would suggest such an exact meaning. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-ucyPGJI/AAAAAAAABHY/Cv2EQvTaMFs/s1600-h/ankh3.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 172px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-ucyPGJI/AAAAAAAABHY/Cv2EQvTaMFs/s320/ankh3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411003182519097490" /></a><br />The ankh, on some temple walls in Upper Egypt, could also symbolize water in rituals of purification. Here, the king would stand between two gods, one of whom was usually Thoth, as they poured over him a stream of libations represented by ankhs. <br /><br />The ancient gods of Egypt are often depicted as carrying ankh signs. We find Anqet, Ptah, Satet, Sobek, Tefnut, Osiris, Ra, Isis, Hathor, Anibus and many other gods often holding the ankh sign, along with a scepter, and in various tomb and temple reliefs, placing it in front of the king's face to symbolize the breath of eternal life. During the Amarna period, the ankh sign was depicted being offered to Akhenaten and Nefertiti by the hands at the end of the rays descending from the sun disk, Aten. Therefore, the ankh sign is not only a symbol of worldly life, but of life in the netherworld. Therefore, we also find the dead being referred to as ankhu, and a term for a sarcophagus was neb-ankh, meaning possessor of life. <br /><br />Nefertari receives life from Isis from her tomb in the Valley of the QueensAmenhotep II receives life from Anubis from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-WsVqERI/AAAAAAAABHI/ZeAx0Juvk4Y/s1600-h/ankh5.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-WsVqERI/AAAAAAAABHI/ZeAx0Juvk4Y/s320/ankh5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411002774377337106" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Left: Nefertari receives life from Isis; <span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-J-nszSI/AAAAAAAABHA/02PwJzH7zis/s1600-h/ankh4.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 173px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Sxe-J-nszSI/AAAAAAAABHA/02PwJzH7zis/s320/ankh4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411002555946552610" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Right: Amenhotep II receives life from Anubis<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />It is at least interesting that the ankh word was used for mirrors from at least the Middle Kingdom onward, and that indeed, many mirrors were shaped in the form of an ankh sign. Life and death mirror each other, and in any number of ancient religions, mirrors were used for Processions of Gods with ankhs in the Valley of the Kings purposes of divination. <br /><br />In fact, the ankh sign in ancient Egypt seems to have transcended illiteracy, being comprehensible to even those who could not read. Hence, we even find it as a craftsman's mark on pottery vessels.<br /><br />As the Christian era eclipsed Egypt's pharaonic pagan religion, the sign was adapted by the Coptic church as their unique form of a cross, known as the crux ansata.<span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-23089166624277536762009-12-03T20:25:00.000+07:002009-12-03T20:27:48.164+07:00The Ancient Ankh, Symbol of LifeSTEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-47976085779501300912009-08-23T09:35:00.006+07:002009-08-23T09:44:19.019+07:00Rahasia Menghitung Cepat Perkalian Dua Digit Angka [3 Detik]Berikut ini merupakan rahasia trick perkalian dua digit angka (contoh : 19 x 14 = ??), dengan menggunakan trik ini maka Anda dapat menegtahui hasil dari perkalian tersebut kuran lebih tiga detik. Mulai dari sekarang perkalian dua digit angka akan menjadi sangat mudah bagi Anda..tutorial berikut ini akan disertai dengan gambar – gambar sehingga Anda dapat dengan mudah untuk memahaminya..<br /><br /><br />Berikut ini tricknya :<br />Misal perkalian 13 X 12 = ?<br />Penyelesaianya :<br />1. Jumlahkan angka 2 + 13 = 15<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCsu5P6N8I/AAAAAAAABG4/ymh6PQ53pFc/s1600-h/257oguc.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 80px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCsu5P6N8I/AAAAAAAABG4/ymh6PQ53pFc/s320/257oguc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372984277094512578" /></a><br /><br /><br />2. itu merupakan 2 digit jawaban akhir yakni 15<br />3. langkah berikutnya adalah, kalikan angka 3 x 2 = 6<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCsh4CKL5I/AAAAAAAABGw/DrjWjU2nJMg/s1600-h/14cb4ft.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 248px; height: 97px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCsh4CKL5I/AAAAAAAABGw/DrjWjU2nJMg/s320/14cb4ft.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372984053430103954" /></a><br /><br />4. jadi hasil totalnya 156, silahkan di cek menggunakan kalkulator…<br /><br />5. Berikut ini contoh lain dengan dua digit angka kecil yang sama 13 X 13 = ?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCsNa_QsUI/AAAAAAAABGo/HFFlfXW1d5k/s1600-h/2celqnk.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 103px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCsNa_QsUI/AAAAAAAABGo/HFFlfXW1d5k/s320/2celqnk.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372983702035935554" /></a><br /><br /><br />Berikut ini jika anka perkalian digit kedua lebih besar dari 10, perhatikan baik – baik, misal 16 X 12 = ?<br /><br />1.Lakukan seperti biasa yakni 2 + 16 = 18<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCr8-ZW9SI/AAAAAAAABGg/R3V9CvN7dEM/s1600-h/29uq5o9.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 247px; height: 83px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCr8-ZW9SI/AAAAAAAABGg/R3V9CvN7dEM/s320/29uq5o9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372983419482862882" /></a><br /><br /><br />2. kemudian kalikan angka 6 X 2 = 12 , angka 12 merupakan 2 digit angka sedangkan setelah angka 18 Cuma ada sisa 1 digit angka yang bisa di masukan..tulis angka 12, dimana angka 1 ada di atas angka 8 dan angka 2 di samping angka 8, seperti gambar berikut..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCrqsHwBfI/AAAAAAAABGY/ac6zXYYDAnQ/s1600-h/qphxjt.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 277px; height: 124px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCrqsHwBfI/AAAAAAAABGY/ac6zXYYDAnQ/s320/qphxjt.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372983105339524594" /></a><br /><br />3. Sehingga hasil akhirnya adalah 192.<br /><br /><br /><br />Berikut ini contoh terakhir, misal 18 X 14 = ? , silahkan cerna gambar berikut :<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCrWYy20PI/AAAAAAAABGQ/c56Cf6J5l4E/s1600-h/fe3xqv.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 281px; height: 126px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SpCrWYy20PI/AAAAAAAABGQ/c56Cf6J5l4E/s320/fe3xqv.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372982756554232050" /></a><br /><br /><br />STIAP perkalian 11<br />cukup nambah....<br /><br />(terserah 1 sampe 99) untuk di kali 11<br />exp → 23 x 11<br /><br />CUKUP di tambah 2 + 3 = 5<br />nt masukin di tengahnya biar adem tuh 5<br />hasil → 253<br /><br />hehe...<br />liat hasil calculator pasti 235<br /><br /><br /><br />Sumber : http://20e50caf.linkbucks.com/url/http://apocalytyo.blogspot.com/2009/08/rahasia-menghitung-cepat-perkalian-dua.htmlSTEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-15467989747558118872009-08-13T08:41:00.014+07:002009-08-13T09:16:49.641+07:0010 Mysterious People<span style="font-weight:bold;">1. Green Children of Woolpit</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN3dkOJJiI/AAAAAAAABGI/BKUjzg4TizQ/s1600-h/greenkidz.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN3dkOJJiI/AAAAAAAABGI/BKUjzg4TizQ/s320/greenkidz.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369266530578671138" /></a>
<br />The Green Children of Woolpit were two children who appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk, UK, in the 12th century. The children were brother and sister and they had green colored skin. Their appearance was normal in all other areas. They spoke an unrecognized language and refused to eat anything other than pitch from bean pods. Eventually their skin lost its green color. When they learned English they explained that they were from the ‘Land of St Martin’ which was a dark place because the sun never rose far above the horizon. They claimed that they were tending their father’s herd and followed a river of light when they heard the sounds of bells – finding themselves in Woolpit.
<br />
<br />Some of the more unusual theories proposed for the origin of the children are that they were Hollow Earth children, parallel dimension children, or Extraterrestrial children.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Adalah dua orang anak yang secara misterius muncul di desa Woolpit di Suffolk, Inggris pada abad ke-12. Kedua anak tersebut bersaudara, dan mempunyai kulit yang berwarna hijau (Hulk ???). Selain kulitnya yang hijau, kedua anak tersebut mempunyai penampilan yang normal seperti manusia kebanyakan. Mereka berbicara dalam bahasa aneh yang tidak dikenali dan tidak mau makan apapun kecuali kacang polong.
<br />
<br />Setelah lama kelamaan, kulit kedua anak tersebut kehilangan warna hijaunya dan menjadi warna normal seperti warna kulit manusia pada umumnya. Setelah mempelajari Bahasa Inggris, keduanya menjelaskan bahwa mereka berasal dari suatu desa bernama “St. Martin” yang merupakan tempat yang gelap karena matahari tidak bersinar di sana. Ketika sedang menggembala ternak milik ayah mereka, mereka menemukan sebuah sungai dari cahaya dan mengikutinya, sampai tiba-tiba mereka telah berada di Woolpit. Beberapa teori menyatakan bahwa kedua anak tersebut adalah anak dari dimensi lain, atau alien dari luar angkasa.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2. Gil Pérez</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN03-K5NQI/AAAAAAAABF4/Wo4c7q0wyf8/s1600-h/mena-2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 158px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN03-K5NQI/AAAAAAAABF4/Wo4c7q0wyf8/s320/mena-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369263685686080770" /></a>
<br />Gil Perez was a Spanish soldier who suddenly appeared in Mexico City on October 26, 1593. He was wearing the uniform of the guards of the Del Gobernador Palace in the Philippines. He claimed to have no idea how he had managed to appear in Mexico. He stated that moments before finding himself there, he had been on sentry duty in Manila at the governor’s Palace. He told them that the governor (Don Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas) had just been assassinated.
<br />
<br />Two months later, news arrived from the Philippines by ship. They carried news that confirmed that the governor had been killed and they verified other aspects of Perez’s story. Witnesses confirmed that Perez had indeed been on duty in Manila just before arriving in Mexico. In addition, one of the passengers on the ship recognized Perez and swore that he had seen him in the Philippines on October 23. Perez eventually returned to the Philippines and resumed his life – which was uneventful until his death.
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Gil Perez adalah seorang tentara Spanyol yang secara tiba-tiba muncul di Meksiko pada 26 Oktober 1593. Ia mengenakan seragam penjaga Istana Del Gobernador di Filipina. Ia mengklaim bahwa ia sama sekali tidak mengetahui bagaimana caranya tiba-tiba dia berada di Meksiko (hmm… mungkin dia adalah Jumper yang pertama di dunia =P ). Ia mengatakan, sebelum tiba-tiba berada di Meksiko, ia sedang bertugas di Istana Del Gobernador dan mengatakan bahwa Gubernur Filipina saat itu, Don Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas baru saja dibunuh.
<br />
<br />Dua bulan kemudian, sebuah kapal datang dari Filipina ke Meksiko membawa beberapa penumpang. Para penumpang tersebut membenarkan Cerita dari Gil Perez bahwa Gubernur Filipina memang baru saja terbunuh. Bahkan salah seorang penumpang. Salah seorang penumpang kapal bahkan menyatakan bahwa Ia mengenali Perez dan melihatnya di Filipina pada 23 Oktober (O_o). Setelah itu, Perez kemudian kembali ke Filipina dan melanjutkan hidupnya di sana sampai akhir hayatnya.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">3. Man in the Iron Mask</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN0hDXuhDI/AAAAAAAABFw/OdJ7XX4ZwKk/s1600-h/the-man-in-the-iron-mask-in-his-prison-giclee-print-c12259021.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN0hDXuhDI/AAAAAAAABFw/OdJ7XX4ZwKk/s320/the-man-in-the-iron-mask-in-his-prison-giclee-print-c12259021.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369263291945092146" /></a>
<br />The-Man-In-The-Iron-Mask-In-His-Prison-Giclee-Print-C12259021
<br />
<br />The Man in the Iron Mask (died November 1703) was a prisoner held in a number of Jails (including the Bastille) during the reign of King Louis XIV of France. The true identity of the man is unknown because no one ever saw his face which was hidden by a black velvet mask. Fictional retellings of the story refer to the mask as an “Iron” mask. The first records that mention the prisoner are from 1669 when Louis XIV’s minister placed the prisoner in the care of the governor of the prison of Pignerol.
<br />
<br />According to the letter that accompanied him, the man’s name was Eustache Dauger. The letter instructed the governor to prepare a cell with multiple doors – to prevent anyone outside from listening in. The prisoner was told that if he spoke to anyone of anything other than his immediate needs, he would be killed. The Governor was the only person who was to see the prisoner, and he provided him with his daily food. When the prisoner died, all of his belongings were destroyed. To this day, no one knows who he was.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Bukan, kita tidak sedang membicarakan Leonardo Di Caprio atau film Man In The Iron Mask yang dimainkan olehnya. Ternyata film tersebut terinspirasi dari seorang tokoh misterius di Perancis.
<br />
<br />Man In The Iron Mask (Meninggal November 1973) adalah tahanan yang dikurung di sejumlah penjara di Perancis (termasuk penjara legendaris, Bastille) pada masa pemerintahan Raja Louis XIV. Identitas pria ini tidak pernah diketahui karena tidak ada yang pernah melihat wajahnya yang disembunyikan dalam sebuah topeng kulit berwarna coklat. Sekarang kita tahu, bahwa sejak jaman dahulu, orang suka membesar-besarkan cerita karena pada kisah-kisah yang beredar, diceritakan bahwa topeng tersebut terbuat dari baja yang menjadi awal nama julukan yang diberikan kepadanya.
<br />
<br />Menurut surat yang diberikan kepada kepala Penjara di Pignerol (Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars) tempat pertama pria tersebut dipenjarakan, nama pria tersebut adalah Eustache Dauger. Dalam surat itu juga diinstruksikan agar disiapkan sebuah sel yang dilapisi dengan beberapa pintu (untuk mencegah orang dari luar mendengar suara dari dalam sel). Selain itu, juga dikatakan bahwa bila pria tersebut berbicara kepada orang lain selain untuk hal-hal yang berhubungan dengan kebutuhan pribadinya (contoh: “sipir.. saya mau be’ol..!!” =P ), dia akan dibunuh seketika. Hingga saat ini tidak ada yang tahu siapa identitas sebenarnya dari pria ini tapi ada beberapa rumor yang mengatakan bahwa Ia adalah saudara dari Louis XIV, Putra dari Raja Charles II, Diplomat dari Italia, dan lain-lain.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">4. Comte St Germain<span</span> style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span></span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN0Hka3ZVI/AAAAAAAABFo/a3_K7vWNCGc/s1600-h/stgermain.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 253px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoN0Hka3ZVI/AAAAAAAABFo/a3_K7vWNCGc/s320/stgermain.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369262854140028242" /></a>
<br />The Count of St. Germain (allegedly died February 27, 1784) was a courtier, adventurer, inventor, amateur scientist, violinist, amateur composer, and a mysterious gentleman; he also displayed some skills associated with the practice of alchemy. He was known as ‘Der Wundermann’ — ‘The Wonderman’. He was a man whose origin was unknown and who disappeared without leaving a trace. In 1745, Horace Walpole wrote of him:
<br />
<br /> …the other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes that he does not go by his right name. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; a somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and, what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy.
<br />
<br />Since his death, various occult organizations have adopted him as a model figure or even as a powerful deity. In recent years several people have claimed to be the Count of St. Germain.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Count of St. Germain, yang diduga meninggal dunia pada 27 Februari 1784 adalah seorang bangsawan, petualang, peneliti amatir, pemain biola, komposer, dan seorang yang misterius. Dia juga menunjukkan beberapa keahlian yang berhubungan dengan ilmu kimia. Mitos, legenda dan spekulasi tentang St. Germain terus berkembang pada akhir abad ke-19 dan awal abad ke-20 dan berlanjut hingga saat ini. Di antaranya terdapat kepercayaan bahwa St. Germain adalah seorang yang immortal (hidup abadi), seorang ahli kimia yang mempunyai “Elixir of Life” (Cairan Keabadian), dan telah meramalkan terjadinya Revolusi Perancis.
<br />
<br />Semenjak kematiannya, banyak organisasi Okultisme yang menjadikannya sebagai tokoh panutan yang dihormati, bahkan ada yang menyembah dirinya. Tidak sedikit pula yang mengaku-ngaku sebagai St. Germain atau merupakan jelmaan dari St. Germain.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">5. D. B. Cooper</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNzo4S0E3I/AAAAAAAABFg/FJ-GNUPOoE8/s1600-h/ap-cooper-080325-ms.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNzo4S0E3I/AAAAAAAABFg/FJ-GNUPOoE8/s320/ap-cooper-080325-ms.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369262326899020658" /></a>
<br />D. B. Cooper (aka “Dan Cooper”) is a pseudonym given to a notorious aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of $200,000, leapt from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest somewhere over the southern Cascades.
<br />
<br />Cooper has not been seen since and it is not known whether he survived the jump. In 1980, an eight year old boy found $5,800 of soggy $20 bills washed up on the banks of the Columbia river. The serial numbers matched those of the ransom money which had been noted to make it easier to track Cooper later.
<br />
<br />Cooper escaped from the plane by jumping off the rear airstair with a parachute leading aviation authorities to add stricter measures about the design of planes to prevent it from happening again. In addition, this event caused airports to install metal detectors for the first time.
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">
<br />D.B. Cooper alias Dan Cooper adalah nama samaran yang digunakan oleh seorang pembajak pesawat terkenal dan misterius yang pada 24 November 1971, setelah menerima uang tebusan sebesar $200,000, terjun dari bagian belakang pesawat Boeing 727 yang dibajaknya. Pada aksi pembajakannya, Cooper membawa sebuah tas berisi bom dan mengancam akan meledakkannya, bila ia tidak diberikan uang sejumlah $200,000 dan 2 set parasut.
<br />
<br />Cooper tidak terlihat sejak saat itu dan tidak diketahui apakah dia berhasil selamat dari penerjunannya. Pada tahun 1980, seorang anak kecil berumur 8 tahun menemukan uang sebanyak $5,800 dollar dalam pecahan $20 di tepi sungai Columbia di Amerika Serikat. Kode seri uang yang ditemukan tersebut sama dengan uang yang diberikan pada Cooper sebagai uang tebusannya.
<br />
<br />Pelarian Cooper dari bagian belakang pesawat dengan menggunakan parasut, menyebabkan airport-airport mulai menggunakan metal detector untuk mencegah hal yang sama terulang kembali.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6. Fulcanelli</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNzQGtBaXI/AAAAAAAABFY/V7P2N_5_pEI/s1600-h/hendaye04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNzQGtBaXI/AAAAAAAABFY/V7P2N_5_pEI/s320/hendaye04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369261901270313330" /></a>
<br />Fulcanelli (1839 – ?1953) is a pseudonym of a late 19th century French Alchemist and author whose identity is still unknown. Much mystery surrounds his life and works – leading to him being branded a cultural phenomenon. One of the more extravagant tales retells how his devoted pupil (Eugene Canseliet – pictured above) successfully transformed 100 grams of lead in to gold with the use of a small quantity of “Projection Powder” given to him by his teacher.
<br />
<br />It is believed that on the verge of World War II, the Abwehr (German intelligence service) was in active (but fruitless) pursuit of Fulcanelli because of his knowledge of the technology of nuclear weapons. Fulcanelli had met with a French atomic physicist and given him accurate details regarding nuclear weapons technology and he claimed that atomic weaponry had been used against humanity in time long past.
<br />
<br />“According to Canseliet (Fulcanelli’s student), his last encounter with Fulcanelli happened in 1953 (years after his disappearance), when he went to Spain and was taken to a castle high in the mountains for a rendezvous with his former master. Canseliet had known Fulcanelli as an old man in his 80s but now the Master had grown younger: he was a man in his 50s. The reunion was brief and Fulcanelli once again disappeared leaving no trace of his whereabouts. At this time, Fulcanelli would have been 114 years old.”
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Fulcanelli adalah nama samaran ahli kimia dari Perancis di akhir abad 19 yang identitasnya masih belum diketahui. Banyak misteri yang menyelubungi dirinya, namun salah satu rumor yang paling terkenal adalah cerita yang menyatakan bagaimana murid kesayangannya (Eugene Canseliet) berhasil mengubah 100 gram timah menjadi emas dengan menggunakan sedikit bubuk yang diberikan kepadanya oleh Fulcanelli.
<br />
<br />Dipercaya bahwa pada masa Perang Dunia II intelijen Jerman gencar melakukan pencarian untuk menemukan Fulcanelli karena pengetahuannya dalam bidang senjata nuklir. Fulcanelli pernah menemui seorang pakar atom dari Perancis dan memberikan informasi detail yang berhubungan dengan teknologi nuklir dan mengklaim bahwa senjata atom telah digunakan oleh manusia sejak bertahun-tahun yang lampau.
<br />
<br />Menurut Canseliet (murid Fulcanelli), pertemuan terakhirnya dengan Fulcanelli adalah pada tahun 1953 di Spanyol. Pada saat pertemuan itu, Fulcanelli yang seharusnya berumur 80 tahun bertumbuh lebih muda, dan tampak seperti pria berumur 50 tahun (O_o). Pertemuan itu sendiri cukup singkat, lalu Fulcanelli kembali menghilang dari publik untuk selamanya.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">7. Kaspar Hauser</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNxm_EmfwI/AAAAAAAABFQ/XPFx8OA7SPk/s1600-h/hauser.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNxm_EmfwI/AAAAAAAABFQ/XPFx8OA7SPk/s320/hauser.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369260095335464706" /></a>
<br />On May 26, 1828 a teenage boy appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. He carried a letter with him which was addressed to a captain of 6th cavalry regiment. The anonymous author said that the boy was given into his custody, as an infant, on the 7th October 1812, and that he had never let him “take a single step out of my house”. Now the boy would like to be a cavalryman, thus the captain should take him in or hang him. Hauser claimed that he had, for as long as he could think back, spent his life always totally alone in a darkened 2×1×1.5 metre cell (little more than the size of a one-person bed in area) with only a straw bed to sleep on and a horse carved out of wood for a toy. Hauser claimed that the first human being he ever had had contact with had been a mysterious man who had visited him not long before his release, always taking great care not to reveal his face to him. According to contemporary rumors – probably current as early as 1829 – Kaspar Hauser was the hereditary prince of Baden that was born on September 29, 1812 and had died within a month. It was claimed that this prince had been switched with a dying baby, and had indeed appeared 16 years later as “Kaspar Hauser” in Nuremberg. Hauser died after receiving a stab wound to the chest which was possible self-inflicted. He claimed he had been stabbed by the man who had kept him as an infant.
<br />
<br />In 2002, the University of Münster analyzed hair and body cells from locks of hair and items of clothing that were alleged to belong to Kaspar Hauser. The DNA samples were compared to a DNA segment of Astrid von Medinger, a descendant in the female line of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, who would have been Kaspar Hauser’s mother if indeed he had been the hereditary prince of Baden. The sequences were not identical but the deviation observed is not large enough to exclude a relationship, as it could be caused by a mutation.
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">
<br />Pada 26 Mei 1828, seorang remaja terlihat di jalan di Nuremberg, Jerman. Ia membawa sebuah surat yang ditujukan bagi Kapten Resimen Kavalry ke-6 Jerman. Penulis surat misterius yang dibawa oleh Hauser menyatakan bahwa anak tersebut diberikan kepadanya untuk ditahan sejak ia masih bayi, pada 7 Oktober 1812, dan sejak saat itu anak tersebut dikurung di rumah pria tersebut. Hauser mengklaim bahwa sejak ia dapat mengingat sesuatu, ia telah dikurung sendirian di dalam ruangan gelap berukuran 2×1x1.5 meter dengan ranjang dari jerami sebagai tempat tidur dan kuda-kudaan kayu yang diukir dengan tangan sebagai mainannya. Hauser juga mengklaim bahwa orang pertama yang berinteraksi dengannya adalah pria misterius yang mengunjunginya beberapa saat sebelum ia dibebaskan, yang selalu berhati-hati agar wajahnya tidak terlihat oleh Hauser.
<br />
<br />Menurut rumor, Hauser adalah Pangeran dari Baden yang dilahirkan pada 29 September 1812 dan meninggal sebulan kemudian. Dirumorkan bahwa Pangeran tersebut ditukar dengan bayi sekarat, sedangkan pangeran yang Asli adalah Hauser yang muncul 16 tahun kemudian di Nuremberg. Pada tahun 2002, University of Munster melakukan analisa DNA yang membandingkan DNA Hauser dan Stephanie de Beauharnais yang dirumorkan sebagai Ibu dari Hauser (Ratu dari Baden). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa sekuens DNA tidak identik tapi deviasi yang ditunjukkan tidak terlalu jauh sehingga tidak dapat disimpulkan bahwa keduanya sama sekali tidak mempunyai hubungan darah.</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">8. Babushka Lady</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNxKYvUG2I/AAAAAAAABFE/EhAjcMXnxIM/s1600-h/blmuchmore-1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 223px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNxKYvUG2I/AAAAAAAABFE/EhAjcMXnxIM/s320/blmuchmore-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369259604009294690" /></a>
<br />During the analysis of the film footage of the assasination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, a mysterious woman was spotted. She was wearing a brown overcoat and a scarf on her head (the scarf is the reason for her name as she wore it in a similar style to Russian grandmothers – also called babushkas). The woman appeared to be holding something in front of her face which is believed to be a camera. She appears in many photos of the scene. Even after the shooting when most people had fled the area, she remained in place and continued to film. Shortly after she is seen moving away to the East up Elm Street. The FBI publically requested that the woman come forward and give them the footage she shot but she never did.
<br />
<br />In 1970 a woman called Beverly Oliver came forward and claimed to be the Babushka Woman, though her story contains many inconsistencies. She is generally regarded as a fraud. To this day, no one knows who the Babushka Woman is or what she was doing there. More unusual is her refusal to come forward to offer her evidence.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Babushka Lady adalah nama julukan yang diberikan kepada sosok wanita misterius yang terlihat ketika terjadinya pembunuhan presiden Amerika Serikat, John F. Kennedy. Wanita tersebut terlihat memakai jas panjang berwarna coklat, dan scarf di kepala, seperti yang biasa dipakai oleh para wanita lanjut usia di Russia. Scarf tersebutlah yang menjadi awal julukan babushka yang dilekatkan kepadanya (babushka merupakan bahasa Russia untuk nenek atau wanita lanjut usia). Wanita tersebut terlihat memegang sesuatu di depan wajahnya, yang diyakini merupakan kamera. Dia terlihat di beberapa foto yang mengabadikan lokasi kejadian pembunuhan tersebut. Bahkan setelah keramaian telah berakhir, ia masih terlihat di sana dan memotret dengan kameranya. Beberapa saat kemudian, FBI meminta melalui pengumuman publik agar Babushka Lady menyerahkan hasil jepretan kameranya (mungkin untuk keperluan penyelidikan), namun ia tidak pernah muncul lagi ke depan umum.
<br />
<br />Pada tahun 1970, seorang wanita bernama Beverly Oliver, mengaku sebagai Babushka Lady. Namun karena ceritanya mengandung banyak kejanggalan dan inkonsistensi, ia dipercaya sebagai sosok palsu yang ingin numpang tenar =P Hingga saat ini tidak ada yang tahu siapa sosok Babushka Lady yang sebenarnya, apa yang ia lakukan di tempat kejadian pembunuhan dan alasan ia tidak mau menyerahkan hasil jepretan kameranya.</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">9. The Poe Toaster</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNwvBVCkwI/AAAAAAAABE8/dka7i4LluXs/s1600-h/800px-poegrave-withcognac.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNwvBVCkwI/AAAAAAAABE8/dka7i4LluXs/s320/800px-poegrave-withcognac.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369259133868610306" /></a>
<br />800Px-Poegrave-Withcognac
<br />
<br />The Poe Toaster is the nickname given to a mysterious man who pays annual tribute to Poe by visiting his grave every year. The strange tradition started in 1949 – a century are after Poe’s death, and it occurs every year on the author’s birthday (January 19). According to Wikipedia: “In the early hours of the morning on that date, a black-clad figure, presumed to be male, with a silver-tipped cane enters the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground in Baltimore, Maryland. The individual proceeds to Poe’s grave, where he or she raises a cognac toast. Before departing, the Toaster leaves three red roses and a half-bottle of cognac on the grave.”
<br />
<br />The Toaster wears a black hat and coat and hides his face with a hood or scarf. Groups of reporters and admirers are often on hand to watch the event. There have been no attempts to interfere with the Toaster or to unmask him – most likely out of respect for the tradition.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Poe Toaster (Orang yang bersulang dengan Poe) adalah julukan yang diberikan kepada sosok misterius yang memberikan penghormatan kepada penulis ternama dari Amerika, Edgar Allan Poe dengan cara mengunjungi makamnya, setiap tahun, di hari ultah Poe (19 Januari). Tradisi penghormatan tersebut dimulai sejak tahun 1949, satu abad setelah kematian Edgar Allan Poe (1849).
<br />
<br />Setiap pagi di tanggal 19 Januari, sesosok dengan pakaian awut-awutan berwarna gelap mengunjungi makam Poe di Baltimore, Maryland. Sosok tersebut lalu mengangkat segelas cognac untuk melakukan toast (bersulang). Sebelum meninggalkan makam, ia meletakkan 3 tangkai mawar merah, dan botol cognac yang tinggal terisi separuhnya di makam poe. 3 tangkai mawar dipercaya merupakan perlambang penghormatan untuk Poe, Virginia (Istri Poe) dan Maria Clemm (Mertua Poe) yang dikuburkan dalam makam yang sama. Sedangkan maksud dari setengah botol cognac sendiri masih tidak diketahui. Tradisi yang dilakukan oleh Poe Toaster ini masih dilanjutkan sampai sekarang, namun dipercaya bahwa sudah tidak dilakukan oleh orang yang sama (mungkin diwariskan kepada keturunan Poe Toaster yang asli).</span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">10. Monsieur Chouchani</span>
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNwS-D23qI/AAAAAAAABE0/2fp4LbdfIU8/s1600-h/418px-emmanuel-levinas.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 223px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SoNwS-D23qI/AAAAAAAABE0/2fp4LbdfIU8/s320/418px-emmanuel-levinas.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369258651954896546" /></a>
<br />Monsieur Chouchani (died 1968) is the nickname of an anonymous and mysterious Jewish teacher who taught a number of highly regarded students including Emmanual Levinas (pictured above) and Elie Wiesel in Europe after World War II. Very little is known about Chouchani, including his real name. His origins and entire life history were kept a closely guarded secret. His gravestone in Montevideo, Uraguay where he died reads: “The wise Rabbi Chouchani of blessed memory. His birth and his life are sealed in enigma.” The text was written by Elie Wiesel who also paid for the gravestone.
<br />
<br />There is no known body of work by Chouchani himself, but he left a very strong intellectual legacy via his students. Chouchani dressed like a vagabond but was a master of vast areas of human knowledge, including science, mathematics, philosophy and especially the Talmud. Most of the details of his life that are known come from the writings and interviews with his students.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Monsieur Chouchani (meninggal pada tahun 1968) adalah nickname atau nama julukan yang diberikan pada sosok pengajar Yahudi yang mengajar beberapa siswa di Eropa setelah Perang Dunia ke-2. Kebanyakan siswanya kemudian berhasil menjadi tokoh ternama, diantaranya adalah Emanuel Levinas (Filsuf dari Perancis, foto seperti terlihat di atas), dan Elie Wiesel (Penulis Yahudi, Peraih nobel perdamaian pada tahun 1986). Sangat sedikit yang diketahui tentang Chouchani, termasuk siapakah nama sebenarnya juga masih misterius.
<br />
<br />Tidak ada hasil karya fisik (seperti tulisan, publikasi, buku, dll) dari Chouchani, tapi ia meninggalkan warisan intelektual yang sangat luar biasa melalui murid-muridnya. Chouchani merupakan sosok nyentrik, berpenampilan seperti gelandangan, namun memiliki pengetahuan yang sangat luas di antaranya di bidang science, matematika, filosofi dan khususnya Talmud. Pada umumnya, detail mengenai kehidupan Chouchani didapatkan melalui tulisan dan hasil wawancara dengan murid-muridnya.</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-77689920664135878772009-06-30T11:59:00.013+07:002009-06-30T12:22:06.285+07:00Takeshi Yamada, Penemu 10 makhluk aneh di Dunia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmfF2GvM6I/AAAAAAAABEs/WHbt6JkQ7aQ/s1600-h/takeshi.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 288px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmfF2GvM6I/AAAAAAAABEs/WHbt6JkQ7aQ/s320/takeshi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352984554878481314" /></a><br /><br />Dr Takeshi Yamada, peneliti asal Jepang, menemukan 10 makhluk aneh yang mengegerkan dunia ilmu pengetahuan. Salah satunya adalah monyet vampire di China . Seperti yang kita ketahui tentang vampire, maka hidup <span style="font-weight:bold;">monyet vampire</span> ini tergantung dari menghisap darah makhluk lain.<br /><br />This might be the mysterious animal in nowadays, all of them was discovered by a Japanese researcher named Dr. Takeshi yamada. all of this species was never seen before..<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Dr takeshi yamada was a researcher from japan, he discovered 10 mysterious creature that shocked the science world, one of them was a vampire monkey in china, like we know about vampire, this vampire monkey life was depends on the blood, vampire monkey suck the blood from another animal</span><br /><br /><br />Uniknya makhluk ini dalam beraktivitas banyak menggunakan tangannya, seperti halnya manusia. Spesies ini diyakin sebagai mata rantai yang putus dari evolusi manusia hingga berbentuk seperti sekarang. Keunikan lainnya, monyet ini seperti burung yang menenun sarangnya.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Vampire Monkey on his daily lives mostly use his hands like the human does. this species was thought as one of the lost chain of human evolution until now. another uniqueness of this vampire monkey was this monkey make the nest like a bird...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Photo for Vampire monkey</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skme6Bhla7I/AAAAAAAABEk/Cg_-4n9lloQ/s1600-h/monyet.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 224px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skme6Bhla7I/AAAAAAAABEk/Cg_-4n9lloQ/s320/monyet.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352984351785446322" /></a><br /><br /><br />Penemuan Dr Takeshi Yamada yang menghebohkan lainnya adalah keong raksasa yang ditemukan dari laut terdalam. Kakinya seperti chupacabra, karena itu diberi nama <span style="font-weight:bold;">siput chupacabras</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">another discovery of Dr.Takeshi Yamada that shocks the world was Chupacabras Snail, it is a huge snail which is found from the deepest sea. this creature has a foot like Chupacabra so that the suitable name given to it was Chupacabras Snail.<br /><br />Photo for Siput Chupacabras </span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skmex1GoK1I/AAAAAAAABEc/Iu3Sh9l6t3o/s1600-h/siput.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skmex1GoK1I/AAAAAAAABEc/Iu3Sh9l6t3o/s320/siput.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352984211012201298" /></a><br /><br /><br />Penemuan lainnya adalah <span style="font-weight:bold;">siput pemakan daging</span> terbesar di dunia ini, ditemukan awal tahun 2007. Siput ini juga punya senjata racun yang konon sangat mematikan.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Another discovery was the biggest carnivore snail which was founded in 2007, this snail has a deadly poison weapon.</span><br /><br />Photo for siput pemakan daging<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmejY4jTOI/AAAAAAAABEU/mLU0AfiUtqk/s1600-h/siput+pemakan+daging2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmejY4jTOI/AAAAAAAABEU/mLU0AfiUtqk/s320/siput+pemakan+daging2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352983962918800610" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Photo for Blue Merman</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmeTzV52nI/AAAAAAAABEM/Wsnl2J_aZUU/s1600-h/blue+merman.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmeTzV52nI/AAAAAAAABEM/Wsnl2J_aZUU/s320/blue+merman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352983695143328370" /></a>Yang tak kalah mengerikan adalah blue merman yang ditemukan di Pulau Sado. Mirip spesies kadal atau bunglon. Makhluk ini juga berbahaya pada tangan-tangannya yang bisa mengembang. Bila usianya semakin bertambah, bintang ini akan terlihat mirip kodok.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Another weird and mysterious creature that found by dr.takeshi yamada was Blue Merman. It was found on Sado Island, this creature looks like lizard species. this creature was so dangerous.. if the age was gotten older this animal will looks like a frog.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Photo for Two-Headed Baby</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmeKG2sIKI/AAAAAAAABEE/PoNEtWlJlq0/s1600-h/two+headed.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmeKG2sIKI/AAAAAAAABEE/PoNEtWlJlq0/s320/two+headed.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352983528582422690" /></a><br />Mumi bayi berwajah dua ini kini berada di museum kedokteran di Coney Island Hospital.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Two Headed Baby now was kept in the Coney Island Hospital Museum.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Photo for Giant Sea Dragon</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skmd3z3CwJI/AAAAAAAABD8/w11YQQKbHek/s1600-h/sea-dragon.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skmd3z3CwJI/AAAAAAAABD8/w11YQQKbHek/s320/sea-dragon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352983214245986450" /></a>Disebut naga laut raksasa ditemukan di dasar laut Pulau Awaji. Makhluk ini diduga telah punah pada awal abad ke-20.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Giant Sea Dragon, it was found in the Awaji island deepest sea, Giant sea dragon met their extinction on the first of 20 century.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Prehistoric Horseshoe Crabs</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skmduuo5A7I/AAAAAAAABD0/yX4f2dHXWtY/s1600-h/horse+sea+crab.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Skmduuo5A7I/AAAAAAAABD0/yX4f2dHXWtY/s320/horse+sea+crab.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352983058225628082" /></a><br />Dua spesies baru kepiting ladam, diduga hidup masa masa pra sejarah sekitar 400 juta tahun lalu. Baru baru ini kepiting purba ini ditangkap oleh tim peneliti dasar laut dari Universitas Higashi Osaka Jepang. Masih ada empat species kepiting purba yang diindetifikasi hidup 250 juta tahun lalu.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Two new species of horseshoe crabs identical to those lived 400 million years ago recently captured by the deep see scientific submarine Voyager of University of Higashi Osaka in Japan. Today's remaining four species of horseshoe crabs are identical to those lived 250 million years ago.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Photo for Human-Faced Ant<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmdfKwX1fI/AAAAAAAABDs/BUvbwf6LOFU/s1600-h/human+faced+ant.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmdfKwX1fI/AAAAAAAABDs/BUvbwf6LOFU/s320/human+faced+ant.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352982790895293938" /></a><br />Penemuan kali ini tak kalah aneh, semut berwajah manusia. Dalam mitologi India dipercaya orang bertabiat buruk akan bereinkarnasi menjadi semut. Ada banyak semut-semut berwajah manusia yang ditemukan di India , melebihi di negara manapun. Salah satu contohnya adalah yang dimiliki dr Takeshi Yamada yang merupakan hasil ekspedisi tahun 2004. Coney Island Anthropoliogical Institute juga memiliki koleksi ini.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Indian mythology tells that bad rulers are believed to be reincarnated into ants. Many human-faced ants are found in India more than any countries. This specimen was collected by Dr. Takeshi Yamada during his expedition in 2004. Collection: Coney Island Anthropological Institute.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">St. Helena Giant Earwig</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmdSK1JKWI/AAAAAAAABDk/oerjDwUwH7Q/s1600-h/earwig.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmdSK1JKWI/AAAAAAAABDk/oerjDwUwH7Q/s320/earwig.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352982567577004386" /></a><br />Makhluk yang berasal dari St Helena ini, diduga telah punah pada beberapa decade yang lalu diduga karena pembangunan pelabuhan udara internasional di sana . Himpunan ilmuwan dan pemerhati entomologists melakukan protes dalam beberapa tahun terakhir yang menyebabkan punahnya spesies ini. Penelitian yang dipimpin Dr Takeshi Yamada pada 2005 menemukan beberapa spesies baru earwigs raksasa. Penelitian ini merupakan bagian dari program yang dilakukan di Coney Island University .<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This animal is believed to be extinct at St. Helena only a few decades ago. The development of the international airport in the habitat of this arthropod produced massive protests by the science community and many entomologists rushed into there in the last few years. An expedition led by Dr. Takeshi Yamada in 2005 produced discovery of several new species of giant earwigs, that led to the laboratory breeding programs at the Coney Island University.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Fiji Mermaid</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmdEesecbI/AAAAAAAABDc/OoMQysP7TNs/s1600-h/mermaid.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkmdEesecbI/AAAAAAAABDc/OoMQysP7TNs/s320/mermaid.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352982332391190962" /></a><br />Fiji Mermaid sepanjang 6 kaki mirip putri duyung ditemukan di Shikoku , Jepang. Disebut Ningyo Shinko. Banyak tempat keramat agama Shinto dan kuil Budha mengabadikan mermaid ini sebagai makhluk suci.Orang datang untuk bersembahyang di tempat2 ini setiap hari. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This mummified 6-feet mermaid carcass was from Shikoku, Japan. They consider mermaid as the main-stream religious deity, which is called Ningyo Shinko or mermaid religion. Many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples enshrine mummified mermaids there for people to worship even today.</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-28845891803300018502009-06-26T09:34:00.002+07:002009-06-26T09:55:24.912+07:00HIS GONE....BUT HIS ALWAYS IN MY MIND<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQ4lxUP00I/AAAAAAAABDU/giM6FWCkJ2w/s1600-h/MichaelJacksonMillen_sm.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQ4lxUP00I/AAAAAAAABDU/giM6FWCkJ2w/s320/MichaelJacksonMillen_sm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351464478767567682" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQ4hiwbmuI/AAAAAAAABDM/5xsfa5HBI2I/s1600-h/michael-jackson.gal.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 232px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQ4hiwbmuI/AAAAAAAABDM/5xsfa5HBI2I/s320/michael-jackson.gal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351464406139771618" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQ4bx7XJUI/AAAAAAAABDE/jPr_Zdw4CPI/s1600-h/clip+jakson.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQ4bx7XJUI/AAAAAAAABDE/jPr_Zdw4CPI/s320/clip+jakson.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351464307132933442" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQz5X4pavI/AAAAAAAABC8/C2_EPF6nCqM/s1600-h/4351-the-essential-michael-jackson.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 318px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQz5X4pavI/AAAAAAAABC8/C2_EPF6nCqM/s320/4351-the-essential-michael-jackson.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351459317980162802" /></a><br /><br />Good Bye Jacko..... You always in my mind.STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-39503254449374535702009-06-25T17:38:00.005+07:002009-06-26T09:32:40.281+07:00VYMAANIKA-SHAASTRA AERONAUTICS<span style="font-weight:bold;">INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SANSKRIT RESEARCH<br />VYMAANIKA-SHAASTRA<br />AERONAUTICS</span><br />by Maharshi Bharadwaaja<br />Propounded by Venerable SUBBARAYA SHASTRY<br />Translated into English and Edited, Printed and Published by G.R. JOSYER<br />SCHOLAR, HISTORIAN, ESSAYIST, SANSKRITIST<br />Printed at CORONATION PRESS, MYSORE-4, INDIA<br />[1973]<br /><br /><br />NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION<br />This text is NOT in the public domain in any country. This etext has been posted for archival and research purposes only and must not be exploited commercially. Any other uses may be subject to International Copyright law.<br /><br /><br />PREFACE<br /><br />by John Bruno Hare<br /><br />Have I lost my mind? This was the first reaction when I saw this listed for sale at the used book site, ABEBooks. I had heard rumors of this book for years, but for a long time I thought it was like the Necronomicon, a book which doesn't exist except as an urban myth. Yes, you can buy a Necronomicon at amazon.com, but let's get real. You will not be shredded by shambling extra-dimensional entities if you do . . .<br /><br />The Vymanika Shastra, however, is not a myth. In recent years, I had seen the English text reproduced in Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India & Atlantis (ISBN 0932813127), published by Adventures Unlimited, which I highly recommend for the fascinating background material on vimanas. However, that edition waffles a bit as to when the VS was actually first published. It also omits the first half of the book, consisting of over a hundred pages of Sanskrit, which, in my mind at least, is the most notable part of the book. And the original edition is almost unobtainable. Now I was face to face with an offer to purchase a first edition, at $160. That is probably on the low side; probably because the book looks so terrible, but (as will become clear below) that is probably the case with any copy of the 1973 edition. So I didn't hesitate.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvQd-ELII/AAAAAAAABBk/FE7wvnCl1eY/s1600-h/pl10.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvQd-ELII/AAAAAAAABBk/FE7wvnCl1eY/s320/pl10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454217192352898" /></a><br />The story of this book is as follows: sometime in the period just before World War I, a Brahman named Pandit Subbaraya Sastry began to dictate previously unknown texts in Sanskrit which purported to contain ancient Indian technological knowledge. He in turn, credited a Vedic sage named Maharshi Bharadwaja, as well as other Rishis who appear in legitimate Hindu texts.<br /><br />One of these 'channeled' texts was, on its face, a technical manual for the construction and use of 'vimanas,' the flying machines of the Vedic sagas. It is unclear as to whether any part of the present work was actually published in print at that time, even though it is implied in the introduction, so it is unclear whether it was published (in the legal sense) prior to 1923. The Sanskrit manuscript of the VS lay unpublished for over fifty years. In 1973, this text was published in a very limited edition by G.R. Josyer, along with a translation which he had produced over a twenty year period. In 1991, the English portion and the illustrations from the Josyer book were reprinted in the above-mentioned Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India & Atlantis.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwNOp5VZI/AAAAAAAABCs/ZP2qduV2BoQ/s1600-h/pl01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwNOp5VZI/AAAAAAAABCs/ZP2qduV2BoQ/s320/pl01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351455261053244818" /></a><br />It as if someone in the early 20th century wrote a 100 page book on ancient aircraft in Biblical Hebrew and attributed it to Moses and other prophets. However, the fact that the book was originally written in Sanskrit, while very impressive, isn't any indication of authenticity. Sanskrit is to some extent still a living language, used everyday in Hindu ritual. It is plausible that a well-educated high-caste Hindu from that period would be able to compose a Sanskrit text of this length given enough time.<br /><br />If you are looking for an ancient manuscript on this fascinating topic, you'll need to keep on looking. The Vymanika Shastra was first committed to writing between 1918 and 1923, and nobody is claiming that it came from some mysterious antique manuscript. The fact is, there are no manuscripts of this text prior to 1918, and nobody is claiming that there are. So on one level, this is not a hoax. You just have to buy into the assumption that 'channeling' works.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvFNl8FdI/AAAAAAAABBU/keDWEJtetBw/s1600-h/pl12.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 224px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvFNl8FdI/AAAAAAAABBU/keDWEJtetBw/s320/pl12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454023817631186" /></a><br />Finally my copy of Josyer's book arrived. Instead of the holy grail of UFO bibliophiles, at first sight this book (self-published in India) looks like a defective vintage US high school yearbook. The binding is askew and the book is difficult to open. The first couple of signatures are printed on slick paper, and the remainder on much lower grade which is quickly browning. For some reason it is bound in cheerful pink silk with what appears to be a photocopy of one of the illustrations glued to the front center. There is no printing on the spine or either cover. Frankly, nobody would look at it twice at a garage sale. It is no wonder that a large quantity of the 1973 print run ended up dumped in a root cellar in Bangalore (which made it even rarer).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQuu6aqk7I/AAAAAAAABA8/f5iO4-2C4oo/s1600-h/pl14cap.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQuu6aqk7I/AAAAAAAABA8/f5iO4-2C4oo/s320/pl14cap.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351453640712950706" /></a><br />So, does it live up to its billing? Yes, and no. There is an intriguing list of vimana capabilities, particularly what we today call countermeasures, This includes means to view remote images on screens, listen to remote sounds, disguise the vimana as clouds or other images, create terrifying sounds, and so on. There is an extensive discussion of the various types of vimanas and their construction, including some that can double as boats or submarines. There are discourses on the structure of the atmosphere, aeronautic hazards and how to avoid them, and even a section on diet and clothing for aviators! Of interest is the discussion of flying through the various yugas (epochs): in the earliest, most spiritual yuga, people could fly without any mechanical contrivances.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQu1ljr4MI/AAAAAAAABBE/YC_JnkqHzF8/s1600-h/pl14.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQu1ljr4MI/AAAAAAAABBE/YC_JnkqHzF8/s320/pl14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351453755372724418" /></a><br />On the other hand, there is no exposition of the theory of aviation (let alone antigravity). In plain terms, the VS never directly explains how vimanas get up in the air. The text is top-heavy with long lists of often bizarre ingredients used to construct various subsystems. This includes items such as monkey skin, eagle bones, sea-foam, and many that are only named in Sanskrit. Often the recipes are a mix of plant, animal and mineral ingredients, and involve mixing these ingredients and cooking them at high temperature in a furnace shaped like an animal, such as a frog. One wonders whether we are talking about metallurgy here, or some kind of alchemy. Most of the systems are described as mechanical devices, powered by steam, electricity or even solar power; a number literally involve smoke and mirrors.<br /><br />There is nothing here which Jules Verne couldn't have dreamed up, no mention of exotic elements or advanced construction techniques. The 1923 technical illustration based on the text (all of which are reproduced here), are absurdly un-aerodynamic. They look like brutalist wedding cakes, with minarets, huge ornithopter wings and dinky propellers. In other words, they look like typical early 20th century fantasy flying machines with an Indian twist. These illustrations do not (except in cross-section) resemble 'modern' UFOs. Nor do they look like ancient portrayals of vimanas, for that matter.<br /><br />However, even if this book is an elaborate modern creation, it doesn't invalidate the mystery of vimanas. Vimanas are widely described in the genuine ancient texts such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as other later texts such as the dramas of Kalidasa. They are not metaphors or hyperbole, nor do you have to be a god to own or ride one as in other mythologies. They are treated as manufactured, physical objects, even if portrayed as fanciful flying houses, invested with magical powers of levitation. Sometimes they are simply employed as a plot device to get characters from one end of India to the other quickly. Often they are portrayed as weapons of war. Also compelling, in my mind, are the descriptions of ancient Indian weapons that bear a striking resemblance to artillery, mechanized infantry, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, as well as high powered lasers or other energy beams. So there are abundant mysteries to explore in the ancient texts, which you can do at sacred-texts' Hindu texts area.<br /><br />So what have we learned? 1) this book does exist 2) there is extensive Sanskrit text in it, all written very recently 3) the English portion is all about vimanas. It does beg the question: what does the Sanskrit portion of this book actually contain? Not personally able to read Sanskrit, I await a critical edition of this work with an independent translation into English.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQuoKupzuI/AAAAAAAABA0/Qa4h4V8KcA8/s1600-h/pl15.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQuoKupzuI/AAAAAAAABA0/Qa4h4V8KcA8/s320/pl15.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351453524832669410" /></a><br />There is one other question about this book, namely its copyright status. Formally, this book is still under copyright, not only in the United States but in every other country (including India). However, that is only half the story. I decided to call up Adventures Unlimited and ask them what they knew. I was surprised when I found myself talking to their founder, David Hatcher Childress. Mr. Childress told me that although they had published the Josyer text in his Vimana book without any clearance since 1991, no claimant had ever turned up, even though it had gone through several editions. He also said that he had no objection to it being posted at sacred-texts.<br /><br />It is my belief, therefore, that this is an orphaned copyright. This is not surprising since the introduction mentions that Josyer was 81 when he began to publish the book (so he is presumably dead in 2005), and his oldest son also died tragically prior to its publication. So for this reason I've decided to relax my usual procedures and go ahead and post this text, due to the rarity and cultural significance of this book.<br /><br />This page (c) 2005, John Bruno Hare<br /><br />April 21, 2005,<br />Santa Cruz, CA.<br /><br /><br />FOREWORD<br /><br />On 25-8-1952 the Mysore representative of the Press Trust of India, Sri N. N. Sastry, sent up the following report which was published in all the leading dailies of India, and was taken up by Reuter and other World Press News Services:<br /><br />"Mr. G. R. Josyer, Director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Research in Mysore, in the course of an interview recently, showed some very ancient manuscripts which the Academy had collected. He claimed that the manuscripts were several thousands of years old, compiled by ancient rishis, Bharadwaja, Narada and others, dealing, not with the mysticism of ancient Hindu philosophy of Atman or Brahman, but with more mundane things vital for the existence of man and progress of nations both in times of peace and war.<br /><br />"Mr. Josyer's manuscripts dealt in elaborate detail about food processing from various indigenous materials like grass, vegetables and leaves for human consumption, particularly during times of famine.<br /><br />"One manuscript dealt with Aeronautics, construction of various types of aircraft for civil aviation and for warfare. He showed me plans prepared according to directions contained in the manuscript on Aeronautics of three types of aircraft or Vimanas, namely, Rukma, Sundara and Shakuna Vimanas. Five hundred slokas or stanzas dealing with these go into such intricate details about choice and preparation of metals that would be suitable for various parts of vimanas of different types, constructional details, dimensions, designs and weight they could carry, and purposes they could be used for.<br /><br />"Mr. Josyer showed some types of designs and drawing of a helicopter-type cargo-loading plane, specially meant for carrying combustibles and ammunition, passenger aircraft carrying 400 to 500 persons, double and treble-decked aircraft. Each of these types had been fully described.<br /><br />"In the section giving about preparation and choice of metals and other materials that should go into such construction of aircraft, details were specified that the aircraft, (these metals are of 16 different alloys), must be "unbreakable, which cannot be cut through, which would not catch fire, and cannot<br /><br />p. ii<br /><br />be destroyed by accidents." Details as to how to make these vimanas in flight invisible through smoke screens are given in Vimanasastra of Maharshi Bharadwaja.<br /><br />"Further description and method of manufacturing aircraft, which will enable pilots not only to spot enemy aircraft, but also to hear what enemy pilots in their planes were speaking, on principles akin to radar, have all been given in elaborate detail with suitable explanatory notes. There are eight chapters in this book which deal with construction of aircraft, which fly in air, go under water, or float on water.<br /><br />TRAINING OF PILOTS<br /><br />"A few slokas deal with qualifications and training of pilots to man these aircraft. These ancient types of aircraft are provided with necessary cameras to take pictures of approaching enemy planes. Yet another set of slokas deals with the kind of food and clothing to be provided for pilots to keep them efficient and fit in air flying conditions.<br /><br />"Mr. Josyer said he was attempting to publish these manuscripts suitably translated in English.<br /><br />"Another manuscript dealt with ancient Indian architecture, fully illustrated to facilitate construction. This treatise is ascribed to Maharshi Narada, and gives elaborate details about choice of constructional material for various types of buildings, even 15 storeys high. Sectional drawing has also been provided. A few chapters deal with construction of villages, cities and towns, fortresses, palaces and temples. This manuscript is full of plans and engineering constructional details to guide engineers.<br /><br />"Yet another manuscript from which Mr. G. R. Josyer read out passages referred to preparation of imitation diamonds and pearls. He also showed me another remarkable manuscript which deals in detail about food processing for invalids, for youth and for old and debilitated persons."<br /><br />A mild avalanche of letters blew towards us during the following days from all over India. One of the first was from James Burke of "Life International", from Delhi asking if he could come and see the Mss. We replied, "Please wire 1000 dollars, and then come." He was taken aback, and wrote that he thought people here felt honoured by being mentioned in "Life International,"<br /><br />p. iii<br /><br />but that we seemed to be different. We did not reply. Now James Burke is dead; and great "Life International" also is no more! Such is human evanescence!<br /><br />Miss Jean Lyon, journalist of Toronto and New York, wrote from Delhi that she would visit us. She came and saw the Mss, and recorded her interview with us in her book "Just Half a world Away" in a chapter headed "Science by Sutras", concluding with the charge that we were guilty of a rabid nationalism, seeking to wipe out everything since the Vedas!<br /><br />That is no way for a journalist to judge persons. We only hold that for Indians, or others, to wipe out the Vedas is absurd! We are neither rabid, nor national. God has created the Earth like a round ball, all its contents forming one compact unit, not a hundred and odd broken units as in the League of Nations. Only in maps is the earth shown broken into 2 hemispheres. If you actually break the Earth into 2 hemi-spheres, you will be having Doomsday!<br /><br />Ours is not nationalism, rabid or tame, but one world humanism, or world-citizenship. That should not shock Miss Jean Lyon.<br /><br />Others who wrote to enquire with excited wonder were Governor R. R. Diwakar of Behar, Maharaja of Kashi, Dr. Trivedi of "Searchlight," Patna, Professor Dwivedi of Gorakhpur, Professor Chauhan of Seoni, Professor Theeanee of Madras, Swamy Chaitanya of Mussoorie, H. R. Sharma of Phagwara, Harit Krishna Deb of Calcutta, R. B. Lal of Allahabad, P. S. Bharathi of Ootacamand, Miss McIntyre of Bangalore, M. V. Sharma, Industrialist, Madras, D. V. Potdar of Poona, Raja A. K. N. Singh of Ramnagar, U. P., Rao Bahadur M.A. Rangaswamy, Patna, N. Anandalwar, Bangalore.<br /><br />S. M. Sharma, editor, wrote in "Searchlight," Patna, "To an eminent Sanskrit scholar, Shri G. R. Josyer, Director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Research, Mysore, we owe the discovery of the manuscript on Vimanas by Maharshi Bharadwaja. Shri Josyer is already more than 70. Many Will share my hope and prayer that the Nehru Goverment would lose no time in acquiring the manuscript, which, according to my information, is most unique." Editor Sharma too is no more!<br /><br />The Mss. came to us by Divine grace! When on 28-6-1951 we got H. H. the Maharaja of Mysore to inaugurate the International Academy<br /><br />p. iv<br /><br />of Sanskrit Research, evidently it was an auspicious occasion. The Academy has truly attained International fame, and has become known from one end of the globe to the other!<br /><br />One of the guests coming from Bangalore for the ceremony brought a small manuscript in exercise book form containing the beginning of Maharshi Bharadwaja's "Vymanika Sastra." We were struck by it, and exhibited it along with our other Mss. in various stages of decay, to H. H. The Maharaja and Chief Minister K. C. Reddy and others when we took them round.<br /><br />After the function the Mss. was returned to the guest, who gave it back to the custodian of Pandit Subbaraya Sastry's literary records, Sri Venkatrama Sastry, B.A., B.L., Advocate of the Bangalore Bar. Subsequently we contacted him, and on our promise of doing our best to publish them, he was good enough to let us have copies of some of the manuscripts. The message of the Press Trust of India was with reference to them. The fan mail resulting therefrom brought enquiries from personages such as Air Commodore Goyal of the Western Command, Bangalore, The Editor of the Kesari and Mahratta, Poona, Major Gadre of Saraswati Mahal, Tanjore, Minister A. G. Ramachandra Rao, Bangalore, Sri Swamy of Bhandarkeri Mutt, M. G. Seth, Bombay, P. D. Padam Chand, Delhi, P. M. Kabali, Bombay, Aeronautical Society of India, Ministry of Scientific and Cultural Affairs, Delhi, the Director General of Civil Aviation, the Hindustan Aircrafts, Ltd.<br /><br />We then commenced printing the original in Sanskrit, and had made some progress, when suddenly there came a harsh letter from the donor, Sri Venkatrama Sastry, accusing us of exploiting the manuscripts for our personal benefit. Having had no such idea ourselves, it evoked disgust, and we replied that he could take back the manuscripts, and discontinued the printing!<br /><br />But then letters continued to come from far away, from estimable men avidly interested in the manuscript, and organs of learned Associations and books by scholars of the abstruse began to quote us as intending to bring out the publication. Seigfried Hansch, Deschenes, Canada, Hans Krefft, Berlin, Blaes-Gustaf-Nordquist, Stockholm, Sweden, Bjorn Loven, Innsbruck, Austria, Joachim Rothaner, Kellerburg, Austria, Jan Wallgren, Stockholm, P. Salzmann de la Mar, Eskilstuna, Sweden, Hans-Werner-Von Engel, Bad Gadesberg, West Germany, Sten Lindgren, Stockholm, Lars Eric<br /><br />p. v<br /><br />[paragraph continues] Helin, Kalender, Gothenburg, Sweden, WM. Dawson & Sons, London, Charles Danois, Kristianstad, Sweden, James Alves, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Torbjorn Holmquist, Vetlanda, Sweden, Ernest Heinrich, Homburg, Klaus Aarsleff Jorgensen, Skellingsted, Denmark, Gosta Karlsson, Stockholm, Peter Bernin, Malmo, Sweden, Dr. Curtis J Mccall, Lake Worth, Florida, Robert Ashley Falk, Auckland, New Zealand, Terry W. Colvin, Evansville, U.S.A., Sven Bertil Hansson, Malmo, Sweden, Kjell Ericson, Borlonge, Maurice T. Caison, North Carolina, M. A. Gresham, Jr. Atlanta, U.S.A. Alan Y. Wilcox, Lauderdale, Florida, Strubes, Copenhagen, Demmark, Alan D. William, Downey, California, Stuve Sundquist, Uppsala, Bo H. Svensson, Sweden, Karen Kesti, Republic WA, U.S.A., Richard Watson, New South Wales, Australia, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada, Dr. Jacq Eskens, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Bernin Co Moberg, Montmartre, Paris, L.S.U. Rydberg, Stockholm, Chairman, E. A. G. Mackay, British Unidentified Flying Object Research Association, London, Mrs. Annica Foxcraft, Transvaal, Oliver Williams, Weimar, Texas, Jan Swagermann, Ship "Johannra", Amsterdam, Robert B. Young, Jr. Radco Incorporated, Houston, Texas, Sam J. Lundwall, Askild and Karnekull, Stockholm, Dr. Cedric Leonard, Oklahoma, Gwendelholm, Stockholm, Michele Bonamici, Milan, Italy, Jose M. Fernandez, Goteborg, Sweden, President Lennort Lidfoss, Spectrum, Forlags, A. B. Danderyd, Sweden.<br /><br />The "Clima Astral" of Brazil, "The Mexican News" of Mexico, The "Spectrum" and "Pursuit" of U.S.A. and three Swedish books on ancient and astral research, "Kulturer Fore Istiden" by Ivan Troing, "Forntidens Teknik" by H. Kjellson, and "Flygande Tefat" by Max B. Miller, reproduced our original descriptive leaflet, and announced that we expected to publish the remarkable volume. The Maharaja of Mysore invited us, and after offering Tea, wanted the Manuscript for being shown to Dr. Thacker, the National Scientist of India. We reminded him that Sanskritists were averse to parading knowledge before idle curiosity, and that the manuscript had to be translated into English and tested by research, and then only made available for the public gaze. Four scientist Doctors from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, came with a letter of Introduction from the Head of The Department of Power Engineering, Dr. M.A. Tirunarayanan, and sought clarification from us!<br /><br />It was as if the orange-shaped Earth had become a porcupine, and was shooting its quills at us from all sides, in order to goad us into the task, which we had been reluctant to take up as being too onerous for us!<br /><br />p. vi<br /><br />We had therefore to gather strength from the cumulative good-will of the world-wide public, and gird ourselves up for the strenuous undertaking.<br /><br />To be really of value the volume had to include the Sanskrit original, its translation in English as demanded by western readers, and sketches showing the designs of the Vimanas for further clarification. It had to be a beautiful volume commensurate with the magnificence of its subject, and the high expectations of the public awaiting its publication.<br /><br />Thus, at the age of 81 we had to sit up and translate the technical Sanskrit into readable English, and scrutinise the printing of both the Sanskrit and English, involving the strain of multiple proof-reading. The finance required was considerable, and as no help was forthcoming, we had to scrape together the meagre savings of a life-time, procure needful printing equipment at mounting costs, engage labour at emergency rates, and at long last, with the help of Divine grace, are able to herald the birth of the volume, which has been in gestation for over ninety years!<br /><br />"Vymaanika Shastra" consists of nearly 6000 lines, or 3000 verses of lucid Sanskrit, dealing with the construction of Vimaanas or Aeroplanes. That the vocabulary of ancient Sanskrit could in simple flowing verse depict the technical details with effortless ease is a tribute to the language, and the greatness of the author.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaja is an august name in the pantheon of Hindu Sages who recorded Indian civilization, in the spiritual, intellectual, and scientific fields in the hoary past. They transmitted knowledge from mouth to mouth, and from ear to ear, for long eras. Written transmission through birch-backs or palm-leaves, or home-made paper, are from this side of a thousand years. Even they are to be found in mangled forms owing to the depredation of time, weather and insect hordes. There is no-written material for the vast volume of Vedas, Upanishads, Shastras, and Puranas, which have come down for over 10000 years as a patrimony, not only for India, but for mankind in general. They remain imbedded in the ether of the sky, to be revealed--like television,--to gifted mediums of occult perception.<br /><br />Venerable Pandit Subbaraya Sastry, who has left the legacy of manuscript treasures including "Vymanika Shastra", was a simple, orthodox, intellectual<br /><br />p. vii<br /><br />[paragraph continues] Brahmin with spiritual gifts, who was esteemed by all who knew him, Englishmen and anglicised or educated Indians, in various walks of life.<br /><br />He was a walking lexicon gifted with occult perception. His sole aim was to transmit his knowledge to posterity. He lived a life of poverty, like Socrates, and sought no gains for himself.<br /><br />In 1885 Mr. B. Suryanarain Rao, B.Sc., M. R. A. S., distinguished Astrologer and Editor, first met him and became his devoted exponent. In 1911 he started a Magazine in Madras named "Bhowthika Kalaa Nidhi," or "Treasure house of physical sciences", and published extracts from the revelations of the venerable scholar. We are in possession of 6 issues of that rare Journal which came to us by Divine grace.<br /><br />On 1-8-1918 he began to dictate "Vymanika Sastra" to Mr. Venkatachala Sarma, who took down the whole in 23 exercise books up to 23-8-1923.<br /><br />That gave manuscript shape to Maharshi Bharadwaja's "Vymanika Sastra". Then by a flash of genius he engaged a draughtsman, and got drawings of some varieties of the Vimanas prepared under his instructions, which form an indispensable adjunct to the manuscript proper. That was in 1923. India was then under British rule. Gandhi's Non-co-operation movement was catching fire. And, it is said, Pandit Subbaraya Sastry was arrested! Yeoman efforts procured his release. But his activities had to remain confined. In 1928 he addressed a letter to the Maharaja of Darbbanga for aid in publication of the manuscripts. But the rich in India have got deaf ears, and warped minds! Then, disappointed and broken-hearted, in the early 30's, venerable Subbaraya Sastry passed out of this world, and left it the poorer thereby!<br /><br />For some 20 years his literary treasures remained as under frigidaire, guarded by his daughter and young Mr. Venkatrama Sastry. Then the Unseen Powers began to play, and the manuscripts were released to light. And at last it has pleased God to enable us to present Maharshi Bharadwaja's "Vymanika Sastra" to the world's elite, and pay our tribute to the memories of Maharshi Bharadwaja and venerable Subbaraya Sastry.<br /><br />We thank God for His gracious favour. We thank Mr. Venkatrama Sastry who made the manuscript available to us; our first son, G. S. Josyer, M.A., B.ED., who contacted Mr. Venkatrama Sastry and brought the Mss.,<br /><br />p. viii<br /><br />prepared it for the press, and even composed a portion of the Mss., and met an untimely death in the midst of his useful career; our younger son, G. N. Josyer; B.E., who has been helping us in seeing the work through; and our consultants in the course of the work, Sris. Alwar Tirumaliengar and M. A. Tirunarayan, B.E., M.I.E., M. N. Srinivasan, B.Sc, Hons, LL.B., Professor M. A. Tirunarayanan, D.Sc, and Sris M. C. S. Chari, B.Sc., N. Narasimhan, B.E., R. T. Krishnan, B.E., Pandit K. Ramaswamy Iyengar, and Mr. N. N. Sastry of P.T.I., and other associates and assistants.<br /><br />Sanskrit and English have been our two eyes since some 75 years, and we are placing the unique volume before the elite of the world as an outstanding contribution to world literature from the ever-living past. We hope they will deem it an invaluable addition to their libraries, and find it an ever interesting companion.<br /><br />The 20th century may be said to be made historic by 2 achievements, the bringing of Moon-rock from outer space, and the publication of "Vymanika Sastra" from the unknown past. The Moon-rock is just rock, not a cluster of shining pebbles from Kimberley of South Africa. But the "Vymanika Sastra" is a Cornucopia of precious formulas for the manufacture of Aeroplanes, which should make Lindbergh, Rolls, Zeppelin, De Havilland, Tupolev, and Harold Gray of Pan American, gape in astonishment, and if duly worked up, herald a new era of Aeroplane manufacture for the benefit of Mankind!<br /><br />G. R. JOSYER<br />Hon. Director, International<br />Academy of Sanskrit Research,<br /><br />15-3-1973<br />Mysore-4, India.<br /><br /><br />MAHARSHI BHARADWAAJA'S<br /><br />VYMAANIKA-SHAASTRA<br /><br />OR<br /><br />SCIENCE OF AERONAUTICS<br /><br />Part of his unknown work<br /><br />"YANTRA SARVASVA"<br /><br />or<br /><br />"ALL ABOUT MACHINES"<br /><br />as revealed to venerable<br /><br />Pandit SUBBARAYA SASTRY<br /><br />and recorded in hand-written Sanskrit Manuscript Form<br /><br />translated into English by<br /><br />G. R. JOSYER, M.A., Hons., F.R.E.S., M.R.S.L.<br /><br />Founder Director,<br /><br />INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SANSKRIT RESEARCH,<br /><br />Printed at the<br /><br />CORONATION PRESS, MYSORE 4, INDIA.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Maharshi Bharadwaaja's<br />VYMAANIKA SHAASTRA<br />FIRST CHAPTER</span><br /><br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />I make obeisance to the Divine Being, who is visible on the crest of the Vedas, who is the fountain of eternal bliss, and whose abode is reached by Vimaanas or Aeroplanes. Having studied the Shaastraas or sciences propounded by previous men of science to the best of my ability, for the benefit of mankind, I shall deal with the science of Aeronautics, which is the essence of the Vedas, which will be a source of joy and benefit to humanity, which will facilitate comfortable travel in the sky from world to world, in eight chapters, consisting of 100 topics, in 500 sutras or cryptic pronouncements.<br /><br />Commentary by Bodhaananda:<br /><br />I bow to God Mahadeva and His Consort, to Saraswathi Goddess of learning, to Ganapathy guardian of benevolent efforts, and to my venerable preceptor, and I bow to Maharshi Bharadwaaja. In Addition to my own knowledge of Logic, I have five times turned over Vaalmeeki's Mathematics, 'Paribhaashaa Chandrikaa,' and 'Naamaarthhakalpaka,' and aided by their authority, I, Swaamy Bodhaananda, for the easy understanding of the young, have written this 'Bodhananda Vritti,' to elucidate Maharshi Bharadwaaja's concisely worded text on Aeronautics.<br /><br />At the outset Maharshi Bharadwaaja invokes God in the traditional manner for the successful commencement, progress, and completion of his great literary work. Attaining mastery over the Vedas by Divine Grace, and studying the works of earlier Aachaaryaas or preceptors, he has churned the Vedic lore, and extracting the, cream, presented it to mankind for reaping untold benefits, in the work named 'Yantrasarvasva.' In the fortieth chapter therein he deals with the science of Aeronautics, explaining the construction and use of many kinds of aeroplanes, in 8 chapters, containing 100 subject heads, comprising 500 sutras or oracular pronouncements.<br /><br />p. 2<br /><br />In the first stanza the reference is to the teaching of the sacred works, "Uttara-taapaneeya," 'Shaibya-prasna,' 'Kaataka,' and 'Maandookya,' that the symbolic letter, 'Om,' leads to the knowledge of God and Salvation. Bharadwaaja implies that the Vimaana or aeroplane constructed according to Vymaanika Shaastra, may enable men to reach God, and enjoy the benefits of His Divine abode.<br /><br />The previous Aachaaryaas Bharadwaaja refers to are named by Vishwanaatha as,--Naaraayana, Shownaka, Garga, Vaachaspathi, Chaakraayani and Dhundinaatha, venerable authors of "Vimaana-Chandrikaa", "Vyomayaana-Tantra," "Yantra-Kalpa", "Yaana-Bindu," "Kheta-yaana Pradeepikaa," and "Vyomayaana-Arkaprakaasha," respectively.<br /><br />Bharadwaaja thus defines the word Vimaana:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ Vega-Saamyaat Vimaano Andajaanaam. Sootra 1.<br /><br />"Owing to similarity of speed with birds, it is named Vimaana."</span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />The word "andaja" means "egg-born", and includes eagles and other birds which fly by their own volition. The Vimaana is a vehicle which flies in the sky with speed comparable with birds.<br /><br />Lallachaarya says, "That which can fly in the sky with speed equal to that of birds, is called Vimaana."<br /><br />Aachaarya Naaraayana says,<br /><br />"That which can speed on earth, on water, through air, by its own power, like a bird, is a "Vimaana."<br /><br />Shankha says, "Experts in the science of aeronautics say, "That which can fly through air from one place to another is a Vimaana"<br /><br />And Vishwambhara says, "Experts say that that which can fly through air from one country to another country, from one island to another island, and from one world to another world, is a "Vimaana"."<br /><br />Having thus defined the name of the Vimaana, the sage proceeds to describe its details.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ Rahasyagnyodhikaaree. Sootra 2.<br /><br />"The pilot is one who knows the secrets."</span><br /><br />Bodhaananda: Scientists say that there are 32 secrets of the working of the Vimaana. A pilot should acquaint himself thoroughly with them before<br /><br />p. 3<br /><br />he can be deemed competent to handle the aeroplane. He must know the structure of the aeroplane, know the means of its take off and ascent to the sky, know how to drive it and how to halt it when necessary, how to manoeuvre it and make it perform spectacular feats in the sky without crashing. Those secrets are given in "Rahasya-Lahari" and other works, by Lalla and other masters, and are described thus:<br /><br />"The pilot should have had training in maantrica and taantrica, kritaka and antaraalaka, goodha or hidden, drishya and adrishya or seen and unseen, paroksha and aparoksha, contraction and expansion, changing shape, look frightening, look pleasing, become luminous or enveloped in darkness, deluge or pralaya, vimukha, taara, stun by thunderous din, jump, move zig-zag like serpent, chaapala, face all sides, hear distant sounds, take pictures, know enemy manoeuvres, know direction of enemy approach, stabdhaka or paralyse, and karshana or exercise magnetic pull.<br /><br />These 32 secrets the pilot should learn from competent preceptors, and only such a person is fit to be entrusted with an aeroplane, and not others.<br /><br />They are explained thus by Siddhanaatha:<br /><br />1. Maantrika; As prescribed in "Mantraadhikaara," by invoking the mantras of Chhinnamasta, Bhairavee, Veginee, Siddhaamba, acquire the powers of ghutikaa, paadukaa, visible and invisible and other mantraas with potent herbs and efficacious oils, and Bhuvaneswaree Mantra which confers spiritual and mesmeric powers, to construct aeroplanes, which don't break cannot be cut, cannot be burnt, and cannot be destroyed.<br /><br />2. Taantrika: By acquiring Mahaamaaya, Shambara, and other taantric powers, to endow the plane with those powers.<br /><br />3. Kritaka: By study of architects like Vishwakarma, Chhaayaaparusha, Mann, Maya and others, to construct aeroplanes of various patterns.<br /><br />4. Antaraala: In the wind-swept atmospheric region of the sky, in the clash at the borders of mighty currents, an inadvertent plane is likely to be smashed to pieces. But by getting warned of the approach of such danger spots, the plane could be halted and steered with care.<br /><br />5. Goodha: As explained in 'Vaayutatva-Prakarana', by harnessing the powers, Yaasaa, Viyaasaa, Prayaasaa in the 8th atmospheric layer covering the earth, to attract the dark content of the solar ray, and use it to hide the Vimaana from the enemy.<br /><br />p. 4<br /><br />6. Drishya: By collision of the electric power and wind power in the atmosphere, a glow is created, whose reflection is to be caught in the Vishwa-Kriyaa-darapana or mirror at the front of the Vimana, and by its manipulation produce a Maaya-Vimaana or camouflaged Vimana.<br /><br />7. Adrishya: According to "Shaktitantra", by means of the Vynarathya Vikarana and other powers in the heart centre of the solar mass, attract the force of the ethereal flow in the sky, and mingle it with the balaahaavikarana shakti in the aerial globe, producing thereby a white cover, which will make the Vimana invisible.<br /><br />8. Paroksha: According to "Meghotpatthi-prakarana," or the science of the birth of clouds, by entering the second of the summer cloud layers, and attracting the power therein with the shaktyaakarshana darpana or force-attraction mirror in the Vimana, and applying it to the parivesha or halo of the Vimaana, a paralysing force is generated, and opposing Vimaanas are paralysed and put out of action.<br /><br />9. Aparoksha: According to 'Shakti-tantra,' by projection of the Rohinee beam of light, things in front of the Vimaana are made visible.<br /><br />10. Sankocha, or Contraction: As prescribed in the Yantraangopasamhaara section, when the Vimaana is flying at speed with fully extended wings, and there is danger ahead, turning the 7th switch in the Vimana, its parts can be made to contract.<br /><br />11. Vistrita: According to 'Akaashatantra', when the Vimana is in the central air flood in the third and first regions of the sky, by turning the switch in the 11th section of plane, it becomes expanded suitably according to "Vaalmeeki Ganita."<br /><br />12. Viroopa Karana: As stated in "Dhooma Prakarana", by producing the 32nd kind of smoke through the mechanism, and charging it with the light of the heat waves in the sky, and projecting it through the padmaka chakra tube to the bhyravee oil-smeared Vyroopya-darpana at the top of the Vimaana, and whirling with 132nd type of speed, a very fierce and terrifying shape of the Vimana will emerge, causing utter fright to onlookers.<br /><br />13. Roopaantara: As stated in "Tylaprakarana," by preparing griddhrajihwaa, kumbhinee, and kaakajangha oils and anointing the distorting mirror in the Vimaana with them, applying to it the 19th kind of smoker<br /><br />p. 5<br /><br />and charging with the kuntinee shakti in the Vimana, shapes like lion, tiger, rhinoceros, serpent, mountain, river will appear and amaze observers and confuse them.<br /><br />14. Suroopa: By attracting the 13 kinds of Karaka force mentioned in "Karaka prakarana" applying snow-surcharged air and projecting it through the air conveying tube to the pushpinee-pinjula mirrors in the front right side of the Vimana, and focusing on it the suragha beam, a heavenly damsel bedecked with flowers and jewels will appear to onlookers of the Vimana.<br /><br />15. Jyotirbhaava: As stated in "Amshubodhinee," out of Samgnaana and other 16 digits of the solar glow, by attracting the 12th to the 16th digits and focusing them on the air force in the Mayookha section in the fourth pathway in the sky, and similarly by attracting the force of the etherial glow and mingling it with the glow in the 7th layer of air mass, and then by projecting both these forces through the 5 tubes in the Vimana on to the section of the guhaa-garbha mirror, a rich glow like the morning glow of the sun will be produced.<br /><br />16. Tamomaya: As described in "Darpana Prakarana," by means of the dark force mirror, capture the force of darkness, pass it through the Thamo-Yantra in the north-west side of the Vimana, and by turning a switch produce at noon-day the utter darkness of the night of the new-moon.<br /><br />17. Pralaya: As described in the magic book of destruction, attract the 5 kinds of smoke through the tube of the contracting machine in the front part of the Vimana, and merge it in the cloud-smoke mentioned in "Shadgarbha Viveka", and pushing it by electric force through the five-limbed aerial tube, destroy everything as in a cataclysm.<br /><br />18. Vimukha: As mentioned in "Rig-hridaya", by projecting the force of Kubera, Vimukha and Vyshawaanara poison powder through the third tube of the roudree mirror and turning the switch of the air mechanism, produce wholesale insensibility and coma.<br /><br />19. Taara: By mixing with etherial force 10 parts of air forte, 7 parts of water force, and 16 parts of solar glow, and projecting it by means of the star-faced mirror through the frontal tube of the Vimana; the appearance of a star-spangled sky is created.<br /><br />p. 6<br /><br />20. Mahaashabda Vimohana: By concentrating the air force in the seven tubes of the Vimana, and turning the switch, produce, as stated in "Shabda prakaashikaa" a crescendo of thunderous din, which stuns people, and makes them quake with fear and become insensible.<br /><br />21. Langhana: As stated in "Vaayu tattva prakarana" When crossing from one air stream into another, the Vimana faces the baadaba glow of the sun and catches fire. In order to prevent that, the electric force and air force in the Vimana should be conjoined and centred in the life-centre of the Vimana, and by turning the switch, the Vimana will leap into safety.<br /><br />22. Saarpa-Gamana: By attracting the dandavaktra and other seven forces of air, and joining with solar rays, passing it through the zig-zagging centre of the Vimana, and turning the switch, the Vimana will have a zig-zagging motion like a serpent.<br /><br />23. Chaapala: On sighting an enemy plane, by turning the switch in the force centre in the middle section of the Vimana, a 4087 revolutions an hour atmospheric wave speed will be generated, and shake up the enemy plane.<br /><br />24. Sarvatomukha: When a formation of enemy planes comes to attack one's Vimana, by turning the switch at the crown of the Vimana, make it revolve with agility and face all sides.<br /><br />25. Parashabda Graahaka: As explained in "Sowdaaminee kalaa" or science of electronics, by means of the sound capturing yantra in the Vimana, to hear the talks and sounds in enemy planes flying in the sky.<br /><br />26. Roopaakarshana: By means of the photographic yantra in the Vimana to obtain a television view of things inside an enemy plane.<br /><br />27. Kriyaagrahana: By turning the key at the bottom of the Vimana, a white cloth is made to appear. By electrifying the three acids in the north-east part of the Vimana, and subjecting them to the 7 kinds of solar rays, and passing the resultant force into the tube of the Thrisheersha mirror and making the cloth screen face the mirror, and switching on the upper key, all the activities going on down below on the ground, will be projected on the screen.<br /><br />p. 7<br /><br />28. Dikpradarshana: Turning the key at the front of the Vimana the dishaampati yantra will show the direction from which the enemy plane is approaching.<br /><br />29. Aakaashaakaara: According to "Aakaasha-tantra", by mixing black mica solution with neem and bhoonaaga decoctions and smearing the solution on the outer body of the Vimana made of mica plates, and exposing to solar rays, the plane will look like the sky and become indistinguishable.<br /><br />30. Jalada roopa: Mixing pomegranate juice, bilva or bael oil, copper-salt, kitchen smoke, granthika or gugul liquid, mustard powder, and fish scale decoctions, and adding sea-shell and rock-salt powder, and collecting smoke of the same solution and spreading it with solar heat enveloping the cover, the Vimana will have the appearance of a cloud.<br /><br />31. Stabdhaka: By projecting apasmaara poison-fume smoke through the tube on the north side on the Vimana, and discharging it with stambhana-yantra, people in enemy planes will be made unconscious.<br /><br />32. Karshana: When enemy planes come in strength to destroy one's Vimana, by setting aflame the Jwaalinee shakit in the Vyshwaanara-naala or pipe located at the navel of the plane, and switching the keys of the two wheels to 87 degrees of heat, the burning shakti will envelope the enemy plane and destroy it.<br /><br />These are the 32 rahasyaas or secrets which should be known by pilots according to Siddhanaatha.<br /><br />"Maargaadhikaranam " Aerial Routes:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ Panchagnyascha. Sootra 3.<br /><br />"The pilot should know five things."</span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />As the secrets of aeronautics are indicated in the second sutra, the five atmospheric regions are referred to in the third sutra. According to Shownaka, the regions of the sky are five, named, Rekhaapathha, Mandala, Kakshya, Shakti, and Kendra.<br /><br />In these 5 atmospheric regions, there are 5,19,800 air ways traversed by Vimanas of the Seven Lokas or worlds, known as Bhooloka, Bhuvarloka, Suvarloka, Maholoka, Janoloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka.<br /><br />p. 8<br /><br />Dhundinaatha and "Vaalmeeki Ganita" state that Rekha has 7,03,00,800 air routes, Mandala has 20,08,00200 air routes, Kakshya has 2,09,00,300 air routes, Shakti has 10,01,300 air routes, and Kendra has 30,08,200 air routes.<br /><br />According to "Vaalmeeki Ganita" in the Rekhaapathha region, sections 1 to 4 are suitable for the passage of the Vimanas of this Bhooloka. In the Mandala region sections 3 to 5 are suitable for Vimanas of Bhuvarloka, Suvarloka, and Maholoka dwellers. For the Janoloka Vimanas sections 2 to 5 in the Kakshya region are suitable. Section 1 to 6 in the Shakti region are suitable for the Vimanas of Tapoloka. For the dwellers of Bramhaloka sections 3 to 11 in the Kendra region are suitable, according to shaastras like "Vaalmeeki Ganita" and others.<br /><br />Maharashi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ Aavartaascha. Sootra 4.<br /><br />"Whirl-Pools"<br /></span><br />Aavartaas or aerial whirlpools are innumerable in the above regions. Of them the whirlpools in the routes of Vimanas are five. In the Rekhapathha there occurs "Shaktyaavarta" or whirlpool of energy. In Mandala-pathha there occurs the whirlpool of winds. In Kakshyaa-pathha there occurs Kiranaavarta or whirlpool from solar rays. In Shakti-pathha there occurs shytyaavarta or whirlpool of cold-currents. And in Kendra-pathha there occurs gharshanaavartha or whirl-pool by collision. Such whirlpools are destructive of Vimanas, and have to be guarded against.<br /><br />The pilot should know these five sources of danger, and learn to steer clear of them to safety.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ Angaanyekatrimsat. Sootra 5.<br /><br />"The parts are thirty one"<br /></span><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Just as the human body, if it is complete in all its limbs, is best able to accomplish things, the Vimana, if it is complete in all its parts, will be capable of functioning efficiently. From the location of the Vishwakriyaadarpana<br /><br />p. 9<br /><br />[paragraph continues] 31 locations of Vimana components are mentioned.<br /><br />According to "Chaayaapurusha Shaastra" they are:<br /><br /> <br /><br />1. Vishwakriyaadarpana or mirror of outside views.<br /><br />2. Shaktyaakarshana or energy attracting mirror.<br /><br />3. Parivesha mechanism above the hood of the Vimana.<br /><br />4. Angopasamhaara yantra or folding up yantra at the 7th bindukeelaka.<br /><br />5. Vistritakriyaa or opening out yantra location in the middle of the 11th section.<br /><br />6. Vyroopya darpana and<br /><br />7. Padmachakramukha at the shirobhaaga or crest of the Vimana.<br /><br />8. The Kuntinee-shakti mechanism is to be in the neck of the Vimana.<br /><br />9. Pushpinee and Pinjulaa Mirrors are to be in the right side of the centre.<br /><br />10. At the front of the left side are to be located the Naalapanchaka or 5 pipes.<br /><br />11. Guhaagarbha mirror yantra is to be in the front part of the stomach of the plane.<br /><br />12. Thamoyantra at the north western side.<br /><br />13. Pancha-vaataskandha-naala on the western centre.<br /><br />14. Rowdree mirror.<br /><br />15. Vaataskandha keelaka at the bottom centre.<br /><br />16. Shaktisthaana at the front and right sides.<br /><br />17. Shabda-kendra-mukha at the left side.<br /><br />18. Vidyuddwaadashaka at the north-east side.<br /><br />19. Praanakundala at the moola of the Vimana.<br /><br />20. Shaktyudgama at the navel of the Vimana.<br /><br />21. Vakraprasaarana at the side of Vimanaadhaara.<br /><br />22. Shaktipanjara in the central portion.<br /><br />23. Shirahkeelaka at the head of the Vimana.<br /><br />24. Shabdaakarshaka yantra at the shoulder.<br /><br />25. Pata-prasaarana at the bottom centre.<br /><br />26. Dishaampati yantra at the left front.<br /><br />27. Pattikaabhraka at the centre of the hood of the Vimana.<br /><br />28. Solar power attractor at the top of the Vimana.<br /><br />p. 10<br /><br />29. Apasmaara or poison gas at the sandhi-naala mukha or junction tube front.<br /><br />30. Sthambhana yantra at the bottom.<br /><br />31. Vyshwaanara-naala at the navel centre.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">This is the placing of the 31 components of the Vimana.<br /><br />"Vasthraadhikaranam ": On Clothing</span><br /><br />Maharashi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Yantu-praavaraneeyow prithak prithak ritubhedaat." Sootra 6.<br /><br />"The clothing should be different for different seasons."<br /><br />The sootra defines the clothing which is to be provided to the pilot in accordance with different seasonal conditions. The impact of the sun's myriad rays on the revolving earth causes seasonal climatic changes. Their effects on human life are either wholesome or unwholesome, as the case may be. The latter cause cramps, drain blood, and denude the body of fat, flesh, and other ingredients. The evil forces of the seasons are reckoned as 25, and affect the skin, bone, flesh, fat, muscles, nerves, joints and other parts of the pilots' body. The clothing provided to them should be such as to safeguard against such effects, and maintain their efficiency.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvApFLP4I/AAAAAAAABBM/3C5yt7jybZk/s1600-h/pl13.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 227px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvApFLP4I/AAAAAAAABBM/3C5yt7jybZk/s320/pl13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351453945297059714" /></a><br />According to "Pata-samskaara Ratnaakara", silk, cotton, moss, hair, mica, leather, are to be purified by 25 processes, washed with mica-saturated water, and spun into yarn as prescribed by Gaalava. Then fibres from the ketaki flower palm, arka or swallow wort or madar, sun flower tree, cocoanut and jute, should each be purified 8 times as prescribed and by 19 processes, spun into yarn, and woven into cloth. Then the cloth should be soaked in the oils of linseed, tulasi or basil, goose-berry, shamee or acacia suma, bael, and mustard, and dried in the sun 5 times daily for 7 days. Then yellow ochre, lac, tamarind, honey and gingelly manure and mica in equal parts and yena-kshaara salt, put in a crucible vessel, placed in koorma furnace, and boiled with the aid of 3 faced bellows. 8 seers of linseed juice should be added to it. Bees wax, mica, shinjeera, vajra, borax, and ashoka fruit should be boiled, and their oil mixed with the other composition, and boiled in garbhataapana yantra. Then the cloth should be soaked in that decoction and dried 5 times. With this material, fashioning the apparel and<br /><br />p. 11<br /><br />clothes of the pilots handsomely, according to the types of the cloth and requirements the crew, as prescribed by Agnimitra, and handing it to them to wear, they should be conferred benediction, given a protective amulet and then sent out with cheers. It will ward off evils, promote fitness of body and health of mind, and improve their strength, energy, and competence.<br /><br />Aahaaraadhikaranam: On Food<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ "Aahaarah Kalpabhedaat" Sootra 7.<br /><br />"Food according to Seasons."<br /></span><br />Bodhaananda Vrritti:<br /><br />As stated in Kalpa Sootra, the food of the pilots is of three kinds, according to the seasons. "Ashana-Kalpa" or "Principles of Diet", says--"During the spring and summer months, the pilot's food should consist of buffalo-milk among liquids, among grains aadhaka or tuvar-dhal, and among flesh, the flesh of sheep.<br /><br />In the 4 months of rains and autumn, cow's milk among liquids, wheat and black-gram among grains, and flesh of cocks and hens.<br /><br />In the 4 months of winter and snow, goat's-milk, yava and black-gram among grains, and flesh of sparrows.<br /><br />For pilots belonging to the three Dwija castes of Braahmin, Kshatriya and Vyshya, the food will not include flesh.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ "Visha Naashas Tribhyaha" Sootra 8.<br /><br />"The three Varieties ward off seasonal evil effects"</span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />The 25 kinds of poisonous effects of the seasons are warded off by alteration in the food so as to suit the seasonal conditions.<br /><br />p. 12<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"Vishanirnaya-adhikara" states,--</span><br /><br />The seasons are each differently conditioned by the changes in the watery forces in the sky. The 101 forces in the aerial atmosphere, colliding with the 1/16th force in the watery sky in the seventh region, at the sineevaalee and kuhoo yogas or full-moon and new-moon conjunctions, produce maleficent and beneficent effects. The beneficent forces are 7,58,00,700 in number, and the maleficent forces also are of the same number, according to "Vaalmeeki Ganita". The beneficent effects are during the full moon period, and the maleficent effects during the new-moon period. 25 maleficent poisonous forces known as Bhedinee, tend to paralyse the pilots' physical effeciency. That is avoided by altering their food according to seasons. So says Sage Shaataatapa.<br /><br />By such adjustment the pilots' physical fitness will be maintained.<br /><br />Maharashi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ "Tat Kaalaanusaaraat iti" Sootra 9.<br /><br />"That at set times"</span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Having defined the seasonal types of food, the meal times are now defined. According to Shownaka, the times for taking meals are prescribed as follows: Family men should take food twice a day, or once a day. Ascetics should take food once a day. Others can take food four times a day. Air pilots should take food 5 times a day. And yogis may take as many times as they like.<br /><br />According to "Lalla-kaarika" or "Diet Rules" by Lalla,<br /><br />Food should be taken at the end of the 2nd yaama-(yaama=3 hours) in the day time, and at the end of the 1st yaama in the night. That is for family men. If they take only one meal a day, it should be during the 3rd and 4th yaamas. Sanyaasis or ascetics who eat only once a day should dine as above. For the labouring classes the times are thrice during day time, and once in the night. For pilots of Vimanas the meals are thrice during day time, and twice at night.<br /><br />p. 13<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Tadabhaavay Sathva-Golovaa" Sootra 10.<br /><br />"If unavailable, then vitamin pills or food-balls"<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />If the prescribed food-stuffs are not available for use during their flights, then essence extracts made by proper cooking with admixture of spices and condiments into potable and eatable form, or food balls-made out of them should be supplied to the pilots for consumption on flights.<br /><br />Says "Ashana kalpa" or "Food manual",<br /><br />"There are 5 kinds of food, that are nutritious and wholesome; cooked rice or grain, gruel, cooked flour, baked flat bread, and preparations made out of essence-extracts from food materials. The last named are superior to all the others".<br /><br />"Paakasarvasva" or "Art of cooking" observes,<br /><br />"Removing the husk and other non-food parts from it by machines, the grain should be made into flour and cooked in a suitable vessel and when it has reached the 8th degree of reduction, add essences, sweets, condiments, and ghee, and prepare food-balls, having nice flavour and delicious taste, and being nourishing to the body.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Phala Moola Kanda Saarovaa." Sootra 11.<br /><br />"Or essence of fruits, roots, and bulbs."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />In this sootra it is stated that preparations made from edible roots, potato and other bulbous vegetables, and from fruits are also suitable as food.<br /><br />"Ashana-Kalpa" says,<br /><br />If food made of grains is not available, that from roots, bulbs, and fruits may by used as food, in the form of flour, sugarcandy, manjoosha or jaggery, honey, milk, ghee, oily-products, and roots and berries which<br /><br />p. 14<br /><br />contain sweet, salt, pungent, acrid, and alkaline tastes. Such roots are said to be 56 in number. They should be purified, powdered, and duly cooked, and made into balls, and given out for use as food.<br /><br />Similarly the bulbous vegetables which are of 16 kinds, and fruits which are of 32 kinds, and food prepared out of them are excellent food, Food from roots develops brain, nourishes the body, strengthens the bones, and gives virility. Food from bulbs promotes brilliance, and bodily vigour, and strengthens the life current. Food from fruits nourishes mind, intelligence, blood, flesh, and vital liquids. Therefore these alternatives are recommended for pilots of Vimanas.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Apicha Trinaadeenam." Sootra 12.<br /><br />"Even grasses, herbs and shrubs."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />This sootra indicates that even grasses, herbage, and creepers, could be made to yield food.<br /><br />Says "Ashana-Kalpa",<br /><br />Like roots, bulbs and fruits, grasses, shrubs and herbs, provide good food for men. Six kinds of doorva grass, 6 kinds of munja hemp, 6 kinds of darbha or long grass, 6 kinds of shoundeera, and 6 kinds of Ashwakarna or sal, or mimordica charantia, Shatamoolee of 3 kinds, Kaaruvellee; Chandravellee, Madhuvellee, Varchulee, Makutee vellee, sugandhaa, and sooryavellee may be made to yield good food, nutritious and bracing.<br /><br />Selected by men who know them well, these vegetation, including their flowers, shoots, and leaves, by proper cleaning and cooking, may be made to yield solid or liquid food, which will serve as satisfactory substitute food for pilots of Vimanas. And Somavallee or moon-plant, Chakrikaa, Rasavallikaa, Kooshmandavallee, Ikshuvallee, Pishtavallaree, Sooryakaanta, Chandrakaanta, Meghanaada, Punarnava, Avantee, Vaastu, Matsyaakshee, and Rukma and others, provide good bases for lasting food, duly mixed with sweets and condiments.<br /><br />p. 15<br />Lohaadhikaranam: Metals<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />"Athha Yaana Lohaani." Sootra 13.<br /><br />"Next, the Metals for aeroplanes"<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Having dealt with clothing and food for pilots, now the metals suitable for aeroplanes are being dealt with.<br /><br />Says Shounaka:<br /><br />There are 3 kinds of metals named somaka, soundaalika, and mourthwika. By mixing them, 16 kinds of heat-absorbing metals are produced.<br /><br />Their names are ushnambhara, ushnapaa, ushnahana, raajaamlatrit, veerahaa, panchaghna, agnitrit, bhaarahana, sheetahana, garalaghna, amlahana, vishambhara, vishalyakrit, vijamitra and Vaatamitra etc.<br /><br />"Maanibhadra Kaarika," or "Dictas of Manibhadra," Says, "Metals which are light, and are suitable for producing aeroplanes are 16. They are heat absorbing, and should be used in the manufacture of aeroplanes."<br /><br />Saamba also says that the 16 metals formed by mixing the root metals, soma, soundaala and mourthwika, are non-heat-conductors and are useful for Vimanas. Their characteristics are now examined.<br /><br />In the 7th layer of the earth, in the third mine therein, metals of the Soma series are found. They are of 38 kinds. Among them there are three from which Ooshmalohas or heat resisting metals are to be extracted. "Lohatantra" or "Science of Metals" also says that in the 3rd section of the 7th layer of the earth, Metals of Souma class, possessed of 5 special qualities, are called "beejalohas" or "root-metals".<br /><br />There are 3000 metal bearing layers within the earth. Of them 1300 layers contain the better quality. In the 7th layer metals are of 27 types. The 3rd type of metals are of five-fold qualities, and are known as root metals. The origin of metals of the Soma class is thus described in "Lohakalpa.":<br /><br />p. 16<br /><br />"The gravity of the centre of the earth, the gravity of global earth, the solar flood, the air force, the force emanating from the planets and stars, the sun's and moon's gravitational forces, and the gravitational force of the Universe, all together enter the layers of the earth in the proportion of 3, 8, 11, 5, 2, 6, 4, 9, and, aided by the heat and moisture therein, cause the origin of metals, of various varieties, grades and qualities."<br /><br />The Souma group of metals are named, as per sage Atri, in "Naamaartha Kalpa". "Souma, Sowmyaka, Soundaasya, Soma, Panchaanana, Praanana, Shankha, Kapila are the names of the Souma metals, with distinct qualities indicated by their names."<br /><br />The name "Souma" consists of sounds, s, on, ma, and ha, "Paribhaasha Chandrika" and "Vishwambhara Kaarikaa" state, "The oceanic force and solar force instil 4 kinds of forces into root metals. The sum total of the forces are said, according to "Vaalmeeki Ganitha" to number 1, 67, 768. Some of these forces are indicated by the sound "s" Some of the forces emanating from the sun and the elements are indicated by the sound "ou". Similarly other concerned forces are indicated by the letters "ma" and "ha".<br /><br />The Varuna and Soorya force contents of all root metals are of four groups. In each group the force content is said to be 1, 67, 768. Of the Koorma and Kashyapa forces of Vaaruna group, the 67th from Ooshaa koorma, and the 85th Kaashyapa force, called "Kaala", are indicated by the letter "Sa".<br /><br />Of the solar group of forces, maartaanda and bhoota 71st, and the ruchika force 160 are indicated by the sound "ra". Similarly, of the forces of sun and stars in aditi, the 9th called "Sundaa", and the stellar force 101 called "Bhowma" are indicated by the letter "Ma". And in the dhruva varga, soma and baadaba forces, 109 and 14 respectively, are indicated by the visarga sound "ha".<br /><br />The four forces working inside the earth, by flux of time mature into the Souma type metal.<br /><br />In Soundaala metal, the 11th force, dhanadaa, in Koorma is indicated by letter "sa". The 110th Kaashyapee force, rook, is indicated by the sound<br /><br />p. 17<br /><br />[paragraph continues] "ow". The sun's 100 powered dravamukhee shakti, and bhoota-shakti known as anvee 700 powered, are together indicated by the anuswaara sound "m". The sun's kaantaa shakti 49, and the stars' 25 shaktis, varchaa, are indicated by the letter "da". Similarly the soma forces in dhruva varga, is indicated by the long "aa" in "daa". The moon's 364 ujwalaa and baadabaa's 500 known as kaala are indicated by the letter "la".<br /><br />That is "Soundaala".<br /><br />Regarding the third, "Mourtwika", Koormashakti, paarthiva 1300, is indicated by the letter "ma". Kaasyapa shakti, kaalima 2001, is indicated by the sound "ow". Maartaanda shakti, laaghava 260, is indicated by the sound "r": bhootashakti, vaarchulee 37, by the letter "tha": stellar force, rukshmaka 1063, is indicated by the letter "va". Arkashakti, varuna 113, is indicated by the sound "e": soma force rijukaa 8009, and pooshnikaa 1012, are indicated. by the letter, "ka".<br />Lohashuddhyadhikaranam: Purification of Metals.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">☞ "Tatchhuddhir yathaa shodhanaadhikaaray." Sootra 14.<br /><br />"Their purification is as per shodhanaadhikaara".</span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Taking soma metal first, it should be filled in a wide-brimmed vessel and adding jambeera or citron juice, likucha or lime juice, vyaaghra or castor, chinchaa or tamarind, and jamboo or rose apple juices, it should be boiled to 27th degree of heat for a day. Then taking it out and washing it, it should be boiled in 5 kinds of oils, 4 kinds of acids, and 7 kinds of decoctions.<br /><br />They are named in "Samskaara Darpana":<br /><br />Gunjaa or wild liquorice, Kanjala, castor, kunjara, and karanja or Indian beach oils, praana-kshara, viranchi, kanchuki, and khura acids, and hingoo or asafoetida, parpata, ghontikaaa, jataa-maamsee or spikenard, white gourd or Vidaaraanginee, and matsyaakshee decoctions.<br /><br />That is the process of purification of soma metal.<br /><br />The purification of Soundaala metal is like that of soma with regard to boiling in the cauldron, but the process of purification is with 6 acids, 7 oils, and 5 decoctions. They are, according to Samskaara Darpana."--<br /><br />p. 18<br /><br />Ingaala or, ingudee, gouree or reddish herb, couries, grapes, rata, aapya, and ulbana oils, ankola, mushti, shankha, bhallaataka, kaakola, and virancha acids, and kuluththa or horsegram, nishpaava, sarshapa or mustard, aadhaka, and wheat decoctions or gruels.<br /><br />Mourthweeka metal also should be baked like soundaala, and then should be boiled with shivaari oil, kudupa acid and vishambharee leather decoction.<br /><br />Having defined the root-metals and their purification, we next consider the casting of Ooshmapaa loha.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SECOND CHAPTER</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Oosh mapaastriloha Mayaaha." Sootra 1.<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /><br />"Ooshmapaa metals are made up of 3 metals."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />The heat-proof metals are made out of the three, Souma, Soundaala, and Morthweeka mentioned in the previous chapter. It is said in "Loha Ratnaakara" that each of the three yields varieties of seed metals. Their names are, in souma group,--souma, soumyaka, sundaasya, soma, panchaanana, ooshmapa, shaktigarbha, jaangalika, praanana, shankha, and laaghava; The names of the metals of soundeera origin, are viranchi, souryapa, shanku, ushna, soorana, shinjikaa, kanku, ranjika, soundeera, mugdha, and ghundaaraka. In the mourthweeka group, the 11 are anuka, dvyanuka, kanka, tryanuka, shvetaambara, mridambara, baalagarbha, kuvarcha, kantaka, kshvinka and laghvika.<br /><br />p. 19<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Melanaath" Sootra 2.<br /><br />"By Mixing"<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />The said metals are to be mixed in requisite proportions and melted. It is said in "Lohatantra" that ushnambhara metal is produced by mixing numbers 10, 5, 8 of soma, soundala, mourthweeka groups of metals respectively in the proportion of 1, 3, 7, and mixing with one third the quantity of tankana or borax and melting in the crucible. Similarly taking metals no, 3, 5, and 7 respectively in the three groups in the proportion of 4, 1, and 8, and mixing with tankana, and melting in crucible, the metal ooshma is obtained. Metal ooshmahana is produced by melting metals 2, 5, and 9 from the three groups in the proportion of 6, 3, and 7, with tankana. Metal Raaja is produced by melting nos. 3, 8, and 2 of the three groups as before. Similarly metal Aamlatrit is produced by taking numbers 9, 7, 1 in the three metal groups, in the proportion of 10, 7, 8 and mixing with tankana and melting as prescribed.<br /><br />Similarly metals 6, 4, 5, respectively in the proportion of 5, 5, 12, melted with tankana or borax, will yield the metal veerahaa. The metal panchaghna is got by taking numbers 8, 6, and 4 of the three groups in the proportion of 20, 18, 26, and mixing with tankana or borax and melting.<br /><br />The metal agnitrit is produced by mixing numbers 5, 2, 10, in the proportion of 30, 20, and 10, and melting with borax in the crucible. The metal bhaarahana is produced by mixing numbers 7, 11, and 6 in the three groups in the proportion of 5, 12, and 7, mixing with borax, and melting in the crucible.<br /><br />To produce metal sheetahana, metals 10, 9, and 3 in the three groups respectively, in the proportion of 22, 8, and 10, should be mixed with borax and melted in the crucible. Garalaghna is produced by taking numbers 11, 10, and 11 in the three groups in the proportion of 20, 30, and 8, and melting with borax in the crucible.<br /><br />Similarly Aamlahana is produced by taking numbers 11, 8, and 4 in the three groups in the proportion of 20, 12, 36, and melting with borax in the crucible. Metal Vishambhara is produced by taking numbers 19, 8, and 10 in<br /><br />p. 20<br /><br />the three Ooshmapa groups respectively in the proportion of 20, 12, and 6, and melting with borax in the crucible.<br /><br />Metal vishalyakrit is produced by taking numbers 3, 5, and 11, in the proportion of 20, 12, and 6, and melting in the crucible with borax. Dwijamitra is produced by taking numbers 8, 3, and 9 in the pro-portion 5, 8, 10, and melting with borax in the crucible. And metal Vaatamitra is produced by taking numbers 8, 6, and 5 in the three groups of Ooshmapa metals, in the proportion of 22, 8, and 10, and adding borax and melting in the crucible.<br />Mooshaadhikaranam: The Crucible.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Panchamaad dwitheeyay " Sootra 3.<br /><br />"From the 5th variety in the 2nd group."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />According to "Nirnayaadhikaara", the melting of the superior, medium, and inferior kinds of metals is to be done in 407 different kinds of crucibles. They are divided into 12 groups. For the melting of the root-metals the second group of crucibles is considered the best.<br /><br />Lallacharya also states that metallurgists mention 12 kinds of metals: kritaka or artificial, apabhramshaka or corrupted, sthalaja or mud-born, khanija or found in mines, jalaja or aquatic, dhaatuja or mineral-born, oshadhivargaja or vegetation-born, krimija or evolved from vermin, maamsaja or flesh-born, kshaaraja or grown from salts, baalaja or hairborn, and andaja or resultant from eggs. Different classes of crucibles are to be used for melting different kinds of metals. In the second class of crucibles there are said to be 40 varieties. Of them, number 5, known as antarmukha or inward-mouthed, is prescribed for melting the root-metals.<br /><br />It is described in "Mooshaakalpa" or art of making crucibles. 8 parts of gingelly manure or black-gram flour, 4 parts of metal rust, 3 parts of metal, 3 parts of laangalee or jussieuea repens or gloriosa superba, 6 parts of gum arabic, 2 parts of ruruka, 3 parts of salt-petre, 5 parts of creepers, 6 parts of charcoal, 5 parts of 5 kinds of grasses, 4 parts of paddy husk ashes, 2 parts of red arsenic, 2 parts of naagakesara, 5 parts of varolika<br /><br />p. 21<br /><br />flower, 5 parts of borax, 2 parts of black laamancha or scented grass or andropogon muricatus, 5 parts of sindoora or red ochre, 2 parts of gunja seeds or wild liquorice, 4 parts of sea-foam, all these are to be ground and made into fine flour, to which are added equal quantity of gum and 5 parts of earth and dust, and the whole is baked in a vessel with shivaaree oil for 3 yaamaas or 9 hours. When the contents have unified and become properly fluid, it should be poured through the nozzle into the crucible mould, and allowed to rest. The resultant crucible, known as "antarmukha," would be best suited to melt the metals required for producing a Vimaana.<br />Athha Vyaasatikaadhikaranam: The Fire-place.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Athha Kundas-Saptamay-Nava". Sootra 4.<br /><br />"Then fire-place, number 9 in class 7."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Having dealt with crucible in the last sootra, we now consider the fire-place.<br /><br />Experts mention 532 varieties of vyaasatikaas or fire-places. Of them Koorma-vyaasatika, or tortoise-shaped fire-place is best suited for melting the seed-metals for the Vimaana.<br /><br />Kunda-kalpa or the art of furnace construction mentions 532 kinds of furnaces. They are divided into seven classes, each including 76 varieties. Furnace no. 9 in the 7th class, is best suited for melting the requisite metals of the vimaana, and its name is koorma-vyaasatikaa, or tortoise-shaped furnace.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQviCA5zOI/AAAAAAAABB8/UTvGt-MPDQo/s1600-h/pl06.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQviCA5zOI/AAAAAAAABB8/UTvGt-MPDQo/s320/pl06.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454518925708514" /></a><br />It is said in "Kunda-nirnaya ", that on a prepared ground, a quadrilateral or circular shaped furnace 10 feet wide should be constructed, shaped like a tortoise. In order to place the bellows, there should be constructed a pedestal shaped like a tortoise, and with five faces. In the middle of the furnace arrangements should be made for placing the crucible. On either side of the furnace there should be an enclosure for stocking charcoal. And on either side there should be a mechanism for receiving the molten metal.<br /><br />p. 22<br />Athha Bhastrikaadhikaranam: The Bellows.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />"Syaad-bhastrikaashtame Shodashee" Sootra 5.<br /><br />"The bellows should be number 16 in the 8th class."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />The making of bellows is referred to in this sootra. It is said in "Bhastrikaa Nibandhana," that as there are 532 kinds of furnaces, there are 532 kinds of bellows. Narayana also says that there are 532 varieties of bellows used in melting metals. They arc divided into 8 classes. In the eighth class, the variety numbered 16 is the one suited for the tortoise--shaped furnace. The construction of bellows is described in the work "Bhastrikaa-Nibandhana", as follows:<br /><br />The barks of suitable trees, leather, thick cloth made from milk cream, bark of areca-nut palm tree, and trinetra (bael? Bengal Quince?), shundeera, suranji, silk-cotton, sheneera, munjaakara, and jute by due processing yield suitable cloth of 605 varieties with which pretty and attractive bellows could be made, with fittings of wood or copper.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">THIRD CHAPTER</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Darpanaadhikaranam: Mirrors & Lenses.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Darpanaashcha" Sootra 1.<br /><br />"Mirrors".<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />This chapter deals with the mirrors and lenses which are required to be installed in the vimaana. They are seven different ones. Their names are<br /><br />p. 23<br /><br />given by Lalla in "Mukura-kalpa" as Vishwakriyaadarpana, or television mirror, Shaktyaakarshana darpana or power-capturing mirror, Vyroopya darpana or appearance changing mirror, Kuntinee darpana, Pinjulaa darpana, Guhaagarbha darpana, and Rowdree darpana or terrifying darpana.<br /><br />Vishwakriyaa darpana is to be fixed on a revolving stand near the pilot so that he could observe whatever is happening outside on all sides. Its manufacture is thus described in Kriyaasaara:<br /><br />Two parts of satva, 2 parts of shundilaka, one part of eagle bone, 5 parts of mercury, 2 parts of the foot-nails of sinchoranee, 6 parts of mica, 5 parts of red lead, 8 parts of pearl dust, 18 parts of the eyeballs of sowmyaka fish, one part burning coal, 8 parts of snake's slough, 3 parts of eye pigment, 6 parts of maatrunna, 10 parts of granite sand, 8 parts of salts, 4 of lead, 2 parts of sea foam, 3 parts of white throated eagle's skin, 7 parts of bamboo salt, 5 parts of vyraajya or white keg tree bark, these ingredients should be purified, and weighed, and filled in a beaked crucible and placed in the furnace called chandodara and subjected to a 800 degree heat, and when duly liquified, should be poured into the funnel of the kara-darpana yantra or hand-mirror mould. The result will be an excellent mirror in which will be reproduced minute details of the phenomena outside.<br /><br />Next Shaktyaakarshana darpana:<br /><br />As the vimaana flies through the regions of the sky, three classes of destructive forces tend to overcome it. This mirror is capable of neutralising and overcoming their effects.<br /><br />Dhundinaathaachaarya also says: The wind, solar rays, and fire are known as trivargas. Each of the three has 122 evil effects on the plane's pilot. Those evil forces this mirror will absorb and nullify.<br /><br />Paraankusha also says: There are certain crucial regions in the air routes of the vimaana, at which the wind, solar heat and fire have 366 malefic influences, and shaktyaakarshana mirror is meant to safeguard against them. It is to be prepared as follows:<br /><br />5 parts of haritaala or yellow orpiment, 5 parts of virinchi, 8 parts of salts, 4 parts of gingelly husk, 6 parts of diamond, 1 of red mica, 8 parts of burning coal, 3 parts of sand, 2 parts of tortoise egg, 3 parts of bhaarani, 3 parts of kanda, 5 parts of powshkala, 5 of coral, 2 of pearl, 6 of sea-shell,<br /><br />p. 24<br /><br />[paragraph continues] 8 of borax, 3 parts of Bengal quince seed, and 5 of shankha or conch, cleaned, powdered, filled in swan crucible, placed in mandooka furnace and boiled to 500 degrees and poured slowly into vistritaa-mirror yantra will yield a fine shaktyaakarshana mirror.<br /><br />The Vyroopya--darpana Mirror:<br /><br />When enemy planes with men intent on intercepting and destroying your vimaana attack you with all the means at their disposal, the viroopya-darpana will frighten them into retreat or render them unconscious and leave you free to destroy or rout them. The darpana, like a magician, will change the appearance of your vimaana into such frightening shapes that the attacker will be dismayed or paralysed. There are 27 such different shapes that are said to be possible. Sammohana-kriyaa-kaanda, or the work dealing with the methods causing insensibility, mentions 17 of them. They are fire, water, wind, thunder, lightning, fumes, scorpion, bear, lion, tiger, and giant-sized frightful birds.<br /><br />The manufacture of this mirror is thus given in Darpana-prakarana:<br /><br />5 parts of bone salt, 3 parts zinc, 3 of lac, 8 of iron, 3 parts of shashabola, 2 of raajakurantika, 8 parts of charcoal ashes, 3 of borax, 8 parts of nakhaa, 7 of sand, 6 of matrunna, 2 of sun-crystal, 3 parts of poora or lime, 25 of mercury, 3 of yellow orpiment, 4 parts of silver, 6 of kravyaada, 8 of garada, 3 of pishta, 4 parts of arshoghna root, 3 parts of vaaraaha pittha, 3 of ammonium chloride, 25 of liquorice oil, taking these and 7 times purifying, filling in crucible, and placing in furnace and boiling it to 800 degrees and pouring into Darpanaasya yantra, will yield an excellent Vyraajaka mirror.<br /><br />The Kuntinee Mirror:<br /><br />We now consider the Kuntinee mirror. The wise say that the mirror by the glare of whose rays people's minds get deranged is Kuntinee mirror. Paraankusha says that in the region of the solar electric heat waves of the sky, seven streams of poisonous whirl-winds derange the mind. Scientists have discovered the Kuntinee mirror as a protection against that evil effect.<br /><br />In "Sammohana-kriyaa-kaanda," the evil forces are described as follows:<br /><br />p. 25<br /><br />Fat, blood, flesh, marrow, bone, skin, intelligence are adversely affected by the evil wind currents known as gaalinee, kuntinee, kaalee, pinjulaa, ulbanaa, maraa, in the electric heat wave regions of the upper sky.<br /><br />The manufacture of this mirror is thus explained in "Darpana-prakarana":<br /><br />5 parts of sowraashtra earth, 7 parts of snake's slough, 3 of sea-foam, 5 of shanmukha seeds, 8 of zinc, 3 parts of rhinoceros' nails, 8 of salts, 7 of sand, 8 of mercury, 4 of conch, 6 parts of matrunna, 3 parts of yellow orpiment, 4 of elephant and camel salts, 7 parts of suranghrikaa, 5 of gingelly oil, 8 of pearl-shells, 3 of sea-shells, 4 parts of camphor, purified and filled in shinjikaa crucible, and placed in shinjeera furnace and boiled to 700 degrees, the fluid poured into the Darpanaasya yantra, will form into a morning sun-like kuntinee mirror.<br /><br />The Pinjulaa mirror:<br /><br />The conflicting inter-action of the solar rays is called pinjulaa. It has deleterious effect on the black eye-balls of the pilots. The pinjulaa mirror, by intervening will prevent the eye-balls being blinded by the evil rays.<br /><br />It is said in "Amsubodhinee", or the work on solar rays, "There are four directions, east, west, north and south, and four corner directions, south-east, south-west, north-east and north-west. The solar force of each direction has got its own intensity, owing to different fire-force, different seasonal force, the effect of the five winds, combined with the vaarunee or liquid force of the clouds, and the resulting tension gives rise to four evil forces, andha, andhakaara, pinjoosha, and taarapaa, whose glows, known as rakta, jaathara, taaraagra, and prabha, striking the eye-balls result in blindness of both eyes. "<br /><br />The manufacture of this mirror is thus described in "Darpana prakarana":<br /><br />6 parts of goat's milk, 5 parts of red-lead, 8 parts of salts, 7 parts of sand, 5 parts of tree-gum, 8 parts of borax, 2 parts of dambholi essence, 8 parts of mercury, 2 parts of copper and 2 of lead, 4 parts of surolika essence, 8 parts of twak, 3 parts of vaardhyushika, 3 of kanda, 4 parts of pishta or gingelly husk, 3 parts of orpiment, 7 parts of Tinnevelli senna, 4 parts of vrikodaree seeds, these 18 to be purified, powdered, and filled in crucible, and placed in furnace and boiled to 700 degrees, and poured into Darpana yantra, will yield an excellent pinjulaa mirror.<br /><br />p. 26<br /><br />Next Guhaa-garbha darpana:<br /><br />"The conflict between the electricity in the clouds, wind, and rays, generates forces harmful to pilots. The guhaa-garbha darpana, by attracting them and projecting them by electric force against enemy planes, renders the persons inside them physically disabled and incapable of fighting."<br /><br />"Prapanchasaara" also says:<br /><br />"In the Middle of the two shells above kashyapa, there is vaarunee force. Between the shell and vaarunee force 5000 wind currents subsist. Similarly there are disease causing rays numbering 80 millions. The various winds and rays by mutual action result in flows and counter flows. When the cloud force, wind force, and solar force interplay they give rise to various harmful forces like bubbles:"<br /><br />Lallaacharya also avers, "In accordance with the 110th principle, when the cloud-power, wind-power and sun-power meet with force and collide, they produce poisonous effects which are dangerous to mankind."<br /><br />Vasishtha says in "Swatassiddha-Nyaaya" or "self-evident truth", that when alien forces cross one another, a poisonous flow will result naturally as an egg comes out of a tortoise.<br /><br />"Sammohana kriyaa-kaanda" explains:<br /><br />"By the conflict of cloud force, wind force and solar forces, 305105 poisonous waves known as guha and others emanate, and cause, kushtha, apasmaara, grihinee, khaasa, and shoola. Chief among them are five, known as gridhnee, godhaa, kunjaa, roudree, and guhaa. By accelerating them and directing them against the enemy, the guhaa-garbha mirror disables them."<br /><br />"Darpana prakarana " describes its manufacture thus:<br /><br />7 parts of couries, 3 parts of manjula or madder root, 6 parts of sea-foam, 8 parts of ranjaka or phosphorous, 6 parts of mandoora or rust, 8 parts of mercury, 3 parts of orpiment, 7 parts of brahmika, 2 parts of lead, 8 parts of eye pigment, 6 parts of matrunnna, 8 parts of sand, 6 parts of kishora, 5 of muchukunda, 2 parts of gingelly oil, 25 of lohika, 5 parts of mridaani garbha essence, 8 of sowraashtra earth, 5 parts of sphatika, 3 of bones, 15 of indusatva or moonstone?, and 5 of dambholi taakaa dwaya satva,<br /><br />p. 27<br /><br />taking these 22, purifying and powdering them and filling crucible, and placing in furnace and boiling to 700 degrees, and cooled in yantra, guhaa garbha darpana is produced.<br /><br />Rowdree-darpana is a mirror or lens which liquefies everything that it flashes against.<br /><br />Paraankusha says that where Rudraanyosharaa and abhralinga come into contact, a fierce force called roudree comes into being. Mingling with solar rays it melts everything. "Sammohana kriyaa kaanda" says:<br /><br />"By the mixing of roudree and solar rays an evil force called maarikaa is generated, and impelled by the solar electricity, it destroys the enemy planes."<br /><br />Darpanaa prakarana describes its manufacture:<br /><br />8 parts of lead, 3 parts of shaalmali, 7 of durvaara, 8 parts kudupinjara, 21 parts of droonee, 8 parts sun-crystal, 27 parts of rudraanee-graavoshara, 6 parts betel leaves, 8 parts of kowtila, 30 of veeraabhra linga, 8 parts of salts, 7 of sand, 6 parts of matrunna, 3 of dimbhika, 8 of zinc, 13 of ant-hill earth, 6 of gum, 3 of kumbhinee, 3 parts sweet oil, 27 of Tinnevelly senna, 6 of godhaamla, 8 of silk cotton, 8 parts of virinchi satva, 5 parts of kanda, 3 parts of yellow orpimet, 7 parts of kaarmukha, or brown barked acacia?, these 26, powdered, purified, and filled in crucible and placed in furnace and boiled to 800 degrees, and poured into Darpana yantra, will yield a fine roudrikaa-uarpana.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">FOURTH CHAPTER</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Shaktyadhikaranam: The Power.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Shaktayassapta" Sootra 1.<br /><br />"The power sources are seven."<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />In this chapter the motive power of the vimaana is explained. In the functioning of the vimaana, there are 7 distinct operating forces. They are named udgamaa, panjaraa, sooryashaktyapa-karshinee or that which extracts solar power, parashaktyaakarshinee or that which extracts opposite forces, a set of 12 shaktis or forces, kuntinee, and moolashakti or primary force. At set spots in the vimaana, the motors which produce these 7 powers should be installed, duly wired and equipped with springs and wheels, as prescribed.<br /><br />It is said in "Yantra-sarvasva:"<br /><br />"The seven kinds of powers which are required for the Vimaana are produced by 7 motors which are named tundila, panjara, amshupa, apakarshaka, saandhaanika, daarpanika, and shaktiprasavaka. Each of these produces its specific power. Thus tundilaa produces udgamaa shakti, panjaraa produces the panjaraa shakti, shaktipaa produces the power which sucks solar power, apakarshaka produces the power which plucks the power of alien planes, sandhaana yantra produces the group of 12 forces, daarpanikaa produces kuntinee shakti, and shakti-prasava yantra produces the main motive power.<br /><br />Shownaka-sootra also says:<br /><br />"There are seven sources of power of the vimaana: fire, earth, air, sun, moon, water and sky. The seven kinds of powers are named udgamaa, panjaraa, solar heat absorber, alien force absorber, solar electric dozen, kuntinee, and primary force."<br /><br />p. 29<br /><br />"Soudaaminee-kalaa" says:<br /><br />Ma, la, ya, ra, sa, va, na constitute the seven vimanic forces. Ma is udgamaa, la is panjaraa, ya is solar heat absorber, ra is the solar dozen, sa is alien force absorber, va is kuntinee, and na is primary force.<br /><br />Their actions are thus defined in "Kriyaa-saara":<br /><br />"The ascent of the vimana is by udgamaa shakti. Its descent is by panjaraa-shakti. Solar heat absorbing is by shaktyapakarshinee. Alien force restraining is by parashakty snatcher. Spectacular motion of the vimaana is by the vidyud-dwaadashaka-shakti. All these various activities are by the prime force of the vimana."<br /><br />Vidyuddwaadashaka is thus explained in "Soudaaminee-kalaa":<br /><br />"The spectacular motions of the vimaana are of 12 kinds. Their motive forces are also 12. The motions and the forces are, proceeding, shuddering, mounting, descending, circling, speeding, circumambulating, side-wise motion, receding, anti-clockwise motion, remaining motionless, and performing miscellaneous motions."<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Shaktayah-pancha -iti-Narayanaha." Sootra 2.<br /><br />"Narayana holds that the forces are five only, and not twelve."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Five forces are generated by the yantra or dynamo called Sadyojaata, and they produce all the spectacular motions of the vimana.<br /><br />Says "Shakti sarvasva":<br /><br />"The motions of a vimaana are five, Chaalana, Gaalana, Panjaraprerana, Vakraapasarpana, and Spectacular manoeuvring."<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Chitrinyeveti sphotaayanah." Sootra 3.<br /><br />Sphotaayana holds that chitrinee is the sole shakti.<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Sphotaayana declares that the force called chitrinee shakti is the one which enables the vimana to perform spectacular manoeuvres.<br /><br />p. 30<br /><br />[paragraph continues] "Shakti-sarvasva" says that both from experience and scientific knowledge Sphotaayana propounds the view that 32 various kinds of motions of the vimaana are solely by the power of Chitrinee-shakti.<br /><br />"Kriyaa-saara " also states that Chitrinee force of the 17th quality is solely responsible for the 32 types of aeronautical motions.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Tadantarbhaaavaat Saptaiveti" Sootra 4.<br /><br />"The shaktis are 7 only, and include all others"<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Out of the five forces produced by the sadyojaata mechanism, panjaraa shakti is the most important. The other shaktis are incidental to it, just as sparks are incidental to fire. Chaalana and other motions may therefore be said to result from panjaraa shakti.<br /><br />Says "Shaktibeeja": "It is by the panjaraa shakti generated by sadyojaata yantra that the chalana and other shaktis branch out. "<br /><br />"Shakti kousthubha" also says, "From the panjaraa shakti produced by sadyojaata, emanate the chaalama and other 4 shaktis."<br /><br />Thus since the other shaktis branch out from panjaraa shakti, they may be said to be in essence identical with it. That panjaraa and chitrinee are included in the seven shaktis which have been enumerated by Maharshi Bharadwaaja. Hence there cannot be said to be any conflict of opinions. Some even hold the view that each one of the seven shaktis is capable of producing all the 32 motions of the vimaana. But since each of the several motions of the plane is definitely ascribed to a particular kind of force, it would be incorrect to hold that one force could be responsible for the whole gamut of motions. Any attempt to give practical effect to such a theory would prove disastrous. Therefore the right conclusion is that the seven forces are the true cause of the 32 kinds of aerial activities of the vimaana.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">FIFTH CHAPTER</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Yantraadhikaranam: Yantras: Machinery.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Athha Upayantraani." Sootra 1.<br /><br />"The Mechanical Contrivances."<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Having described the forces or energies required for the various functions of the vimaana, now the mechanisms necessary for these activities are described.<br /><br />"Kriyaa-saara" says:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQuiL2KdtI/AAAAAAAABAs/ymb1ZI90AAo/s1600-h/pl16.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQuiL2KdtI/AAAAAAAABAs/ymb1ZI90AAo/s320/pl16.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351453422053390034" /></a><br />"As stated by the eminent Bharadwaaja in "Yantrasarvasva", the mechanical equipments necessary for the vimaana are 32. They are vishwakriyaadarsa or universal reflecting mirror, shaktyaakarshana yantra or force absorbing machine, pariveshakriyaayantra or halo-producing machine, angopasamhara yantra or machine for folding up or contracting its parts, vistrutakriyaa yantra, or expanding yantra, vyroopyadarpana or fantastic mirror, padmachakra-mukha, kuntinee shakti yantra and pushpinee shakti yantra, pinjula mirror, naalapanchaka and guhaa-garbhabhidha yantras, tamo-yantra or darkness spreading machine, pancha vaataskandhanaala, roudree mirror, vaataskandha naalakcelaka, vidyudyantra or electric generator, and shabdakendra mukha, vidyuddwaadashaka, praanakundalinee, shaktyudgama, vakraprasaarana, and shaktipanjara keelaka, shirah-keelaka and shabdaakarshana, pataprasaaranayantra, dishaampati yantra, pattikaabhraka yantra, suryashaktyapakarshana yantra or collector of solar energy, apasmaaradhooma prasaarana or ejector of poisonous fumes, stambhana yantra, and vyshwaanara naalayantra."<br /><br />They are thus described in "yantrasarvasva," chapter 7, by the illustrious Maharshi Bharadwaaja.<br /><br />p. 32<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Athopayantraani." Sootra 1.<br /><br />"Subsidiary Yantras."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Prepare a square or circular base of 9 inches width with wood and glass, mark its centre, and from about an inch and half thereof draw lines to the edge in the 8 directions, fix 2 hinges in each of the lines in order to open and shut. In the centre erect a 6 inch pivot and four tubes, made of vishvodara metal, equipped with hinges and bands of iron, copper, brass or lead, and attach to the pegs in the lines in the several directions. The whole is to be covered.<br /><br />Prepare a mirror of perfect finish and fix it to the danda or pivot. At the base of the pivot an electric yantra should be fixed. Crystal or glass beads should be fixed at the base, middle, and end of the pivot or by its side. The circular or goblet shaped mirror for attracting solar rays should be fixed at the foot of the pivot. To the west of it the image-reflector should be placed. Its operation is as follows:<br /><br />First the pivot or pole should be stretched by moving the keelee or switch. The observation mirror should be fixed at its base. A vessel with mercury should be fixed at its bottom. In it a crystal bead with hole should be placed. Through the hole in the chemically purified bead, sensitive wires should be passed and attached to the end beads in various directions. At the middle of the pole, mustard cleaned solar mirror should be fixed. At the foot of the pole a vessel should be placed with liquid ruchaka salt. A crystal should be fixed in it with hinge and wiring. In the bottom centre should be placed a goblet-like circular mirror for attracting solar rays. To the west of it a reflecting mechanism should be placed. To the east of the liquid salt vessel, the electric generator should be placed and the wiring of the crystal attached to it. The current from both the yantras should be passed to the crystal in the liquid ruchaka salt vessel. Eight parts of sun-power in the solar reflector and 12 parts of electric power should be passed through the crystal into the mercury and on to the universal reflecting mirror. And then that mirror should be focussed in the direction of the region which has to be photographed. The image which appears in the facing lens will then be reflected<br /><br />p. 33<br /><br />through the crystal in the liquid salt solution. The picture which will appear in the mirror will be true to life, and enable the pilot to realise the conditions of the concerned region, and he can take appropriate action to ward off danger and inflict damage on the enemy.<br /><br />Next Shaktyaakarshana yantra:<br /><br />"Yantra sarvasva" says, "Owing to the etherial waves and raging winds of the upper regions in accordance with die seasons, evil forces are generated which tend to destroy the vimaana. The Shaktyaakarshana yantra in the vimaana is meant to subdue those forces and render them harmless."<br /><br />Narayana also says:<br /><br />"Three fierce forces arise from the fierce winds and ethereal waves, and cruse destruction of the plane. The shalayaakarshana yantra by its superior force subdues them and ensures safety of the vimaana."<br /><br />Its construction is as follows:<br /><br />The base is to be 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, and made of krouncha metal. A 12 inch tall 3 inch wide pole or peg made of 27th kind of glass should be fixed in its middle. To the east of it, as also to the west, 3 centres should be marked on each side. To the north and south also 2 centres should be marked on each side. At each centre screw-bolts should be fixed. Then tubes made of the 107th glass, with cleaned wiring should be fixed. A goblet shaped 15 inch sized glass vessel should be fixed on the base of the central peg. A 1 foot circular glass ball with three holes should be fixed in the main centre. A triangular shaped 1 foot sized mirror made of Aadarsha glass should be fixed on the 3rd kendra. Two circular rods made of magnetic metal and copper should be fixed on the glass ball so as to cause friction when they revolve. To the west of it a globular ball made of vaatapaa glass with a wide open mouth should be fixed. Then a vessel made of shaktipaa glass, narrow at bottom, round in the middle, with narrow neck, and open mouth with 5 beaks should be fixed on the middle bolt. Similarly on the end bolt should be placed a vessel with sulphuric acid (bhraajaswad-draavaka). On the pegs on southern side 3 interlocked wheels should be fixed. On the north side liquefied mixture of load-stone, mercury, mica, and serpent-slough should be placed. And crystals should be placed at the requisite centres.<br /><br />p. 34<br /><br />"Maniratnaakara" says that the shaktyaakarshana yantra should be equipped with 6 crystals known as Bhaaradwaaja, Sanjanika, Sourrya, Pingalaka, Shaktipanjaraka, and Pancha-jyotirgarbha.<br /><br />The same work mentions where the crystals are to be located. The sourrya mani is to be placed in the vessel at the foot of the central pole, Sanjanika mani should be fixed at the middle of the triangular wall. Pingalaka mani is to be fixed in the wide mouthed glass globe. Bhaaradwaaja mani should be fixed in the opening in the naala-danda. Pancha-jyotirgarbha mani should be fixed in the sulphuric acid vessel, and Shakti-panjaraka mani should be placed in the mixture of magnet, mercury, mica, and serpent-slough. All the five crystals should be equipped with wires passing through glass tubes.<br /><br />Wires should be passed from the centre in all directions. Then the triple wheels should be set in revolving motion, which will cause the two glass balls inside the glass case, to turn with increasing speed rubbing each other, the resulting friction generating a 100 degree power. That power should be conveyed through wires to the sanjanika mani. Mingling with the force existing therein, that force issues out and should be transmitted through wires to the sourrya mani. On contact of the power therein the force will split into 5 streams. Each of the five power streams should be connected with one of the manis, Bhaaradwaja, Sourrya, Pingala, Pancha-jyotirmani, and Shakti-panjara mani. Mingling with the force in each mani, they form five forces, which are named by Atri maharshi as Raja, Mourtvica, Chundeera, Shoonya, and Garbha-vishodara. These should be passed by wires to the sulphuric acid vessel. They then form 3 forces, named marthanda, rowhinee, and bhadra. Marthanda shakti should be passed into the load-stone, mercury, mica, and serpent slough liquids. The resulting current should then be passed through wires to the wide mouthed glass globular vessel. Solar force pregnant with etherial force should be passed into the Naaladanda, and thence to the vessel with marthanda shakti. The power of the solar rays entering that vessel mingles with the marthanda shakti inside, and the resultant force has to be focussed towards the adverse force of the etherial current which will be thereby nullified and the vimaana will be protected.<br /><br />Then the Rohinee shakti should be passed through wires into the vessel containing the fivefold load stone, mercury, mica, serpent slough acid,<br /><br />p. 35<br /><br />and the resulting current passed to the Bhrajasvaddraavaka or luminous acid vessel at the foot of the central pole. Then from the air-route collect the wind-force impregnated solar rays and pass them also into the above vessel. Mingling with the rowhinee shakti therein a super-force will be created which should be passed through the northern pivot, into the rowhinee power vessel. The united force should then he directed against the malefic wind force in the air-route, so that it will tame the evil force and protect the Vimaana.<br /><br />Then from the suragha tube Bhadraa shakti should be passed into five fold acid vessel. The resulting force should be passed through wired tubes to the foot of the triangular wall, and thence to the pivot on the southern side. The force should then be directed against the evil roudree Force in the air-route. Neutralising that third destructive force in the sky, the vimaana will be allowed smooth passage in the sky.<br /><br />The Parivesha-kriya yantra:<br /><br />According to Yantra-sarvasva, by manipulating the five forces a halo is formed around the vimaana, and by drawing the solar rays into contact with it, the rays will speed the aeroplane along the rekhaamaarga or safety line. This is achieved by the operation of the above said yantra.<br /><br />Narayanacharya also says:<br /><br />"The mechanism which will manipulate the five forces so as to create a halo round the plane, and attracting the solar rays and contacting them with the plane, make them draw the plane smoothly and speedily along the air route without swerving into danger, is called parivesha-kriyaa yantra or halo-forming mechanism."<br /><br />Soudaaminee kalaa says, "The forces of ksha, ja, la, bha, and ha, when united attract solar rays. "<br /><br />According to "Gopatha-kaarika," the forces in shireesha or Indra or lightning, clouds, earth, stars; and sky, are indicated by the letters ksha, ja, la, bha, and ha. By combining those live forces a halo, like that around the solar orb, will be created, and it will have the power or attracting solar rays.<br /><br />Kriyaa-saara says Shireesha has 2 parts, Clouds have 8 parts, Earth has 5, Stars have 7, and Aakaasha or Sky or Ether has 10. The Aakarshana<br /><br />p. 36<br /><br />yantra should attract these forces and unify them. Then through the mirror above the vimaana attract solar rays, and apply them to the unified forces,<br /><br />A halo will be created, and that halo, in combination with the solar rays, will draw the plane through a safe course like a bird held by a string, Its formation is thus explained in Yantra-sarvasva:<br />"Athha Yantraangaani"<br /><br />We now deal with the parts of the yantra:<br /><br />A foot-plate: 23 main centres to be marked on it, with lines connecting the centres. Similar number of revolving screws, wired tubes, pole with three wheels, eight liquids, eight crystals, eight liquid containers, mirror to attract the forces of shireesha, cloud, earth, stars, and aakaasha, five electric mechanism, five barks of trees, copper coated wires, five leathers, hollow screws, revolving screw with wire, vessels for storing the energies, vessel for mixing the energies, smoke-spreading yantra, air-fanning yantra, halo-creating tube made of milky-leather, solar ray attracting mirror tube, tube for collecting the solar rays reflected in the mirror at the top portion of the vimaana, crest-crystal, screw for connecting the solar rays to the vimaana. These are the 23 parts of halo producing yantra.<br /><br />Its construction is now explained: A wooden base 23 feet square, made of black pippala or holy fig tee. 23 centres enclosed in a case made of 35th type of glass. 23 lines to the centres. Revolving keys to be fixed at the 23 centres. Wired glass tubes should connect one centre with another. A glass pole made of the 37th type of glass, 5 feet long, 1 foot thick in the middle, 18 inches thick at the neck, with a 10 fact wide top, should be fixed as the central pillar, with 3 revolving wheels. Eight acids should be placed in the eight directions from the north-east side. Their names are rubnaka, kraantaja, taarkshya, naaga, gowree, vishandhaya, khadyota and jwalana.<br /><br />The rubnaka acid is to be placed in the north-east centre, kraantaja in the centre, naaga at the southern centre, gowree at the south-west corner, vishandhaya in the western centre, khadyota at the north-west centre, and jwalana at the northern centre in 8 glass vessels.<br /><br />The names of the vessels are also given by Shaarikaanaatha: shila, abhra, paara, vyrinchika, vaaluka, asuragranthika, sphutika, and pancha-mrith,<br /><br />p. 37<br /><br />[paragraph continues] The 8 vessels are made out of these 8 elements by process defined in "Darpana-prakarana."<br /><br />The rubnaka acid should be filled in shila-darpana vessel; kaarshnya-acid in abhrakaadarsha; kraantaja acid in paaraadarsha vessel; naagadraava in vyrinchi-aadarsha vessel; khadyota acid in sphutikaadarsha; gowree acid should be filled in vaalukaadarsha vessel; vishandhaya acid should be filled in suragrathika vessel; and jwalana acid in panchamrid vessel.<br /><br />In the 8 acid filled vessels 8 crystals are to be inserted. As mentioned in "Maniprakarana" their names are dhoomaasya, ghanagarbha, shalyaaka, shaarika, tushaasya, somaka, shankha, and amshupa.<br /><br />Having mentioned their names, we now explain their disposal. Dhoomaasya mani is to be placed in rubna acid vessel. Ghanagarbha mani should be placed in kraantaja acid vessel. Shalyaaka in kaarshni acid vessel. Shaarika in naaga acid vessel. Tushaasya is to be placed in gowree acid, Shankha in jwalana acid; Somaka in vishandhaya acid; and Amshupa mani is to be placed in khadyota acid vessel.<br /><br />In front of these manis, eight shaktyaakarshana, or energy-imbibing mirrors are to be fixed. Their names according to Bharadwaja are taaraasya, pavanaasya, dhoomaasya, vaarunaasya, jalagarbha, agnimitra, chaayaasya, and bhanukantaka. Their location is as follows: Six inches in front of dhoomasya mani the taaraasya mirror with an iron rod with a switch attached to it should be fixed. Pavanaasya mirror should be fixed similarly in front of ghanagarbha mani. Dhoomaasya mirror should be fixed 6 inches in front of shalyaaka mani. Vaarunaasya mirror should be fixed in front of shaarikaa mani. Jalagarbha mirror should be fixed in front of somaka mani. Agnimitra mirror should be fixed in front of tushaasya mani. Chhayaasya mirror should be fixed in front of shankha mani. And Bhanukantaka mirror should be fixed in front of amshupaa mani.<br /><br />Then in the western centre should be installed the electric generator with switch. Copper-coated wires covered with live kinds of skins, should be spread all-round, proceeding from the shakti-yantra or electric generator. The names of the five skins, according to "Kriyaa-saara," are rhinoceros, tortoise, dog, rat or hare, and crocodile.<br /><br />p. 38<br /><br />According to "Twangnirnaya-adhikaara," or chapter on skins, for seats in vimaanas, and, for containing acids, and covering wires, five kinds of skins are mentioned by the learned; skins of rhinoceros, tortoise, dog, rat or hare, and crocodile. These five are to be used for the purposes of cove-ring, and seating. Wires covered with these skins are good conductors of electricity. The bhraamanee keela, or central revolving pole should be fixed in the centre so that when it revolves all the other pivotal centres also revolve. Eight energy storing vessels should be placed in the 9th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th 16th and 11th centres. The sammelana vessel or coordinating vessel should be placed in the front of the 23rd centre. To the south of it at the 21st centre the wind blowing mechanism should be fixed.<br /><br />The Vaata-prasaarana or wind-blowing yantra is thus described: In the central pivot there are to be 5 wheels which will turn with 100 linka revolutions by contact with electric wires: in the east and west two bellows on pivots: two air-containers with 3 mouths or openings: 6 wheels which prevent air-motion: two tubes with switches which will cause spreading: wheels with keys that will induce speed, or full speed, slow, very slow or stop, shaped like a tortoise, having two bharas or parts?, and having a wheel fixed at the top. That is a vaata-prasaarana yantra.<br /><br />The dhooma-prasaarana yantra or smoke-spreading yantra is as follows: with three openings, 5 satchels inside, 8 wheels, three keelakas or switches, encircled by electric tube, provided with smoke-generating mani or crystal, and equipped with 5 acids, with two churning wheels with keys, with two smoke containers attached to the bellows tube, with smoke-spreading yantra, and it is to be fixed at the 20th centre.<br /><br />The parivesha-kriyaa naala or halo-creating tube is thus explained. Out of 5 milks from 5 kinds of milk trees, 6 barks of trees, and 2 valkalas (hemp, jute), cloth is fashioned. And that cloth should be used in preparing the parivesha-kriya or halo-forming tube.<br /><br />It is stated in "Ksheeree-pata kalpa":<br /><br />In the realm of milk-yielding trees, dugdha-pranaalee, patapaadapa, payodharee, panchavatee, and virinchi are the 5 most suitable for manufacture of milk-cloth useful for vimaanas.<br /><br />p. 39<br /><br />"Patapradeepikaa" also says, "Among the milk-trees, the best for producing milk-cloth are the following five, payodharee, panchavatee, viranchi, patapaadapa and dugdhapranaalika.<br /><br />The six bark-trees are godaakanda, kurangaka-niryaasa, aandolikaaviyatsaara, lavika, prishatka, and kshmaamala. In conjunction with the milk from milk-trees these barks produce cloth which is flawless, strong, and soft.<br /><br />For the two valkalas, according to "Agatatva-nirnaya" out of 5000 kinds of valkalas from shaarikaa to panchamukhee, the two named simhikaa and panchaanga are said to be excellent for producing the milk-cloth required for vimaanas.<br /><br />The composition of the cloth is as follows:<br /><br />Dudgdhapranaalika milk 8 parts, 10 parts of the milk juice of the patavriksha, 7 parts of payodaree or cocoanut milk, 18 parts of the milk of the 5 vata or ficus trees, and 12 parts of virancha tree.<br /><br />The ambikaa-shatka composition is 10 parts of godaa-kanda, 17 parts of gum from kurangaka, 15 parts of aandolikaa viyatsaara, 12 parts lavika, 20 parts of prishatka, and 15 parts of kshmaamala.<br /><br />The two jute cloth proportions are given in "Shana-nirnaya chandrikaa," as 28 parts of simhikaa jute, and 18 parts of panchaangavalkala jute.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvV8i00fI/AAAAAAAABBs/Slkx17VQQJM/s1600-h/pl09.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvV8i00fI/AAAAAAAABBs/Slkx17VQQJM/s320/pl09.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454311298945522" /></a><br />These proportions of 5 ksheera or milk, 6 ambika or barks, and 2 valkalas or jutes, should be mixed together and unified, and boiled in paakaadhaana yantra and churned a number of times, and processing with acids 12 times, should be filled in pata-garbha kriya or cloth-making yantra, and milk-cloth of excellent quality obtained. The parivesha kriyaa-tube made out of this cloth will, by manipulation of the concerned switch, expel smoke from the vimaana, and by quick advancing and reverse revolutions of the wheel will spread the smoke all round so as to envelope the vimaana by means of the smoke-screen.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvKa8cY1I/AAAAAAAABBc/B5LEvIpbG00/s1600-h/pl11.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 224px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvKa8cY1I/AAAAAAAABBc/B5LEvIpbG00/s320/pl11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454113301029714" /></a><br />The Kiranaakarsha-Naala:<br /><br />16 parts of the 305th variety of glass, 5 parts of kaancholikaabharana, 6 parts of nagakesara or merua ferrea,--aletris hyacinthoides, 4 parts of<br /><br />p. 40<br /><br />couries, sunflower, and Indian spikenard, 8 parts of pure borax, iron dross, onion juice, cuscus grass powder, ruby glass, the three varieties of salt-petre, sand, essence of suranjikaa, viranchi flour, essence of black-mica, essence of bael fruit, and juice of flower buds, these twelve ingredients, in the proportion of 27, 5, 7, 3, 8, 7, 3, 11, 8, and 12, are to be filled in the frog-shaped crucible, and placed in the frog-shaped furnace, and melted with 300 degrees of heat with the help of two-winged bellows. The resulting liquid is to be poured into the darpana yantra or glass-making machine, so as to produce the kiranaakarshana or rays-attracting yantra.<br /><br />The tube made of this glass should be fixed at the top of the concerned yantra.<br /><br />Next- the pratibimba-arka-kiranaakarshana naala, or tube for attracting the reflection of the solar says:<br /><br />According to "Naalikaa-nirnaya," the essence of squash gourd, juice of momardica, 2 parts, of the salt of the two wheeled root vegetable, 3 parts of salt of simhamoola, 122nd type of glass, essence of white mica, jelly stone, borax, root of Bengal-madder, thorn at the root of bamboo, lead, mercury, these 15 ingredients are to be mixed in the proportion of 5, 12, 4, 3, 7, 3, 11, 4, 9, 12, 20, 18, 12, 5, 20. The mixture should be filled in the crucible known as samavargika, and heated in the furnace of the same name, and heated to the degree of 315, with the aid of bellows called suraghaa. The resulting liquid should be poured into the mirror--making machine. The resulting product will be a fine bimbaarka-kiranaadarsha, or reflected solar ray attracting mirror. This should be fixed in the central portion of the vimaana and in the 10th kendra, with five circled screws.<br /><br />Now we deal with the crest crystal of the vimaana. The crest-crystals are of 103 kinds. They are named in "Mani-kalpa-pradeepika" as belonging to the 12th class of 32 groups of crystals. Their names are shankara, shaantaka, kharva, bhaaskara, Mandana, kalaantaka, deeptaka, nandaka, chakrakantha, panchanetra, Rajamukha, Raakaasya, kaalabhyrava, chintamani, koushika, chitraka, bhaskara, uduraaja, viraaja, kalpaka, kaamikodbhava, panchasheershna, paarvanika, panchaaksha, paaribhadraka, isheeka, kaashabhrit, kaala, kanjaasya, kowtika, kalaakara, kaarmika, vishaghna, panchapaavaka, symhikeya, roudramukha, manjeera, dimbhika, pingala, karnika,<br /><br />p. 41<br /><br />krodha, kravyaada, kaala-kowlika, vinaayaka, vishwamukha, paavakaasya, kapaalaka, vijaya, viplava, praanajanghika, kaarmukha, prithu, shinjeera, shibika, chanda, jambaala, kutilormika, jrimbhaka, shaakamitra, vishalya, kanka-gowrabha, suragha, suryamitra, shashaka, shaakala, shaktyaakara, shaambhavika, shibika, shuka, bherunda, mundaka, kaarshnya, puruhoota, puranjaya, jambaalika, sharngika, jambeera, ghanavarshmaka, chanchvaaka, chaapaka, ananga, pishanga, vaarshika. Raajaraaja, naagamukha, sudhaakara, vibhakara, trinetra, bhoorjaka, kumuda, koorma, kaarmuka, kapila, granthika, paashadhara, damaruga, ravi, munjaka, bhadraka.<br /><br />These are the 103 crystals suitable for being fixed as crest-jewels of the vimaana. One of them is to be fitted to the central pinnacle at the top of the vimaana, and the wires from the electric dynamo should be connected to it, so that it might be supplied with power. On the upper side should be attached wires for collecting solar rays, so that the two forces might act in combination.<br /><br />The switch-gear for connecting the vimaana with the solar energy is explained in "Brihath-kaandika." Sandhaana-keelakaas are of 25 kinds. Their names are pinjuleeka, keeranaka, dimbhaka, paarvateeyaka, kachchapa, gaaruda, uddanda, shaktipa, govidaaraka, pavanaasya, panchavaktra, vajraka, kankana, ahirbudhnya, kundalika, naakula, oornanaabhika, trimukha, saptasheershanya, panchaavartha, paraavatha, aavarta, naabhika, oordhvaasya, shilaavarta.<br /><br />Amongst these the 9th, govidaaraka, is best suited to connect the vimaana with the solar beams for safe navigation. This is Pariveshakriyaayantra.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQv2ssNfUI/AAAAAAAABCM/MHrfUVW8gao/s1600-h/pl05.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQv2ssNfUI/AAAAAAAABCM/MHrfUVW8gao/s320/pl05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454873979026754" /></a><br />Next Angopasamhaara yantra:<br /><br />During the passage of sun and other planets in the 12 houses of the zodiac, owing to the varying speeds of their progressive and retrogressive motions, conflicting forces are generated in the zodiacal regions, and their collisions will let loose floods of fierce forces which will reduce to ashes the parts of the plane which get involved with them. The pilot should get warned by the ushna-pramaapaka yantra, or heat-measuring instrument, and quickly fold the concerned parts and ensure their safety.<br /><br />p. 42<br /><br />It is described in "Yantrasarvasva" as follows:<br /><br />Purifying the metal sumrileeka mixed with manjeera, a pedestal should be cast, 12 feet long, 18 inches thick, and shaped as a square or circle. Then mixing the magnetic stone and dimbika, after purifying them with acids, cast a pole 3 feet thick and 30 feet tall, with springs, as in an umbrella, at the foot, in the middle and at the upper end, and fix it in the centre of the pedestal. Rods made of mixed metal like umbrella rods, provided with 5 springs, should connect the springs in the pole with the several limb mechanisms of the vimaana. Two revolving wheel springs with two tubes with 3 faces and 3 wheeled springs should be fixed at the bottom of the pole, near the spring. Above there should be fixed an oiling tube which will keep all the springs well-oiled. When a particular limb of the plane has to be contracted the spring at the foot of the pole should be turned so as to induce the spring of the part to operate so as to contract or open up the part as need be so that the danger to the part will be prevented. By the operation of the angopasamhaara yantra, any part of the plane can be folded up to avoid danger and opened out subsequently.<br /><br />Vistritaasyaa kriyaa yantra or wide-opening mechanism:<br /><br />When the various powers, subterranean, eight cardinal points, earth, cloud, electricity, and oceanic, consemble in padma-mukha, a power called vishambharee is generated. It breaks through the earth, emitting great heat, mounts with a 300 linka speed to the upper sky regions, and reaching the aerial routes, envelopes the vimaana, and affects the personnel inside causing grave physical disabilities, and paralysing the brain. For the purpose of curbing it and nullifying it, the vistritaasyakriyaa yantra is to be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />According to "Yantrasarvasva," a foot-plate, of an arm's length, and 22 inches thick, and round-shaped, is to be made of the wood of the sacred peepul tree. A pole of an arm's thickness, and 32 inches high, is to be fixed in the middle of it. Reversible wheeled double-switches should be fixed along its height, connecting each of the sectional mechanisms in the vimaana, through tubes reaching to the bhastrikaa naala or bellows tube attached to the mechanisms. At the foot of the pole three revolving wheels, and at its back the contracting switches, have to be fixed<br /><br />p. 43<br /><br />First peetha or footplate, then pillar, then revolving springs, jointure tubes, two-wheeled keelakas, two-winged bellows, three wheel moving mechanism, contracting mechanism, are eight constituent parts of this machine.<br /><br />First the triple wheeled mechanism should be switched on. That will set the double wheels in motion. That will make all the springs attached to the pillar begin to operate. The two winged bellows attached to the double-wheels will open up. Wind will rush out and force through all the sandhi-naalas or jointure tubes. That will set the bellows in the central operating; thereby the bellows of the sectional mechanisms will come into play, and air will flow out in a flood, and taking hold of the vishambharaa shakti expel it to the aerial regions where it will get lost. Thus the personnel inside the vimaana will be saved from disabilities and restored to normalcy.<br /><br />Vyroopya mirror: Says "Yantrasarvasva",<br /><br />When enemy planes come intent on destroying the vimaana, the vyroopya mirror is intended to frustrate them. Its parts are, peetha or stand, central switch-gear, electric pole, smoke tube, betel-nut oil, triple-wheeled spring, three satchels, smoke light, and contraction tube.<br /><br />The peetha or seat should be 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall, and circular, and made of bael tree wood. 12 centres are to be marked therein. At each centre revolving joints should be fixed. Jyotistambha or electric pole, 24 inches thick and 24 inches tall and made of vyroopya darpana glass, is to be fixed in the centre. In front of it the electric machine should be fixed in the 2nd kendra. In the 3rd kendra should be fixed the turning smoke tubes with winding wires. The oil vessel should be fixed in the 5th kendra. The 3 satchels, with 3 mouths, one foot high and made of milk-leather should be fixed in the 6th 7th, 8th and 9th kendras, up to the smoke tube. In the tenth kendra should be fixed the smoke-extinguishing tube mechanism, and the light-extinguishing tube in the eleventh kendra. The winding wire tube should be fixed in the 12th kendra.<br /><br />The operation of the mechanism is as follows:<br /><br />Drawing the electrical energy from the dynamo, it must be applied to the triple-wheeled mechanism. That will be set in motion. The wires<br /><br />p. 44<br /><br />proceeding from there will convey the power to all the other mechanisms and set them in motion. Kendras 3, 4, and 5, will become active. When kendra, 9 is switched on the koshas attached thereto will become active. From the 5th kendra the current should be passed to the oil vessel. The oil will then convert itself into poisonous .gas. The gas should be filled in the 3 satchels and the 3 tubes. The fumes from two of the tubes should then be discharged towards the enemy planes. They will encircle the enemy planes and envelope them with a smoke-screen. Then the betelnut oil should be lighted, and fluxed in the jyoti stamhha or light-pillar. The light within the pillar will suffuse it with red glow like a china rose; and pervade the sky. Then the electric glow should be applied to that glow. The resulting glow will be multi-coloured like a rain-bow, with violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Then the poison-fumes from the 3rd tube should be drawn through the air tube, and let into the multicolour-glowing light-pillar. The fume will burst into light, and then should be passed through tube into the vyroopya-darpana. The light glow will pervade the mirror and attain 3000 degree intensity, causing a blinding glare and paralising the enemy. Then the gas in the three satchels should be projected with 25 linka speed towards the smoke screen enveloping the enemy. Then the smoke from the tubes should be projected with 28 linka speed into that screen. Then the smoke filled glow will flood over the enemy personnel and affect their body joints, organs, mind, vision, and induce inertness, and make them all fall down senseless. Then the pilot could change his air-route and proceed forward safely.<br /><br />Then Padmachakra mukha yantra:<br /><br />According to "Yantra sarvasva," its parts are, peetha or pedestal, pillar, tubular pole, electric wiring, glass lotus petals, lotus formation process, places where the lotuses are to be located, wind inhaling and leather-bellows mechanism, contracting and expanding switches, triple-wheel fixing arrangement, air flow outlets, folding up mechanism. These are the 12 parts of the padmachakra mukha yantra.<br /><br />The peetha or seat should be made of the wood of pippala or the holy fig tree, 8 feet and 3 feet high, and square or circular. Mark 12 fixing centres on it. From the central pillar draw lines towards the 12 spots. The central pole, two tubular posts on either side of it, electric wire in eastern centre,<br /><br />p. 45<br /><br />lotus petals in the north, formation of lotus in the northern and southern centres, fixing of the lotuses from the north-east to the south-east corner, to the east air-filling bellows. In the north west corner the contracting switch, and the expansion switch in the south-west corner, triple-wheel revolving mechanism on the eastern side, air flow outlets underneath each lotus. To its south, the contraction switch.<br /><br />These are the 12 parts to be fixed in the 12 centres. The production of the parts is as follows:<br /><br />The central pivot should be made of abhra-mrid-darpana, or mica-sand glass. According to "Darpana-prakarana"--<br /><br />5 parts of rambhasatva (plantain stem?), 8 of manjoosha (madder root?), 5 parts of kaanta (ayaskaanta? sooryakaanta?), 8 parts of kravyaada (jataamaamsi), 3 parts of aadhaka essence, 7 parts of tortoise shell essence, 18 of bhalyatvak, 3 essence of kudmala or flower buds, 8 of bamboo salt, 3 of hooves, 28 parts of shoonya-mrid or mica ash, 4 of trivikrama kshaara, 2 of conch, 5 of mercury, 8 of salts, 1 of creepers, 3 of silver, 3 of eye-ointment, these 18 ingredients, purified, filled in crucible, placed in varaatakunda furnace and boiled to 200 degrees, and slowly filled in darpana yantra, will yield an excellent abhra-mrid darpana.<br /><br />Two tubular poles of the size of an arm, made of this glass, should be placed on either side of the pivot. From the central pole electrical wiring should be connected to the 12 centres. In the centre of the switch tubes should be placed the lotus petals, and 150 finely made glass lotus petals should be spread on the northern side electric wires.<br /><br />The petals are to be made, according to Lalla, by mixing 15 parts of the mica glass, with 4 parts of sourika salt, duly mixed and finely powdered and melted in pattikaa machine, when like onion-skin layers, petals will take shape. Then the wires attached to the petals should be brought together from the several centres, and attached to the lotus forming mechanism. By turning the concerned wheel the petals will move towards the centre and form a lotus. Each petal will then become a tube, and by their juggling each<br /><br />p. 46<br /><br />tube will form 2 petals. The air-attracting mechanism should be placed in front and set to work. With a shrieking noise the air will be sucked in by each tube and the petals will shoot the air far into the outer air.<br /><br />It is said in "sandhaana-patala--"<br /><br />The scattering of a blizzard which may obstruct the progress of the vimaana is only possible by means of the padma-sandhaana and not otherwise. Therefore the spots where the lotuses are to be inserted are now indicated. On the eastern side from the north east to the south east the lotuses are to be erected in seven places in close order. Beneath the seven lotuses should be fixed seven leathern bellows capable of deep draughts of air. On the north west corner should be fixed the double-wheeled contracting mechanism.<br /><br />According to "Kriyaa saara," by turning the main wheel in right motion, and the upper wheel in reverse motion at full speed, the yantra will suffer contraction. This machine is composed of 6 wheels spread out, 5 naalaas or tubes, 12 wires and 12 openings, and 12 keys which will cause contraction of the 12 parts, with widened mouth at the upper and lower parts, and provided with 2 revolving keys. By placing such a contracting machine in the north-west corner, the machine could be contracted when desired.<br /><br />Now we shall deal with the expanding mechanism. It is round like a water pot, with 12 wheels and mouths, having 12 tubes with rods inside with 12 revolving springs for ascending motion, and with a central spring for filling with air. With such a mechanism the yantra can be made to stretch its parts. This should be fixed in the south west corner.<br /><br />Then at the eastern face the triple-wheeled revolving spring, called "bhraamanee-keelaka", should be fixed.<br /><br />It has 3 ivory wheels, consists of 3 poles, wooden top shaped like shimshumaara, with wheels with spring on top. By its operation the several parts of the yantra are set in motion, and by the operation of the concerned springs, the yantra will expand. Therefore the 3 wheeled bhraamanee mechanism should be properly fixed at the eastern kendra with 5 bolts.<br /><br />Underneath the lotuses air flow routes should be provided. There should be openings 12 inches wide, 2 inches high, be leather-covered, made<br /><br />p. 47<br /><br />of pippala wood, with 7 tubes for the flow of wind. Seven such tubes should be fixed beneath the seven lotuses, and provided with keys.<br /><br />In the southern centre the contracting mechanism or upasamhaara keela, with 12 outlets, should be fixed.<br /><br />Owing to the seasonal changes forces will generate in the joints of the outer space, and combining with the oceanic forces will reach the realm of air and cause a commotion which will spread out with fierce force into the farthest air pockets, and let loose typhoons which reach the vimaana, and produce a dusty excrescence which will induce chicken-pox-like skin eruptions on the pilots and other occupants, and also break up the vimaana. In order to suck up that foul wind-flow, and expel it out of the vimaana, the padma-patra-mukha yantra is prescribed.<br /><br />Next Kuntinee-shakti-yantra:<br /><br />Now we shall deal with kuntinee-shakti yantra. In mid-summer, out of the myriad heat rays of the sun, by the union of the 3, 5, and 10th class of rays, a fierce force of blazing heat named kulakaa is generated.<br /><br />It is said in "Ritukalpa",<br /><br />From the solar heat generative source 3 Mahaakshoni and 21 crores 500 lakhs 16 thousand and nineteen heat rays emanate. They are classified into 5 crores 8 thousand and 107 groups in Vaalmeeki ganita. Each group is divisible into 100 sub-groups. Of these when the rays of sub-groups 3, 5, 10 from the second group get mixed up in the heart of summer, a force called Kulakaa with fiery intensity is generated; and when it moves into the path of the flying vimaana, the plane will be reduced to ashes. To protect against that the kuntinee-shakti yantra should be installed in the neck portion of the vimaana.<br /><br />Sage Narayana also says:<br /><br />Amongst the divisions of the heat rays of the summer sun, the second group has 85000 rays. Out of them those numbered 8, 3, and 10 are specially intense, and they attract the pramlochana shakti from koorma portion of the universe, and produce a fierce heat-wave called kulikaa. If a vimaana happens<br /><br />p. 48<br /><br />to encounter it in its course, it will be burnt to ashes. To safeguard against that the kuntinee-shakti yantra should be installed in the neck section of the vimaana.<br /><br />Lallaachaarya also confirms:<br /><br />Out of the many groups of the heat-rays of summer, numbers 3, 5, and 10 in the 32nd division of the 2nd group of rays' tend to contact the pramlochana shakti in koorma and produce a fierce force called kulakaa which will destroy the vimaana. The erection of the kuntinee-shakti yantra in the vimaana will prevent it from such destruction.<br /><br />According to "Yantra Sarvasva",<br /><br />Among the constituent yantras of the vimaana, the kuntinee-shakti yantra is required to protect it from the combustible heat waves known as kulikaa in summer. Its parts are ground-plate, central switch-board, acid vessel cloth, with folds, chakradanti naala, milk cloth, tube covering switches, revolving wheel equipped with electric wiring, and contracting mechanism.<br /><br />The peetha or ground-plate should be 3 feet wide and ½ foot high, and round like a drinking bowl, seven kendras or centres commencing from the eastern side, turning switches in the seven centres, the acid vessel in the central kendra.<br /><br />"Kriyaasaara" Says:<br /><br />For capturing kulikaa the oil from gunja or the seeds of the shrub abrus and tobacco leaves, and mercury and shanaka crystal are recommended for use. The oils or acids of the seeds and tobacco leaves are to be filled in goblet like cup made of glass made of naaga, crownchika, and sowrambha metal, add purified mercury, and fix in the central kendra. Then apply the solar rays to the vessel. By the action of the rays on the acids the crystal in the vessel will become charged with a cold frigid force called krownchinee. Then when the kulikaa force enters the vessel with its fierce heat, it will be sucked in by the cold-storage crystal.<br /><br />In the left kendra the cloth with folds should be fixed. Says "Patakalpa.--"<br /><br />p. 49<br /><br />In order to confine in the crystal the fierce heat of kulikaa it should be wrapped in the folds of a cloth of fine and strong texture made of spikenard and jute yarn, with 5 folds and 3 openings. From the openings 3 glass tubes should be projected with downward bends into 3 wide mouthed vessels. To the north--east must be fixed the chakradanti naala for attracting the kulikaa force. Snake-skin, gum of srini, woollen yarn, soft grass, should be boiled together and lac-coloured cloth-like glass prepared, and purified with sundikaa wood oil. It should he rolled in coils just as a snake circles up in coils and sleeps. The tiny glass tubes should be attached at the bottom of the chakradanti as directed.<br /><br />Then ksheeree-pata naala, or milk-cloth tube is to be fixed. Made of milk-cloth with wide-opening, strong, soft, a tube should he inserted in the mouth of the chakradanti, and its end should be made to reach the hole in the peetha. Through that the kulikaa force makes its exit. After placing ksheeree pata naala like this with key, the electric wire connected central operating switch should be placed in the west. And to the north-east of it the vistritaasya or opening out switch should be fixed.<br /><br />Says "Kriyaasaara":<br /><br />It should have two satchels, two openings, two right-revolving and reverse-revolving wheels. In the eastern opening should be fixed the 2 right-revolving wheels. And in the northern mouth should be fixed the 2 reverse motion wheels. And as in an umbrella, sticks connecting all the parts with the centre, for the purpose of expansion and contraction by turning a switch. By operating the switch in the eastern opening all parts will open out or expand. By operation of the northern switch all parts will close up. This is the upasamhaara keelakaa.<br /><br />Having enumerated the parts of the yantra, their operation is now given. First the electric switch. By putting it on, the Bhraamanee chakra or pivotal wheel will revolve setting in motion individual parts as and when desired by turning their respective switches. Then electric current should be passed to the acid containing the crystal. Solar rays also should then be passed into it. Thereby, in the acid there will be generated a female shakti of 5 nyankas called sowlikaa. Similarly in the crystal there will be generated a male shakti of 8 nyankas called chulikaa. By operation of the electric<br /><br />p. 50<br /><br />current the two shaktis will get unified and produce an extremely cold shakti called "crownchinee," capable of attracting the kulikaa. That crownchinee force should be projected through naala or tube towards the kulikaa, like imbedding a gunja pea in a lump of lac. Thereby the crownchinee will drag the kulikaa inside the yantra through the tube and drop it into the acid vessel where it will be imbibed by the crystal.<br /><br />Then the patormikaa key should be turned, whereby the patormikaa will become wide open preventing any air from entering the crystal by covering it completely. Then the chakradanti key should be turned slowly, so that its mouth opens out and sucks the hot kulikaa from the crystal, and stores it inside itself. Then the key of the sookshmaadarsa naala, fine mirror tubes, should be operated. The kulikaa in chakradanti will emerge through the 3 tubes. Then the vistritaasya key should be operated quickly so that all the parts will open out, and the kulikaa shakti will get out and disappear, and the danger to the pilot will have passed. Then by operating the upasamhaara keelaka, the expanded parts will close up and the yantra will return to normalcy.<br /><br />Now we shall deal with Pushpinee yantra. When the pilot has to travel during spring and summer months, the pushpinee yantra is intended to provide him with necessary comforts.<br /><br />According to "Khetavilaasa":<br /><br />In spring a force called sowrikaa emanates from the south-east. And in summer a force called panchashikhaa arises in the north-west and is intensified by the sun's rays. Panchashikhaa contains two kinds of poisons. Sowrikaa having fire and moon contents is cold and hot, cold internally, and hot externally. It generates warmth in all creations, making the human kind perspire, and the trees and vegetation bring out their milk and gums. Thereby their bodies are relieved of harmful materials likely to lead to diseases.<br /><br />By its cold effect and attracting the spring effect from the solar rays, it permeates all things, and brings out shoots, tendrils, flowers and a glow in all trees and creepers. Similarly it effects the 7 physiological components of the human body and increases their vigour, strength, growth, and glow.<br /><br />p. 51<br /><br />Panchashikhaa shakti or force effects movable and immovable life adversely by its stultifying influence, shrinks and dries up the growth process of both vegetable and animal life and causes deterioration. To counteract this harmful effect of the season on the personnel of the vimaana, the pushpinee yantra is commended as one of the constituents of the aeroplane.<br /><br />Its parts are, the base, the cold processing mirror, keelaka or key, cold generating crystal, acid vessel, electric wheel with 100 spokes.<br /><br />The sunda-mud made glass is prepared, according to "Paarthiva-paaka Kalpa" as follows. Take salt, shinjeera, bone, and betel-nut salt, durona, kuruvinda grass (cyperus rotundus), gum, sowraashtra mud, virinchi vatika or banyan bark, silk cotton tree bark, and coir salt, these ingredients are to be taken in the proportion of 5, 12, 2, 3, 8, 3, 30, and 6, purified, filled in the crucible, and placed in the tortoise shaped furnace, boiled 32 times in 100 degree heat with the help of two faced bellows, and the resulting fluid poured into the cooling yantra. A pure and fine sunda-mud-glass will be formed.<br /><br />With the glass thus produced by boiling 32 times, a base is to be formed 12 inches wide, 3 inches high, four-square or circular. From the centre of it 4 kendras or centres are to be marked. In the centre an arm-sized pivot made of the said glass should be fixed. On top of it is to be fixed the cold-processing mirror key. At its centre should be fixed the cold producing crystal. At the eastern centre should be placed the acid vessel.<br /><br />Dravapaatra or acid vessel is described in "Kriyaasaara." It should be 12 inches wide and 12 inches high, shaped like a tumbler, circular, and hard like a cocoanut shell, and be made of the sheeta-ranjikaa glass.<br /><br />The glass is described in "Darpana Prakarana". Shasha-piththa, udupiththa, borax, kutmala, jyotsnaa saara, rasonta kanda flour, kudupa-salt, mica salt, shoundeera jangha shalya flour, vaatohara, white niryaasa earth salt, and uragha.<br /><br />These 12 ingredients should be taken in the proportion of 5, 3, 5, 1, 10, 10, 11, 8, 7, 2, 20, and 6, and after properly purifying them, fill them in lotus-shaped crucible, and placing it in the lotus shaped furnace filled with<br /><br />p. 52<br /><br />burning charcoal, and with the aid of the five-mouthed bellows blow the heat to 323 degrees temperature, and pour the liquid into the yantra. The resulting glass is called sheeta-ranjikaadarsa or cold-receptacle glass.<br /><br />Cold-producing crystal is described in "Maniprakarana": 5 parts of couries and manjula powder, 4 parts udumbara salt, 3 of rubhna, 8 parts of varchulaka, 7 of sheeta ranjikaadarsha, 3 of vatu, 28 of shaalmali, 3 of salts, 7 of mercury, 8 of white mica, 8 of karkataanghri salt, 5 of chowlika satva, 15 of niryaasa earth, 25 of sampaathi bird kneebone--<br /><br />These 14 ingredients, in the named proportions are to be purified and filled in mritkundala-moosha or earthen crucible, and placed in kulakundika furnace, and with the aid of tryambaka bellows blown into 300 degree temperature. Fill the boiled liquid into the mani-prasoothika, or crystal forming yantra. The crystal produced will be pure, hard, and intensely cold.<br /><br />In front of it should be fixed .the electric panka wheel, with 100 spokes and electric wiring, and purified by 3 acids.<br /><br />As per "Kriyaasaara," 12 parts of copper, 3 of collyrium, 8 of zinc, should be mixed and melted with 100 degree heat. It will become pure like gold, yellow, fine, soft, and strong. It is called pancha-loha or five-in-one metal by those who know. 100 leaves like those of lotus should be formed out of them. Then 3 navels, three navel keys, and 3 wires, and a sounding keelaka or key, or switch, or wheel.<br /><br />First the navel wheels with hinged rods should be fixed so that the 100 petals will he made to revolve with due speed on the four sides of the wheel. Similarly by the side of the wheel in front of it, another 100 petals should be properly fixed for revolving in reverse direction. And electric wires should be fixed on both sides of the centre of the western wheel, for operating the 100 spoked electric panka or fan. Then the vessel should be filled with the cold generating acid. And encircling the cold-generating mani or crystal, it should be placed in another vessel in the centre. And copper wiring enclosed in milk-cloth should be attached to the wire in the acid vessel. Two wires from there with switches should be connected with the cold ranjikaa glass or mirror in right-turning fashion. Then current should be switched into the electric wiring in the crystal and acid. Then by the contact of the electric current the forces within the crystal and the acid will get active and their<br /><br />p. 53<br /><br />combined cooling and comforting quality will enter the cold ranjanikaa mirror and concentrate in it. On operating the switch attached to it, the cold effect will spread out all over the interior of the vimaana, and overcoming the scorching seasonal effect, make it comfortable and pleasant for the pilot, and restore his efficiency. Similarly the 100 spoked panka (fan?) should be switched on, when a breeze will be generated and air-condition the atmosphere of the pilots. Thus by the use of the crystal, acid, and panka, a state of pleasant comfort will be induced, and vigour, exhilaration, and competence will be injected into all the limbs of the body. Therefore this Pushpinee yantra should be installed in the southern section of the vimaana.<br /><br />Next Pinjula Aadarsha or Pinjulaa Mirror:<br /><br />By the collision of two winds giving rise to a whirlwind, and the fierce solar ray dashing against it, a lightning bolt erupts and strikes the unwary vimaana. To protect against such an event, the pinjula mirror is to be installed. An eight petalled lotus is to be made of the pinjula glass. Where the petals join, a circular dandaakaara should be made. At the back two hinged bolts should be fixed. They should be wound round by wires from the cold mirror. The back should be covered with a coir-made cloth covering. It should be fixed in the southern side of the vimaana, at an arm's height, facing the sun. The lightning will be absorbed by the projecting rods coiled with wires from the cold aadarsha mirror, and no evil effect will occur, and the pilot can proceed in safety.<br /><br />And Naalapanchaka or Five tubes:<br /><br />If the smoke from the kitchen over of the vimaana spreads, it will cause discomfort for people inside. Therefore the five tubes or pipes should be inserted for the smoke to go out and the air become clear. The pipes are to be manufactured as follows. Magnetic iron, pinjula mica, ghontaara metal, dhoomapaasya metal, and tortoise shell, are to be taken in the proportion of 1, 7, 5, 5, 8, purified, filled in crucible, and melted with 100 degree heat, and when ultimately cooled, a fine metal called vaataayanee metal, or window metal will result shining like gold.<br /><br />With that metal 5 tubular outlets, 12 inches in diameter and 12 inches in length, should be fashioned. At one end of each of the tubes should be fixed<br /><br />p. 54<br /><br />a smoke-absorbing crystal. The tubes should be inserted in the 4 sides of the vimaana, forming outlets. One tube should be fixed at the ceiling. The dhoomapa crystals will attract the smoke and pass it to the outside, and clear the vimaana of its discomfort. Hence the necessity for the naalapanchaka, or five tubes.<br /><br />Then Guhaa-garbha aadarsha yantra, or hidden mine discovering mechanism:<br /><br />According to "Yantra Sarvasva" enemies would have placed mines and bombs underground for the destruction of the vimaana, unless they are discovered and de-fused in time there would be danger. Therefore the mine-finder yantra has to be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />Says kriyaasaara, out of the 72nd type of glass, make a triangular, a circular, and a quadrangular shaped glass mirrors. These are to be fixed as follows with bolts made of pancha-dhaaraa metal in a frame made of the wood of the anjishtha tree. The circular mirror should be fixed at the bottom facing downwards. The quadrangular mirror should be fixed facing upwards. The triangular mirror should be fixed to the west of these two, with a panchamukha keelee or 5 faced hinge. From the main pivot of the quadrangular mirror to the foot of the bolt at the south-east corner of the yantra, wires made of copper, tiles, and panchaasya metal should be drawn and connect them, and then the wire ends and chumbaka crystal should be placed in the mercuric-sulphur acid vessel. Four other wires should be made to circle the triangular mirror, pass through the mirror facing upwards, and fixed to the centre of the down-ward facing mirror. Then solar rays should be let in from the western side. A screen cloth coated with mirror-like gum should be placed opposite to the triangular mirror. Then the solar rays and electric current should be passed into the acid vessel containing the crystal. When the electrified rays from the crystal are passed on to the downward facing mirror, they will explore the ground over which the vimaana is to pass, and discover mines and bombs like mahagola and agni-garbha, which may have been inserted there and reflect their complete picture in the crystal in the acid vessel. The picture will then be projected to the screen opposite in clear detail, and by washing with chemicals present a perfect photograph of the buried mines and bombs, which could then be destroyed by due safety measures. Therefore the guhaa-garbha aadarsha yantra or mine-discovering yantra is essential for a vimaana.<br /><br />p. 55<br /><br />[paragraph continues] Its parts are as follows:<br /><br />First the 72nd type of mirror, known as suranjitaadarsha. "Darpana Prakarana" says:<br /><br />Madder-root, live coal, ox-gall, snake-gourd, mercury, karanja or galedupia arborea, copper, 3 kinds of sharkara (sugar or sand?), borax, sulphur, chaaru or silk-cotton bark, lac, kuranga, rouhinee, iron-rust, panchaanana, liquid amber, Shiva or brionia laciniosa, vishwa, mica, paarvanija, vydoorya gem stone, in the proportion of 11, 27, 5, 7, 7, 3, 7, 5, 20, 3, 7, 3, 1, 32, 30, 38, 8, 7, 3, 9, 30, duly pulverised and filling in a beaked crucible, placed in a vaaraaha furnace, and heated to the 100th degree with the aid of the tortoise-shaped bellows. When the finely boiled liquid is poured in the cooling yantra, suranjika glass of exquisite quality will result, out of which three mirrors have to be fashioned for the guhaa-garbha-aadarsha yantra.<br /><br />Aanjishtha Tree<br /><br />Kriyaasaara says, "Many kinds of trees are suitable for use in making yantras. Of them all the tree called aanjishtha is the finest." "The trees having 5 qualities are 87 in number. The best among them all is aanjishtha," says "Udbhijya tatva saaraayanee."<br /><br />Agatatvalaharee also says, the five qualities such as the capacity to capture reflections, and others, are found inherent in the Aanjishtha (or madder root) tree. Therefore out of all woods the wood of that tree is most suitable for use in this yantra.<br /><br />Pancha-dhaara-loha<br /><br />In making yantras, pivots of various metals are being used. But for use in connection with the guhaa-garbha-aadarsha, or hidden mine discovering instrument, the shankus or pivots made of pancha-dhaaraa-loha or five alloy metal are the best.<br /><br />Kshvinkaa, iron-pyrites, copper, indra, and ruruka, purified, powdered, and filled in mrugendra moosha crucible and boiled to 300 degree heat with beaked bellows, will yield a 5 alloy metal, strong and heavy.<br /><br />p. 56<br /><br />Paara-granthika acid for insertion of the crystal, is described in "Moolikaarka prakaashikaa." Mercury, bamboo salt, Indian spikenard joint, paarvanika or clerodendrum phlomides, svarna seeds or Indian labernum seeds? or yellow thistle seeds?, and ghatotkaja or American aloe, in equal quantities, should be filled in a big bellied earthen pot, heated to yield a golden hued shining liquid, which is very useful for capturing reflections.<br /><br />Chumbaka crystal is the one most suited for use in capturing reflections of objects. It is manufactured as per "Manipradeepikaa," with the following ingredients. Magnet, sand, borax, ivory, shoundika or long pepper, mercury, paarvana or clerodend rum phlomoides, copper, vermillion, iron-pyrites, grudhnika, souri or marking nut, buffalo hoop, vishwakapaala, cleaned and powdered, and filled in karpala crucible and baked in a furnace with the aid of owl-nosed bellows to 100 degrees, will yield a fine image producing crystal.<br /><br />Pigment for coating the screen so as to present a clear picture, is called "Roopaakarshana-niryaasa," or image reproducing niryaasa or varnish. Out of 360 such varnishes that is the best.<br /><br />Says "Niryaasa kalpa":<br /><br />Moonstone, crownchaka, bamboo rice, five milks from banyan, fig, keg etc., trees, magnet, udusaara, mercury, mica, pearl, earth from ant-hill, saarasvata oil, and nakha or nail? these 16 articles to be taken in equal parts, purified, should be ground for a period of 30 days in the juice of the peacock's egg, then mixed with bilva oil and boiled for four yaamaas or twelve hours until it becomes a perfect gum or varnish. Some call it reflector varnish. Some call it virinchi-varnish.<br /><br />The varnish is to be evenly spread on the special cloth called patadarpana, so that it may present as on a cinematograph screen, the pictures reflecting the location of anti-aircraft mines discovered by the roopaakarshana yantra.<br /><br />The production of Pata-darpana is described in "Darpana-prakarana":<br /><br />Gum, cotton, pratolikaa, kuranga or pallatory root, maatanga or keg tree bark, cowries, kshoneeraka, gholikachaapa, granite sand, parotikaa, sea-foam, priyangava, ghanjhotikaa, sugar-cane, rukma or argemone mexicana,<br /><br />p. 57<br /><br />kesara or mesua ferraa gum, earthen salt, suvarchala, urugha, bydaara oil, muchukunda flour, sinjaanu, anchaalika, turmeric, kaarmuka or acacia catechu, these ingredients in the proportion of 100, 58, 25, 28, 4, 12, 5, 3, 1, 30, 10, 5, 8, 12, 3, 13, 22, 27, 28, 3, 24, 7, 3, 13, should be cleansed, powdered, filled in a vessel, and boiled in the furnace with 100 degree heat, and the unified fluid should be poured on a flat surface so as to form an even surfaced sheet. After drying, the photographic niryaasa varnish is to be used to coat this sheet, for use in the Guhaa-garbha aadarsha-yantra.<br /><br />Thamo yantra or Darkness creating yantra:<br /><br />Vimaanaas are liable to be attacked by enemies with poison fumes of Rouhinee or krakachaarimani rays. As a protection against it the thamo yantra has to be installed in the vimaana. Out of 132 types of thamo-yantras, the 62nd variety is said to be the best for safe-guarding against poison fume and ray attacks by the enemy.<br /><br />Black lead, aanjanika (collyrium?), vajra-tunda are to be powdered and mixed in equal quantities, filled in fish-shaped crucible and placed in crow shaped furnace, heated to 100 degrees, and poured into the cooling receptacle will yield a fine, light, strong thamo-garbha-loha, or darkness impregnated alloy metal, useful for making Thamo-yantra.<br /><br />The peetha or stand is to be 3 feet wide and ½ foot high, square or round. In the centre of it is to be fixed the pivot. At its front should be placed the vessel of the acid of guggala or Indian dellium. To the west should be fixed the mirror for enhancing darkness, and in the east should be fixed the solar ray attracting tube. In the centre should be fixed the wire operating wheel, and to its south should be fixed the main operating wheel or switch.<br /><br />Its working is as follows. On turning the wheel in the south east, the two faced mirror fixed to the tube will revolve and collect the solar rays. By operating the wheel in the north west, the acid in the vessel will begin functioning. By slightly moving the wheel in the south-east, the solar rays will enter the crystal in the acid vessel. By turning the wheel in the west, the darkness intensifying mirror will begin to function. By turning the central wheel the rays attracted by the mirror will reach the crystal and<br /><br />p. 58<br /><br />envelop it. Then the main wheel should be revolved with great speed, when the darkness will be produced enveloping the vimaana and making it invisible, and the efforts of the enemies to attack it with poison gas and rays will miss their target and become ineffective. This yantra should be placed in the north-west sector of the Vimaana Panchavaataskandha-Naala.<br /><br />Iron rust, shaarana, copper, suvarchala salt, in equal parts, to be filled in mayookha crucible, placed in jumboo-mukha furnace, and using kaakamukha bellows boiled to 102 degrees and cast in the yantra, will yield a pure, light, soft, strong, nice cool metal known as vaatadhaarana loha.<br /><br />4 tubes, each 2 yards long and 1 yard high, should be prepared. Like the circular opening in the top of the vimaana two openings on each and one at the bottom should be prepared. Each tube should be inserted in the said openings. Another tube 12 feet long and 3 feet high should be fixed on the western side in the opening at the top. To each tube should be attached bellows' mouth operated by wheels. By turning the wheels of the 5 tubes the 5 poisonous winds will be sucked in and passed into the tubes to make their exit, without causing harm to the plane.<br /><br />Lohasarvasva says:<br /><br />There are 13 air layers known as Vrishni and others. By the force of the Panktiraadhasa Kendra, they tend to jostle each other, and generate fierce forces which will be destructive to the unwary vimaana which may get involved in them. Therefore the Pancha-Vaata-Skandha-Naala Yantra is to be inserted in the back portion of the vimaana; to safeguard against evil consequences.<br /><br />Roudree Darpana Mirror.<br /><br />From the south-eastern side of the earth-sun axis solar rays touch the turbulent forces in the etherial regions, and burst into flames, and vimaanas which may be out on their course may be destroyed by the flames. To prevent such a happening the roudree-darpana yantra should be installed in the bottom of the vimaana.<br /><br />Says "Yantrasarvasva", "At the time when spring passes into summer, the forces in the junctional regions of the sky, on contact by fierce solar<br /><br />p. 59<br /><br />rays, burst into tumultuous flames, and destroy all things that pass through, Therefore the roudree darpana should be fitted in the vimaana as a safe-guard against that."<br /><br />According to "Darpana Prakarana," iron rust, magnet, veera iron, borax, panchaanana metal, mica, honey, red castor bark, banyan, suryavarchula or sweet-salt, gold, alika, shaarkara or benzoin tree bark, pancha tikta or 5 sours, snake gourd, and paaduka, are to be powdered, cleaned, and in equal quantities filled in padmaasya crucible, and placed in vishvodara furnace and heated to 200 degrees. The molten liquid poured into the mould will yield excellent flame-proof roudree-darpana glass.<br /><br />With this roudree-darpana glass a plank of 16 feet in dimension should be prepared. A pivot 25 inches thick should be fixed at the centre of the plank. At the edge Of the pivot, two wheels should be fixed revolving with right motion and reverse motion for expanding and contracting. A wheel equipped with rods for spokes should be fixed, the spokes being 15 inches from each other. Sheets made of roudree glass, washed with linseed, drona or lucas aspera, liquid amber, and madder root oils should be fixed to the rods with hinges. Similarly crystals made of roudree-darpana glass, with 5 facets, cleaned with the oils should be fixed at the end of the rods. Between each rod 18 leaves like lotus leaves with revolving keys should be fixed. The instrument is to be shaped like an umbrella. The leaves should be fixed at the pivot top with 8 keys.<br /><br />When the burning flames are imminent, the pilot should turn the expansion wheel vigorously, and the umbrella will open up and provide a shielding cover for the vimaana. The lotus petals, the crystals, and the enveloping cover will protect the vimaana from the threatened danger.<br /><br />Next, the Vaata-skandhana-naala.<br /><br />According to "Gati-nirnaya-adhyaaya"<br /><br />In the Aavaha and other giant wind spheres there are 122 kinds of different motions of the wind. In the summer season the 79th kind of motion occurs mostly. When the vimaana travels in the 4th region of the sky, it tends to zig-zag owing to the wind currents, and cause hardship to pilots and other occupants. Therefore as a safe-guard against it, the Vaatastambhana-naala-yantra should be installed in the bottom section of the vimaana.<br /><br />p. 60<br /><br />Says "Yantra Sarvasva",<br /><br />The vaatastambhana naala yantra should be manufactured with the vaatastambhana metal only. According to "Lohatatva prakarana," dantee or croton seeds, suvarchala or sun-flower salt, mayoora or sulphur, lohapanchaka or copper, brass, tin, lead, and iron, bhrisundika, suranjika or sulphate of mercury, varaahaanghri loha, virohina or creya arboria, kuberaka, muraarikaanghri metal, ranjika or phosphorus, suhamsanetraka, dala or folia malabathy, courie sea-shell, mrinaalikaa or lotus stalk, to be powdered, cleaned, and in equal quantities filled in matsya or fish-shaped crucible, and placed in maaghima furnace, and with the aid of vijrimbhana bellows duly melted, will yield a molten liquid which when poured into the mould and cooled will yield an excellent vaatastambhana loha.<br /><br />With that metal 6 naalas or tubes of 15 inches diameter, with wide openings should be prepared and fixed in the tail and centre and front of the vimaana 10 inches deep, east to west and north to south, and held together with hoop iron binders. At the mouth of each tube a vaatapaa or air imbibing crystal should be fixed by wires. Between the tubes flags or pennants made of cotton-cloth duly processed, should be tied. And wheels made of the special metal should be fixed above each pennant. When the vaataayanee wind blast blows, the pennants will flutter noisily, and the wheels fixed underneath them will also revolve as also the crystals. The fluttering pennants pass the blowing wind to the wheels which pass them on to the crystals, which will pass them into the tubes from which they will be ejected through openings to the outside. That will protect the vimaana from their interference.<br /><br />Next Vidyuddarpana Yantra.<br /><br />Sowdaaminee kalaa explains it as follows:<br /><br />During the rainy season, when rain clouds gather in the sky, lightning of five kinds begin to play. They are named vaaruni, agnimukha, danda, mahat, raavanika. Of them, vaaruni and agnimukha are very active and fearful and are likely to be attracted by the roudree-darpana and other mirrors and cause fires which destroy the vimaana. In order to prevent that the vidyud-yantras should be installed in the front and the right side of the aeroplane.<br /><br />p. 61<br /><br />According to Yantra-Sarvasva:<br /><br />In order to protect the plane from lightning, vaaruni and agni, the vidyuddarpana should be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />Darpana Prakarana explains its structure:<br /><br />Kuranga or pallatory root, panchaasya metal, virinchi, shonaja or red lead, sand, alum, kutbha or hellebore, pearl, sundaaliga, mercury, yavakshaara or salt-petre, borax, bidouja salt, pingaaksha or terminalia chebula (?), cowries, and karbura or hedychum specatum, powdered and purified, in the proportion of 10, 7, 4, 3, 12, 2, 3, 7, 11, 27, 14, 3, 22, 18, 5, and 11, filled in padmaasya crucible, placed in vishvodara furnace, and with the aid of the 5 mouthed bellows heated to 500 degrees, the molten liquid will yield in the cooling mould a glass which is impregnated with 300 shaktis or forces, and can overpower the lightning blasts from the vaaruni and agni forces, shining with wonderful rays, and capable of spreading its own lighting force within 2 kshanas or a few seconds to a distance of 5 yojanas or 15 miles.<br /><br />With that lightning darpana glass should be constructed the Vidyuddarpana yantra. A plank, 20 feet in diameter and 1 foot high, square or circular in shape should be prepared, 4 glass tubes of crescent moon shape should be fixed around the peetha or plank. In the centre should be fixed a cage made of chumbuka glass, fitted with wires and 5 faced switches at each face, and 5 goblets made of vidyuddarpana. In the centre should be fixed a spire made of the same glass with 7 cross spokes and tubes, 8 faced and 10 angled. By turning the key inside, the spire is to revolve with speed. That will attract and contain the lightning emitted by the clouds. The rays will expel it to the outer air region, and incapacitate it. Then a snow-like cool temperature will render the interior of the vimaana safe and pleasant for the pilot and other occupants. Therefore this vidyuddarpana yantra should be installed duly in the vimaana.<br /><br />Shabda-Kendra Mukha Yantra.<br /><br />"Kriyaasaara"' says--<br /><br />The spots from which sounds emanate in the sky are called shabda-kendras or sound centres. The different directions from which the sounds<br /><br />p. 62<br /><br />are projected are called shabda-kendra mukhas. The yantra which is meant to control the sounds so projected is called shabda-kendra mukha yantra.<br /><br />Out of 304 classified sounds the sounds of water-laden clouds, wind, and lightning are said to be fiercest. In the 8th region of the sky these three sounds unify in the shishira Ritu or February-March period, and produce ear-splitting thunders. They would deafen pilots and others in the vimaana. As protection against that the shabda-kendra mukha yantra is to be installed.<br /><br />It is said in Shabda-nibandhana, "By the combination of water, fire, air, and sky, sound is generated both among living and life-less objects. The sounds in the word "Shabdaha," i.e., sha, b, d, and ha, indicate water, fire air, and sky symbolically."<br /><br />"Naamarthha-kalpa" says,<br /><br />We shall deal with the nature of sound or "shabdaha". The word consisting of sounds sha, ba, da, and ha, stands for water, fire, air, and sky. By the combination of these four forces in various proportions, 304 different kinds of sounds are generated.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQva8yRYdI/AAAAAAAABB0/Mzmboojc9AE/s1600-h/pl08.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQva8yRYdI/AAAAAAAABB0/Mzmboojc9AE/s320/pl08.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454397263077842" /></a><br />The Braahmana bhaaga of the Veda also says shabdaas are of 304 kinds, such as sphota or embryo, very feeble sound, feeble sound, manda or soft, very soft, fast, very fast, medium, very medium, great sound, thunder sound, and thunder-bolt sound.<br /><br />It is said in Yantra-Sarvasva,<br /><br />In the 8th region of the sky, by the concatenation of water-cloud, wind and fire, an extremely fearful thunder clap will occur which will blast the ears of pilots who may enter the region. To safeguard against that the vaataskandha mukha yantra is to be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />In the 8th region of the sky there are 307 centres of sound. From the 70th centre a fierce sound proceeds by the force of water. From the 312th centre a fierce sound produced by wind will emanate. Similarly from the 82nd centre a fierce sound generated by lightning will emanate. By collision of the three a terrible sound will result which will deafen the pilots of the vimaana. Therefore facing each sound emanation centre the shabdopasamhaara yantra is to be established.<br /><br />p. 63<br /><br />The construction of the yantra is as follows:<br /><br />Gavyaarika, monkey's skin, duck-weed, shana-kosha or jute product, crounchika or lotus stalk, vaaripishtaka or shag, roonthaaka, flesh, elephant trunk, and tin, are to be purified, and the nine elements, other than the skin, in equal parts, filled in niryaasa yantra and baked for 3 days with buffalo bile, will yield a decoction of fine scarlet colour. Seven times this decoction should be spread on the skin, and left to dry in the sun. The skin will then acquire the capacity to suppress sound.<br /><br />A box 2 feet long and 1 foot high made of badhira or deaf metal is to be made. Two pipes made of the same metal shaped like crane's beak, should be fixed inside it. Above it should be fixed an umbrella made of shabdapaa darpana, or sound-drinking glass. A crystal washed with tulasee or basil seed oil should be placed inside the monkey skin and sealed with rhinoceros gum. The sealed skin with crystal should be placed in the central pipe inside the box. Monkey skin alone should be placed in the pipe on the left side. Thin wires should connect them all and be fitted with hinges and switches. Above the canopy of the box a monkey skin shaped like lion's mouth should be connected by wire through a pipe to the crystal in the tube inside the box. The top of the box should be covered, securely.<br /><br />Badhira loha or deaf-proof metal is explained in Lohatantra-Prakarana; lime fruit, laguda or sweet-scented oleander, virinchi, rishika or water-calteop, maaloora or Bengal quince, panchaanana metal, luntaaka, varasimhika or solenum xunthokurpum, kuravaka or gigantic swallow-wort, sarpaasya or mesua ferrea, vaakula or surinam medlar, jack-fruit, camphor and vatika or salvinia cusullata, in equal parts, purified, and filled in tryutee crucible, and heated in the furnace, will when cast produce a metal, cold, dark, sound-proof, powerful, able to control bleeding, and draw out missile parts from the war wounds of soldiers and healing them, and capable of reducing the effect of thunder claps.<br /><br />The simhaasya bellows is to collect the fierce sound and transmit it to the crystal inside the metal box so that the monkey skin will absorb it and stifle its intensity. Therefore shabda-kendra mukha yantra should be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />p. 64<br /><br />Vidyud-dwaadashaka Yantra, or Yantra of 12 lightnings is explained in Kriyaasaara.<br /><br />In the realm of the comets and shooting stars in the sky, at the 8th region there are 30703221 shooting stars. 8000 of them are prone to lightnings, and 12 of them known as mahaakaala etc., are of importance.<br /><br />Shakti-tantra says, "The 12 lightnings which form the eyes of the shooting stars are named, rochishee, daahakaa, simhee, patanga, kaalanemikaa, lataa, vrindaa, rataa, chandee, mahormee, paarvanee, mridaa."<br /><br />Kheta-sarvasva Says:<br /><br />Mahaakaala, mahaagraasa, mahaajwaalaamukha, visphulinga mukha, deerghavaala, khanja, mahormika, sphulinga-vamana, ganda, deergha-jihva, duronaka, and sarpaasya are 12 comets with 12 lightning eyes.<br /><br />The lightning effects of the comets are extremely severe in the period of sharat or autumn, October and November, and vasanta or spring, March and April. By the collision of the solar rays and the lightnings a force called ajagara is created. When the vimaana reaches the 20th region of the sky, that force paralyses the plane. To protect against such happenings the vidyuddwaadasha yantra is to be installed.<br /><br />Yantra Sarvasva also Says:<br /><br />Vidyuddwaadasa yantra is excellent in protecting against the lightning effect of comets. Its details are as follow. First duly coated jataghana should be prepared. It should have 22 folds so as to cover the vimaana. Poundraka and other crystals should be fixed in each of the folds. Then mahorna acid should be placed inside in the north-east side of the vimaana. 8 rods, each of 6 arms length, made of anti-lightning glass should be fixed in the 8 directions over the cover of the vimaana. At the beginning, middle, and end of the vimaana canopy, spring wheels made of dambholee metal, 5 faced and interconnected should be fixed with revolving bolts. Cages made of wire should enclose the poundraka crystals, and the wire terminals should be attached to the spring wheels. The wire ends from 4 of the cages should have a common switch.<br /><br />On the main wheel being put in speedy motion the 12 crystal cages will revolve, the enveloping cloth cover will spread out, and the lightning<br /><br />p. 65<br /><br />absorbing power of the cloth will be activated. The crystals will attract the ajagara lightning, bifurcate the comet lightning from the solar rays, and transmit it to the 8 rods. The rods will absorb and then transfer the lightning power to the folds of the power proof cloth. By operating the central switch in the enclosure, a force called vidyut-kuthaarika, or lightning-axe, will be generated in the acid, and it will attract the comet force from the cloth, and submerge it in the acid. Then by operating the end switch in the enclosure, the ajagara force in the acid will dart towards the pataghana cloth-cover and take refuge, where upon the blowing wind will evaporate it and nullify its effects, and the vimaana will be out of danger.<br /><br />According to Darpana Prakarana,<br /><br />Shundaala metal, mridakaantaka or mountain ebony, ghanodara, budilaakara or tamarind, vatsanaabha poison, pankaja or eclipta prostrala, kutilaraga, naga or mesua ferrea, white sand, vara or syndhava salt, garada, mica, garala, or honey product, mukha, shringa, sphatika crystal, avara, muktaaphala or pearl? guggulu or boswellia glabra, kaanta or steel, kuranja or Indian beach, natron, salt-petre, borax, copper, snake scale, udupa, barren tree, sonamukhee or Tinnevelly senna, brown barked acacia, jaambalika or citrus grass? lemongrass? kusha grass, kudmala or flower bud, gold, these 26 ingredients, purified and filled in crucible and placed in padmaakara furnace, and with the aid of simhaasya or lion-faced bellows heated to 300 degrees, and poured into the mould, will yield a fine anti-lightning glass.<br /><br />Dambhola loha or thunderbolt metal is thus described in Lohatatitra-Prakarana:<br /><br />Urvaaraka, kaaravika, kuranga, shundaalika, chandramukha, virancha, kraantodara, yaalika, simhavaktra, jyotsnaakara, kshwinka, pancha-mourtwika, metals should be purified and placed in mandooka-or frog-crucible, placed in the five faced furnace, and with the aid panchamukha or 5 mouthed bellows heated to 500 degrees, will yield the dambholi alloy.<br /><br />Poundrika crystals are described in Maniprakarana which describes the poundrika crystal.<br /><br />Poundrika, jrimbhaka, shibira, apalochana, chapalaghna, amshupamani,<br /><br />p. 66<br /><br />veeragha, gajatundika, taaraa mukha, maandalika, panchaasya, amrita sechaka, these 12 crystals are destroyers of ajigara.<br /><br />Draavaka prakarana explains mahorna acid: pynaaka, panchamukha, ammonium chloride, wild liquorice, iron-pyrites, kudupa, vajrakanda, budila, mercury, steel, charcoal, mica, these in equal parts purified and boiled in acid boiler, will yield mahorna acid.<br /><br />Praana-Kundalinee Yantra.<br /><br />According to "Kheta-Sarvasva," where the contact of smoke, lightning and wind courses in the sky occurs is the praanakundalee position. The yantra which can control, restrain, and set in motion the forces of these three in their several courses, is called praana-kundalee yantra.<br /><br />According to Kriyaasaara, the yantra which is installed in the praanakundalee kendra of the vimaana in order to control the forces of lightning, wind, and smoke, and adjusts their movements is called praana-kundalinee yantra.<br /><br />Says Yantra-sarvasva, "In order to control the movements of the forces of smoke, electricity and wind, and make them disperse, move, halt, or make stunt move or reverse move, the praana-kundalinee yantra is installed in the vimaana. A peetha or stand 3 feet in diametre and 3 feet high, square or. circular, should be made of vrishala metal, with 8 kendras or central spots. In each central spot, two wheels with revolving hinges; small peethaas or plates with 3 holes, 4 teeth, 3 pivots, in their middle a central pivot, three red-coloured tubes or pipes with opening and closing wheels, and switches for right motion, and reverse motion, with a shabda-naala in the centre, with wheels (with hinges and rods) which will flap the wings; from the north-east and south-east kendras and the middle-kendra in the west up to the middle of the course of the yaana kundalinee revolving wheels with pivots. Motions are by means of hand wheels. By the operation of the several wheels the plane will be set in motion. From the central pivot of the 8 kendras strong wires should pass the eastern peetha or footboard through randhras or holes and reach the tops of the 3 tubes at the window. The 3 forces should be made to aid the motion of the vimaana, and the remnant of the force should be passed through the 8 tubes and get lost in the sky, leaving the vimaana unperturbed."<br /><br />p. 67<br /><br />Shaktyudgama Yantra<br /><br />The eight powers of the planets and stars, at the time of full moon in the month of kaartika,--i.e., November-December, are pulled forcefully by mahaa-vaarunee shakti or great cold force. In the 137th route in the sky there is a jala-pinjooshikaa shakti which will attract and spread them all over, and there will be a fierce outburst of dew and snow. Then 3 currents will be generated: one will be a damp cold air flow; the second will be a wet dewy flow; and the third will be a cold air flow. When the vimaana approaches that region, the first force will divest it of all power. The second force will benumb the pilots and operators. The third force will envelop the vimaana and make it invisible. Thus overcome, the vimaana will crash. As protection against such a happening the shaktyudgama yantra should be fixed in the navel spot of the vimaana.<br /><br />"Khetasangraha" says,<br /><br />"Eight planets are, Mars, Sun, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Jupiter, and Ruru. And krittikaa, shatabhisha, makha, mrigashiras, chitra, shravana, pushya, and ashvinee are eight luminous stars. In the course of their transit through space the planets and stars approach each other in the period of sharat or autumn generating eight forces."<br /><br />"Chaara-nibandhana" also says, "According to the science of astronomy, planets and stars in the course of their perambulations happen to approach one-another. Then conflict arises between the magnetic and electric forces of planet and star, and eight cold forces are generated in consequence."<br /><br />"Shakti-sarvasva" says, "When the star krittika comes near planet Mars, a force called shaktyudgamaa is generated. Similarly, by the star shatabhisha coming near the planet, Sun, a cold force called jwaalaamukhee is generated. By the nearness of mrigashiraa and Venus a damp cold windy force called mahojjwalaa is generated. By the approach of star makhaa to planet Saturn a force called shytya-damshtraa is generated. By the approach of chitta to Mercury a force called shytya-hymaa is generated. By the approach of shravana to Moon a cold wave force called sphoranee is generated. By the nearness of pushya to Ruru a force called mahormilaa in generated. And by the approach of ashwinee towards Jupiter a force called mandookinee is generated.<br /><br />p. 68<br /><br />These eight forces, shytyodgamaa, sheeta jwaalaa-mukhee, shytya-damshtraa, sheetarasa-jwaalaa, shytya hemaa, sphoranee, sheetarasa-ghanaatmikaa, and shytya-mandookinee, by mutual inter-play according to the seasons, will become six new forces."<br /><br />Says "Ritukalpa,"--"In spring the differing forces will be 5, in summer 7. in the rainy season 8, in autumn 3, in hemanta or cold season 10, and in winter 2.<br /><br />The 3 forces during autumn are as follows. The planet-star forces by contact with the sun's rays, assume 3 forms. Sheeta-jwaala, shytya-damshtraa, and shytyodgamaa, coalesce and become sheetarasa-vaata shakti. Shytya-rasa-jwaalaa, shytya hymaa, and sphoranee coalesce and become vaari sheetasheekaraa shakti. Shytya-ghanarasaa and shytya mandookinee become sheeta-vaata-rasa-praavaahika shakti."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwIDQtzSI/AAAAAAAABCk/Pv3y2zDjh6A/s1600-h/pl02.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 232px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwIDQtzSI/AAAAAAAABCk/Pv3y2zDjh6A/s320/pl02.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351455172095495458" /></a><br />Yantra Sarvasva Says,<br /><br />"To protect the vimaana from the effects of these three forces the shaktyudgama yantra should be installed.<br /><br />First with the shytyagraahaka loha or cold-absorbing metal, protective hoods should be prepared both for the pilot and for the plane. At the front and tail portion of the aeroplane cover should be fitted switches for contraction and expansion. In the front or elbow hinge of the supporting beam of the covers the two sandhi-keelie should be fitted. Three tubes should be prepared out of the cold-proof glass, and should be fitted in front and on either side of the pilot's cock-pit. Bhraamanee chakra or wheel should be fitted at the front. When the three shaktis or forces attack the vimaana, the expansion wheel should be revolved vigorously. It will first cover the pilots and then cover the entire plane also. By operating the bhraamanee wheel the attacking forces will be slowly absorbed, and the shaktis will be forced through the cold air tubes. By operating the main switch of the naala tantries, or wires, the forces will be made to go through the tubes into the outside air, and vanish therein. The pilot and the vimaana will both be saved from danger.<br /><br />"Loha-tantra" describes the shytya-graahaka loha, or cold absorbing metal as follows:<br /><br />Blue lotus, crowdika or rhinoceros horn or vaaraahi root, somakanda,<br /><br />p. 69<br /><br />vishwaavasu, crownchika alloy, chandrakaanta or moon-stone, vaardhyashvaka alloy, varuna tree, 5 kudmalas, simhaasya, shankhalavaa, and goose-berry, to be purified and in equal quantities filled in shundaalaka crucible, placed in chanchoomukha kunda, and with panchaanana bellows heated will yield a fine cold-capturing alloy.<br /><br />"Darpana prakarana" describes cold-proof glass: lead, kapaalee, moonstone, castor, margosa seed, trinaanga or cus-cus grass, kshaara-traya or natron, salt-petre, and borax, suvarchalaa or sun-flower?, fine sand, bhaarika, collyrium or eye-black, kuranga or pallatory root, panchormikaa, chandrarasa, and shivarika, purified and in equal quantities filled in simhika crucible, placed in padmaakara furnace, and with the aid of shoorpodara bellows heated to 300 degrees, and poured into mould and cooled, will yield an excellent sheetaghna darpana or cold-proof glass.<br /><br />Vakra-prasaarana Yantra:<br /><br />Enemies attempt to destroy one's vimaana by missiles and dambholi and other mechanisms. The pilot should discover them by means of mukura and other yantras and immediately change course and avoid the trouble. Therefore the Vakraprasaarana yantra, or diversion enabling mechanism should be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />Yantra Sarvasva says,<br /><br />"When there is danger from dambholi and 8 other kinds of destructive mechanisms contrived by enemies, in order to escape that danger the vakraprasaarana yantra is prescribed:<br /><br />Sulphate of iron, sacred peepul gum, and copper 16 parts, krishnaaguru or black sandalwood 3 parts, zinc 5 parts, collyrium 1 part, should be purified and mixed and boiled with 100 degree heat. Aaraara copper alloy will be formed, goldish and light and hard. A wheel 3 feet wide and 3 feet high should be made out of it. It should have a pivot, and be installed in the bottom of the eeshaadanda axle moola of the vimaana. Four inches thick and of arm's length, with 16 wheels having band-saw toothed edges attached to two pivots, oil-cleaned, with 3 joints, with oil-cleaned rods attached to the saw-toothed wheels, with keys; in the middle should be fixed 2 keys which will eject<br /><br />p. 70<br /><br />smoke, and 2 keys which will shut off smoke. Proper wiring should connect the several parts. This will enable the vimaana to zigzag like a serpent, to reverse, and to divert so as to avoid the danger zone, and get out safely."<br /><br />Shakti Panjarakeela Yantra:<br /><br />In order to provide electric force to all parts of the vimaana and make them operate smoothly the shakti-panjara-keela yantra is to be installed.<br /><br />According to Yantrasarvasva, "As a means of charging all parts of the vimaana with electric current the shakti-panjara-keela is prescribed. It is made as follows:<br /><br />Steel, crownchika alloy, and iron, in the proportion of 10, 8, and 9, to be powdered and filled in crucible, and placed in aatapa furnace and heated to 100 degrees and charged with 10 degrees of electric current, will yield Shakti-garbha metal with which the yantra is to be made.<br /><br />A peetha or plank of arm's length and equal height, should be made out of above metal. In the middle and at either end of the peetha three pivots with half moon shaped hinges should be fixed. A flat bar made of copper should be fixed and tightened with bolts. Pipes with holes are to be made out of the metal and equipped with rods fixed in the holes, and connected all round with wires, forming a strong caged globe. The cage should be fixed at the top of the copper band. For the rods and wires in the cage to receive electric current a switch should be duly fixed at the bottom of the cage. And switches should be provided for all the 32 parts of the vimaana for electric connection and disconnection. This enables the plane to career through the sky in any desired direction."<br /><br />Shirah-Keelaka Yantra.<br /><br />It is said in Kriyaa-saara, "When the plane is passing through a region of overhanging clouds, there is possibility of lightning striking and destroying the plane. As protection against that the shirah-keelaka yantra should be installed at the crest of the vimaana."<br /><br />The Yantra is described in Yantra Sarvasva:<br /><br />"When there is danger of lightning striking the plane, the shirah-keelaka yantra is to protect it. Therefore it is explained below. An umbrella, of the<br /><br />p. 71<br /><br />same size as the top of the vimaana, with ribs and metal covering should be made out of vishakantha metal. The umbrella stick, of arm's length, and peetha or stand, circular in shape, should be made out of the same metal. Then out of baka-tundila metal three wheeled keelakaas or hinges should be fixed at the front, back, and middle of the vimaana. The umbrella rod should be fixed in the middle of two keelakas.<br /><br />The agnikuthaara crystal with metal cage should be fixed at the top like a crown. A three wheel switch revolving key should be fixed by the side of the pilot. Then wires made of kulishadhwamsa metal should be run from the crystal to the three wheeled revolving keelaka. In front of it shabda-naala tube with switch should be fixed. The yantra should be enclosed in a cover made of suranjikaa glass. When there is anticipatory thunder in the clouds, the glass covering cracks, and the tube of the wiring will emit sounds, and the wires will be severely shaken. When the pilot notices these signs, he should quickly set in motion the three-wheel keelee, which will revolve the umbrella with 100 linka speed. Then the crystal switch should also be turned, where-upon the crystal will also revolve with intense speed. By the speed of the revolution of the umbrella, the force of lightning will be stemmed, and the danger will be passed, leaving the vimaana and the pilot safe. That is the use of the shirah-keela yantra."<br /><br />Shabdaakarshana yantra:<br /><br />In order to tap or discover the sounds in the 8 directions of the vimaana, wired or wireless, up to 12 krosas or 27 miles, caused by birds or quadrupeds or by men, with 8 mechanisms, the shabdaakarshana yantra is prescribed to be fixed in the shoulder of the vimaana. A peetha or foot-plate four-cornered or round should be made out of bidaala metal, with a pivot in the centre. On either side should be fitted machines which will attract any kind of sound and repeat it. With the soft leather of roruva or grinjinee bird two ball-shaped domes should be fixed. Between them in a suraghaadarsa vessel katana-drava acid should be filled and the vessel should be installed. Above the acid vessel and between the two globes should be fixed sound spotting rod made of sound capturing ghantaara metal, fitted with a bunch of wires. It should be enclosed in a cover made of kwanaka glass. In the corner three thumb size wheeled knots should be fixed. From them to the rod fine strong wires should be connected. Enclosing the wires a karanda or<br /><br />p. 72<br /><br />container made by kwanaadarsa glass, with small holes should be placed. A vessel made of the same glass, shaped like a drona or grain measurer, should be placed on top of it. In the east and west and north and south 4 crystals named rudantee-ratikaa should be arranged with wires. Above it shabdaphenaka covering, with small shankus or screws fixed, should be placed. It should be covered by a covering made of kwanaadarsa glass, with 8 small holes. Wires starting from the screws and passing through the holes should reach the top of the covering. In the centre of it in an inch size hole simhaasya-danda-naala or tube should be fixed. In front of it a vaataapaakarshana chakra or wind wheel with 16 spokes with wires should be fixed. The wheels should be fixed in all 8 directions. In the simhaasya mukha naala or lion-faced tube on 8 sides revolving wheels should be fixed. 8 goblet like vessels made of pure vajeemukha metal should be fixed. Wires from the 8 holes of the covering should be placed in them. Similarly from the wind wheel wires should be connected to 8 screws in the 8 goblets on the simhaasya. Then from the 8 screws in shabda-phena, wires should be connected to the crystal in the acid vessel.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvuLxrsEI/AAAAAAAABCE/PZttGl1xM_8/s1600-h/pl07.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 242px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQvuLxrsEI/AAAAAAAABCE/PZttGl1xM_8/s320/pl07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454727704653890" /></a><br />By the flow of wind the wheel turns with speedy right and left motion, and will set in motion the shabda-phena wheel. Then the wheels on the 8 screws also will turn. Then the sound detection rod made of sound-capturing ghantaara metal will be set in motion. Thereupon the two globes made of roruva-grinjinee skin will attract all sounds clearly and store inside themselves. By moving the central switch there the sounds will pass through the simhaasya tube and enter the dronaasya vessel, and make the sounds clearly audible to the hearer. The pilot will listen to the voices and direct the plane away from the vicinity of danger. Hence the shabdaakarshana yantra is prescribed.<br /><br />This yantra is in 32 varieties. And it is distinct from the 32 parts constituting the vimaana.<br /><br />Of the materials required for this yantra,--Byndaala Metal, according to Lohasarvasva, is made as follows:<br /><br />Zinc, sharkara or quartz powder?, kaanta or steel, mica, shilaarasa, kamatha or benzoin, dimbhaari, areca-nut, karagrathinee, copper, virinchi, karna or sal tree, patalee or long blue cucumber, gumbhalee, dumbholika alloy, kshaara or chloride, kraantika, simha, panja or momordika, dalinee, mercury, eye-black powder or surma?, kshonika, veera or red-lead, yellow<br /><br />p. 73<br /><br />thistle, madder-root, mridarutee, brass, iron, these articles should be powdered, and purified in equal quantities, filled in shashamoosha crucible, placed in mandooka furnace, and with five-mouthed bellows heated to 200 degrees and melted to eye-level, when cast will yield a fine, light, blue, bydaala alloy.<br /><br />Rutana acid is explained in "Moolikaarka prakaasikaa" as follows:<br /><br />Yellow thistle, karanda or iron pyrites, wild liquorice, paarvani or chlorodendrum phlomaides, chanchooli or red castor, bhantikaa or madder root, kaarambha, vishwesha, chandikaa or sesbenia grandiflora, amara or Indian turnsole?, shundaalika, barbaraasya, sowrambha or tooth-ache tree?, praana-kshaara or ammonium chloride, virinchi, borax, arka or calotropis gigantia, surubhee or basil, these in the proportion of 4, 3, 3, 5, 7, 12, 15, 1, 3, 10, 24, 25, 30, 12, 20, 8, purified and filled in vessel and boiled to 108 degrees, will become a fine yellow rutana-draavaka acid.<br /><br />Ghantaarava metal is explained in Lohatantra:<br /><br />Bell-metal, aaraara, ruchaka or patron.?, gaaruda or emerald stone?, shalyakrintana, panchaasya, veerana, rukma or gold-metal, shukatunda, and sulochana, these 10 metals purified and powdered in the proportion of 5, 3, 12, 2, 3, 7, 5, 30, 4, 24, should be filled in shukti crucible, wrapped all round with earth, placed in alaabu shaped furnace, and boiled to 500 degrees up to eye level, should be poured into the mould. A fine, light, scarlet metal which will record all sounds will result.<br /><br />Kwanadarpana mirror is explained in Darpana Prakarana:<br /><br />Wild liquorice seeds, red catechu, false catechu, white catechu, garadaka or a poison, 8 kinds of salt, salyaaka, vara or sodium chloride, sharkaraa or granite powder, budilaka salt, jwaalaamukha or wolf's bane?, tundila or kayidonda, bydaala or arsenic?, shukatunda, ravimukha or magnifying glass, chancholika or red castor seed, arjuna or tin, luntaaka, varataala or yellow orpiment?, kuravaka or crimson thorny amaranth, kambodara, kaamuka or punnaaga or Alxandrian laurel or pinnay oil tree, these ingredients, after triple cleaning, are to be filled in padma crucible, placed in padmaakara furnace, and heated to 700 degrees, and poured in mould, will yield an excellent kwanadarpana glass.<br /><br />p. 74<br /><br />Rudantee-mani is explained in "Mani Prakarana":<br /><br />Kshaaratraya or natron, salt-pare, borax, aanjanika or eye-black powder, kaanta or sun crystal, sajjeeka, vara or sodium chloride, karna or oxide of arsenic, cowrie shells, maakshika or iron pyrites, sharkara or granite grains, sphaatika or alum, kaamsya or bell-metal, mercury, taalakasatva or yellow orpiment, gyra or marking nut, ruruka, rouchyaka, kudupa, garada or aconite, panchamukha metal, shingara or iron dross, and shundolika or great leaved caledium, these 21 articles, purified, and filled in aanika crucible, placed in shouktika furnace and boiled to 103 degrees, and cast into maniyantra mould, becomes a fine rudantee crystal.<br /><br />Ruchika mani also is explained in Maniprakarana:<br /><br />Sea-foam, chamaree cat's nail and mouth bones, steel, paarthiva, granite grains, shilaarasa or liquid amber, mercury, praana-kshaara or ammonium chloride, alum, naaga, cowrie, maakshika or iron pyrites, shundaala or great-leaved caledium, rundaka or eagle wood, kudupa, suvarchala or natron, jambaalika, musk-cat's tooth, or yellow orpiment?, ranjaka, manjishtha or madder root, paarvani or stag-horn, rukma or gold quartz, yellow thistle, owl's nails, vara or ammonium chloride, oyster shell, these ingredients, purified and filled in equal proportion in nakhamukha crucible, placed in mahodara furnace and heated with the aid of six-faced bellows to eye-level, and poured into mould will yield a strong, dark, heavy rutikaa crystal.<br /><br />Shabda phena mani is described in "Shabda-Mahodadhi":<br /><br />"Take badaba sound from the sky, life-giving trait from water, the fire of air from the atmosphere, the echoing quality from boulder, the splitting quality from solar-rays, moss layer, sea-foam, bamboo, conch; manjishtha or madder root, kusha grass, gribhdnaka, rudra-shalya, gokarna or sal?, and musali or curculigo orchioides, in the proportion of 7, 22, 45, 13, 32, 19, 38, 14, 22, 38, 42, 13, 25, 9, and 23. These purified and boiled will yield shabdaphena."<br /><br />From moss-layer to musali the ingredients should be purified, and in the said proportions should be filled in phenaakara yantra, should be baked for 3 days, and for a week the sankalana key-wheel of the yantra should be turned in full speed for half a ghatika daily, when foam will be formed. The foam should be filled in shakti-sammelana yantra. Then through 6 tubes<br /><br />p. 75<br /><br />the 6 shaktis or powers from praanana to sphotana should be injected into the foam patiently. On either side of the yantra switches should turn the mixing or churning wheel inside the yantra. Then moderate heat should be applied from praanana to sphotana power infusion. Then keeping it in the sun, electric power should be applied to the foam up to 85 degrees. This electric cooking should be done for 6 days. Then carefully extracting the foam from the yantra, it should be stored in the vaajeemukha metal box. That shabda-phena would be able to attract and record all kinds of sounds.<br /><br />Vaajeemukha metal is described in "Lohatantra":<br /><br />Copper 3 parts, sonamukhee or iron pyrites 2 parts, zinc 8 parts, veera or black metal 2 parts, kaanta or steel 3 parts, bambhaarika 1 part, kamsaarika 3 parts, panchaanana 6 parts, gowreemukha or mica? 2 parts, shundaalaka 6 parts, these 10 articles to be purified and filled in shundaalaka crucible, placed in shoorpaasya furnace and heated with vajraanana bellows and poured in vajraanana yantra and churned energetically for proper cohesion of the liquid, will yield vaajeemukha loha of light reddish brown colour.<br /><br />Pataprasaarana yantra is described in Kriyaasaara:<br /><br />In order to realise dangers to the vimaana en route, and shift directions towards safety, pataprasaarana yantra is prescribed. Says Patakalpa:<br /><br />"Munja grass, lac, sal, red brinjal, shaambaree or arjuna tree bark, jute, raajaavarta or sphatikaari or hydrorgirum sulphuratum, darbha grass, kravyaada or Indian spikenard, with triple purification, and thrice exposing to soorya-puta or sun-baking, placing them in the cooking vessel, and baking for 3 days. Then the product should be filled in kuttinee yantra, and churned for 3 yaamaas or 3/8 of a day, then placed in cooking vessel and rebaked for 3 days. Then it must be poured into patakriyaa yantra or cloth-forming machine and churned, so as to form an even emulsion, and that will form a fine artificial cloth. It should then be coloured with seven colours. It should be rolled round a long pole, and the pole fixed in thrimukhee-naala yantra, and equipped with a key should be installed in the shoulder of the vimaana.<br /><br />When the flag-like contraption shows red indicating danger ahead the pilot should loose height and reach safety. When favourable colours are<br /><br />p. 76<br /><br />shown, the pilot should note their significance and move the vimaana in the favourable direction.<br /><br />Dishaampati Yantra: says "Kriyaasaara,"<br /><br />"In its passage in the sky in the eight directions, the vimaana is likely to meet 15 fierce hurricanes called kowbera by the effects of the planetary forces With solar rays and unfavourable seasonal conditions. They will cause baneful skin effects on the occupants of planes and throat and lung troubles. To protect against that the Disaampti yantra is to be installed in the left shoulder of the vimaana."<br /><br />The yantra is described in "Yantra Prakarana":<br /><br />"In order to act as antidote to the poisonous effects of the kowbera winds, F shall describe the disaampati yantra. A peetha or foot plate, quadrangular or circular, should be made of paarvanee wood cured three times with requisite acids."<br /><br />Paarvanee wood is described in "Agatatwa Laharee":<br /><br />"Parvanee wood is wood which has very close joints as in sugarcane. It is red coloured, long leaved, decked with red flowers. It has small thorns, is antidote for snake-poison, is acrid in taste, and is used in driving away demons and other evil forces. It blooms in the dark half of the month."<br /><br />In the centre of the peetha, a tube or pivot made of the 19th type of glass, with 9 holes, 9 switches, and 9 wires, and of arm's length, should be fixed. Eight kendras or centres should be spotted in its 8 directions. 8 naalas, pipes, or tubes, should be made 2 feet long, 6 feet high and 3 feet wide, and round in the middle. A lotus with 8 petals should be prepared and fixed on the top of the pivot. The whole should be covered with hare-skin. Manchoolika linen should cover its mukha or entrance. The wires in the tubes should be taken to the petals above the lotus and fixed in the joints.<br /><br />Manchoolikaa linen is explained in "Pata-pradeepikaa":<br /><br />Vaasantee or gaertnera racemosa creeper, mrida, ranjikaa or betel or madder root, ruchikaa or citron or castor, samvartakee or myrabalan belliriki, phaalgunee or sepistan plum, chanchora or red castor, arunakaanta<br /><br />p. 77<br /><br />or sun-flower, kudalinee, mandoorika or iron dross, maarikaa or cubed pepper, lankaari, kapivallaree or elephant pepper, vishadharaa, samvaalikaa, manjaree or ashoka, rukmaangaa or cassia fistula, dhundikaa or acacia sirisa, arka or gigantic swallow wort or madar, garudaa or coculus cordifolious, gunjaa or wild liquorice, and janjharaa.<br /><br />Taking the twigs, shoots, leaves, buds, tendrils and barks of the above ingredients, and putting them in the baking vessel, they should be well cooked. Then add crowncha acid and boil again for 3 days. That will produce a soft white, pure, strong, fine manjoolikaa linen cloth.<br /><br />Vaatapaa crystal should be placed in it. Amshupaa mirror should be placed at its front. When the Kowbera whirlwind contacts solar rays, then the amshupaa mirror will show a red and blue tinge. Then the keys of the nine tubes should be turned with great speed. By this a force will be generated in each tube, and passing to the hare-skin, a strong force called sammarshtikaa will be generated. The manjoolika cloth will receive that force and pass it to the lotus petals, and the petals by means of wires will transmit the force to vaatapaa crystal. The crystal, will, with the aid of sammarshtika force, absorb the Kowbera evil wind and throw it out through the lotus petal tube to merge in the outside atmosphere, and no harm will be caused to the occupants of the vimaana. Therefore disaampati yantra should be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />19th type mirror is described in Darpana prakarana:<br /><br />Uraga-twak or snake-scales, pancha-mukha, vyaaghradanta or tiger's tooth, sand, salt, mercury, lead, white gum or shweta-niryaasa, mrittikaa, sphaatika or alum, ruruka, veera or red lead? mrinala or lotus tendril, ravikarpata, chanchola or red castor, vaalaja, panchapraanasaara or urinal salt of man, horse, ass, ox, and sheep, or ammonium chloride, shashodupa or benzoin shoot. These 18 ingredients in the proportion of 3, 7, 5, 22, 4, 15, 2, 5, 20, 7, 30, 15, 40, 23, 27, 13, 19, 18, purified thrice, filled in matsya moosha crucible, placed in nalikaa furnace, and with the aid of gomukhee bellows boiled to 99th degree, and poured into the mould, will yield pingala mirror.<br /><br />Pattikaabhraka Yantra:<br /><br />Says Kriyaasaara,<br /><br />"In order to safeguard against the fires generated by the juxtaposition of planets during its course, the pattikaabhraka yantra is to be installed in the centre of the vimaana."<br /><br />p. 78<br /><br />It is said in "Yantrasarvasva,"<br /><br />In the course of its planetary motions, two planets sometimes get too near each other, when by the conflict of their giant forces, fires will burst out. They are known as jwaalaamukhee or flame-tongued, and will destroy the vimaana and those inside it. As protection against it, pattikaabhraka yantra should be installed in the vimaana.<br /><br />The yantra should be made out of the 3rd type of mica amongst the 3rd group of its classification.<br /><br />It is said in "Shownakeeya,"<br /><br />"The names of mica belonging to the 3rd group are shaarada, pankila, soma, maarjaalika, rakta mukha, and vinaashaka. The yantra should be made of soma variety."<br /><br />Somaabhra is described in Loha-tantra:<br /><br />"It is sky-coloured, fine, strong, absorbent, cure for eye diseases. Its touch is cooling to the body. It has diamond content, and is cure for urinal trouble. It exhibits scarlet lines with whorls. These are the qualities of somaabhraka."<br /><br />The mica should be purified twice with brinjal and mataa seed oil and melted, and a pattika two feet wide and of arm's length high should be fashioned. A koorma peetha or tortoise-shaped foot-plate 16 inches wide and arm's length high should be made with vaari vriksha. A shanku or pivot should be made like the pattika. Revolving wheels with keys and shoundeerya manis or crystals should be fixed. From the main, centre wires should be attached to it to the end of the pattika. On the other side an ivory vessel should be fixed, and filled with shyvaala acid, and adding mercury ravichumbaka manis or crystal should be placed in it. The wires should be connected to the inside of the vessel containing these things. From the pivot it should be covered with shringinee. The root of the naala or pivot should be fixed to face the sky. The mica shanku with five revolving wheel key attachments should be fixed in the centre of the peetha, and the acid purified pattika should be fixed on top of it in the centre of the vimaana covering.<br /><br />When the jwaalaamukhee erupts from the planetary contact and reaches the direction of the vimaana, the main switch of the pivot should be operated, a cold wave will arise through the wires from the acid vessel, and passing<br /><br />p. 79<br /><br />through the five wheels reach the pattika, and contacting the jwaalaamukhee force will draw it and push it to the crystal in the centre of the enclosure, and the crystal will thrust it through the naala or pipe to the outside atmosphere where the flame force will get extinguished.<br /><br />Soorya Shaktyapakarshana Yantra or Solar heat extracting Yantra:<br /><br />In order to relieve the excessive cold of the winter months, the soorya shaktyapakarshana yantra should be installed on the vimaana.<br /><br />Says Yantra Sarvasva,<br /><br />"In order to protect from the cold of the 4 winter months the solar heat storing machine is now explained. The 27th kind of mirror capable of capturing solar heat is to be used in its making."<br /><br />It is said in Darpana prakarana:<br /><br />Sphatika or alum, manjula or madder root, sea-foam, sarja salt or nation, sand, mercury, garada or aconite, kishora or wild liquorice, gandhaka or sulphur brimstone, karbura or yellow orpiment, praanakshaara or ammonium chloride, in the proportion of 12, 1, 5, 1, 13, 12, 8, I0, 27, 4, 3, 7, 8, 5, 1. 5, 8, 3, 9, 2, purified, to be filled in antarmukha crucible, placing it in shuka-mukha furnace, and boded. Then pour it into antarmukha yantra or vessel and turn the churning key. When cooled in the mould a fine, light, strong, golden. coloured, solar heat collecting glass will be formed.<br /><br />From this glass prepare a pattika or plank, 80 inches long, 20 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Three spots are to be marked on it. Two naalas or pipes, of arm's size, with 10 inch mouth, crescent shaped peetha should be prepared. Another peetha, 2 feet long, and 6 feet high, should be prepared. The crescent shaped peetha should be fixed in it. On its two sides the 2 naalaas should be fixed. Between them a pivot 88 inches long and 3 inches wide should be fixed. The other pattika should be fixed on its top. At its 3 marked spots, lotus shapes with petals made of the above glass with two faces with goblets on them should be fixed. The two naalaas or pipes should be filled with shyvaala or moss acid and shrini acid. Chhaayaamukha crystal should be placed in them. At the foot of the shanku jyotsnaa acid should be placed. Cold absorbing wires with key switches with ball bearings should be fixed in<br /><br />p. 80<br /><br />the jyotsnaa acid. The wires should be taken between the neighbouring naalas, taken round the two lotus positions on the sides of the pattika, and then made to surround the central lotus, and lead on and placed inside the jyotsna acid. Then the other naala should be made to cover the acid vessel, and fixed so as to have its opening through the bottom of the vimaana.<br /><br />On the approach of winter cold into the vimaana, the main wheel at the foot of the shanku should be turned at high speed. That will energise the head wires of the pattika, making the lotus petals active, and the wind will draw the cold and pass to the central acid vessel through the wires, and the acids in the 2 naalas will draw in the cold and pass to the chaayaamukha mani, which by its own force will pass the cold force to the jyotsnaadravaka, which will eject it through the naala to the atmosphere outside for being dissolved. The vimaana will thus be saved from the cold force through the soorya-shaktyapakarshana yantra.<br /><br />Apasmaara dhooma prasaarana yantra or poison-gas fume spreading machine:<br /><br />Says Kriyaasaara,<br /><br />"When the enemy plane is trying to destroy your vimaana, Apasmaara dhooma prasaarana yantra should be provided in the vimaana to combat it."<br /><br />Yantra Sarvasva Says:<br /><br />"Apasmaara dhooma prasaarana yantra is prescribed for protection of vimaana from enemy planes. It should be manufactured with khoundeera metal only, and not with anything else."<br /><br />Kshoundeera loha is described in Lohatantra:<br /><br />8 parts of kshwinka or zinc, 5 parts of mercury, 7 parts of krowncha alloy, 3 parts of kaanta or steel, 4 parts of hamsa or metallic silver, 1 part of maadhweeka, and 5 parts of ruru, these ingredients to be purified and filled in crucible, placed in chhatreemukha furnace, and with the acid of surasa bellows heated to 100 degrees heat, and cast in mould will yield excellent kshoundeera alloy.<br /><br />Filling this loha in pattikaayantra, applying 300 degree heat and churning a fine strong pattikaa will be formed. With that, a shape like bellows, 5 arm's length high, and 3 arm's wide should be formed. It should be provided<br /><br />p. 81<br /><br />with a mukha-naala or nozzle 6 feet in size. Its mouth should be like that of peshanee yantra. The opening should be covered and keyed. Three satchels should be attached at its bottom. In the middle an aavarana or covering with hare-skin, circular and provided with switch. Smoke or gas filling switch should be provided at its base. Above it a choorna paatra or powder vessel should be fixed. The switch key should be beneath the middle of the vessel. Thus four bellows should be prepared.<br /><br />When the enemy plane's attack is expected, the aavaaraka bhastrika or enveloping bellows should shield the vimaana, and the 4 bellows should be fixed on the dikpeethaas or side seats above the aavarana or covering, and electricity should be applied to the choorna-paatra or powder keg. Immediately the powder becomes smoke. The bellows' mouth should be opened and the key turned. The emerging smoke fumes will enter the 4 small bellows, and from them reach the central kunda and spread all around and reach the bellows' mouth. Then on turning that key, the fumes will be emitted from all the bhastrikaas or bellows, and encompass the enemy plane and disable its occupants. That plane will be destroyed and the danger to one's vimaana overcome.<br /><br />Stambhana Yantra<br />or Halting machine:<br /><br />Kriyaasaara says,<br /><br />When power is generated by conflicting forces in the water-charged regions, shrieking hurricanes and whirl-winds will arise and set out in a mad career of destruction. To safeguard against their onslaughts, the Stambhana yantra should be installed in the bottom of the vimaana.<br /><br />Yantra sarvasva says,<br /><br />In order to protect the plane from the attacks of giant wind blasts, vimaana stambhana yantra is described as follows:<br /><br />A peetha, one fourth the size of the vimaana floor, quadrangular, should be made out of vakratunda metal, three feet in thickness. In its 8 quarters spots should be marked for fixtures. An enclosure with openings, revolving toothed wheels made of the same metal, wheel rods with revolving keys, a metal band which is to encircle it thrice, toothed wheels, pivots, and switches and hinges, and three-stranded wire ropes, should also be of the same metal. In the 8 selected spots naalaas or pivots with wheels and wiring should be fixed. Through the naala or pipe at the contraction switch of the vimaana,<br /><br />p. 82<br /><br />wires should be passed through the other naalas to the central pivot, and tied at the foot of the revolving wheel. When the dreaded wind current is observed the switch or wheel for the contraction or folding of the expanded vimaana parts should be turned, as also the 8 side wheel turning switches. That will reduce the speed of the vimaana. Then the switches of the 8 pivots on the peetha or foot-plate should be turned. The entire speed of the vimaana will be extinguished thereby. The wheel at the central pivot of the peetha should then be turned, so that the vimaana will be halted completely. Then the switch of the plane-wings should be turned. The flapping of the wings will produce winds which will encircle the vimaana and form a globe protecting it. Then by turning the switch of the brake-rod, the vimaana becomes motionless. Therefore the Yaana-sthambhana yantra should be fixed at the bottom centre of the vimaana.<br /><br />Vyshvaanara-naala yantra:<br /><br />Kriyaasaara says,<br /><br />For the purpose of providing fire for passengers to perform agnihotra or daily fire rituals, and for the purpose of cooking food, Vyshwaanara naala yantra is to be fitted up at the navel centre of the vimaana.<br /><br />Yantra-sarvasva says,<br /><br />To provide fire for travellers in vimaanas, vyshwaanara naala yantra is now described. A 2 feet long and 12 inches wide peetha or foot-plate should be made out of naaga metal, quadrangular or circular in shape. Three kendras or spots should be marked thereon. Three vessels should be made of copper and karpara or (black jack?) zinc blended metal. One vessel should be filled with sulphur-brimstone acid. Another should be filled with rookshaka bdellium acid, or croton seed acid? And manjishta or madder root acid should be filled in another vessel. The three vessels should be placed on the 3 kendra spots on the peetha.<br /><br />In the sulphur acid vessel the prajwaalaka mani or flame producing crystal should be placed. In the rookshaka acid vessel the dhoomaasya mani or smoke crystal should be placed. In the manjishtha acid vessel the mahoshnika mani, or heat producing crystal should be placed.<br /><br />In the places in the vimaana where kitchens are located, and where sacred agnihotra fires are needed by passengers, keelaka sthambhas or pivots should be fixed. The acid vessels should be connected with power wires from the central pivot. The wires should be attached to the manis or crystals in<br /><br />p. 83<br /><br />the acid vessels. At the top of the central pole jwaalaamukhee mani should be fixed in the centre of chumbakee keela with glass covering. On either side of it sinjeeraka mani and dridhikaa mani should be fixed. From each mani a wire should be stretched from the top of the central pole and fixed at the granthikeela at the foot of the pole. From there up to the cooking spots and agnihotra spots, a circle should be formed like a kulya, and metal tubes should be fixed therein. Wires should be drawn through the tubes to the fire places and fixed to the kharpara metallic pattikas therein.<br /><br />First the bhadramushti keelaka should be revolved. The acid in the vessel will become heated. The heat generated in the rookshna acid will pass into the manjishtha mani, and generate smoke in the mahoshnika mani. By the force of that acid intense heat will be generated. And by the heat generated in the sulphuric acid vessel flames will erupt in the prajwaalika mani. The smoke, heat and flames will pass through the wires to the sinjeeraka, dridhikaa and jwaalaa-mukhee manis. Then the chumbaka wheel should be turned vigorously, whereupon the smoke, heat, and flames will reach the key at the top of the central pole. And on that keelee being turned, they will reach the central switchboard keelee at the foot of the pole. When that switch is put on, the heat and flames will reach the metal bands of the cooking ovens and religious fire places, and generate fires. Therefore vyshwaanara naala yantra should be fixed at the navel centre of vimaana.<br /><br />We have so far dealt with anga yantras or constituent machines of the vimaana. We proceed next to deal with Vyoma-yaanas or Aeroplanes.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwRvGuaQI/AAAAAAAABC0/JFIT7wmzFt4/s1600-h/08300.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 206px; height: 218px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwRvGuaQI/AAAAAAAABC0/JFIT7wmzFt4/s320/08300.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351455338483575042" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SIXTH CHAPTER</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Atha Jaatyadhikaranam: Varieties of Vimaanas.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ Jaati tryvidhyam Yugabhedaad Vimaanaanaam. Sootra 1.<br /><br />"Three types according to changing Yugas."<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />According to the differences in yugas, there are three different types of planes:<br /><br />Having dealt with the constituent mechanical parts of the Vimaana, we shall now deal with the Vimaanas according to their different classes.<br /><br />The sootra indicates that there are different types of planes, and that they are of 3 types.<br /><br />In the Krita Yuga, Dharma or Righteousness was four-footed, that is, it was four-square, fully established, all paramount, and it was adhered to implicitly by men. The men were inherently noble-born and were possessed of remarkable powers. Without needing to go through yogic discipline to attain special powers, or practise mantras which secured extraordinary results, the men of that yuga, merely by their devotion to dharma, became Siddhapurushaas or gifted with superhuman powers. They were virtuous men and men of learning and wisdom. Going in the sky with the speed of wind by their own volition was natural to them. The eight super-sensory, and now superhuman, attainments, known as animaa, mahimaa, garimaa, laghimaa, praaptih, praakaamya, eeshatwa, and vashitwa, were all possessed by them. That is, animaa is assumption of infinitesimal shape; mahimaa is growing into gigantic shape; garimaa is becoming astonishingly heavy; laghimaa is becoming weightless; praaptih is securing any desired thing; praakaamyam is becoming rid of desires; eeshatwa is attaining paramountcy; and vashitwa is becoming extremely pliant.<br /><br />* * * *<br /><br />I. Krita yuga--1728000 years.<br /> <br /><br />II. Threthaa yuga--1296000 years.<br /><br />III. Dwaapara yuga--864000 years.<br /> <br /><br />Kaliyuga--432000 years.<br /><br />p. 85<br /><br />Therefore in Krita Yuga, or first epoch, the ancients say, there were none of the three classes of Vimaanas.<br /><br />Krita Yuga passed; and Tretaa Yuga commenced. Dharma then became limp of one foot. It served with 3 feet only, and grew gradually less efficient. So men's minds became dense, and the conception of Vedic truths, and anima and other super-sensory powers, became scarcer. Therefore, by the corrosion of Dharma or righteousness, men lost the power of flying in the sky with the speed of wind.<br /><br />Perceiving this, God Mahadeva, desiring to confer the power of understanding the Vedas properly on the Dwijas, or brahmins, kshatriyas, and vysyas, graciously descended on earth in the form of Dakshinaamurthy, and through the instrumentality of Sanaka and other anointed sages, classified the Veda mantras, and then bestowing his benedictory glance on the worshipping Munis or ascetics, he blessed them with the gift of Vedic perception. And then to ensure that they were properly receptive, he embraced them and entered their hearts and illuminated their memories. The munis, overwhelmed by the Divine grace, aglow with horripilation, with voice choked with emotion, praised the Supreme with shata-rudreeya and other hymns, and manifested profound devotion.<br /><br />Pleased with their receptiveness, divine Dakshinaamurthy, favouring them with a benign glance, and with smile on his face, said to them, "Till now you have been known as "Munis" or ascetics. Henceforth, having by my grace attained insight into the Vedas, you shall be known as "Rishis" or seers. You will cultivate the Vedic mantras, and practising celibacy, you will adore the divine Goddess of the Vedas, and winning her favour, and approaching the Great God Easwara by Yogic Samadhi, ascertain His mind, and by His and my grace, rising to the pinnacle of intellectual vision, become adepts in the meaning and purport of the Vedas; and confirming by them your own experiences and meditative introspection, you will create the Dharmashaastras or moral codes, Puranas and Itihaasas, and physical and material sciences, in conformity to the truths of the Vedas, for the benefit of mankind. And for travelling in the sky, propagate the art of manufacturing Vimaanas, and for attaining wind-speed, evolve Ghutica and Paadukaa methods through Kalpashaastras or scientific treatises."<br /><br />p. 86<br /><br />Then those munis or seers, enshrining in their hearts God Mahadeva in the form of Dakshinaamurthy, produced the Dharmashaastras or ethical codes, epics, chronicles, manuals on rituals, treatises on the arts and sciences, ritualistic and sacrificial codes, in conformity to the Vedas, and propagated them among men. Amongst them it is said that there are six treatises bearing on the manufacture of Vimaanas produced by the ancient seers. In them are described three classes of vimaanas, known as maantrikaas, taantrikaas, and kritakaas, capable of flying everywhere.<br /><br />It is said in Vimaana Chandrika,<br /><br />"I shall indicate the different kinds of vimaanas. In Tretaa yuga as men were adepts in mantras or potent hymns, the vimaanas used to be produced by means of maantric knowledge. In Dwaapara yuga as men had developed considerable tantric knowledge, vimaanas were manufactured by means of tantric knowledge. As, both mantra and tantra are deficient in Kaliyuga, the vimaanas are known as kritaka or artificial. Thus, owing to changes in dharma during the yugas, the ancient seers have classified the vimaanas of the 3 yugas as of 3 different types."<br /><br />"Vyomayaana Tantra" also says,<br /><br />"By the influence of mantras in Tretaa, vimaanas are of maantrika type. Owing to the prevalence of tantras in Dwaapara, the vimaanas are of taantrika type. Owing to decadence of both mantra and tantra in Kaliyuga, the vimaanas are of artificial type." Thus 3 classes of vimaanas are mentioned in shaastras by ancient seers.<br /><br />In "Yantra Kalpa" also,<br /><br />"Vimaanas are classified into mantra and other varieties by experts according to differences in yugas. They are defined as maantrika, taantrika, and kritaka."<br /><br />The same is expressed in "Kheta yaana pradeepika," and also "Vyoma Yaana Arkaprakaashikaa."<br /><br />p. 87<br /><br />Thus according to shaastras vimaanas are divided into 3 classes, on the basis of differences in the modes of their manufacture.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Pancha-vimshan Maantrikaaha Pushpakaadi Prabhedena" Sootra 2.<br /><br />"Maantrika Vimaanas are of Pushpaka and other 25 Varieties."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />In the previous sootra vimaanas were specified as of 3 types owing to differences in the 3 yugas. In this sootra maantrika vimaanas or vimaanas flying by maantrik power are said to be 25.<br /><br />Shounaka Sootra says,<br /><br />Maantrika vimaanas in Tretaayuga are 25. Their names are pushpaka, ajamukha, bhraajasvat, jyotirmukha, kowshika, bheeshma, shesha, vajraanga, dyvata, ujvala, kolaahala, archisha, bhooshnu, somaanka, panchavarna, shanmukha, panchabaana, mayoora, shankara, tripura, vasuhaara, panchaanana, ambareesha, trinetra and bherunda.<br /><br />In Maanibhadrakaarikaa,<br /><br />The vimaanas of Tretaayuga are 32 of the maantrika type. Their names as given by Maharshi Gowtama are Pushpaka, ajamukha, bhraaja, swayamjyoti, kowshika, bheeshmaka, shesha, vajraanga, dyvata, ujvala, kolaahala, archisha, bhooshnu, somaanka, varnapanchaka, shanmukha, panchabaana, mayoora, shankara priya, tripura, vasuhaara, panchaanana, ambareesha, trinetra, and bherunda, etc.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Bhyravaadi Bhedaat Tantrikaa-shshat-panchaashat." Sootra 3.<br /><br />"Taantrika Vimaanas are of Bhyrava and other 56 varieties."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />In previous sootra the names of maantrika vimaanas were mentioned: In this sootra the names of taantrika vimaanas of Dwaapara yuga are mentioned.<br /><br />p. 88<br /><br />In shape, movement and speed there is no difference between maantrika and taantrika vimaanas. There is however one difference in taantrika vimaanas, that is, the way in which the shakti or power at the junction of sky and earth is incorporated.<br /><br />Lalla also says,<br /><br />There is only one difference between taantrika vimaanas and maantrika vimaanas: the adaptation of the power of sky and earth. In shape, and movement. variations, they are identical. The taantrika vimaanas are of 56 varieties.<br /><br />In Shounaka Sootra,<br /><br />In Dwaapara taantrika vimaanas are 56. Their names are, bhyrava, nandaka, vatuka, virinchi, vynateya, bherunda, makaradwaja, shringaataka, ambareesha, sheshaasya, saimtuka, maatrika, bhraaja, paingala, tittibha, pramatha, bhoorshni, champaka, drownika, rukmapunkha, bhraamani, kakubha, kaalabhyrava, jambuka, garudaasya, gajaasya, vasudeva, shoorasena, veerabaahu, bhusunda, gandaka, shukatunda, kumuda, krownchika, ajagara, panchadala, chumbuka, dundubhi, ambaraasya, maayooraka, bheerunalika, kaamapaala, gandarksha, paariyaatra, shakunta, ravimandana, vyaaghra, mukha, vishnuratha, sowarnika, mruda, dambholi, brihathkunja, mahaanata, etc.<br /><br />In Maanibhadrakaarikaa:--<br /><br />In Dwaapara yuga taantrika vimaanas are said to be 56. Their names according to sage Gowtama, are bhyrava, nandaka, vatuka, virinchika, tumbara, vynateya, bherunda, makaradhwaja, shringaataka, ambareesha, sheshaasya, symhika, maatruka, bhraajaka, pyngala, tittibha, pramatha, bhoorshnika, champaka, drownika, rukmapunkha, bhraamanika, kakubha, kaalabhyirava, jambuka, gireesha, garudaasya, gajaasya, vasudeva, shoorasena, veerabaahu, bhusundaka, gandaka, shukatunda, kumuda, krownchika, ajagara, panchadala, chumbaka, dundubhi, ambaraasya, mayoora, bheeru, nalikaa, kaamapaala, gandarksha, paariyaatra, shakuntaka, ravimandana, vyaaghramukha, vishnu ratha, souvarnika, mruda, dambholee, bruhatkunja, mahaanata.<br /><br />These 56 are taantrika vimaanas of Dwaaparayuga.<br /><br />p. 89<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Shakunaadyaah Panchavimshat Kritakaah." Sootra 4.<br /><br />"Shakuna and other 25 types of Vimaanas are Kritakaah."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />In shape and movements there is no difference in the vimaanas, except in the matter of the use of mantraas and tantraas. The kritaka or artificial vimaanas are of 25 varieties.<br /><br />According to Shownaka sootra<br /><br />"Tishyay kritaka bhedaah panchavigamshatih! teshaam naamaanyanukramishyaamah: shakuna sundararukma mandala vakratunda bhadraka ruchaka vyraaja bhaaskara gajaavarta powshkala virinchi nandaka kumuda mandara hamsa shukaasya somaka krownchaka padmaka symhika panchabaana owryaayana pushkara kodandaa iti."<br /><br />Says "Maanibhadra Kaarikaa":<br /><br />In Kaliyuga, the kritaka or artificial vimaanas are said to be 25. Their names are given below as indicated by sage Gowtama: shakuna, sundara, rukmaka, mandala, vakratunda, bhadraka, ruchaka, viraajaka, bhaaskara, gajaavarta, powshkala, viranchika, nandaka, kumuda, mandara, hamsa, shukaasya, sowmyaka, krownchaka, padmaka, symhika, panchabaana, owryaayana, pushkara, and kodanda.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Raaja-lohaadeteshaam Aakaara Rachanaa." Sootra 5.<br /><br />"These should be built out of Raajaloha."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />These 25 kinds of vimaanas are to be made of Raajaloha metal only.<br /><br />Says Kriyaasaara,<br /><br />In manufacturing artificial aeroplanes the best of metals are those known as Ooshmapaa or heat-imbibing or heat resisting metals. Out of them the variety known as Raajaloha or king of metals is most suited to Shakuna and other vimaanas.<br /><br />p. 90<br /><br />Three kinds of metals, soma, soundaala, and maardweeka, in the proportion of 3, 8, and 2, adding borax, to be filled in crucible or smelter, and placed in furnace, and heated to 272 degrees, and melted thoroughly, and churned, will result in the alloy Raajaloha.<br /><br />Vishwambhara also says,<br /><br />"In the science of metals, for the manufacture of aeroplanes, 16 types of Ooshmapaa or heat-sucking lohas or metals are the very best. The fourth in that series, is called Raajaloha. Out of that alone should shakuna vimaana be constructed."<br /><br />The parts of shakuna vimaana are:<br /><br />Peetha or floor board; hollow mast; three wheeled keelakas with holes; 4 heaters, air-suction pipes, water jacket, oil tank, air heater, chhullee or heater, steam boiler, vidyud-yantra or electric generator, air propelling yantra, vaatapaa yantra or air-suction pipe, dikpradarsha dhwaja or direction indicating banner, shakuna yantra, two wings, tail portion for helping vimaana to rise, owshmyaka yantra or engine, kiranaakarshana math or sun-ray attracting bead. These 28 are parts of Shakuna vimaana.<br /><br />The construction of the vimaana:<br /><br />The floor-board or base should be made of levelled Rajaloha sheet, shaped quadrangular, circular, or cradle shaped. The weight of the peetha should be one-hundredth of that of the plane, and its width should be half the height of the vimaana. In the centre of the peetha the hollow mast should be fixed with screw joints.<br /><br />Lalla defines the mast in "Yantra kalpataru". The stambha or mast should be made of haatakaasya metal and not otherwise.<br /><br />Haatakaasya metal is described in "Lohatantra": 8 parts of suvarchala or natron, 16 parts of laghu-kshwinka or light zinc, 18 parts of lagbu bambhaari, and 100 parts of copper, filled in smelter, placed in koorma vyaasatika furnace, and with the aid of mahormi bellows boiled to 307 degrees, will yield haatakaasya metal.<br /><br />p. 91<br /><br />The Peetha<br /><br />The height of the peetha should be 80 feet. It should be 56 feet in length and breadth, 70 feet high on the north and south sides. The tip should be three-cornered. This is for shakuna vimaana.<br /><br />Naalastambha or Hollow Mast:<br /><br />At the bottom the mast should be of 35 feet diameter outside, and 30 feet inside. At the middle the mast should be of 25 feet diameter outside and 20 feet inside. Higher up it should be of 20 feet diameter outside and 15 feet diameter inside; The height of the mast should be 80 feet. It should be made of Raajaloha. In order to fix the mast in the peetha screw joint should be made. And in order to adjust the air-speed as required, 6 wheels should be inserted inside the mast.<br /><br />The Wheels:<br /><br />Inside the mast at the height of 4 feet above the peetha, three wheels should be provided, of 15½ feet diameter, with holes. The wheels above and below should be fixed with bolts, and unmoving. In order to revolve the middle wheel keys should be fixed outside on the mast, As there are holes in the wheels, as two wheels do not move, and as the middle wheel revolves in a group with the other two wheels, movement of air is, allowed or stopped by the turning of the key outside.<br /><br />Similarly at the height of 44 feet above the peetha three wheels corresponding to those below should be fixed and operated similarly.<br /><br />Window dome:<br /><br />The window dome should be of 15½ feet outside circumference. Its inside should be five feet wide and it should be 2 feet high. It should be fixed on the top of the mast.<br /><br />Sun-crystal:<br /><br />A sun crystal 7 feet round, and 2 feet wide and 2 feet in height should be fixed so as to crown the window dome.<br /><br />10 feet above the bottom peetha, on a floor-board 3 inches thick, three floors or tiers should be built, each 14 feet high, with 3 inch<br /><br />p. 92<br /><br />floor-boards, the upper two floors being supported by pillars fixed at 10 feet intervals with screw joints and strong bolts. In the four corners 4 heating yantras should be fixed, 10 feet in circumference and 8 feet high. On the ground floor along the supporting pillars accommodation for passengers should be provided in the form of individual boxes.<br /><br />On the second floor booths should be constructed to accommodate the anga-yantras, or the various mechanisms recommended for the safety of the vimaana. It should be 60 feet wide and 14 feet high with 3 inch thick ceiling board.<br /><br />The third floor should be 40 feet wide and 14 feet high.<br /><br />The partitioning boxes for passengers as well as the booths of the various machines should be divided off by railings starting from the hollow mast to the side walls in all the four directions.<br /><br />Beneath the ground-floor board a 7 feet high cellar should be constructed. In it the several necessary yantras should be located. In the centre is the foot of the hollow mast. On the four directions from it 4 air pumping machines should be fixed. In order to stimulate them 4 steam engines also should be installed. On the two sides of the vimaana two air expelling machines, and an air heater machine, and 2 machines to keep the heater supplied with air from outside, should be erected.<br /><br />In order to enable the wings on either side to spread and flap, proper hinges and keys should be provided for, safely fixing them to the sides of the vimaana, and for enabling them to fold and open easily.<br /><br />The revolving tractor blades in the front should be duly fixed to the heating engine with rods so that they could dispel the wind in front and facilitate the passage of the vimaana.<br /><br />The wings are two, one on each side, very strongly fixed to the vimaana with bolts and hinges. Each wing should be fixed in a 11 foot scabbard up to 20 feet length, where it would be 10 feet wide, widening further up to 40 feet at the end of its 60 feet length, besides its. first 20 feet of scabbard length.<br /><br />The tail should be 20 feet long, and 3½ feet wide at the start, and 20 feet wide at the end.<br /><br />p. 93<br /><br />The air-blower and heater:<br /><br />The length of the air-blower should be 15 feet, and width 3 feet. The naalaas or pipes should be 3 feet wide, and their outer circumference should be 4 feet. The rods and hinges and other equipment should be suitably prepared.<br /><br />The vaatapaa yantra or air blower should be 12 feet long and 9½ feet wide. Inside it should be covered with circling wires. A pipe should be fixed inside, for air flow. By the hot oil fumes from the heated tank, the air becomes heated and should be passed into the owshmya yantra or heater, while the cold air from outside should also be let in. Tubes and fixings should be provided in the yantra. In order to emit the fumes of the oil flames to the outside, a 6 inches pipe should be fixed from the yantra to the foot of the mast. Air blowers should be installed with 10 feet wheels to pump in fresh cold air from outside.<br /><br />To the east of the air machine should be placed a light burner in order to aid combustion of the oil. An electric generator provided with switches should light the burner. When the light is off the oil should be kept duly sealed. A rope should be tied to the tail joint, for the pilot to manipulate the fluttering of the tail to help the ascent or descent of the vimaana. Similarly ropes should be tied to the hinges of the two wings, and passed to the pilot like reins, so that he might spread them out or close them as needed.<br /><br />Ten feet beneath the passenger floor of the vimaana, to a height of 2½ feet from the bottom plate there should be a cellar-like enclosure. The bottom of the vaatanaala mast should be fixed in its centre with firm screw joints. In this cellar should be located two oil tanks 15 feet by 9½ feet by 4 feet, with water jackets.<br /><br />Four bellows of 15 feet by 2½ feet by 6½ feet, should be provided for storing the air pumped in by the air-blowers, and letting it out as required.<br /><br />And underneath, on all the four sides wheels of 7 feet circumference should be fixed for the movement of the vimaana on the ground.<br /><br />This vimaana is named SHAKUNA VIMAANA.<br /><br />p. 94<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SUNDARA VIMAANA</span><br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Sundarothha." Sootra 6.<br /><br />"Next Sundara."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Next Sundara vimaana will be described. It has got 8 constituent parts.<br /><br />First peetha or ground plate, smoke chimney, 5 gas-engines, bhujya metal pipe, wind blower, electricity generator, and four-faced heater, and vimaana nirnaya, or outer cover.<br /><br />The Peetha or ground plate:<br /><br />It should be made of Raajaloha metal only. It should be square or round, and of 100 feet in circumference, or any other desired size. It should be 8 feet thick. Seven times the peetha has to be heated with manchuka or madder root oil. Then spots should be marked in it at 10 feet distance from each other, totalling 24. The size of each kendra or centre is 15 feet. In the centre a dhooma-prasaarana or fume distributing naala or pipe 12 feet high should be erected.<br /><br />Naalastambha, hollow mast:<br /><br />The naalastambha should be 56 feet high, and 4 feet in diametre. For storing gas, at its base, a 8 feet long, circular, and 4 feet high vessel should be provided. A six feet size water vessel should be arranged. A 4 feet size oil tank should be fixed at its centre. At its foot an electric storing crystal of 1 foot size should be fixed with necessary hinges and keys.<br /><br />The vessel should be filled with 12 parts of dhoomanjana oil, and 20 parts of shukatundika or bignonia Indica? (egg-plant?) oil, and 9 parts of kulakee or red-arsenic oil. To conduct electricity, two wires should be passed through the pipe and fixed to the crystal. In the middle of the naalastambha or mast, for the smoke fumes to be restrained or speeded out, triple wheels with holes should be fixed. In order to work the wheels from outside, two right turning and left turning wheels<br /><br />p. 95<br /><br />should be attached outside the pole, and connected to the wheels inside. Three wires should be drawn inside the naala and fixed at the foot, the middle, and at the top.<br /><br />Dhoomodgama Yantra:<br /><br />Because it ejects smoke fumes with speed it is called Dhoomodgama yantra.<br /><br />Hima samvardhaka, soma, and sundaala, in the proportion of 32, 25, and 38, should be filled in pipe crucible, placed in chakra-mukha furnace, and with the help of ajaamukha bellows heated to 712 degrees and properly churned. It will yield excellent dhooma-garbha alloy. With that alloy the dhoomodgama yantra should be constructed.<br /><br />Underneath the centre of the 15 feet long peetha, for the control of the gas fumes a 10 feet high pipe with right revolving wheel should be fixed. On its 2 sides, to south and north, 2 water steam pipes should be erected. At the foot of the 2 pipes 4 feet long 3 feet high pots should be formed for containing the fumes. Two pipes shaped like goblets, 1 foot by 8 feet by 3 feet, should be fixed at the top of the fume container. A water vessel at its foot, and an oil-vessel at its centre, and in front of it the switches of the electric ray crystals, as in the dhooma prasaarana naala stambha.<br /><br />On either side of the heat tube, two water jackets should be placed. A pipe with wires should be taken from the electric generator and connected to the hinges of the crystals. Electric current of 80 linkas should be passed to the crystals, whose motion will cause friction and generate heat of 100 degrees (kakshyas). Thereby the oil in the vessel will get heated and boil and emit fumes.<br /><br />The electric power should then be passed through the smoke pipe between the two water jackets. By this the water will be converted into hot steam. The oil fumes should be filled in the oil fume pipe and the steam in the steam pipe. Then by operating the switches, both the fumes will fly up at 500 degree temperature. The switches should restrain the fumes or pump them out as needed. 40 such yantras should be prepared and should be fixed on the peetha in groups on<br /><br />p. 96<br /><br />the four sides. Then connected with the bases of the dhooma-naalas, sundaalas or elephant trunks, one foot wide and 12 feet high should be erected on the four sides, to enable the vimaana to fly with speed.<br /><br />Sundaala is described by Lallachaarya:<br /><br />The sundaala should be installed. for using the oil fumes and steam fumes for the motion of the vimaana. There are. varieties of ksheera vrikshaas or milk-trees according to shaastraas. Vata or banyans, manjoosha or madder root, maatanga or citron?, panchashaakhee (five branched), shikhaavalee (crested), taamra sheershnee (copper-crested), brihatkumbhee (big bellied), mahishee, ksheeravallaree, shona parnee (crimson-leaved), vajramukhee, and ksheerinee (milky). From these the ooze or milk should be collected, and in the proportion of 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 8, 7, 4, 7, 30, 12, filled in a vessel. Then granthi metal, naaga or lead, vajra, bambhaarika, vynateya, kanduru, kudapa, and kundalotpala, these in equal parts should be filled in the vessel in equal proportion to the milk contents, and boiled with 92 degree heat. Then the molten liquid should be filled in the milk-cloth machine, and churned. When cooled and put through the levelling machine, it will yield a strong, soft, cool, heat proof, and uncuttable ash-coloured cloth sheet.<br /><br />This cloth should be boiled in rouhinee taila or oil of black hellebore for 3 yaamaas or 9 hours, and then washed with water. Then it should be boiled in atasee or linseed oil as before. Then it should be kept in ajaa-mootra or goat's urine for one day and kept in the sun. Then it should be dried and painted with kanakaanjana paint and dried, Then the cloth will glow with a golden hue. With this cloth should be made the shundaala or elephant trunk, 12 feet high, 1 foot round, and with pipe-like opening inside.<br /><br />Two mechanisms for rolling it and unrolling it should be properly attached to it. By the rolling switch the shundaala will coil round like a snake and remain on the floor. By the unrolling switch it will uncoil and stand erect like a raised arm. From the fume generating yantra connecting links to the shundaala should be provided for the fumes to pass through it to the outside air. And to attract outside air into the sundaala a pump-like arrangement should be provided as in an inflator.<br /><br />p. 97<br /><br />Three switches should be provided as in the water tapping yantra. By revolution of its wheel the fumes will go out through the shundaala and 82 linka of fresh air will come in. The direction in which the fumes will emerge from the shundaala will be the direction of the course of the vimaana. The 3 wheels in the shundaala will cause the vimaana to wheel around or make ascent, or to drop height.<br /><br />At the foot of each dhoomodgama yantra 2 shundaalas should be duly fixed. And on the 4 sides of the dhoomaprasaarana-naala-stambha 4 shundaalas should be erected.<br /><br />In order to protect against the intense heat from fire and sun inside and outside the vimaana, it should be provided a covering made of the 6th type of Ooshmapaa loha or heat-proof metal. At the top and bottom and on the sides keys should be provided for the movement of the fumes. 40 such dhoomodgama yantras should be properly fixed in the selected spots of the peetha with screw fittings. The vimaana will be enabled to fly smoothly by so doing.<br />ELECTRIC DYNAMO<br /><br />Says Yantra Sarvasva:<br /><br />There are 32 kinds of yantras for generating electricity, such as by friction, by heating, by waterfall, by combination, by solar rays, etc. Out of these, saamyojaka or production by combination is the one most suitable for vimaanas. Its manufacture is explained by Sage Agastya in Shaktitantra:<br /><br />The peetha or foot-plate should be made of saamyojaka metal, 35 feet in diametre. 5 spots should be marked in it in a circle, 5 feet in diametre, with a spot in the centre. Vessels should be prepared for each kendra, 4 feet wide, 2 feet high, shaped like a pot. On each a cylindrical pipe 1 foot wide and 1 foot high, should be fixed. The top of the cylinder should be 4 feet wide and round.<br /><br />Then get a Jyotirmukha or flame-faced lion's skin, duly cleaned, add salt, and placing in the vessel containing spike-grass acid, boil for 5 yaamas or 15 hours. Then wash it with cold water. Then take<br /><br />p. 98<br /><br />oils from the seeds of jyothirmukhee, or staff-tree, momordica charantia, and pot herb, in the proportion of 3, 7, and 16, and mix them in a vessel, add 1/64 part of salt. The skin should be immersed in this oil and kept for 24 days in solar heat. It will get a scarlet sheen. The skin should be cut to the size of the top opening of the vessel cylinder, with 5 openings in it. Cover the cylinder with the skin with bolts. All the 5 vessels should be similarly covered, and placed in the 5 selected centres on the peetha. Then 16 drona measures of asses' urine, 16 linka measures of mined charcoal, 3 linkas of salt, 2 linkas of snake-poison, and 2 linkas of copper, should be filled in the vessel on the eastern side.<br /><br />Then in the vessel on the western side, 7 vidyudgama mani or load-stone, 13 praana-kshaara or ammonium chloride, 22 hare-dung, should be filled. and made into a decoction. Two parts of camel urine should be mixed with one part of the above. Then 50 linkas of rhinoceros bones, 30 linkas of sulphur, and 16 linkas of tamarind tree salt, and 28 linkas of steel should be added to that. And 117 tatin-mitra manis should be placed in the centre of the vessel.<br /><br />Next the following materials should be filled in the northern vessel:<br /><br />Eleven parts of oil of apaamaarga or achyranthus aspera seeds, 32 parts of oil seeds of sarpaasya or mesua ferrea, 40 parts of ayaskaantha or oil of steel, in 83 parts of elephant's urine, all these to be put in the northern vessel and mixed together properly. Then add mercury, symhika salt, and paarvanika or bamboo rice, 30, 20, and 25 palas respectively, or 120, 80, and 100 tolas. Sun-crystal of the 800th type, mentioned in Maniprakarana, cleaned in oil, should be put in the vessel.<br /><br />Next in the vessel on the southern side, put in grandhika draavaka or long-pepper decoction, panchamukhee draavaka, and shveta-punja or white liquorice decoctions, in proportion of 12, 21, and 16, and mix together, add cows' urine 5 parts more than the above liquids, 47 parts of jyotirmayookha root, 28 linkas of kaanta metal, 28th and 10th kind of kudupa 32 parts. 92 jyotirmanis purified in milk should be placed in it, according to Chaakraayani. This is the southern vessel.<br /><br />Then in the central vessel electric current should be stored. That vessel should be made of chapala-graahaka metal only.<br /><br />p. 99<br /><br />Chapala-graahaka metal is explained in Lohatantra:<br /><br />Quick-lime, marble stone, lac, sowraashtra earth, glass, root of the elephant trunk tree, bark of karkata tree, cowries, cubeb pepper gum, in the proportion of 8, 11, 7, 27, 8, 5, 3, 7, and 12 parts of tankana or borax, to be filled in urana crucible, placed in kundodara furnace, and with 3 faced bellows, boiled to 427 degrees, will yield, when poured into the cooler and cooled, chapalagraahaka metal.<br /><br />The electricity storage vessel should be manufactured as follows: A foot-plate 5 feet long, 8 feet high, 1 foot thick, half-moon shaped, should be made of above metal. The vessel should be shaped like a big pot, with a cylindrical top. It should have a glass covering. 2 pipes 3 feet wide 6 feet high should be fixed in the vessel in the northern and southern sides. They should also be covered with glass. Between the two pipes two wheels with hinges and switches etc. should be fixed. When the switches are put on or turned, causing the two wheels to revolve, electricity will flow from the bottom of the 4 vessels into the two pipes and ascend. Two tubes, 6 inches long, should be prepared, wound round with deer skin, tied with silk thread or silk cloth. The Vajramukhee copper wires cleaned with acids, should be passed through each tube, and taken to the two pipes in the vessel and be fixed with glass cups. 8 palas or 32 tolas of mercury should be placed in the energy container vessel. 391st vidyunmukha mani, wound round with copper wiring with mixing switch, should also be inserted. Then taking the wires in the pipes they should be connected with the wiring of the mani through the kaachakanku hole. In each of the vessels, excepting the middle one, two churning rods should be fixed in the centre. The rods should be made of steel or shakti skandha. They should be 3 feet high and 1 foot thick. Keys should be fixed in them for obverse and reverse churning. To the east of the churning machine wheels should be fixed for raising and lowering. An 8 inches high naala or tube should be fixed. On either side of it should be fixed 5 wheels of 5 inches height, like the wheel of the water lifting machine. 2 inches wide flat pattis made of shakti skandha metal should be passed from the wheels inside the Aavritta-naala to the keys of the wheels in the churning yantra. Then revolving wheels should be attached to the naalas or tubes of the stambha or big pipe. By the turning of these keys, it will operate like the turning of the churning<br /><br />p. 100<br /><br />rod back and forth as in churning curds by drawing and relaxing the rope ends.<br /><br />Then according to Darpana-shaastra, four vessels, shaped like the bamboo cylinder used on the pounding mortar, should he made out of ghrinyaakarshana glass or solar-heat absorbing glass and fixed on the mouth of the 4 vessels.<br /><br />The vessel is described by Lallaacharya: 8 inches wide and 1 foot high, and then 2 feet wide and 6 feet high, and at the top a 6 feet wide mouth.<br /><br />25 palas or 100 tolas of bamboo salt, should be put in it. Then amsupaa mani or solar-ray crystal of the 325th kind, duly cleaned in acid, should be put in it with rice salt. Then rice hay should be spread over it tightly, and facing the sun. The rays from all sides are imbibed by them, and will enter the vessel daily to 105 degrees' strength. If kept thus in the sun for 12 days, 1080 linkas of electric power will be accumulated in each vessel.<br /><br />In order to store this power in the storage vessel six inches long steel tubes should connect the bottom of the vessel with the storage vessel. They should be covered by deer skin and wound round with silk cloth or yarn. Two copper wires should be passed through the tubes and connected to the storage vessel. 100 palas of mercury should be put in the vessel. And a 391th type of sun crystal duly wired should be placed in the mercury, and the wires coming from the tubes should be connected to it.<br /><br />The well-oiled keys in the 4 vessels should be revolved with speed, to 200 degrees heat, when the liquids in the vessels will be boiled by the heat rays. Then the keys should be hastened up to 2000 degrees. By the liquids in each vessel 800 linkas of electricity will be generated. The power should be conveyed by the wires in the kaanta metal tubes to the storage vessel. The crystal will absorb and fill the vessel with the power. In front of the storage vessel a five feet long, 3 feet high circular vessel should be installed. It should be covered all round with the bark of vaari-vriksha.<br /><br />p. 101<br /><br />Always water will be flowing in it. So instead of water, water skin is indicated. It will give the vessel the effect of water-immersion. Then in that vessel glass cups containing the decoction of shikhaavalee or lead-wort? or achyranthes aspera?, 18 parts of ayaskaanta or loadstone? or steel acid?, and 12 parts of vajrachumbaka acid, should be placed. Then power should be drawn from the storage vessel through the wires inside the glass-covered tube, and 4 wires with glass wheel key be let into the acid vessels. Then from the bottom of the vessels 2 wires fitted with keys should be taken in a right circle to the front of the smoke-outlet stambha or pipe, and attached to the wires inside the bhujyu metal tube. The wires should also be connected to the keys of the electric friction crystals in the dhoomodgama stambha or pillar, as also to the key in the stambha. Thereby electricity will be spread in all parts of the vimaana. Therefore the vidyud-yantra or electrical machine should be installed in the left side of the vimaana.<br />Vaata-prasaarana Yantra<br /><br />Air Spreading Machine.<br /><br />Kriyaasaara says:<br /><br />In order to enable the vimaana to ascend, vaataprasaarana yantra is necessary.<br /><br />Therefore it is now being described. It should be made out of vaatamitra metal only.<br /><br />Lohatantra describes vaatamitra loha. 13 parts of rasaanjanika or extract of Indian berbery, 27 parts of prabhanjana, and 37 parts of paraankusha, should be filled in sarpaasya or serpent-faced crucible, placed in chakramukha furnace, and with the aid of vaaranaasya bhastrika or bellows, heated to 216 degrees. Then filled in the sameekarana yantra or churner, and next poured out and cooled, it will yield vaatamitra loha, or air-companion metal.<br /><br />First the foot plate, then the naala-stambha or tubular pole, air pumping wheel with keys, air attracting bellows-like mechanism, and mechanism for contracting and expanding the mouth, out-flow and inflow tubes with keys, covering for the yantras, wind pipes, vaatodgama<br /><br />p. 102<br /><br />pipe, bhastrikonmukha, vaatapoorakeelakas, vaata nirasana pankha keelaakas, or air-expelling fan keys, these 12 are the organs of the yantra.<br /><br />The Peetha or foot plate.<br /><br />The peetha should be 6 feet long, 1 foot thick, square or round, with two spots on the northern and southern side of it for erecting three-wheeled tubular poles.<br /><br />The 3 wheeled naala stambha is described in "Yaana bindu":<br /><br />Three feet long and 8 feet high tubular poles should be fixed on 2 sides of the peetha or foot-plate. At the foot and the middle and the top of the pole three openings should be provided for fixing 3 wheels.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQv8QPzAmI/AAAAAAAABCU/g54v_WMaw8c/s1600-h/pl04.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQv8QPzAmI/AAAAAAAABCU/g54v_WMaw8c/s320/pl04.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351454969422873186" /></a> pole should be fixed tubes, one foot wide and 2 feet long, for drawing in air, and wheels 1 foot wide with teeth as in hack-saw, revolving both ways, be fitted to the tubes. The vaata-pooraka or air-filling naala should be fixed in the middle of the wheel. By turning the fly wheel, the wheel will turn, making the naala move up and down sucking in air. The air pumping wheel keys should be thus fixed in the two poles. The keys at the mouth of the bellows should be connected to these keys.<br />Bhastrikaa-Mukha-Yantra<br /><br />Bellows' mouth mechanism<br /><br />Taking pig-skin, duly cleaning it with putrajeevi or wild olive oil, boil it for 3 days, wash it with clean water. Smear it with gajadantika oil frequently exposing to sun for 5 days, and fashion out of it a 6 foot bellows, three feet wide at bottom, 4 feet wide in the middle, and 1 foot wide at the mouth. Two keys working conversely to each other should be fixed at the mouth. A stick should be inserted between them. The two keys should be capable of being put into quick motion, or left at rest. By turning the keelakas the piston rod is moved, and from its speed, the bellows' mouth also will start in motion, and also the vaataakarshana naala. By putting the naala at the mouth of the bhastrika or bellows, quick air entry from inside the mouth will occur. By starting all the keelakaas in all the centres there will be airflow in the three wheel tubular stambhas. By turning the<br /><br />p. 103<br /><br />keelakas with 20 heat-degree force, in the naala stambhas air will rush out with 100 shaker speed. From the bellows' mouth also air will blow with 2000 prenkhana or shaker speed. And these air flows will speed the motion of the vimaana. Therefore in front of the vaatodgama yantra 12 such yantras should be installed on the four sides, 3 on each side. And aavarana or covering should be provided for them according to their measurements. And 12 naala stambhas, 3 feet wide and 12 feet high, should be prepared, and fixed on the top covering of the yantras, for the air to flow out. From each stambha air will blow with 2600 prenkhana speed. The yantras are individually prescribed so that some may rest when not required. The high flight will be helped by these machines. Having thus described the individual sources of air supply for the vimaana, we shall now describe the Brihat-stambha or main mast.<br /><br />It should be 4 feet wide and 30 feet high, and called vaatodgama naala stambha. It should be erected centrally amidst all the yantras. The bhastrikonmukha yantras should be fixed at the foot of the stambha so that the air flows from the yantras could pass into the stambha. The wind-naalaas or pipes should be connected to the stambha-moola fitted with keys. At the opening of the naala-stambha at the top on the 8 inch wide opening a vessel one foot high and 3 feet wide should be fixed. The wind from the stambha or tunnel will pass out through it in wavy billows. The dhoomodgama yantra or smoke pipe should, be provided with triple keys or fixtures, for the expulsion of smoke. and blowing in of air. By operating those keelakas the supply of smoke and air could be controlled according to need. Wind expelling fan wheels should be put in, so that by their quick motion the motion of the vimaana could be facilitated.<br />Vimaana-aavarana-nirnaya<br /><br />Covering of the Vimaana<br /><br />Covering the dhoomodgama yantras and kudyaas or side walls, as in the case of the Shakuna Vimaana, the covering of the Sundara vimaana should be done by raajaloha only. The covering should accommodate the number of partitions or booths required as in Shakuna Vimaana. The location of the 32 component yantras should be determined.<br /><br />p. 104<br /><br />[paragraph continues] In the centre of the booths for locating the four-faced heat machinery, a thirty feet square area should be set apart.. There the four-faced heat yantra should be erected.<br /><br />Says Yantrasarvasva:<br /><br />The chaatur-mukha owshnya yantra should be made out of kundodara metal only. Kundodara metal is defined in Lohasarvasva.<br /><br />Soma, Kanchuka, and shundaala metals in the proportion of 30, 45, and 20 to be taken, cleaned and filled in padma crucible, placed in chhatramukha furnace, and with vaasukee bellows heated to 716 degrees, aa-netraanta, and poured into the yantra for cooling. A blue, fine, light, alloy, capable of bearing 2000 degree heat, and which cannot be blasted even by shataghnee and sahasraghnee canons, and very cold, is kundodara alloy. With this alloy the owshnyaka yantra should be fashioned.<br /><br />Yantraangas or parts of the Machine.<br /><br />Peetha or foot-plate, smoke container kunda or vessel, water container, fire oven, turret covering, covering of water container, twin wheels for projecting and restraining smoke, window rods, padmachakras or wheels, aavritta chakra keela, heat indicator, speedometer, time clock, ravaprasaarana keelaka naala or sound transmitting instrument, antardandaaghaata naala, air-bellows, long sundaala pipes, twin copper pipes, air dividing wheel keys, these 18 parts constitute the ooshmyaka yantra.<br /><br />The peetha, tortoise-shaped, should be 25 feet long and wide. At peethaadi or starting end should be fixed the agni-kosha or fire place, the water vessel in the middle, and the smoke-container should be fixed at the other end.<br /><br />The 3 koshaas are explained by Budila:<br /><br />Ravi or copper, manchoulika, and tigma in equal parts should be mixed with kundodara metal, and be made into 3 inches thick pattika or flats. One pattika should be fixed on the peetha. In the fire place, kendra on the peetha a 4 feet long 6 feet high fire-place should be made. For stocking coal or wooden billets, a sort of walled table should be formed. Next a triangular fire-place should be formed,<br /><br />p. 105<br /><br />with rods at the bottom for the ashes to fall down. In between the 2 parts the flat sheet should be fixed, fitted with keelakas or hinges for moving the peetha as desired. Three keelakas should be fixed at the fire place, one to fan the flames and straighten them, one to moderate or stimulate the flames, and one to distribute the flames evenly. A naala or pipe should be fixed on the fire kosa. Another pipe with wiring, is to be fixed at the end of the fire-kosa pattika with a smoke transmitting pipe which will convey the smoke of the fire-place to the jalakosa or water container. From the fire kosa to the covering of the water kosa water pipes should be adjusted. In the water kosa enclosure the heat will rise to 5000 linkas in these tubes. The heated water will then give out hot smoke.<br /><br />The size of the jalakosa or water container is 8 feet. Three triple-wheeled naalas or pipes should be fixed in the jalakosa: one to restrain the heated smoke from the water, one to amass the smoke, and one to lead the smoke into the dhoomakosa or smoke-container. The Dhoomakosa should be 6 feet wide and 4 feet high. In order to fill the kosha with smoke, necessary fittings should be provided. Above the jalakosa a dome-like covering should be erected. It should be provided with fittings, for folding up and opening out. To the front of the smoke container, two pattikaa wheels with holes should be fixed in order to let out the smoke or to restrain it. In order to operate the wheels two bhraamanee keelakaas or revolving switches should be provided. To the east of the Dhooma-kunda, 8 inches long window bars should be fixed with one inch spacings. Then in front of the yantra, in the middle, at top, at bottom, and on both sides, twin padmachakra keelakas should be fixed for spreading the smoke or restraining it. For storing the wood or coal a hole 11 feet wide should be arranged. The door covering it should be provided with needful fittings. To the north and south of the keelaka the heat-measure and speedometer should be fixed. Above them the timepiece. To the south, a telephonic device called ravaprasaarana or sound ringer, which will give alarm with 1212 sound wave speed, and which gives warnings for the plane's moving, halting, speeding, overspeeding, and danger imminence. An equipment with 5 holes giving 5 different sounds to indicate the above should be installed. On either side of the above, two 6 inches wide, 26 feet tall, Aaghaatha-naalas or pipes should be fixed. Between them two 5 inches thick metal rods are to be adjusted. At the foot, middle, and top of the naalas revolving<br /><br />p. 106<br /><br />wheel keelakas should be fitted. By their revolving, the rods will strike each other. That will increase the speed of the plane. On the top of the naala pipes, air bellows with fittings should be fixed. Thereby the air force in the naalas will shoot up, and the speed of the vimaana will double. Then on the four sides of the heated smoke kosha or container, shundaalas or elephant-trunk-like pipes should be fixed with wheeled keys as in vaatodgama yantra. By filling the shundaalas with the smoke and turning the keys as required, the movement of the vimaana in one direction or another, its gaining height and speeding out or halting, will be facilitated. Keys should be adjusted so as to make the shundaalas coil down like a water hose or keep erect. Two pipes made of 3rd division copper should he wound round the agnikosa, water kosa, and smoke kosa, or fire, water and smoke koshas, in order to absorb the excessive heat in them.<br /><br />In order to part the wind in front of the vimaana, vaata-vibhajana chakra keela or wind-dividing-wheel fittings should be fixed.<br /><br />Having thus prepared the chaaturmukhoshmyaka yantra, or four-faced heating machine, it should be installed in the centre of the vimaana. By the air, smoke, and heat of the yantras below, the ascent and flight of the vimaana will be facilitated.<br /><br />Regarding the speed of the vimaana, we have to consider the speed of smoke and other accessories mathematically, and conclude the possibility of the speed of the vimaana. The speed of the smoke from dhooma yantra is 2113 linkas. The speed of wind from the air blowing machine 2500 linkas. Wind from the naala-stambha blows at the speed of 600 linkas. This is the speed of the forces from the 3 machines on the peetha. Of the forces from the upper portion of the vimaana, from the chatur-mukhoshmyaka yantra, heat force of 3400 linkas emanates. By the four-faced heat yantra, and by operating the keys of the shundaalas, and the force of the wind, smoke and heat machines, the vimaana would be capable of a speed of 400 yojanas or 3600 miles.<br /><br />This is Sundara Vimaana, and it has been described after consulting ancient works, and according to my humble capacity, says Maharshi Bharadwaaja.<br /><br />p. 107<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">RUKMA VIMAANA<br /><br />"Atha Rukma Vimaana Nirnayaha"<br /><br />Next the principles of Rukma Vimaana.<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Rukmascha" Sootra 1.<br /><br />"Rukma too"<br /></span><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />This vimaana is of golden colour. Therefore it is called Rukma vimaana, Rukma meaning gold. The Rukma should be made out of Raajaloha only. By duly processing, Raajaloha can be made to assume golden colour. That metal should be used for the vimaana.<br /><br />"Yaana-Bindu" says,<br /><br />"After first producing golden colour for Raajaloha, the vimaana should be formed."<br /><br />"Varna-sarvasva" mentions the colouring process:<br /><br />Praana-kshaara or ammonium chloride 4 parts, wild Bengal gram 32 parts, shashakanda (or lodhra?) benzoin? 18 parts, naaga or lead 20 parts, sea-foam 16 parts, maakshika or iron pyrites 6 parts, panchaanana or iron 20 parts, paara or mercury 15 parts, kshaara-traya or 3 kinds of salt: natron, salt-petre, borax, 28 parts, panchaanana or mica 20 parts, hamsa or silver 17 parts, garada or aconite 8 parts, and panchaamrita or 5 sweets--curds, milk, ghee, sugar, honey, these should be filled in the melter, and after boiling, and drawing the liquid through two outlets, fill in the crucible and place in furnace, and blow to 800 degrees' heat, and then transfer it to the cooler.<br /><br />That will be Raajaloha, pure, golden-coloured, tensile, and mild. The vimaana, made out of this loha or alloy, will be very beautiful and delightful.<br /><br />The Peetha<br /><br />The peetha or ground plate of the Rukma vimaana should be tortoise-shaped, 1000 feet long, and 1 foot thick, or any other desired<br /><br />p. 108<br /><br />size. On its eight sides, 20 feet long spaces should be fixed underneath the peetha. At each centre fixtures like birds' beaks should be attached with revolving keelakas. Then double iron-balls or wheels, in couples, should be fixed in each of the 8 centres.<br /><br />Ayas-chakra<br /><br />Lalla gives the form of ayaschakra-pinda:<br /><br />12 feet long and wide, and 8 kankushtas in weight, they should be made round like a grind-stone. They should be inserted in the beaks at the 8 centres. From each chakra-pinda up to the electrical generator chain wires should be connected with switches.<br />Batinikaa-Stambha<br /><br />Or Button-switch pole<br /><br />One foot wide and 4 feet high poles should be fixed. They should have switches wired up to the electric pole. 8 inches wide wheels should be fixed in the middle of the pole, on either side, with wires. From the electric pole chain wires should enclose the wheels and be fixed in another pole with inside hinges. On the top of the poles should be fixed goblet shaped cups with button-switches like half-blooms with wheels and keys, so that on pressing the button with the thumb the wheels in the other pole will revolve from electric contact. Then the wheels in the electric pole will also revolve, producing 5000 linkas of speed.<br /><br />Flying<br /><br />Due to this electrical force, the ayah-pinda wheels beneath the peetha will beat against it and make it rise and move upwards. And by moving the switches of the wheeled poles above the peetha, the poles will revolve with speed, and accelerate the speed of the vimaana. By the concussion of the wheels underneath, and the action of the poles above, the vimaana will move upwards and gain height and fly with dignity.<br /><br />Electric tube wheels aiding flight:<br /><br />Above the peetha, naalas or tubes should be fixed at 1 foot intervals. On both sides of each naala toothed wheels 2 feet wide and 1 foot high should be fixed with proper keelakas. Taking electric wires through<br /><br />p. 109<br /><br />the keelakas, and passing over the wheels and reaching the foot of each naala, they should be attached to wheels 3 feet wide and 3 feet high. In the midst of 20 naalas a pole should be fixed in the centre.<br /><br />Narayana says:<br /><br />Preparing a pillar 4 feet wide and 4 feet high, and making a 2 feet opening in its middle, fix keelakas at the top, middle, and lower end of the opening. Two keelakas with 6 wheels, with glass coverings, with wires, and naala and leather covering should be fixed at the lower end for attracting electricity. In the middle part of the opening, for transmitting the current, a five-faced keelaka should be fixed, with 5 wheels, glass covering, 2 naala tubes, two wires, attached to 3 rods, and vessel containing veginee oil. By the flow of the current the wheels in the upper end should be made to whirl by properly adjusting keys. In front of the opening a big wheel should be fixed with gumbha keelakas. Similarly wheels should be fixed at the foot of each pillar. On top of them a four inch wide pattika or flat band should be adjusted commencing from the samsarga key chakra up to the front of the electric yantra. By operating that key, power will flow through the wires, and entering the key at the foot of the pillar set the wheels in motion. On the motion of the big wheel the sandhi-wheels in the naala-dandas will also revolve with speed, and the current will enter the 5 faced keelaka, and entering the oil vessel it will gather force, and passing through the 2 naalas, set all the wheels in the pillar in forceful motion, generating 25000 linkas speed, which will give the vimaana 105 krosa or nearly 250 miles speed per ghatika, or 24 minutes.<br /><br />Having dealt with the mechanism for setting the vimaana in motion, we now consider the mechanism for giving direction to the vimaana in its course. In the 8 diks or directions of the peetha, pillars made of mica and shining like panchakantha, 2 feet thick and 15 feet high should be fixed at intervals of 10 feet. On the pillars should be built the passenger seating arrangements, and booths or locations for the machinery, as in the case of the Sundara Vimaana. The pillars should be made of mica only.<br /><br />Its production is given in Kriyaasaara:<br /><br />Shaara-graava or lime 25 parts, kshwinkaasatva or iron-sulphate 30 parts, gunja or wild-liquorice 28 parts, tankana or borax 12 parts,<br /><br />p. 110<br /><br />roudree moola 8 parts, chaandree or kantakaari....solanum xanthocarpum flower salt 2 part, purified shoonya or mica 100 parts,, to be filled in koorma crucible, and heated in paadma furnace with blower to 800 degrees, and then poured into the cooler, will yield mica alloy most useful and attractive. Fashioning the pillars or walls or partitions and booths, and fixing the mechanisms for turning, circling, diving, and manoeuvring, in the fore and middle and aft of the vimaana, it could be moved in any direction as desired.<br /><br />Lallaacharya says:<br /><br />In order to make the vimaana change its course from one path to another or one direction to another, revolving keelakas should be fixed on the eight sides of the vimaana. Two keelakas should be made, purva and apara, or right side and left side. They should be fitted together.<br /><br />By operating it, the vimaana could be made to change its course one way or another. In order to operate the keelaka, at the peetha moola, on the 4 sides crescent shaped naalaas or tubes, 2 feet wide and 2 feet high should be fixed. 4 inches long metal rods should be fixed inside the naalaas on either side. One foot wide and 1 foot high wheels should be fixed in them. They should be wired all around. Such crescent naalas should be fixed on the 4 sides of the peetha. In order to set the wheels in the naalas in motion big wheels should be fixed at the beginning, middle, and end of the naalas. By turning the top wheel with speed the wheels inside the naalas will revolve. That will force the keela-shankus to twist round so as to force the vimaana to change its course in the required direction.<br /><br />p. 111<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">TRIPURA VIMAANA<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Tripurothha." Sootra 2.<br /><br />"Next Tripura."<br /></span><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />Having explained the vimaanas commencing from Shakuna to Simhikaa, Tripura vimaana will now be dealt with.<br /><br />This vimaana has 3 enclosures, or aavaranas or tiers. Each aavarana is called "Pura." As it consists of 3 aavaranas it is called "Tripura" vimaana. It is operated by the motive power generated by solar rays.<br /><br />Narayana also says:<br /><br />The vimaana which naturally can travel on land, sea, and in the sky by alteration of its structure is called Tripura Vimaana.<br /><br />It has got 3 parts. The first part can travel on land. The second part can travel under and over water. The 3rd part travels in the sky. By uniting the 3 parts by means of keelakas, the plane can be made to travel in the sky. The plane is divisible into 3 parts so that it might travel on land, sea, or air. The construction of the 1st part is now explained. Tripura vimaana should be made out of Trinetra metal only.<br /><br />Trinetra loha is explained by Shaakataayana:<br /><br />Jyotishmatee loha 10 parts, kaanta-mitra 8 parts, vajramukha loha 16 parts, these 3 to be filled in crucible, then adding tankana or borax 5 parts, trynika 7 parts, shrapanikaa 11 parts, maandalika 5 parts, ruchaka or natron 3 parts, mercury 3 parts, then filled in crucible in padmamukha furnace and heated to 631 degrees with trimukhee bellows, the resulting liquid, if poured into cooler, will yield a metal, shining like peacock feather, unburnable, unbreakable, weightless, impregnable by water, fire, air and heat, and indestructible.<br /><br />With that metal the peetha should be prepared, of any desired size. The following is given as an example. It may be 100 feet wide<br /><br />p. 112<br /><br />and 3 feet thick, round or square. Leaving 20 feet on the western side, at intervals of 10 feet 80 spots should be marked for wheeled boats. 80 feet long, 3 feet wide, 5 feet high boat shaped dronies or containers should be fixed on the marked lines. Three feet wide openings should be made in the top of the dronies, so as to raise the wheel inside them quickly and cover them underneath. There should be fittings which enable the wheels to be lowered on land, and raised and covered underneath when going in water. The wheels should have axle rods with fittings to attract electric power. The axle rods should be 2½ feet long and 1 foot thick. The wheels should be 3 feet wide and 1 foot thick, have, 5, 6, or 7 spokes, fixed in the rims, and covered with musheeka up to 4 inches from the edge. Holes with glass coverings should be made in all the wheels. These 12 wheels, or 8, or 6, or 4, should be fixed inside the boat-like structure. For transmitting power wires made of somakaanta loha should be fixed in the holes made in the wheels. In the middle of each wheel electric aaghaata keelakaas should be fixed, and in them chhidraprasaarana keelakas. Over all the chakradronee boats, copper wire pairs should be fixed on both sides, and in the joints of the wheels. Rods should be attached to the wires so that power could be drawn from the wires and passed to the top of the wheels. And power should be passed to the wires underneath the wheels. In climbing hills, and going down slopes, by adjusting the power at the top or the bottom of the wheels, smooth progress is made possible. By adjusting the necessary keelakas it is possible to accelerate the speed, or in going down, to restrain the flow of the current, and put brake on excess speed.<br /><br />For attracting power from the generator a naala or pipe with wires should be fixed at the front of the peetha through 5 faced wheel keelakas, and the wires should be connected to the fittings at the top and bottom of the wheels, with glass cups.<br /><br />In order to put covering over the boat formations, pillars should be fixed between each boat line, and covered with mica sheets, as per architectural rules.<br /><br />p. 113<br /><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />☞ "Shuddhhaambaraattadhhi." Sootra 3.<br /><br />"Out of pure mica alone"<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:<br /><br />The vimaana should be made out of pure mica alone.</span><br /><br />Mica is described in "Dhatu sarvasva ". There are four kinds of mica, white mica, red mica, yellow mica, and black mica. The white mica has 16 varieties. Red mica has 12 varieties. The yellow mica has 7 varieties. And the black mica has 15 varieties. Thus there are 50 varieties in all.<br /><br />Shownakeeya also says:<br /><br />We shall now describe the nature of abhraka or mica. They are of 4 castes, like brahmin, kshatriya, vysya, and sudra. They are of 50 varieties. The brahmin mica has 16 varieties. The kshatriya mica has 12 varieties. The vysya mica has 7 varieties. And the sudra mica has 15 varieties, totalling 50 in all. Their names are as follows. The brahmin mica varieties are ravi, ambara, bhraajaka, rochishmaka, pundareeka, virinchika, vajragarbha, koshambara, sowvarchala, somaka, amritanetra, shytyamukba, kuranda, rudraasya, panchodara and rukmagarbha. The kshatriya varieties are shundeeraka, shambara, rekhaasya, owdumbara, bhadraka, panchaasya, amshumukha, raktanetra, manigarbha, rohinika, somaamshaka, and kourmika. The vysya varieties are krishnamukha, shyaamarekha, garalakosha, panchadhaara, ambareeshaka, manigarbha, and krownchaasya. The shoodra varieties are gomukha, kanduraka, showndika, mugdhaasya, vishagarbha, mandooka, thailagarbha, rekhaasya, parvanika, raakaamsuka, praanada, drownika, raktabandhaka, rasagraahaka, vranahaarika.<br /><br />Out of these, pundareeka from the 1st class, rohinika from the second, panchadhaara from the third, and drownika from the 4th class are good for use in constructing the vimaana. These should first be purified as per rules.<br /><br />The process of purification is given in "Samskaara Ratnaakara": skandhaaraka or salt of roitleria tinctoria?, shaaranika or rubus salt?, pinjulee or yellow orpiment?, cowries, borax, kaakajanghaa or wild<br /><br />p. 114<br /><br />liquorice?, moss, rowdrikaa, salt-petre, douvaarika, shambara or benzoin, and phosphorus. These should be separately filled in the smelter. The decoctions should be filled in glass vessels. The mica is to be purified with each one of these.<br /><br />The mica is to be powdered, put in skandhaavaara acid in smelting vessel. It should be boiled for 3 days in fire, and for 3 days in electric heat. Then take the liquid and put it in a bronze vessel, pour in shaaranika acid and keep it in sun for 3 days. Then add pinjulee acid and keep buried in earth for 5 days. Afterwards add cowri acid, and boil in bhoodhara yantra for one day. Then add mustard, and adding borax acid and burning arjuna, myrabolan wood, place it in brown-barked acacia cinders for 3 days. Then add wild liquorice acid and expose it to the full moon rays on the 14th and 15 days. The mica is to be then taken out and washed in hot water. Then add wild corn, and pouring in moss acid place it under earth for 6 days. Then take out the mica, add roudri acid, place the vessel in a big fire-place, and burn in 64 feet of dried cowdung. Next taking out the mica put it in sesamum oil for 1½ days, and expose to the sun from morning to sundown. Then take out the mica, wash it clean, put in bronze vessel with salt-petre solution with dattoori or yellow thistle seeds, place it in a heap of burning kundalee or mollugo stricta leaves. Then take out the mica, add dourvaarika acid and bake for a day with hay-fire. Then put the mica in benzoin acid for 3 days. Next add one-fourth as much of camphor, and placing it in the churning machine, churn for a day. Then placing it in Simhaasya crucible cook with boiling water. Add ranjaka or phosphorus acid, 3 palas or 12 tolas of tankana or borax, 12 tolas of lime, 4 tolas of soorana root or tacca, karkotaka 20 tolas, vrishala or onion 28 tolas, koorma-tankanaka 8 palas or 32 tolas, rouhinaka or red sandal 40 tolas, shambara 80 tolas, muchukunda 12 tolas. These cleaned and filled in the crucible, and placed in simhamukha furnace filled with charcoal, and melted with 800 degrees heat will yield a metal shining like a precious stone, very light, unbreakable, unburnable and indestructible.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">With that the vimaana is to be constructed.</span><br /><br />We shall now consider the parts of the vimaana: 2 feet thick and 3 feet high pillars, painted in different colours and adorned with<br /><br />p. 115<br /><br />pictures, should be prepared, and 80 of them should be fixed in the spaces between the boats. On the pillars 10 feet wide pattikas or sheets, and of the same length as the boats, should be fitted with screws, and two-faced hinges.<br /><br />In order to accommodate crew and passengers of the vimaana, and store luggage, rooms and partitions should be constructed with decorations. In order to provide secrecy, doors should be provided as also ventilators. Revolving wheels with necessary fittings and switches should be fixed so that by putting on a switch the rooms would revolve. Wheels should be fixed in the lanes between the boats. Air-pipes with wheels should be fixed. In order to ensure supply of air, tubes with wheels, and bellows with wide mouths, leaving 20 junctional centres, should be fixed. In the front, two faced tubular wheels should be fixed to dispel the air downwards or upwards or side ways, at 30 feet intervals from the aavrutta or enclosed pradesha of the vimaana. At the bottom of the vimaana metal balls with chain-wirings should be fixed for operations in the course of flight.<br /><br />The 1st floor will be 7 feet high, with the roofing duly fixed with nalikaa-keelakas with 10 feet intervals. With 20 feet interval in the middle, wires with beaked ends should be attached to each keela. The fittings should be such as to enable opening and shutting like an umbrella. The cloth covering like a tent top should cover the entire floor.<br /><br />The second aavarana should be made of trinetra metal.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Maharshi Bharadwaaja:<br /><br />☞ "Taduparichaanyaha." Sootra 4.<br /><br />"Another above it."<br /><br />Bodhaananda Vritti:</span><br /><br />Having described the first floor above, now the second floor is being described. The second floor should be slightly smaller than the first floor. If the first floor is 100 feet wide, the second should be 80 feet wide. The floor should be 80 feet wide, and 3 feet thick, and made of trinetra metal. Its fittings should be like those on the first floor, and be duly connected with electric wiring from the generator.<br /><br />p. 116<br /><br />In order to take the vimaana through water, first the wheels at the bottom used for land route should be drawn up, and in order to prevent water coming up, the bottom should be completely covered up with ksheeree-pata or milk cloth. Four inches thick metal rods, 12 inches long, to which wheels 1 foot wide and ½ foot thick, and shaped like frog claws, are fixed, should be adjusted on both sides of the dronee or boat lines. Similarly in the front portion of the vimaana, on both sides two such wheeled rods should be fixed in order to divert water, By switching on power the main wheels will revolve, making all the wheels revolve, and expelling water, and aiding the progress of the vimaana forward.<br /><br />For the supply of air inside, on the sides of the 2nd floor, should be fixed, air pipes 6 inches wide and made of ksheeree pata or milk cloth, cleaned with acid, from the partitions in the 1st floor upto the top of the vimaana, their tops being covered with revolving metal covers, with air sucking pumps worked by power. The air so pumped into the pipes will fill both the second and 1st floors, and provide air comfort for the crew and passengers of the vimaana.<br /><br />Above the roofing of the two floors all round, spreading out and closing up keelakas should be fixed. So as to separate the floors, foldable chain fittings should be fixed at 10 feet intervals. Wires from the electrical generator should be connected to the fittings, so that by their operation the floors will be separated, and the separated floors simultaneously move on land and in the air.<br /><br />In the 2nd floor also cabins, partitions and seating and doors and windows should be constructed as attractively as in the first floor. The enclosing walls of the floor should be 7 feet high from its peetha, and half a foot thick. In order to draw electric current from the third floor two poles should be erected in the back room with transmitter from which wires will pass the current to the various fixtures on the floor.<br /><br />At the front of the vimaana a mast should be erected. At its foot two bells made of bronze should be fixed in order to indicate time to the crew and passengers. In every room on the floor alarm<br /><br />p. 117<br /><br />chains, as in railways, should be fixed so that the occupants may call for help in times of danger. On hearing the call the crew will rush to the room and attend to the requirements of the passengers. Sound transmitter, image transmitter, direction indicator, time-piece, and cold and heat gauges should be installed on either side of the floor, with necessary cable connections.<br /><br />Then in order to protect against excessive wind currents, storms, and heat-waves, three machines should be installed at the back, on either side, and on both sides of the turret.<br /><br />They are described in "Yantra Sarvasva" as three-faced air protection yantra, solar-blaze conditioning yantra, and rain storm protection yantra. Their construction is given here as per shaastras.<br /><br />First, three-faced air force reducing yantra. It must be made of Vaaruna Metal:<br /><br />Vaaripanka, vishaari, borax, jaalikaa, mango, vishodara, vaaripanchaka, kshaarasaptaka, kshona, manjula or madder root, godhara, vaarunaasyaka, paarvana or chlorodendrum phlomoides, aruna, kaakatunda, bhoodhara, vaarunaabhraka, natron, kundaaleemukha, lodhra or benzoin, varikudmala or water flower, shaarikaarasa, panchabaanasahodara, lead 5 parts, soorana or tacca, honey 8 parts, vaata, kankanikodara, Sunda, anjana or eye-black, kukkutaandaka, khaadira or brown-barked acacia, loddhruka, simhikaa-mukha, koormajangha, and masoorika or lentil, all these to be cleaned, and filled in crucible, placed in padmamukha furnace, and heated to 700 degrees with 5 faced bellows, poured into equifying yantra and churned, will yield a light, smoke-coloured, impregnable vaaruna metal.<br /><br />Then it is to be purified, according to "Kriyaasaara." First, place it in shundeera acid (great-leaved laburnum?) and boil for 3 days, and then with kuttinee yantra beat it into flat pattis, make thick decoction of soorana root or tacca, and smear it to 1 inch thickness on it and heat it for 3 yaamaas or 9 hours. Then mritsaara, vaagura, opium, should be boiled together for a day. The concoctions will become red like lac. The metal patti should be smeared with it and heated in the taapana yantra for a yaama or 3 hours. Then keep it<br /><br />p. 118<br /><br />in the sun for a day. Then kantaka or small caltrap, heranda, dhavalodara, and chaaraka, and gingelly should be mixed together, and the oil extracted. The metal should be smeared with it and kept in the sun for 3 days, and then heated in the sun for a day. Then paste the gum of kankola or cubeb pepper 1 inch thick, and stick into it thumb-sized vaatakuthaaraka manis, place in furnace of brown-barked acacia and cool for 9 hours. The metal will become like diamond.<br /><br />Out of this a cover should be made for the vimaana, with necessary fittings for spreading over and folding up, connected with electric wires drawn from inside the vimaana. The charge of electricity will permeate all over, as well as the manis on the pattika. Three serpent-faced keelakas should be fixed. These will suck in the fierce wind as it blows, and belch it out to the upper regions, so that the wind force on the vimaana will be curbed, and danger therefrom averted.<br /><br />The rain storm protection yantra should be made of crowncha metal. Says "Kriyaasaara", The metal that can destroy the dravapraanana force of water is krowncha loha. Therefore the varshopasamhaara yantra should be made out of that alone.<br /><br />Krowncha loha is described in "Mantra Sarvasva" as follows: Jyotirmukha or rose-coloured red-wort 8 parts, tryambaka or copper 11 parts, humsa-tunda 12 parts, camphor 7 parts, tankana or borax 8 parts, sand 4 parts, choorna or lime 12 parts, owrwaara or cucumber?, ruruka 5 parts, patola or snake-gourd 27 parts, and vaardhyushika or sea-foam 1 part, these to be cleaned and placed in crucible, and heated in padma furnace to 512 degrees with 3 faced bellows, poured into churning yantra, and then cooled, will yield, a metal, honey-coloured, light, strong, rain-storm antidote, and heat-impregnated. Extracting oil from the seeds of basil, rukma or yellow thistle, punkha, red wort, trijataa or bael, and pancha-kantaki or 5 thorny trees, the metal should be smeared and heated. The metal is to be made into pattis with kuttinee yantra, make pipes out of them 3 feet wide of the same height as the vimaana, and fix them properly all around. In front of the vimaanaa-avarana also 3 feet high pipes should be fixed with keelakas or hinges. The pipes should be smeared with chana or gram decoction 1 inch thick. On that vajragarbha decoction or triangular spurge milk should be<br /><br />p. 119<br /><br />smeared thrice, which will make it hard as diamond. On the pipes, at 12 inches intervals, sinjeeta vajra should be smeared and heated by fire. Then thumb-size panchaasya manis which will counteract the effects of water, should be imbedded on the smeared pipes. Then the pipes with proper fittings at both ends should be fixed on the 8 sides of the vimaana. Wires proceeding from the electric generator should be taken through glass tube and connected to the pipes. When the current passes through them to the panchaasya mani, the concentrated force in it blending with the electric force will fiercely oppose the forces of the rain storm and disturb the atmosphere so as to dilute and weaken the storm, and render it ineffective. Therefore the varshopahaaraka yantra should be fixed on the vimaana.<br /><br />Sooryaathapopasamhaara yantra or the burning-sun protection machine:<br /><br />It is to be made out of the aathapaashana loha. It is explained in Kriyaasaara: Aatapaashana loha protects against burning sun. Therefore Aatapa samhaara yantra should be made with that metal. "Lohatantra" describes that metal. Owrvaarika, kowshika, gaaruda, soubhadraka, chaandrika, sarpanetra, sringaataka, sowmyaka, chitraloha, vishvodara, panchamukha, virinchi, these twelve metals should be put in equal parts in padma-moosha crucible. Borax 7 parts, chowlika 5 parts, cowree salt 6 parts, kunjara 12 parts, sand 9 parts, camphor 4 parts, cardamom 16 parts, powshnika 10 parts, should be added to them, and placing it in nalikaa furnace heated to 725 degrees with mooshakaasya bhastrika bellows. Then the liquid should be put in, the mixing machine, and afterwards poured into the cooler. The resulting alloy will be light, orange coloured, heat proof, and unbreakable, for the making of sooryaathapopasamhaara yantra, after being duly purified, says Yantrasarvasva.<br /><br />Kriyaasaara explains its purification:<br /><br />Ashwaththa or sacred fig tree, mango, plantain, aala or banyan, baadava or peepul, trimukhee, trijata or bael, gunja or wild liquorice, sherinee, onurberah, patolika or snake gourd, the bark of these trees should be powdered, should be filled in vessel with 10 times as much water, and boiled down to one-tenth measure.<br /><br />Then taking the 11 kinds of salts, bidaa-lavana or table-salt, syndhava or rock-salt, oushara or saline earth, budila salt, maacheepatra salt or<br /><br />p. 120<br /><br />solanum indicum?, praanakshaara panchaka, or 5 urine salts or ammonium chloride? and saamudra or sea-salt, these eleven salts, should be placed in dravaakarshana yantra or dehydration machine and boiled. Taking the previous decoction, add half as much this decoction, put the aatapaashana metal in it and boil for 5 days, then wash with water, and anoint with honey, and place in hot sun for 3 days, then wash it, and use it for producing the yantra.<br /><br />First pattikas should be made from the metal with kuttinee yantra, 2 feet square, or circle, and 3 feet thick. On that 3 pipes, 1 foot wide and 5 feet high, should be fixed. Three triangular glass bowls should be placed underneath the pipes. In each of them one prastha or seer of somadraavaka or white acacia juice should be filled. In each vessel a heat proof crystal of the 121st class should be cleaned with acid and placed. Then an umbrella shape 10 feet wide should be made out of the metal, and fixed so as to cover the 3 pipes, with revolving keelakas fixed half-a-foot underneath the umbrella cover. Above that 3 kalasas, 3 feet wide and shaped like cooking vessel, should be fixed. At their centre circular chaalapattikas should be fixed. Upon that three cold-diffusing crystals of the 185th number, should be fixed. On them three black mica wheels should be fixed. They should be covered with chandrikaa toolikaa or white silk cotton. On that should be placed a vessel with acid of manjoosha or madder root, in which a heat-resisting crystal is immersed. In the front part the toothed mica wheels fitted with bhraamanee-danda keelakas should be fixed. And in order to revolve that keelaka 3 wheeled keelaka should be fixed. By its motion the umbrella will revolve disturbing the heat wave. Then the heat-absorbing mica wheels will absorb the heat, which, pas-sing down to the madder-root acid, will become cold and get extinguished. And the crew and passengers will be saved from its evil effects.<br /><br />The Third Floor:<br /><br />In erecting the 3rd floor of the vimaana, the same procedure as was followed in erecting the second floor should be followed. Like the fixtures in the flooring of the 2nd aavarana and roofing of the 1st aavarana, fixtures should be put in connecting the roofing of the 2nd aavarana and the peetha of the 3rd aavarana. The peetha of the 3rd floor should be 5 feet less than the peetha of the 2nd floor, and be<br /><br />p. 121<br /><br />square or circular like it. The cabins, doors, walls, and furniture on the 3rd floor should be on the same lines as in the 2nd floor. In the north eastern part of the 3rd floor, a cabin should be prepared for housing the electric generator. It should be made out of somaanka loha.<br /><br />Somaanka loha is explained in "Lohatantra" as follows: Lead, panchaasya, and copper, 7 parts each, Chumbaka or loadstone 9 parts, nalikaa or Indian spikenard bark, sharaanika or rubus salt?, and borax, in equal parts, to be filled in sarpamukha crucible, and placed in naagakunda furnace, filled with coal, and heated to 353 degrees with shashamukha bellows. After melting the liquid should be filled in the mixer, and after churning be poured out to cool. The resulting metal will be a fine, light, electricity-impregnated somaanka loha. Out of that metal pattikas should be made with kuttinee yantra, or hammering yantra.<br /><br />A cradle-like vessel, 3 feet wide and 8 feet high, should be made out of it, and be covered with a pattika with hinges. On the eastern and northern part of the cover two holes 1½ feet wide should be made. The cradle should be fixed in the electric cabin. Below the holes, two peethas should be fixed in the cradle. Two vessels 2 feet wide and 4 feet high should be prepared. Eight goblets 6 inches wide and 1 foot high should be made, and 4 each should be placed in the two vessels, in their four corners. In the middle of the 4 goblets, a big goblet should be placed so as to contact all the four. 2 vessels covered with patties having 5 holes should be placed inside the 2 holes in the cradle cover. Teethed churners 5 inches in size, 8 inches in height, like those of sugarcane machines, 8 in number, should be placed in the 8 goblets in the two vessels in the cradle. 2 churners, bigger than these should be placed in the two central goblets beneath the two holes. Fixtures should be fixed on the central churner so that by their turning all the other churners will turn.<br /><br />The procedure for extracting electricity out of solar rays is as follows. 8 naalas or tubes should be prepared out of the 192nd kind of amshupa glass. The naalas should be fixed on the 4 corners of each vessel. Panchamukhi karnikaas should be placed on them, filled with rukmapunkhaa shana, and with electric crystals in them. Covering them<br /><br />p. 122<br /><br />with the amshupaa glass cover, 5 spires should be formed on it. The top of each spire should be like an open beak, and in it should be inserted sinjeeraka crystal and amshupaa crystal. On the central spire amshu-mitra mani should be fixed. Above the 4 crystals should be fixed 4 glass tubes made of kiranaakarshana glass, 6 inches wide and 3 feet high. On them should be carefully fixed 4 feet-wide-mouthed vessels, acid cleaned. They should be filled with Rudrajataa-vaala or aristolochia indica linn. Revolving ghutikas should be placed in their centre. The ghutikaas will attract the solar rays and send them through the tubes. The crystals in the spire beaks will suck them in. So does the shinjeera crystal inside, as also the amshu-mitra crystal. The power will be absorbed by the glass-covering, and sent to the electric crystal. Then the karnikas inside will receive it and send down to the central tube with force. When the central churner revolves the other churners also revolve. The power will enter the acid, and the crystals in it will whirl with great speed, intensifying the power force to the extent of 1080 linkas. That force should be collected by the ganapa-yantra in front of the cradle, and stored in the central storage.<br /><br />The Ganapa-yantra is a machine shaped like Vighneshwara, 1 foot broad, and 3 feet high. From its head a tubular projection like<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkNWfMuqw3I/AAAAAAAABAk/4rwoivIzLqM/s1600-h/12200.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 231px; height: 252px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkNWfMuqw3I/AAAAAAAABAk/4rwoivIzLqM/s320/12200.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351215876239180658" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Vighneshwara</span><br /><br />elephant's trunk, covered with glass and with wires inside should be fixed at the front of the cradle, and connected to the Ganapa image from the neck to the navel. Three-inch toothed wheels should be so fixed that a big wheel at the neck of the image, by force of the current coming through the trunk or proboscis will whirl, setting the other wheels in motion. A coil of wire should be placed in the centre. On it a sapta-shashthi shankha or conch called simhikaa should be placed, with covering made of kravyaada metal. 5 spoonfuls of jeevaavaka acid (ditamine?) should be filled in the conch, and 217<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwCxoHU4I/AAAAAAAABCc/MH79RX17pD8/s1600-h/pl03.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkQwCxoHU4I/AAAAAAAABCc/MH79RX17pD8/s320/pl03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351455081462453122" /></a><br />p. 123<br /><br />bhaamukha graamukha manis or beads should be placed inside. 5 umbrellas, 2 inches wide, should be made, and 5 sun-crystals of the size of big liquorice, should be stuck on them. The umbrellas should be fixed on the conch, with amshupa glass covering. This should attract the force of the sun rays, and pass to the crystals on the umbrellas, making the crystals and the umbrellas whirl with fierce force of 1000 linkas, and the force passing to the acid in the conch and the crystal inside, will thence pass westwards, and could be transmitted through wires for any desired use. To measure its exact force a meter should be fixed in, along with thermometer and other needful equipments.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">THE GROUND WHEELS</span><br /><br />When the vimaana has to move on the ground, the electric current is switched on the electric motor in the hub of each wheel, thus causing the rim to revolve and move the vimaana.<br /><br />But when entering water the wheels are drawn in by the movements of toothed segment and the pinion, the latter being revolved by an electric motor attached to the shaft. The openings in the bottom of the vimaana are closed by the sliding covers moved by the rack and pinion arrangement, the pinion being worked by an electric motor.<br /><br />The movements of the hinged joints of the folding links will raise or lower the second floor over the first floor.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">ELECTRIC GENERATOR</span><br /><br />Two jars are placed on the peetha or stand. Each jar contains five cups filled with acids. Each cup has a churning rod with gear-wheels connected together. The wheels are revolved by hand while starting, and by the generated electric power afterwards. A darpana or mirror and gharshana manis are fixed above the gear wheels. The darpana and the manis absorb the sun's energy and transmit it to the acid cups. The acids, being churned, convert the absorbed energy into electric current, which will pass through the pancha-mukhee naala, or five-way-switch, to different points, and work the machines there.<br /><br />p. 124<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">THE ELECTRIC MOTOR</span><br /><br />The electric motor consists of a loop of fine wire coil, with a fine wire cage in the centre. The current from the generator is brought to the wire coil through a glass tube. Suitable wheels are attached to the wire cage to connect to the churning gears of the generator or the shaft of the pinion.<br /><br />The Simhika shankha on the top of the motor contains an acid and the bhaamukha-graahinee mani or crystal. Five rods with amshupaamitra manis are fitted to the top of the shankha, and toothed wheels are fitted to these rods to revolve together and rub against the inner surface of amshupaa mirror at the top. The solar power absorbed by the mirror is stored in the shankha, and given out by the bhaamukha graahinee mani to the various motors in the vimaana.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Thus concludes the description of Tripura Vimaana.</span><br /><br />And that brings us to the end of the<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">WONDER MANUSCRIPT</span><br /><br />left behind for the edification of Mankind<br /><br />by the venerable mystic<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />ANEKAL SUBRAAYA SASTRI</span><br /><br />whose occult powers visualised this much from the<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"VYMAANIKA SHAASTRA"</span><br /><br />section of the giant<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF MACHINES"</span><br /><br />or<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"YANTRA SARVASVA"</span><br /><br />of divine sage<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">MAHARSHI BHARADWAAJA</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Source : http://www.deepertruth.com</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-32403237464302312992009-06-25T17:12:00.002+07:002009-06-25T17:25:37.344+07:00THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL<span style="font-style:italic;">by Donald Keyhoe</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">New York</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Fawcett Publications, 1950</span><br /><br />{scanned at sacred-texts.com, March 2002}<br /><br />This book is in the public domain because it was not renewed in a timely fashion at the US Copyright Office, as required by law at the time.<br /><br />{p. 3}<br /><br />To Helen,<br /><br />with love<br /><br />Donald E. Keyhoe, who relates here his investigation of the flying saucers, writes with twenty-five years of experience in observing aeronautical developments.<br /><br />He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He flew in active service with the Marine Corps, managed the tour of the historic plane in which Bennett and Byrd made their North Pole flight, was aide to Charles Lindbergh after the famous Paris flight, and was chief of information for the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce.<br /><br />{p. 5}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Author's Note</span><br /><br />ON APRIL 27, 1949, the U.S. Air Force stated:<br /><br />"The mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project 'Saucer' personnel, and on the part of the civilian population.<br /><br />"Answers have been--and will be--drawn from such factors as guided missile research activity, balloons, astronomical phenomena. . . . But there are still question marks.<br /><br />"Possibilities that the saucers are foreign aircraft have also been considered. . . . But observations based on nuclear power plant research in this country label as 'highly improbable' the existence on Earth of engines small enough to have Powered the saucers.<br /><br />"Intelligent life on Mars . . . is not impossible but is completely unproven. The possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is not considered completely unreasonable by astronomers.<br /><br />"The saucers are not jokes. Neither are they cause for alarm."[1]<br /><br />On December 27, 1949, the Air Force denied the existence of flying saucers.[2]<br /><br />On December 30, 1949, the Air Force revealed part of a secret Project "Saucer" report to members of the press at Washington. The official report stated:<br /><br />"It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual did not see a space ship, an enemy missile, or some other object."<br /><br />Discussing the motives of possible visitors from space, the report also stated:<br /><br />"Such a civilization might observe that on Earth we now have atomic bombs and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of mankind, they should be<br /><br />[1. Project "Saucer" Preliminary Study of Flying Saucers.<br /><br />2. Air Force Press Release 629-49.'<br /><br />{p. 6}<br /><br />alarmed. We should therefore expect at this time above all to behold such visitations."<br /><br />(In its April 22 report, Project "Saucer" stated that space travel outside the solar system is almost a certainty.)<br /><br />On February 22, 1950, the Air Force again denied the existence of flying saucers. On this same date, two saucers reported above Key West Naval Air Station were tracked by radar; they were described as maneuvering at high speed fifty miles above the earth. The Air Force refused to comment.<br /><br />On March 9, 1950, a large metallic disk was pursued by F-51 and jet fighters and observed by scores of Air Force officers at Wright Field, Ohio. On March 18, an Air Force spokesman again denied that saucers exist and specifically stated that they were not American guided missiles or space-exploration devices.<br /><br />I have carefully examined all Air Force saucer reports made in the last three years. For the past year, I have taken part in a special investigation of the flying-saucer riddle.<br /><br />I believe that the Air Force statements, contradictory as they appear, are part of an intricate program to prepare America--and the world--for the secret of the disks.<br /><br />{p. 7}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER I</span><br /><br />IT WAS A strange assignment.<br /><br />I picked up the telegram from my desk and read it a third time.<br /><br />NEW YORK, N. Y., MAY 9, 1949<br /><br />HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED GIGANTIC HOAX TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN PLANTED TO HIDE REAL ANSWER. LOOKS LIKE TERRIFIC STORY. CAN YOU TAKE OVER WASHINGTON END?<br /><br />KEN W. PURDY, EDITOR, TRUE MAGAZINE<br /><br />I glanced out at the Potomac, recalling the first saucer story. As a pilot, I'd been skeptical of flying disks. Then reports had begun to pour in from Air Force and airline pilots. Apparently alarmed, the Air Force had ordered fighters to pursue the fast-flying saucers. In one mysterious chase, a pilot had been killed, and his death was unexplained. That had been seventeen months ago. Since then, the whole flying-saucer riddle had been hidden behind a curtain of Air Force secrecy.<br /><br />And now, an assignment from True magazine on flying saucers.<br /><br />Twenty-four hours later, I was in Ken Purdy's office.<br /><br />"I've had men on this for two months," he told me. "I might as well warn you, it's a tough story to crack."<br /><br />"You think it's a Russian missile?" I asked him. "Or an Air Force secret?"<br /><br />"We've had several answers. None of them stacks up. But I'm positive one was deliberately planted when they found we were checking."<br /><br />He told me the whole story of the work that had been done by the staff of True and of the reports sent in by competent writers. The deeper he delved into the mystery, the tougher the assignment got. The more I learned about flying saucers, the less I knew.<br /><br />"There's one angle I want rechecked," Purdy said.<br /><br />"You've heard of the Mantell case?"<br /><br />{p. 8}<br /><br />I nodded.<br /><br />"O.K. Try to get the details of Mantell's radio report to Godman Tower. Before he was killed, he described the thing he was chasing--we know that much. Project 'Saucer' gave out a hint, but they've never released the transcript. Here's another lead. See if you can find anything about a secret picture, taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland--it was around July 1947. I'll send you other ideas as I get them."<br /><br />Before I left, Purdy wished me hick and told me that he would work in closest harmony with me.<br /><br />"But watch out for fake tips," he said. "You'll probably run into some people at the Pentagon who'll talk to you 'off the record.' That handcuffs a writer. Look out they don't lead you into a blind alley. Even the Air Force statements and the Project 'Saucer' report contradict each other."<br /><br />For six months, I worked with other investigators to solve the mystery of the disks. We checked a hundred sighting reports, frequently crossing the trail of Project "Saucer" teams and F.B.I. agents. Old records gave fantastic leads. So did Air Force plans for exploring space. Rocket experts, astronomers, Air Force officials and pilot gave us clues pointing to a startling solution. Many intelligent persons--including scientists--believe that the saucers contain spies from another planet.<br /><br />When this first phase was ended, we were faced with a hard decision. We had uncovered important facts, We knew the saucers were real. If it was handled carefully, we believed the story would be in line with a secret Air Force policy.<br /><br />It was finally decided to publish certain alternate conclusions. The Air Force was informed of True's intentions; no attempt was made to block publication.<br /><br />In the January 1950 issue of True, I reported that we had reached the following conclusions:<br /><br />1 The earth has been observed periodically by visitors from another planet.<br /><br />2. This observation has increased markedly in the past two years.<br /><br />"The only other possible explanation," I wrote, "is that,<br /><br />{p. 9}<br /><br />the saucers are extremely high-speed, long-range devices developed here on earth. Such an advance (which the Air Force has denied) would require an almost incredible leap in technical progress even for American scientists and designers."<br /><br />Nation-wide press and radio comment followed the appearance of the article. This publicity was obviously greater than the Air Force had expected. Within twenty-four hours the Pentagon was deluged with telegrams, letters, and long-distance calls. Apparently fearing a panic, the Air Force hastily stated that flying-saucer reports--even those made by its own pilots and high-ranking officers--were mistakes or were caused by hysteria.[1]<br /><br />But three days later, when it was plain that many Americans calmly accepted True's disclosures, the Air Force released a secret project "Saucer" file containing this significant statement:<br /><br />"It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual did not see a space ship, an enemy missile or other object."<br /><br />In this same document there appears a confidential analysis of Air intelligence reports.[2] It is this summary that contains the official suggestion Of. space visitors' motives. After stating that such a civilization would obviously be far ahead of our own, the report adds:<br /><br />"Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between the time of the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships are seen, and the time required for such ships to arrive from and return to home base."<br /><br />(In a previous report, which alternately warned and reassured the public, the Air Force stated that space travel outside the solar system is almost a certainty.[3])<br /><br />Since 1949 there has been a steady increase in saucer sightings. Most of them have been authentic reports, which Air Force denials cannot disprove. In January, mystery<br /><br />[1. Air Force press release 629-49, December 27, 1949.<br /><br />2. Air Force Project "Saucer" December 30, 1949.<br /><br />3. Air Force report M-26-49, Preliminary Studies on Flying saucers, April 27, 1949.]<br /><br />{p. 10}<br /><br />disks were reported over Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, and several other states. On the Seattle Anchorage route, an air freighter was paced for five minutes by a night-flying saucer. When the pilots tried to close in, the strange craft zoomed at terrific speed. Later, the airline head reported that Intelligence officers had quizzed the pilots for hours.<br /><br />"From their questions," he said, "I could tell they had a good idea of what the saucers are. One officer admitted they did, but he wouldn't say any more."<br /><br />Another peculiar incident occurred at Tucson, Arizona, on February 1. Just at dusk, a weird, fiery object raced westward over the city, astonishing hundreds in the streets below. The Tucson Daily Citizen ran the story next day with a double-banner headline:<br /><br />FLYING SAUCER OVER TUCSON?<br /><br />B-29 FAILS TO CATCH OBJECT<br /><br />Flying saucer? Secret experimental plane? Or perhaps a scout craft from Mars? Certainly the strange aircraft that blazed a smoke trail over Tucson at dusk last night defies logical explanation. It was as mystifying to experienced pilots as to groundlings who have trouble in identifying conventional planes.<br /><br />Cannonballing through the sky, some 30,000 feet aloft, was a fiery object shooting westward so fast it was impossible to gain any clear impression of its shape or size. . . .<br /><br />At what must have been top speed the object spewed out light colored smoke, but almost directly over Tucson it appeared to hover for a few seconds. The smoke puffed out an angry black and then be came lighter as the strange missile appeared to gain speed"<br /><br />The radio operator in the Davis-Monthan air force base control tower contacted First Lt. Roy L. Jones, taking off for a cross-country flight in a B-29, and asked him to investigate. Jones revved up his swift aerial tanker and still the unknown aircraft steadily pulled away toward California.<br /><br />Dr. Edwin F. Carpenter, head of the University of<br /><br />{p. 11}<br /><br />Arizona department of astronomy, said he was certain that the object was not a meteor or other natural phenomenon. . . .<br /><br />Switchboards Swamped<br /><br />Switchboards at the Pima county sheriff's office and Tucson police station were jammed with inquiries. Hundreds saw the object. Tom Bailey, 1411 E. 10th Street, thought it was a large airplane on fire. [A later check showed no planes missing.] He said it wavered from left to right as it passed over the mountains. Bailey also noticed that the craft appeared to slow perceptibly over Tucson. He said the smoke apparently came out in a thin, almost invisible stream, gaining substance within a few seconds.<br /><br />This incident had an odd sequel the following day. Its significance was not lost on the Daily Citizen. It ran another front-page story, headlined:<br /><br />WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONLY VAPOR TRAIL?<br /><br />As though to prove itself blameless for tilting hundreds of Tucson heads skyward, the U.S. Air Force yesterday afternoon spent hours etching vapor trails through the skies over the city.<br /><br />The demonstration proved conclusively to the satisfaction of most that the strange path of dark smoke blazed across the evening sky at dusk Wednesday was no vapor trail and did not emanate from any conventional airplane.<br /><br />The Wednesday night spectacle was entirely dissimilar. Then, heavy smoke boiled and swirled in a broad, dark ribbon fanning out at least a mile in width and stretching across the sky in a straight line. Since there was no proof as to what caused the strange predark manifestation, and because even expert witnesses were unable to explain the appearance, the matter remains a subject for interesting speculation.<br /><br />There is strong evidence that this story was deliberately kept off the press wires. The Associated Press and other wire services in Washington had no report. Requests for details by Frank Edwards, Mutual newscaster, and other<br /><br />{p. 12}<br /><br />radio commentators ran into a blank wall. At the Pentagon I was told that the Air Force had no knowledge of the sighting or the vapor-trail maneuvers.<br /><br />On February 22 two similar glowing objects were seen above Boca Chica Naval Air Station at Key West. A plane sent tip to investigate was hopelessly outdistanced; it was obvious the things were at a great height. Back at the station, radarmen tracked the objects as they hovered for a moment above Key West. They were found to be at least fifty miles above the earth. After a few seconds, they accelerated at high speed and streaked out of sight.<br /><br />On the following day Commander Augusto Orrego, a Chilean naval officer, reported that saucers had flown above his antarctic base.<br /><br />"During the bright antarctic night," be said, "we saw flying saucers, one above the other, turning at tremendous speeds. We have photographs to prove what we saw."<br /><br />Early in March, Ken Purdy phoned the latest development in the investigation. He had just received a tip predicting a flurry of saucer publicity during March. It had come from an important source in Washington.<br /><br />"You know what it probably means," he said. "The same thing we talked about last month. But why were we tipped off in advance?"<br /><br />"It's one more piece in the pattern," I said. "If the tip's on the level, then they're stepping up the program."<br /><br />Within three days, reports began to pour in--from Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Turkey, and other parts of the world. Then on March 9 a gleaming metallic disk was sighted over Dayton, Ohio. Observers at Vandalia Airport phoned Wright-Patterson Field. Scores of Air Force pilots and groundmen watched the disk, as fighters raced up in pursuit. The mysterious object streaked vertically skyward, hovered for a while miles above the earth, and then disappeared. A secret report was rushed to the Civil Aeronautics Authority in Washington, then turned over to Air Force Intelligence.<br /><br />Soon after this Dr. Craig Hunter, director of a medical supply firm, reported a huge elliptical saucer flying at a low altitude in Pennsylvania. He described it as metallic, with a slotted outer rim and a rotating ring just inside. {p. 13} On top of this sighting, thousands of people at Farmington, New Mexico, watched a large formation of disks pass high above the city.<br /><br />Throughout all these reports, the Air Force refused to admit the existence of flying saucers. On March 18 it flatly denied they were Air Force secret missiles or space-exploration devices.<br /><br />Three days later, a Chicago and Southern airliner crew saw a fast-flying disk near Stuttgart, Arkansas. The circular craft, blinking a strange blue-white light, pulled up in an arc at terrific speed. The two pilots said they glimpsed lighted ports on the lower side as the saucer zoomed above them. The lights had a soft fluorescence, unlike anything they had seen.<br /><br />There was one peculiar angle in the Arkansas incident. There was no apparent attempt to muzzle the two pilots, as in earlier airline cases. Instead, a United Press interview was quickly arranged, for nation-wide publication. In this wire story Captain Jack Adams and First Officer G. W. Anderson made two statements:<br /><br />"We firmly believe that the flying saucer we saw over Arkansas was a secret experimental type aircraft--not a visitor from outer space. . . .<br /><br />"We know the Air Force has denied there is anything to this flying-saucer business, but we're both experienced pilots and we're not easily fooled."<br /><br />The day after this story appeared, I was discussing it with an airline official in Washington.<br /><br />"That's an odd thing," he said. "The Air Force could have persuaded those pilots--or the line president--to hush the thing up. It looks as if they wanted that story broadcast."<br /><br />"You mean the whole thing was planted?"<br /><br />"I won't say that, though it could have been. Probably they did see something. But they might have been told what to say about it."<br /><br />"Any idea why?"<br /><br />He looked at me sharply. "You and Purdy probably know the answer. At a guess, I'd say it might have been planned to offset that Navy commander's report--the one on the White Sands sightings."<br /><br />{p. 14}<br /><br />The White Sands case had puzzled many skeptics, because the Pentagon had cleared the published report. The author, Commander R. B. McLaughlin, was a regular Navy officer. As a Navy rocket expert, he had been stationed at the White Sands Rocket Proving Ground in New Mexico. In his published article he described three disk sightings at White Sands.<br /><br />One of the disks, a huge elliptical craft, was tracked by scientists with precision instruments at five miles per second. That's 18,000 miles per hour. It was found to be flying fifty-six miles above the earth. Two other disks, smaller types, were watched from five observation posts on hills at the proving ground. Circling at incredible speed, the two disks paced an Army high-altitude rocket that had just been launched, then speeded up and swiftly outclimbed the projectile.<br /><br />Commander McLaughlin's report, giving dates and factual details, was cleared by the Department of Defense. So was a later nation-wide broadcast.<br /><br />Then the Air Force made its routine denial.<br /><br />Why was McLaughlin, a regular Navy officer subject to security screening, permitted to give out this story? Was it an incredible slip-up? Or was it part of some carefully thought-out plan? I believe it was part of an elaborate program to prepare the American people for a dramatic disclosure.<br /><br />For almost a year I have watched the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of those who guide this program. In the following chapters I have tried to show the strange developments in our search for the answer; the carefully misleading tips, the blind alleys we entered, the unexpected assistance, the confidential leads, and the stunning contradictions.<br /><br />It has been a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Only by seeing all parts of this intricate picture can you begin to glimpse the reasons for this stubbornly hidden secret.<br /><br />The official explanation may be imminent. When it is finally revealed, I believe the elaborate preparation--even the wide deceit involved--will be fully justified in the minds of the American people.<br /><br />{p. 15}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER II</span><br /><br />IT HAS BEEN over two years since the puzzling death of Captain Thomas Mantell.<br /><br />Mantell died mysteriously in the skies south of Fort Knox. But before his radio went silent, he sent a strange message to Godman Air Force Base. The men who heard it will never forget it.<br /><br />It was January 7, 1948.<br /><br />Crowded into the Godman Field Tower, a group of Air Force officers stared up at the afternoon sky. For just an instant, something gleamed through the broken clouds south of the base.<br /><br />High above the field, three P-51 fighters climbed with swift urgency. Heading south, they quickly vanished.<br /><br />The clock in the tower read 2:45.<br /><br />Colonel Guy Hix, the C.O., slowly put down his binoculars. If the thing was still there, the clouds now hid it. All they could do was wait.<br /><br />The first alarm had come from Fort Knox, when Army M.P.'s had relayed a state police warning. A huge gleaming object had been seen in the sky, moving toward Godman Field. Hundreds of startled people had seen it at Madisonville, ninety miles away.<br /><br />Thirty minutes later, it had zoomed up over the base.<br /><br />Colonel Hix glanced around at the rest of the men in the tower. They all had a dazed look. Every man there had seen the thing, as it barreled south of the field. Even through the thin clouds, its intermittent red glow had hinted at some mysterious source of power. Something outside their understanding.<br /><br />It was Woods, the exec, who had estimated its size. Hix shook his head. That was unbelievable. But something had hung over Godman Field for almost an hour. The C.O. turned quickly as the loud-speaker, tuned to the P-51's, suddenly came to life.<br /><br />"Captain Mantell to Godman . . . Tower Mantell to Godman Tower . . ."<br /><br />{p. 16}<br /><br />The flight leader's voice had a strained tone.<br /><br />"I've sighted the thing!" he said. "It looks metallic--and it's tremendous in size!"<br /><br />The C.O. and Woods stared at each other. No one spoke.<br /><br />"The thing's starting to climb," Mantell said swiftly. "It's at twelve o'clock high, making half my speed. I'll try to close in."<br /><br />In five minutes, Mantell reported again. The strange metallic object had speeded up, was now making 360 or more.<br /><br />At 3:08, Mantell's wingman called in. Both he and the other pilot had seen the weird object. But Mantell had outclimbed them and was lost in the clouds.<br /><br />Seven minutes dragged by. The men in the tower sweated out the silence. Then, at 3:15, Mantell made a hasty contact.<br /><br />"It's still above me, making my speed or better. I'm going up to twenty thousand feet. If I'm no closer, I'll abandon chase."<br /><br />It was his last report.<br /><br />Minutes later, his fighter disintegrated with terrific force. The falling wreckage was scattered for thousands of feet.<br /><br />When Mantell failed to answer the tower, one of his pilots began a search. Climbing to 33,000 feet, he flew a hundred miles to the south.<br /><br />But the thing that lured Mantell to his death had vanished from the sky.<br /><br />Ten days after Mantell was killed, I learned of a curious sequel to the Godman affair.<br /><br />An A.P. account in the New York Times had caught my attention. The story, released at Fort Knox, admitted Mantell had died while chasing a flying saucer. Colonel Hix was quoted as having watched the object, which was still unidentified. But there was no mention of Mantell's radio messages--no hint of the thing's tremendous size.<br /><br />Though I knew the lid was probably on, I went to the Pentagon. When the scare had first broken, in the summer of '47, I had talked with Captain Tom Brown, who was handling saucer inquiries. But by now Brown had been<br /><br />{p. 17}<br /><br />shifted, and no one in the Press Branch would admit knowing the details of the Mantell saucer chase.<br /><br />"We just don't know the answer," a security officer told me.<br /><br />"There's a rumor," I said, "it's a secret Air Force missile that sometimes goes out of control."<br /><br />"Good God, man!" he exploded. "If it was, do you think we'd be ordering pilots to chase the damned things?"<br /><br />"No--and I didn't say I believed it." I waited until he cooled down. "This order you mentioned--is it for all Air Force pilots, or special fighter units?"<br /><br />"I didn't say it was a special order," he answered quickly. "All pilots have routine instructions to report unusual items."<br /><br />"They had fighters alerted on the Coast, when the scare first broke," I reminded him. "Are those orders still in force?"<br /><br />He shook his head. "No, not that I know of." After a moment he added, "All I can tell you is that the Air Force is still investigating. We honestly don't know the answer."<br /><br />As I went out the Mall entrance, I ran into Jack Daly, one of Washington's veteran newsmen. Before the war, Jack and I had done magazine pieces together, usually on Axis espionage and communist activity. I told him I was trying to find the answer to Mantell's death.<br /><br />"You heard anything?" I asked him.<br /><br />"Only what was in the A.P. story," said Jack. "But an I.N.S. man told me they had a saucer story from Columbus, Ohio--and it might have been the same one they saw at Fort Knox."<br /><br />"I missed that. What was it?"<br /><br />"They sighted the thing at the Air Force field outside of Columbus. It was around sundown, about two hours after that pilot was killed in Kentucky."<br /><br />"Anybody chase it?" I asked.<br /><br />"No. They didn't have time to take off, I guess. This I.N.S. guy said it was going like hell. Fast as a jet, anyway."<br /><br />"Did he say what it looked like?"<br /><br />{p. 18}<br /><br />"The Air Force boys said it was as big as a C-47," said Jack. "Maybe bigger. It had a reddish-orange exhaust streaming out behind. They could see it for miles."<br /><br />"If you hear any more, let me know," I said. Jack promised he would.<br /><br />"What do you think they are?" he asked me.<br /><br />"It's got me stumped. Russia wouldn't be testing missiles over here. Anyway, I can't believe they've got anything like that. And I can't see the Air Force letting pilots get killed to hide something we've got."<br /><br />One week later, I heard that a top-secret unit had been set up at Wright Field to investigate all saucer reports. When I called the Pentagon, they admitted this much, and that was all.<br /><br />In the next few months, other flying-disk stories hit the front pages. Two Eastern Airline pilots reported a double-decked mystery ship sighted near Montgomery, Alabama. I learned of two other sightings, one over the Pacific Ocean and one in California. The second one, seen through field glasses, was described as rocket-shaped, as large as a B-29. There were also rumors of disks being tracked by radar, but it was almost a year before I confirmed these reports.<br /><br />When Purdy wired me, early in May of '49, I had half forgotten the disks. It had been months since any important sightings had been reported. But his message quickly revived my curiosity. If he thought the subject was hot, I knew he must have reasons. When I walked into his office at 67 West 44th, Purdy stubbed out his cigarette and shook hands. He looked at me through his glasses for a moment. Then he said abruptly:<br /><br />"You know anything about the disks?"<br /><br />"If you mean what they are--no."<br /><br />He motioned for me to sit down. Then he swiveled his chair around, his shoulders hunched forward, and frowned out the window.<br /><br />"Have you seen the Post this week?"<br /><br />I told him no.<br /><br />"There's something damned queer going on. For fifteen months, Project 'Saucer' is buttoned up tight. Top secret. Then suddenly, Forrestal gets the Saturday Evening Post<br /><br />{p. 19}<br /><br />to run two articles, brushing the whole thing off. The first piece hits the stands--and then what happens?"<br /><br />Purdy swung around, jabbed his finger at a document on. his desk.<br /><br />"That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project 'Saucer' report. It admits they haven't identified the disks in any important cases. They say it's still serious enough--wait a minute--"he thumbed through the stapled papers--" 'to require constant vigilance by Project "Saucer" personnel and the civilian population.'"<br /><br />"You'd think the Post would make a public kick," I said.<br /><br />"I don't mean it's an out-and-out denial," said Purdy. "It doesn't mention the Post--just contradicts it. In fact, the report contradicts itself. It looks as if they're trying to warn people and yet they're scared to say too much."<br /><br />I looked at the title on the report: "A Digest of Preliminary Studies by the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on 'Flying Saucers.'"<br /><br />"Have the papers caught it yet?" I asked Purdy.<br /><br />"You mean its contradicting the Post?" He shook his head. "No, the Pentagon press release didn't get much space. How many editors would wade through a six-thousand-word government report? Even if they did, they'd have to compare it, item for item, with the Post piece."<br /><br />"Who wrote the Post story?"<br /><br />Purdy lit a cigarette and frowned out again at the skyscrapers.<br /><br />"Sidney Shallett--and he's careful. He had Forrestal's backing. The Air Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave him inside stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.'d his script, which practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it."<br /><br />"Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to brush it off," I suggested.<br /><br />"Why the quick change?" demanded Purdy. "Let's say they sold the Post on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. It's possible, though I don't believe it. Or they could simply have fed them a fake story. Either<br /><br />{p. 20}<br /><br />Way, why did they rush this contradiction the minute the Post hit the stands?"<br /><br />"Something serious happened," I said, "after the Post went to press."<br /><br />"Yes, but what?" Purdy said impatiently. "That's what we've got to find out."<br /><br />"Does Shallett's first piece mention Mantell's death?"<br /><br />"Explains it perfectly. You know what Mantell was chasing? The planet Venus!"<br /><br />"That's the Post's answer?" I said, incredulously.<br /><br />"It's what the Air Force contract astronomer told Shallett. I've checked with two astronomers here. They say that even when Venus is at full magnitude you can barely see it in the daytime even when you're looking for it. It was only half magnitude that day, so it was practically invisible."<br /><br />"How'd the Air Force expect anybody to believe that answer?" I said.<br /><br />Purdy shrugged. "They deny it was Venus in this report. But that's what they told Shallett--that all those Air Force officers, the pilots, the Kentucky state police, and several hundred people at Madisonville mistook Venus for a metallic disk several hundred feet in diameter."<br /><br />"It's a wonder Shallett believed it."<br /><br />"I don't think he did. He says if it wasn't Venus, it must have been a balloon."<br /><br />"What's the Air Force answer?" I asked Purdy.<br /><br />"Look in the report. They say whatever Mantell chased--they call it a 'mysterious object'--is still unidentified."<br /><br />I glanced through the case report, on page five. It quoted Mantell's radio report that the thing was metallic and tremendous in size. Linked with the death of Mantell was the Lockbourne, Ohio, report, which tied in with what Jack Daly had told me, over a year before. I read the report:<br /><br />"On the same day, about two hours later, a sky phenomenon was observed by several watchers over Lockbourne Air Force Base, Columbus, Ohio. It was described as 'round or oval, larger than a C-47, and traveling in level<br /><br />{p. 21}<br /><br />flight faster than 500 miles per hour.' The object was followed from the Lockbourne observation tower for more than 20 minutes. Observers said it glowed from white to amber, leaving an amber exhaust trail five times its own length. It made motions like an elevator and at one time appeared to touch the ground. No sound was heard. Finally, the object faded and lowered toward the horizon."<br /><br />Purdy buzzed for his secretary, and she brought me a copy of the first Post article.<br /><br />"You can get a copy of this Air Force report in Washington," Purdy told me. "This is the only one I have. But you'll find the same answer for most of the important cases--the sightings at Muroc Air Base, the airline pilots' reports, the disks Kenneth Arnold saw--they're all unidentified."<br /><br />"I remember the Arnold case. That was the first sighting."<br /><br />"You've got contacts in Washington," Purdy went on. "Start at the Pentagon first. They know we're working on it. Sam Boal, the first man on this job, was down there for a day or two."<br /><br />"What did he find out?"<br /><br />"Symington told him the saucers were bunk. Secretary Johnson admitted they had some pictures--we'd heard about a secret photograph taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland. The tip said this saucer scared hell out of some pilots and Air Force men up there.<br /><br />"A major took Boal to some Air Force colonel and Boal asked to see the pictures. The colonel said they didn't have any. He turned red when the major said Symington had told Boal about the pictures."<br /><br />"Did Boal get to see them?" I said.<br /><br />"No," grunted Purdy, "and I'll bet twenty bucks you won't, either. But try, anyway. And check on a rumor that they've tracked some disks with radar. One case was supposed to be at an Air Force base in Japan."<br /><br />As I was leaving, Purdy gave me a summary of sighting reports.<br /><br />"Some of these were published, some we dug up ourselves," he said. "We got some confidential stuff from<br /><br />{p. 22}<br /><br />airline pilots. It's pretty obvious the Air Force has tried to keep them quiet."<br /><br />"All right," I said. "I'll get started. Maybe things aren't sewed up so tightly, now this report is out."<br /><br />"We've found out some things about Project 'Saucer,' said Purdy. "Whether it's a cover-up or a real investigation, there's a lot of hush-hush business to it. They've got astronomers and astrophysicists working for them, also rocket expects, technical analysts, and Air Force Special Intelligence. We've been told they can call on any government agency for help--and I know they're using the F.B.I."<br /><br />It was building up bigger than I had thought.<br /><br />"If national security is involved," I told Purdy, "they can shut us up in a hurry."<br /><br />"If they tell me so, O.K.," said Purdy. He added grimly, "But I think they're making a bad mistake. They probably think they're doing what's right. But the truth might come out the wrong way."<br /><br />"It is possible," I thought, "that the saucers belong to Russia."<br /><br />"If it turns out to be a Soviet missile, count me out," I said. "We'd have the Pentagon and the F.B.I. on our necks."<br /><br />"All right, if that's the answer." He chuckled. "But you may be in for a jolt."<br /><br />{p. 23}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER III</span><br /><br />JUST THE idea of gigantic flying disks was incredible enough. It was almost as hard to believe that such missiles could have been developed without something leaking out. Yet we had produced the A-bomb in comparative secrecy, and I knew we were working on long-range guided missiles. There was already a plan for a three-thousand-mile test range. Our supersonic planes had hit around two thousand miles an hour. Our two-stage rockets had gone over two hundred miles high, according to reports. If an atomic engine had been secretly developed, it could explain the speed and range of the saucers.<br /><br />But I kept coming back to Mantell's death and the Air Force orders for pilots to chase the saucers. If the disks were American missiles, that didn't jibe.<br /><br />When I reached the lobby, I found it was ten after four. I caught a taxi and made the Congressional Limited with just one minute to spare. In the club car, I settled down to look at Purdy's summary.<br /><br />Skipping through the pages, I saw several familiar cases. Here and there, Purdy had scrawled brief comments or suggestions. Beside the Eastern Airline report of a double-decked saucer, he had written:<br /><br />"Check rumor same type seen over Holland about this date. Also, similar Philippine Islands report--date unknown."<br /><br />I went back to the beginning. The first case listed was that of Kenneth Arnold, a Boise businessman, who had set off the saucer scare. Arnold was flying his private plane from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington, when he saw a bright flash on his wing.<br /><br />Looking toward Mount Rainier, he saw nine gleaming disks outlined against the snow, each one about the size of a C-54.<br /><br />"They flew close to the mountaintops, in a diagonal chainlike line," he said later. "It was as if they were linked together."<br /><br />The disks appeared to be twenty to twenty-five miles<br /><br />{p. 24}<br /><br />away, he said, and moving at fantastic speed. Arnold's estimate was twelve hundred miles an hour.<br /><br />"I watched them about three minutes," he said. "They were swerving in and out around the high mountain peaks. They were flat, like a pie pan, and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror. I never saw anything so fast."<br /><br />The date was June 24, 1947.<br /><br />On this same day there was another saucer report. which received very little notice. A Portland prospector named Fred Johnson, who was working up in the Cascade Mountains, spotted five or six disks banking in the sun. He watched them through his telescope several seconds. then he suddenly noticed that the compass hand on his special watch was weaving wildly from side to side. Johnson insisted he had not heard of the Arnold report, which was not broadcast until early evening.<br /><br />Kenneth Arnold's story was generally received with amusement. Most Americans were unaware that the Pentagon had been receiving disk reports as early as January. The news and radio comments on Arnold's report brought several other incidents to light, which observers had kept to themselves for fear of ridicule.<br /><br />At Oklahoma City, a private pilot told Air Force investigators he had seen a huge round object in the sky during the latter part of May. It was flying three times faster than a jet, he said, and without any sound. Citizens of Weiser, Idaho, described two strange fast-moving objects they had seen on June 12. The saucers were heading southeast, now and then dropping to a lower altitude, then swiftly climbing again. Several mysterious objects were reported flying at great speed near Spokane, just three days before Arnold's experience. And four days after his encounter, an Air Force pilot flying near Lake Meade, Nevada, was startled to see half a dozen saucers flash by his plane.<br /><br />Even at this early point in the scare, official reports were contradicting each other. just after Arnold's story broke, the Air Force admitted it was checking on the mystery disks. On July 4 the Air Force stated that no further investigation was needed; it was all<br /><br />{p. 25}<br /><br />hallucination. That same day, Wright Field told the Associated Press that the Air Materiel Command was trying to find the answer.<br /><br />The Fourth of July was a red-letter day in the flying-saucer mystery. At Portland, Oregon, hundreds of citizens, including former Air Force pilots, police, harbor pilots, and deputy sheriffs, saw dozens of gleaming disks flying at high speed. The things; appeared to be at least forty thousand feet in the air--perhaps much higher.<br /><br />That same day, disks were sighted at Seattle, Vancouver, and other northwest cities. The rapidly growing reports were met with mixed ridicule and alarm. One of the skeptical group was Captain E. J. Smith, of United Airlines.<br /><br />"I'll believe them when I see them," he told airline employees, before taking off from Boise the afternoon of the Fourth.<br /><br />Just about sunset, his airliner was flying over Emmett, Idaho, when Captain Smith and his copilot, Ralph Stevens, saw five queer objects in the sky ahead. Smith rang for the stewardess, Marty Morrow, and the three of them watched the saucers for several minutes. Then four more of the disks came into sight. Though it was impossible to tell their size, because their altitude was unknown, the crew was sure they were bigger than the plane they were in. After about ten minutes the disks disappeared.<br /><br />The Air Force quickly denied having anything resembling the! objects Captain Smith described.<br /><br />"We have no experimental craft of that nature in Idaho--or anywhere else," an official said in Washington. "We're completely mystified."<br /><br />The Navy said it had made an investigation, and had no answers. There had been rumors that the disks were "souped-up" versions of the Navy's "Flying Flapjack," a twin-engined circular craft known technically as the XF-5-U-1. But the Navy insisted that only one model had been built, and that it was now out of service.<br /><br />In Chicago, two astronomers spiked guesses that the disks might be meteors. Dr. Girard Kieuper, director of the University of Chicago observatory, said flatly that they couldn't be meteors.<br /><br />{p. 26}<br /><br />"They're probably man-made," he told the A.P. Dr. Oliver Lee, director of Northwestern's observatory, agreed with Kieuper.<br /><br />"The Army, Navy, and Air Force are working secretly on all sorts of things," he said. "Remember the A-bomb secrecy--and the radar signals to the moon."<br /><br />As I went through Purdy's summary, I recalled my own reaction after the United Airlines report. After seeing the Pentagon comment, I had called up Captain Tom Brown, at Air Force Public Relations.<br /><br />"Are you really taking this seriously?" I asked him.<br /><br />"Well, we can't just ignore it," he said. "There are too many reliable pilots telling the same story--flat, round objects able to outmaneuver ordinary planes, and faster than anything we have. Too many stories tally."<br /><br />I told him I'd heard that the Civil Air Patrol in Wisconsin and other states was starting a sky search.<br /><br />"We've got a jet at Muroc, and six fighters standing by at Portland right now," Brown said.<br /><br />"Armed?"<br /><br />"I've no report on that. But I know some of them carry photographic equipment."<br /><br />Two days later an airline pilot from the Coast told me that some fighters had been armed and the pilots ordered to bring down the disks if humanly possible. That same day, Wright Field admitted it was checking stories of disk-shaped missiles seen recently in the Pacific northwest and in Texas.<br /><br />Following this was an A.P. story, dated July 7, quoting an unnamed Air Force official in Washington:<br /><br />"The flying saucers may be one of three things:<br /><br />"1. Solar reflection on low-hanging clouds. [A Washington scientist, asked for comment, said this was hardly possible.]<br /><br />"2. Small meteors which break up, their crystals catching the rays of the sun. But it would seem that they would have been spotted falling and fragments would have been found.<br /><br />"3. Icing conditions could have formed large hailstones, and they might have flattened out and glided a bit, giving<br /><br />{p. 27}<br /><br />the impression of horizontal movement even though falling vertically."<br /><br />By this time everyone was getting into the act.<br /><br />"The disks are caused by the transmutation of atomic energy," said an anonymous scientist, supposed to be on the staff of California Tech. The college quickly denied it.<br /><br />Dr. Vannevar Bush, world-famous scientist, and Dr. Merle Tuve, inventor of the proximity fuse, both declared they would know of any secret American missiles--and didn't.<br /><br />At Syracuse, New York, Dr. Harry Steckel, Veterans Administration psychiatrist, scoffed at the suggestion of mass hysteria. "Too many sane people are seeing the things. The government is probably conducting some revolutionary experiments."<br /><br />On July 8 more disks were reported. Out at Muroc Air Force Base, where top-secret planes and devices are tested, six fast-moving silvery-white saucers were seen by pilots and ground officers.<br /><br />That afternoon the Air Force revealed it was working on a case involving a Navy rocket expert named C. T. Zohm. While on a secret Navy mission to New Mexico, in connection with rocket tests, Zohm had seen a bright silvery disk flying above the desert. He was crossing the desert with three other scientists when he saw the strange object flashing northward at an altitude of about ten thousand feet.<br /><br />"I'm sure it was not a meteor," said Zohm. "It could have been a guided missile, but I never heard of anything like it."<br /><br />By this time, saucer reports had come in from almost forty states. Alarm was increasing, and there were demands that radar be used to track the disks. The Air Force replied that there was not enough radar equipment to blanket the nation, but that its pilots were on the lookout for the saucers.<br /><br />One report mentioned a curious report from Twin Falls, Idaho. The disk sighted there was said to have flown so low that the treetops whirled as if in a violent storm. Someone had phoned Purdy about a disk tracked<br /><br />{p. 28}<br /><br />by weather-balloon observers at Richmond, Virginia. There was another note on a sighting at Hickam Field, Honolulu, and two reports of unidentified objects seen near Anchorage, Alaska.<br /><br />A typed list of world-wide sightings had been made up by the staff at True. It contained many cases that were new to me, reports from Paraguay, Belgium, Turkey, Holland, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. At the bottom of this memo Purdy had written: "Keep checking on rumor that the Soviet has a Project Saucer, too. Could be planted."<br /><br />From the mass of reports, John DuBarry, the aviation editor of True, had methodically worked out an average picture of the disks: "The general report is that they are round or oval (this could be an elliptical object seen end-on), metallic looking, very bright--either shining white or silvery colored. They can move at extremely high speed, hover, accelerate rapidly, and outmaneuver ordinary aircraft.<br /><br />"The lights are usually seen singly--very few formations reported. They seem to have the same speed, acceleration, and ability to maneuver. In several cases, they have been able to evade Air Force planes in night encounters."<br /><br />Going over the cases, I realized that Purdy and his staff had dug up at least fifty reports that had not appeared in the papers. (A few of these proved incorrect, but a check with the Air Force case reports released on December 30, 1949, showed that True's files contained all the important items.) These cases included sightings at eleven Air Force bases and fourteen American airports, reports from ships at sea, and a score of encounters by airline and private pilots.<br /><br />Witnesses included Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force officers; state and city police; F.B.I. agents; weather observers, shipmasters, astronomers, and thousands of good solid American citizens. I learned later that many witnesses had been investigated by the F.B.I. to weed out crackpot reports.<br /><br />I ended up badly puzzled. The evidence was more impressive than I had suspected. It was plain that many<br /><br />{p. 29}<br /><br />reports had been entirely suppressed, or at least kept out of the papers. There was something ominous about it. No matter what the answer, it was serious enough to be kept carefully hidden.<br /><br />If it were a Soviet missile, I thought, God help us. They'd scooped up a lot of Nazi scientists and war secrets. And the Germans had been far ahead of us on guided missiles. But why would they give us a two-year warning, testing the things openly over America? It didn't make sense.<br /><br />{p. 30}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER IV</span><br /><br />I WENT to the Pentagon the next morning. I didn't expect to learn much, but I wanted to make sure we weren't tangling with security.<br /><br />I'd worked with Al Scholin and Orville Splitt, in the magazine section of Public Relations, and I thought they'd tell me as much as anyone. When I walked in, I sprang it on them cold.<br /><br />"What's the chance of seeing your Project 'Saucer' files?"<br /><br />Al Scholin took it more or less dead-pan. Splitt looked at me a moment and then grinned.<br /><br />"Don't tell me you believe the things are real?"<br /><br />"Maybe," I said. "How about clearing me with Project 'Saucer'?"<br /><br />Al shook his head. "It's still classified secret."<br /><br />"'Look, Don," said Splitt, "why do you want to fool with that saucer business? There's nothing to it."<br /><br />'"That's a big change from what the Air Force was saying; in 1947," I told him.<br /><br />He shrugged that off. "The Air Force has spent two years checking into it. Everybody from Symington down will tell you the saucers are bunk."<br /><br />"That's not what Project 'Saucer' says in that April report."<br /><br />"That report was made up a long time ago," said Splitt. "They just got around to releasing it."<br /><br />"Then they've got all the answers now?"<br /><br />"They know there's nothing to it," Splitt repeated.<br /><br />"In that case," I said, "Project 'Saucer' shouldn't object to my seeing their files and pictures."<br /><br />"What pictures?"<br /><br />"That one taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland, for a starter."<br /><br />"Oh, that thing," said Splitt. "It wasn't anything--just a shadow on a cloud. Somebody's been kidding you."<br /><br />"If it's just a cloud shadow, why can't I see it?"<br /><br />Splitt was getting a little nettled.<br /><br />{p. 31}<br /><br />"Look, you know how long it takes to declassify stuff. They just haven't got around to it. Take my word for it, the flying saucers are bunk. I went around with Sid Shallett on some of his interviews. What he's got in the Post is the absolute gospel."<br /><br />"It's funny about that April twenty-seventh report," I said, "the way it contradicts the Post."<br /><br />"I tell you that was an old report--"<br /><br />"I wouldn't say that," Al Scholin put in. "The Air Force doesn't claim it has all the answers. But they've proved a lot of the reports were hoaxes or mistakes."<br /><br />"Just the same," I said, "the Air Force is on record, as of April twenty-seventh, that it's serious enough for everybody to be vigilant. And they admit most of the things, in the important cases, are still unidentified. Including the saucer Mantell was chasing."<br /><br />"That business at Godman Field was some kind of hallucination," insisted Splitt.<br /><br />"I suppose all those pilots and Godman Field officers were hypnotized? Not to mention several thousand people at Madisonville and Fort Knox?"<br /><br />"Take it easy, you guys," said Al Scholin. "You've both got a right to your opinions."<br /><br />"Oh, sure," said Splitt. He looked at me, with his grin back. "I don't care if you think they're men from Mars."<br /><br />"Let's not go off the deep end," I said. "Tell me this: Did Shallett get to see any secret files at Wright Field?"<br /><br />"Absolutely not."<br /><br />"Then he had to take the Air Force word for everything?"<br /><br />"Not entirely. We set up some interviews for him."<br /><br />"One more thing--and don't get mad. If it's all bunk, why haven't they closed Project 'Saucer'?"<br /><br />"How do I know? Probably no one wants to take the responsibility."<br /><br />"Then somebody high up must not think it's bunk," I said.<br /><br />Splitt laughed. "Have it your own way."<br /><br />Before I left, I told them I was working with True.<br /><br />"I want to be on record," I said, "as having told you<br /><br />{p. 32}<br /><br />this. If there's any security involved--if you tell me it's something you're working on--naturally I'll lay off."<br /><br />Al Scholin said emphatically, "It's not an Air Force device, if that's what you mean."<br /><br />"Some people think it's Russian."<br /><br />"If it is, I don't know it," said Al, "and neither does the Air Force."<br /><br />After I left the magazine section, I tried several officers I knew. Two of them agreed with Splitt. The third didn't.<br /><br />"I've been told it's all bunk," he said, "but you get the feeling they've trying to convince themselves. They act like people near a haunted house. They'll swear it isn't haunted--but they won't go near it."<br /><br />Later, I asked a security major for a copy of the Project "Saucer" report.<br /><br />"We're out of copies right now," he said. "I'll send you one next week."<br /><br />I asked him bluntly what he thought the saucers were.<br /><br />"I doubt if anybody has the full answer," he said seriously. "There's been some hysteria--also a few mistakes. But many reports have been made by reliable pilots, including our own. You can't laugh those off."<br /><br />As I drove home, I thought over what I'd heard. All I had learned was that the Air Force seemed divided. But that could be a smoke screen. In less than twenty-four hours, I received my first suspicious tip. It was about ten A.M. when my phone rang.<br /><br />"Mr. Keyhoe? This is John Steele," said the voice at the other end. (Because of the peculiar role he played, then and later, I have not used his real name.) "I'm a former Air Force Intelligence officer. I was in the European theater during the war."<br /><br />I waited. He hesitated a moment.<br /><br />"I heard you're working on the flying-saucer problem," he said quickly. "I may have some information that would interest you."<br /><br />"Mind telling me who told you I was on it?" I asked.<br /><br />"No one, directly. I just happened to hear it mentioned at the Press Club. Frankly, I've been curious about the flying saucers ever since '45."<br /><br />That startled me, but I didn't tell him so.<br /><br />{p. 53}<br /><br />"Do you have any idea what they are?" Mr. Steele said.<br /><br />"No, I've just begun checking. But I'd be glad to hear what you've got."<br /><br />"I may be way off," said Steele. "But I've always wondered about the 'foo fighters' our pilots saw over Europe near the end of the war."<br /><br />I thought for a second. "Wasn't that some kind of antiaircraft missile fired from the ground?"<br /><br />"No. Intelligence never did get any real answer, so far as I know. They were some kind of circular gadgets, and they actually chased our planes a number of times. We thought they were something the Nazis had invented--and I still think so."<br /><br />"Then who's launching them now?"<br /><br />"Well, it's obviously either Russia or us. If it is the Soviet--well, that's what's worried me. I don't think it should be treated like a joke, the way some people in the Pentagon take it."<br /><br />I stared at the phone, trying to figure him out.<br /><br />"I'd like to talk it over with you," I said. "Maybe you've got something."<br /><br />"I've given you about all I know," Steele answered. "There was an Intelligence report you might try to see--the Eighth Air Force files should have it."<br /><br />"Wait a minute," I said. "Give me your number, in case I find anything."<br /><br />He gave it to me without apparent hesitation. I thanked him and hung up, still wondering.<br /><br />If it was an attempt at a plant, it was certainly crude. The mention of his former Air Force connection would be enough to arouse suspicion, unless he counted on his apparent frankness to offset it.<br /><br />And what about the Press Club angle? That would indicate Steele was a newspaperman. Could this be merely an attempt to pump me and get a lead on True's investigation? But that would be just as crude as the other idea. Of course, he might be sincere. But regardless of his motives, it looked bad. Arid who had told him about me?<br /><br />I thought about that for a minute. Then I picked up the phone and dialed Jack Daly's number.<br /><br />{p. 34}<br /><br />"Jack, do you know anyone named John Steele?" I asked him. "I think he's a newspaperman."<br /><br />"Nobody I know," said Jack. "Why, what's up?"<br /><br />I explained, and added, "I thought maybe you knew him, and he'd heard about it from you."<br /><br />"Hell, no," said Jack. "You ought to know I wouldn't leak any tip like that."<br /><br />"It wouldn't be a tip--I don't know anything about this deal yet. By the way, when you were on the Star did you handle anything on 'foo fighters'?"<br /><br />"No, that was after I left there. Bill Shippen would have covered that, anyway."<br /><br />I told him I would look it up in the Star's morgue. Jack said he would meet me there at three o'clock; in the meantime he would see what he could find out about Steele.<br /><br />Jack was a little late, and I went over the Star's file on the foo fighters. Most of the facts were covered in a story dated July 6, 1947, which had been inspired by the outbreak of the saucer scare. I copied it for later use:<br /><br />During the latter part of World War Two, fighter pilots in England were convinced that Hitler had a new secret weapon. Yanks dubbed these devices "foo fighters" or "Kraut fireballs."<br /><br />One of the Air Force Intelligence men now assigned to check on the saucer scare was an officer who investigated statements of military airmen that circular foo fighters were seen over Europe and also on the bombing route to Japan.<br /><br />It was reported that Intelligence officers have never obtained satisfactory explanation of reports of flying silver balls and disks over Nazi-occupied Europe in the winter of 1944-45. Later, crews of B-29'S on bombing runs to Japan reported seeing somewhat similar objects.<br /><br />In Europe, some foo fighters danced just off the Allied fighters' wingtips and played tag with them in power dives. Others appeared in precise formations and on one occasion a whole bomber crew<br /><br />{p. 35}<br /><br />saw about 15 following at a distance, their strange glow flashing on and off. One foo fighter chased Lieutenant Meiers of Chicago some 20 miles down the Rhine Valley, at 300 m.p.h., an A.P. war correspondent reported. Intelligence officers believed at that time that the balls might be radar-controlled objects sent up to foul ignition systems or baffle Allied radar networks.<br /><br />There is no explanation of their appearance here, unless the objects could have been imported for secret tests in this country.<br /><br />I read the last paragraph twice. This looked like a strong lead to the answer, in spite of the Air Force denials. There was another, less pleasant possibility. The Russians could have seized the device and developed it secretly, using Nazi scientists to help them. Perhaps the Nazis had been close to an atomic engine, even if they did fail to produce the bomb.<br /><br />Jack Daly came in while I was reading the story again.<br /><br />"I got the dope on Steele," he said. "He does pieces for a small syndicate, and I found out he was in the Air Force. I think he was a captain. People who know him say he's O.K.--a straight shooter."<br /><br />"That still wouldn't keep him from giving me a fake tip, if somebody told him it was the right thing to do."<br /><br />"Maybe not," said Jack, "but why would they want to plant this foo-fighter idea?"<br /><br />I showed him the clipping. He read it over and shook his head.<br /><br />"That's a lot different from disks three hundred feet in diameter."<br /><br />"If we got the principle--or Russia did-building big ones might not be too hard."<br /><br />"I still can't swallow it," said Jack. "These things have been seen all over the world. How could they control them that far away--and be sure they wouldn't crash, where somebody could get a look and dope out the secret?"<br /><br />We argued it back and forth without getting anywhere.<br /><br />{p. 36}<br /><br />"I'd give a lot to know Steele's angle," I said. "If you hear anything more on him, give me a buzz."<br /><br />Jack nodded. "I'll see what I can do. But I can't dig too hard, or he'll hear about it."<br /><br />On the way out, I found a phone booth and called Splitt.<br /><br />"Foo fighters?" he said. "Sure, I remember those stories. You think those are your flying saucers?"<br /><br />I could hear him snicker.<br /><br />"Just checking angles," I said. "Didn't the Eighth Air Force investigate the foo fighters?"<br /><br />"Yes, and they found nothing to back up the pilots' yarns. just war nerves, apparently."<br /><br />"How about a look at the Intelligence report?" I asked.<br /><br />"Wait a minute." Splitt was gone for twice that time, then he carne back. "Sorry, it's classified."<br /><br />"If all this stuff is bunk, why keep the lid on it?" I demanded. I was getting sore again.<br /><br />"Look, Don," said Splitt, "I don't make the rules."<br /><br />"Sure, I know--sorry," I said. I had a notion to ask him if he knew John Steele, but hung up instead. There was no use in banging my head against the Air Force wall.<br /><br />The next day I decided to analyze the Mantell case from beginning to end. It looked like the key to one angle: the question of an Air Force secret missile. Unless there was some slip-up, so that Mantell and his pilots had been ordered to chase the disk by mistake, then it would be cold murder.<br /><br />I couldn't believe any Air Force officer would give such an order, no matter how tremendous the secret to be hidden.<br /><br />But I was going to find out, if possible.<br /><br />{p. 37}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER V</span><br /><br />FOR MORE than two weeks, I checked on the Godman Field tragedy. One fact stood out at the start: The death of Mantell had had a profound effect on many in the Air Force. A dozen times I was told:<br /><br />"I thought the saucers were a joke-until Mantell was killed chasing that thing at Fort Knox."<br /><br />Many ranking officers who had laughed at the saucer scare stopped scoffing. One of these was General Sory Smith, now Deputy Director of Air Force Public Relations. Later in my investigation, General Smith told me:<br /><br />"It was the Mantell case that got me. I knew Tommy Mantell. very well--also Colonel Hix, the C.O. at Godman. I knew they were both intelligent men--not the kind to be imagining things."<br /><br />For fifteen months, the Air Force kept a tight-lipped silence. Meantime, rumors began to spread. One report said that Mantell had been shot, his body riddled with bullets; his P-51, also riddled, had simply disintegrated. Another rumor reported Mantell as having been killed by some mysterious force; this same force had also destroyed his fighter. The Air Force, the rumors said, had covered up the truth by telling Mantell's family he had blacked out from lack of oxygen.<br /><br />Checking the last angle, I found that this was the explanation given to Mantell's mother, just after his death, she was told by Standiford Field officers that he had flown too high in chasing the strange object.<br /><br />Shallet, in the Saturday Evening Post articles, described Project "Saucer's" reconstruction of the case. Mantell was said to have climbed up to 25,000 feet, despite his firm decision to end the chase at 20,000, since he carried no oxygen. Around 25,000 feet, Shallett quoted the Air Force investigators, Mantell must have lost consciousness. After this, his pilotless plane climbed on up to some 30,000 feet, then dived. Between 20,000 and 10,000 feet, Shallett suggested, the P-51 began to disintegrate, obviously from excessive speed. The gleaming object that<br /><br />{p. 38}<br /><br />hypnotized Mantell into this fatal climb was, Shallett said, either the planet Venus or a Navy cosmic-ray research balloon.<br /><br />The Air Force Project "Saucer" report of April 27, 1949, released just after the first Post article, makes these statements:<br /><br />"Five minutes after Mantell disappeared from his formation, the two remaining planes returned to Godman. A few minutes later, one resumed the search, covering territory 100 miles to the south as high as 33,000 feet, but found nothing.<br /><br />"Subsequent investigation revealed that Mantell had probably blacked out at 20,000 feet from lack of oxygen and had died of suffocation before the crash.<br /><br />"The mysterious object which the flyer chased to his death was first identified as the Planet Venus. However, further probing showed the elevation and azimuth readings of Venus and the object at specified time intervals did not coincide.<br /><br />"It is still considered 'Unidentified.'<br /><br />The Venus explanation, even though now denied, puzzled me. It was plain that the Air Force had seriously considered offering it as the answer then abandoned it. Apparently someone had got his signals mixed and let Shallett use the discarded answer. And for some unknown reason, the Air Force had found it imperative to deny the Venus story at once.<br /><br />In these first weeks of checking, I had run onto the Venus explanation in other cases. Several Air Force officers repeated it so quickly that it had the sound of a stock alibi. But in the daytime cases this was almost ridiculous.<br /><br />I knew of a few instances in World War II when bomber crews and antiaircraft gunners had loosed a few bursts at Venus. But this was mostly at night, when the planet was at peak brilliance. And more than one gunner later admitted firing to relieve long hours of boredom. Since enemy planes did not carry lights, there was no authentic case, to my knowledge, where plane or ground gunners actually believed Venus was an enemy aircraft.<br /><br />{p. 39}<br /><br />Checking the astronomer's report, I read over the concluding statement:<br /><br />"It simply could not have been Venus. They must have been desperate even to suggest it in the first place." Months later, in the secret Project "Saucer" report released December 30, 1949, I found official confirmation of this astronomer's opinions. Since it has a peculiar bearing on the Mantell case, I am quoting it now:<br /><br />When Venus is at its greatest brilliance, it is possible to see it during daytime when one knows exactly where to look. But on January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half as bright as its peak brilliance. However, under exceptionally good atmospheric conditions, and with the eye shielded from direct rays of the sun, Venus might be seen as an exceedingly tiny bright point of light. . . . However, the chances of looking at just the right spot are very few.<br /><br />It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic-ray research balloon. If this can be established, it Is to be preferred as an explanation. However, if one accepts the assumption that reports from various other localities refer to the same object, any such device must have been a good many miles high--25 to 50--in order to have been seen clearly, almost simultaneously, from places 175 miles apart.<br /><br />If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and far enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings. It is most unlikely, however, that so many separated persons should at that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems therefore much more probable that more than one object was involved.<br /><br />The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or they might have included Venus and balloons. For reasons given above, the latter explanation seems more likely.<br /><br />{p. 40}<br /><br />Two things stand out in his report:<br /><br />1. The obvious determination to fit some explanation, no matter how farfetched, to the Mantell sighting.<br /><br />2. The impossibility that Venus--a tiny point of light, seen only with difficulty--was the tremendous metallic object described by Mantell and seen by Godman Field officers.<br /><br />With Venus eliminated, I went to work on the balloon theory. Since I had been a balloon pilot before learning to fly planes, this was fairly familiar ground.<br /><br />Shallett's alternate theory that Mantell had chased a Navy research balloon was widely repeated by readers unfamiliar with balloon operation. Few thought to check the speeds, heights, and distances involved.<br /><br />Cosmic-ray research balloons are not powered; they are set free to drift with the wind. This particular Navy type is released at a base near Minneapolis. The gas bag is filled with only a small per cent of its helium capacity before the take-off.<br /><br />In a routine flight, the balloon ascends rapidly to a very high altitude-as high as 100,000 feet. By this time the gas bag has swelled to full size, about l00 feet high and 70 feet in diameter. At a set time, a device releases the case of instruments under the balloon. The instruments descend by parachute, and the balloon, rising quickly, explodes from the sudden expansion.<br /><br />Occasionally a balloon starts leaking, and it then remains relatively low. At first glance, this might seem the answer to the Kentucky sightings. If the balloon were low enough, it would loom up as a large circular object, as seen from directly below. Some witnesses might estimate its diameter as 250 feet or more, instead of its actual 70 feet. But this failure to recognize a balloon would require incredibly poor vision on the part of trained observers--state police, Army M.P.'s, the Godman Field officers, Mantell and his pilots.<br /><br />Captain Mantell was a wartime pilot, with over three thousand hours in the air. He was trained to identify a distant enemy plane in a split second. His vision was perfect, and so was that of his pilots. In broad daylight<br /><br />{p. 41}<br /><br />they could not fail to recognize a balloon during their thirty-minute chase.<br /><br />Colonel Hix and the other Godman officers watched the object with high-powered glasses for long periods. It is incredible that they would not identify it as a balloon.<br /><br />Before its appearance over Godman Field, the leaking balloon would have drifted, at a low altitude, over several hundred miles. (A leak large enough to bring it down from high altitude would have caused it to land and be found.) Drifting at a low altitude, it would have been seen by several hundred thousand people, at the very least. Many would have reported it as a balloon. But even if this angle is ignored it still could not possibly have been a balloon at low altitude. The fast flight from Madisonville, the abrupt stop and hour-long hovering at Godman Field, the quick bursts of speed Mantell reported make it impossible. To fly the go miles from Madisonville to Fort Knox in 30 minutes, a balloon would require a wind of 180 m.p.h. After traveling at this hurricane speed, it would then have had to come to a dead stop above Godman Field. As the P-51's approached, it would have had to speed tip again to 180, then to more than 360 to keep ahead of Mantell.<br /><br />The three fighter pilots chased the mysterious object for half an hour. (I have several times chased balloons with a plane, overtaking them in seconds.) In a straight chase, Mantell would have been closing in at 360; the tail wind acting on his fighter would nullify the balloon's forward drift.<br /><br />But even if you accept these improbable factors, there is one final fact that nullifies the balloon explanation. The strange object had disappeared when Mantell's wingman searched the sky, just after the leader's death. If it had been a balloon held stationary for an hour at a high altitude, and glowing brightly enough to be seen through clouds, it would have remained visible in the same general position. Seen from 33,000 feet, it would have been even brighter, because of the clearer air.<br /><br />But the mysterious object had completely vanished in<br /><br />{p. 42}<br /><br />those few minutes. A search covering a hundred miles failed to reveal a trace.<br /><br />Whether at a high or low altitude, a balloon could not have escaped the pilot's eyes. It would also have continued to be seen at Godman Field and other points, through occasional breaks in the clouds.<br /><br />I pointed out these facts to one Air Force officer at the Pentagon. Next day he phoned me:<br /><br />"I figured it out. The timing device went off and the balloon exploded. That's why the pilot didn't see it."<br /><br />"It's an odd coincidence," I said, "that it exploded in those five minutes after Mantell's last report."<br /><br />"Even so, it's obviously the answer," he said.<br /><br />Checking on this angle, I found:<br /><br />1. No one in the Kentucky area had reported a descending parachute.<br /><br />2. No cosmic-ray research instrument case or parachute was found in the area.<br /><br />3. No instruments were returned to the Navy from this region. And all balloons and instruments released at that time were fully accounted for.<br /><br />Even if it had been a balloon, it would not explain the later January 7th reports--the simultaneous sightings mentioned by Professor Hynek in the Project "Saucer" report. This includes the thing seen at Lockbourne Air Force Base two hours after Mantell's death.<br /><br />Obviously, the saucer seen flying at 500 m.p.h. over Lockbourne Field could not have been a balloon. Even if there had been several balloons in this area (and there were not, by official record), they could not have covered the courses reported. In some cases, they would have been flying against the wind, at terrific speed.<br /><br />Then what was the mysterious object? And what killed Mantell?<br /><br />Both the Air Force and the Post articles speculate that Mantell carelessly let himself black out.<br /><br />Since some explanation had to be given, this might seem a good answer. But Mantell was known for coolheaded judgment. As a wartime pilot, he was familiar with signs of anoxia (oxygen starvation). That he knew his tolerance for altitude is proved by his firmly declared<br /><br />{p. 43}<br /><br />intention to abandon the chase at 20,000 feet, since he had no oxygen equipment.<br /><br />Mantell had his altimeter to warn him. From experience, he would recognize the first vague blurring, narrowing of vision, and other signs of anoxia. Despite this, the "blackout" explanation was accepted as plausible by many Americans.<br /><br />While investigating the Mantell case, I talked with several pilots and aeronautical engineers. Several questioned that a P-51 starting a dive from 20,000 feet would have disintegrated so thoroughly.<br /><br />"From thirty thousand feet, yes," said one engineer. "If the idea was to explain it away, I'd pick a high altitude to start from. But a pilotless plane doesn't necessarily dive, as you know.<br /><br />"It might slip off and spin, or spiral down, and a few have even landed themselves. Also, if the plane started down from twenty thousand, the pilot wouldn't be too far blacked out. The odds are he'd come to when he got into thicker air--admitting he did blur out, which is only an Air Force guess. I don't see why they're so positive Mantell died before he hit the ground--unless they know something we don't."<br /><br />One of the pilot group put it more bluntly.<br /><br />"It looks like a cover-up to me. I think Mantell did just what he said he would--close in on the thing. I think he either collided with it, or more likely they knocked him out of the air. They'd think he was trying to bring them down, barging in like that."<br /><br />Even if you accept the blackout answer, it still does not explain what Mantell was chasing. it is possible that, excited by the huge, mysterious object, he recklessly climbed beyond the danger level, though such an act was completely at odds with his character.<br /><br />But the identity of the thing remains--officially--a mystery. If it was some weird experimental craft or a guided missile, then whose was it? Air Force officers had repeatedly told me they had no such device. General Carl Touhy Spaatz, former Air Force chief, had publicly insisted that no such weapon had been developed in his regime. Secretary Symington and General Hoyt Vandenberg,<br /><br />{p. 44}<br /><br />present Air Force chief, had been equally emphatic. Of course, official denials could be expected if it were a top-level secret. But if it were a secret device, would it be tested so publicly that thousands would see it?<br /><br />If it were an Air Force device, then I could see only one answer for the Godman Field incident: The thing was such a closely guarded secret that even Colonel Hix hadn't known. That would mean that most or all Air Force Base C.O.'s were also in ignorance of the secret device.<br /><br />Could it be a Navy experiment, kept secret from the Air Force?<br /><br />I did a little checking.<br /><br />Admiral Calvin Bolster, chief of aeronautics research experimental craft, was an Annapolis classmate of mine. So was Captain Delmer S. Fahrney, head of the Navy guided-missile program. Fahrney was at Point Mugu, missile-testing base in California, and I wasn't able to see him. But I knew him as a careful, conscientious officer; I can't believe he would let such a device, piloted or not, hover over an Air Force base with no warning to its C.O.<br /><br />I saw Admiral Bolster. His denial seemed genuine; unless he'd got to be a dead-pan poker player since our earlier days, I was sure he was telling the truth.<br /><br />The only other alternate was Russia. It was incredible that they would develop such a device and then expose it to the gaze of U.S. Air Force officers. It could be photographed, its speed and maneuverability checked; it might crash, or antiaircraft fire might bring it down, The secret might be lost in one such test flight.<br /><br />There was one other explanation: The thing was not intended to be seen; it had got out of control. In this event; the long hovering period at Godman Field was caused by the need for repairs inside the flying saucer, or repairs to remote-control apparatus.<br /><br />If it were Air Force or Navy, that would explain official concern; even if completely free of negligence, the service responsible would be blamed for Mantell's death. If it were Russian, the Air Force would of course try to conceal the fact for fear of public hysteria.<br /><br />But if the device was American, it meant that Project<br /><br />{p. 45}<br /><br />"Saucer" was a cover-up unit. While pretending to investigate, it would actually hush up reports, make false explanations, and safeguard the secret in every possible way. Also, the reported order for Air Force pilots to pursue the disks would have to be a fake. Instead, there would be a secret order telling them to avoid strange objects in the sky.<br /><br />By the time I finished my check-up, I was sure of one thing: This particular saucer had been real.<br /><br />I was almost positive of one other point-that the thing had been over 30 miles high during part of its flight. I found that after Mantell's death it was reported simultaneously from Madisonville, Elizabethtown, and Lexington--over a distance of 175 miles. (Professor Hynek's analysis later confirmed this.)<br /><br />How low it had been while hovering over Godman, and during Mantell's chase, there was no way to determine. But all the evidence pointed to a swift ascent after Mantell's last report.<br /><br />Had Mantell told Godman Tower more than the Air Force admitted? I went back to the Pentagon and asked for a full transcript of the flight leader's radio messages. I got a quick turn-down. The reports, I was told, were still classified as secret. Requests for pictures of the P-51 wreckage, and for a report on the condition of Mantell's body, also drew a blank. I had heard that some photographs were taken of the Godman Field saucer from outside the tower. But the Air Force denied knowledge of any such pictures.<br /><br />Puzzling over the riddle, I remembered John Steele, the former Intelligence captain. If by any chance he was a plant, it would be interesting to suggest the various answers and watch his reaction. When I phoned him to suggest luncheon, Steele accepted at once. We met at the Occidental, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Steele was younger than I had expected--not over twenty-five. He was a tall man, with a crew haircut and the build of a football player. Looking at him the first time, I expected a certain breeziness. instead, he was almost solemn.<br /><br />"I owe you an apology," he said in a careful voice after<br /><br />{p. 46}<br /><br />we'd ordered. "You probably know I'm a syndicate writer?"<br /><br />I wondered if he'd found out Jack Daly was checking on him.<br /><br />"When you mentioned the Press Club," I said, "I gathered you were in the business."<br /><br />"I'm afraid you thought I was fishing for a lead." Steele looked at me earnestly. "I'm not working on the story--I'm tied up on other stuff."<br /><br />"Forget it," I told him.<br /><br />He seemed anxious to reassure me. "I'd been worried for some time about the saucers. I called you that night on an impulse."<br /><br />"Glad you did," I said. "I need every tip I can get."<br /><br />"Did it help you any?"<br /><br />"Yes, though it still doesn't fit together. But I can tell you this: The saucers are real, or at least one of them."<br /><br />"Which one?"<br /><br />"The thing Captain Mantell was chasing near Fort Knox, before he died."<br /><br />"Oh, that one." Steele looked down at the roll he was buttering. "I thought that case was fully explained. Wasn't he chasing a balloon?"<br /><br />"The Air Force says it's still unidentified." I told him what I had learned. "Apparently you're right--it's either an American or a Soviet missile."<br /><br />"After what you've told me," said Steele, "I can't believe it's ours. It must be Russian."<br /><br />"They'd be pretty stupid to test it over here."<br /><br />"You said it was probably out of control."<br /><br />"That particular one, maybe. But there have been several hundred seen over here. If they found their controls were haywire, they wouldn't keep testing the things until they'd corrected that."<br /><br />The waiter came with the soup, and Steele was silent until he left.<br /><br />"I still can't believe it's our weapon," he said slowly. "They wouldn't have Air Force pilots alerted to chase the things. And I happen to how they do."<br /><br />"There's something queer about this missile angle," I said. "That saucer was seen at the same time by people a<br /><br />{p. 47}<br /><br />hundred and seventy-five miles apart. To be that high in the sky, and still look more than two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, it must have been enormous."<br /><br />Steele didn't answer for a moment.<br /><br />"Obviously, that was an illusion," he finally answered. "I'd discount those estimates."<br /><br />"Even Mantell's? And the Godman Field officers'?"<br /><br />"Not knowing the thing's height, how could they judge accurately?"<br /><br />"To be seen at points that far apart, it had to be over thirty miles high," I told him. "It would have to be huge to show up at all."<br /><br />He shook his head. "I can't believe those reports are right. It must have been sighted at different times."<br /><br />I let it drop.<br /><br />"What are you working on now?" Steele asked, after a minute or two.<br /><br />I said I hadn't decided. Actually, I planned a trip to the coast, to interview pilots who had sighted flying disks.<br /><br />"What would you do if you found it wasn't a Soviet missile?" said Steele. He sounded almost too casual.<br /><br />"If security was involved, I'd keep still. But the Air Force and the Navy swear they haven't any such things."<br /><br />Steele looked at me thoughtfully.<br /><br />"You know, True might force something into the open that would be better left secret." He smiled ironically. "I realize that sounds peculiar, since I suggested the Russian angle. But if it isn't Russian--though I still think it is--then we have nothing to worry about."<br /><br />I was almost sure now that he was a plant. During the rest of the luncheon, I tried to draw him out, but Steele was through talking. When we parted, he gave me a sober warning.<br /><br />"You and True should consider your moral responsibility, no matter what you find. Even if it's not actual security, there may be reasons to keep still."<br /><br />After he left me, I tried to figure it out. If the Air Force was back of this, they must not think much of my intelligence. Or else they had been in such a hurry to get a line on True's investigation that they had no choice but<br /><br />{p. 48}<br /><br />to use Steele. Of course, it was still possible he was doing this on his own,<br /><br />Either way, his purpose was obvious. He hoped to have us swallow the Soviet-missile answer. If we did, then we would have to keep still, even though we found absolute proof. Obviously, it would be dangerous to print that story.<br /><br />Thinking back, I recalled Steele's apparent attempt to dismiss the Mantell case. I was convinced now. The Godman Field affair must hold an important clue that I had overlooked. It might even be the key to the whole flying saucer riddle.<br /><br />{p. 49}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER VI</span><br /><br />SHORTLY after my talk with Steele, I flew to the Coast. For three weeks I investigated sightings that had been reported by airline and private pilots and other competent witnesses.<br /><br />At first, the airline pilots were reluctant to talk. Most of them remembered the ridicule that had followed published accounts by other airline men. One pilot told me he had been ordered to keep still about his experience--whether by the company or the Air Force, he would not say. But most of them finally agreed to talk, if I kept their names out of print.<br /><br />One airline captain--I'll call him Blake--had encountered a saucer at night. He and his copilot had sighted the object, gleaming, in the moonlight, half a mile to their left.<br /><br />"We were at about twelve thousand feet," he said, when we saw this thing pacing us. It didn't have any running lights, but we could see the moonlight reflecting from something like bright metal. There was a glow along the side, like some kind of light, or exhaust."<br /><br />"Could you make out the shape?" I asked.<br /><br />Blake grinned crookedly. "You think we didn't try? I cut in toward it. It turned in the same direction. I pulled up about three hundred feet, and it did the same. Finally, I opened my throttles and cut in fast, intending to pull tip if we got too close. I needn't have worried. The thing let out a burst of reddish flame and streaked up out of sight. It was gone in a few seconds."<br /><br />"Then it must have been piloted," I said.<br /><br />"If not, it had some kind of radar-responder unit to make it veer off when anything got near it. It matched every move I made, until the last one."<br /><br />I asked him what he thought the saucer was. Blake hesitated, then he gave me a slow grin.<br /><br />"Well, my copilot thinks it was a space ship. He says no pilot here on earth could take that many G's, when the thing zoomed."<br /><br />{p. 50}<br /><br />I'd heard some "men from Mars" opinions about the saucers, but this was an experienced pilot.<br /><br />"You don't believe that?" I said.<br /><br />"No," Blake said. "I figure it was some new type of guided missile. If it took as many G's as Chuck, my copilot, thinks, then it must have been on a beam and remote-controlled."<br /><br />Later, I found two other pilots who had the same idea as Chuck. One captain was afraid the flying saucers were Russian; his copilot thought they were Air Force or Navy. I met one airline official who was indignant about testing such missiles near the airways.<br /><br />"Even if they do have some device to make them veer off," he said, "I think it's a risk. There'll be hell to pay if one ever hits an airliner."<br /><br />"They've been flying around for two years," a line pilot pointed out. "Nobody's had a close call yet. I don't think there's much danger."<br /><br />When I left the Coast, I flew to New York. Ken Purdy called in John DuBarry, True's aviation editor, to hear the details. Purdy called him "John the Skeptic." After I told them what I had learned Purdy nodded.<br /><br />"What do you think the saucers are?" asked DuBarry.<br /><br />"They must be guided missiles," I said, "but it leaves some queer gaps in the picture."<br /><br />I had made up a list of possible answers, and I read it to them:<br /><br />"One, the saucers don't exist. They're caused by mistakes, hysteria, and so on. Two, they're Russian guided missiles. Three, they're American guided missiles. Four, the whole thing is a hoax, a psychological-warfare trick."<br /><br />"You mean a trick of ours?" said Purdy.<br /><br />"Sure, to make the Soviets think we could reach them with a guided missile. But I don't think that's the answer--I just listed it as a possibility."<br /><br />DuBarry considered this thoughtfully.<br /><br />"In the first place, you'd have to bring thousands of people into the scheme, so the disks would be reported often enough to get publicity. You'd have to have some kind of device, maybe something launched from highflying bombers, to give the rumors substance. They'd<br /><br />{p. 51}<br /><br />certainly do a better job than this, to put it over. And it wouldn't explain the world-wide sightings. Also, Captain Mantell wouldn't kill himself just to carry out an official hoax."<br /><br />"John's right," said Purdy. "Anyway, it's too ponderous. It would leak like a sieve, and the dumbest Soviet agent would see through it."<br /><br />He looked back at my list. "Cross off Number One, There's too much competent testimony, beside the obvious fact that something's being covered up."<br /><br />"That leaves Russian or American missiles," I said, "as Steele first suggested. But there are some points that just won't fit the missile theory."<br /><br />"You've left out one answer," said Purdy.<br /><br />"What's that?"<br /><br />"Interplanetary."<br /><br />"You're kidding!" I said.<br /><br />"I didn't say I believed it," said Purdy. "I just say it's possible."<br /><br />DuBarry was watching me. "I know how you feel. That's how it hit me when Ken first said it,"<br /><br />"I've heard it before," I said. "But I never took it seriously."<br /><br />"Maybe this will interest you," Purdy said. He gave me a note from Sam Boal:<br /><br />"Just talked with D-------," the note ran. (D------- is a prominent aeronautical engineer, the designer of a world-famous plane.) "He believes the disks may be interplanetary and that the Air Force knows it--or at least suspects it. I'm enclosing sketches showing how he thinks the disks operate."<br /><br />"He's not the first one who told us that," said Purdy. "We've heard the same thing from other engineers. Over a dozen airline pilots think they're coining from out in space. And there's a rocket expert at Wright Field who's warned Project 'Saucer' that the things are interplanetary. That's why I'm not writing it off."<br /><br />"Have you read the Project 'Saucer' ideas on space travel?" DuBarry asked me. I told him my copy hadn't reached me. He read me some marked paragraphs in his copy of the preliminary report:<br /><br />{p. 52}<br /><br />"'There has been speculation that the aerial phenomena might actually be some form of penetration from another planet . . . the existence of intelligent life on Mars is not impossible but is completely unproven . . . the possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is not considered completely unreasonable by astronomers . . . Scientists concede that living organisms might develop in chemical environments which are strange to us . . . in the next fifty years we will almost certainly start exploring space . . . the chance of space travelers existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is very much greater than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as almost a certainty . . .'"<br /><br />DuBarry handed me the report. "Here--I practically know it by heart. Take it with you. You can send it back later."<br /><br />"I know the space-travel idea sounds silly at first," said Purdy, "but it's the only answer that explains all the sightings-especially those in the last century."<br /><br />He asked DuBarry to give me their file of historic reports. While John was getting it, Purdy went on:<br /><br />"Be careful about this man Steele. After what he said about 'moral responsibility' I'm sure he's planted."<br /><br />I thought back to Steele's warning. I told Purdy: "If he had the space thing in mind, maybe he's right. It could set off a panic that would make that Orson Welles thing look like a picnic."<br /><br />"Certainly it could," Purdy said. "We'd have to handle it carefully-if it turned out to be the truth. But I think the Air Force is making a mistake, if that's what they're hiding. It could break the wrong way and be serious."<br /><br />John DuBarry came back with the file of old reports.<br /><br />"It might interest you to know," he said, "that the Air Force checked all these old sightings too."<br /><br />The idea was still a difficult one for me to believe.<br /><br />"Those space-travel suggestions might be a trick," I said. "The Air Force may be hinting at that to hide the guided-missile secret."<br /><br />"Yes, but later on they deny the space thing," said Purdy. "It looks as if they're trying to put people on guard and then play it down, so they won't get scared."<br /><br />{p. 53}<br /><br />As I put the historic reports file in my brief case, Purdy handed me a letter from an investigator named Hilton, who had been working in the Southwest. I skimmed over his letter.<br /><br />Hilton had heard of some unusual night sightings in New Mexico. The story had been hushed up, but he had learned some details from a pilot at Albuquerque.<br /><br />One of these mysterious "flying lights" had been seen at Las Vegas, on December 8, 1948--just one month before Mantell was killed in Kentucky. It was too dark to make out the shape behind the light, but all witnesses had agreed on its performance. The thing had climbed at tremendous speed, its upward motion shown by a bright green light. Though the green glow was much brighter than a plane's running light, all plane schedules were carefully checked.<br /><br />"I think they were trying to pin it on a jet fighter," the Albuquerque pilot told Hilton. "But there weren't any jets near there. Anyway, the thing climbed too fast. It must have been making close to nine hundred miles an hour."<br /><br />The Air Force had also checked balloon release times--apparently just for the record, since no balloon could even approach the saucer's terrific ascent. Again, they drew a blank.<br /><br />"From the way this was hushed up," Hilton commented, "they seem to be worried about this group of sightings. I've heard two reports that the F.B.I. is tied into the deal somehow, but that's as far as I can get."<br /><br />"See if you can get any lead on that," Purdy told me. "That F.B.I. business puzzles me. Where would they come in?"<br /><br />I said I would try to find out. But it was almost four months before we learned the answer: The F.B.I. men had been witnesses. (This was later admitted in an obscure cross-reference in the final Project "Saucer" report. But all official answers to the strange green-light sightings had been carefully omitted. The cases concerned were 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 230, and 231, which will be discussed later.)<br /><br />{p. 54}<br /><br />"When you go back to Washington," said Purdy, "see what reaction you get to the interplanetary idea."<br /><br />I had a pretty good idea what the reaction would be, but I nodded. "O.K. I'll go flag a space ship and be on my way."<br /><br />"O.K.--gag it up," said Purdy. "But don't sell it short, If by any chance it's true, it'll be the biggest story since the birth of Christ."<br /><br />{p. 55}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER VII</span><br /><br />IT WAS DARK when the airliner limousine reached La Guardia Field. I had intended taking an earlier plane, but DuBarry persuaded me to stay over for dinner.<br /><br />We dropped into the Algonquin, next door to True's office building. Halfway through dinner, I asked John what he thought of the space-travel answer.<br /><br />"Oh, it's possible," he said cautiously. "The time and space angles make it hard to take, but if we're planning to explore space within fifty years, there's no reason some other planet people couldn't do it. Of course, if they've been observing us for over a century, as those old sightings seem to indicate, they must be far ahead of us, at least in technical progress."<br /><br />Later on, he said thoughtfully, "Even though it's possible, I hate to think it's the answer. just imagine the impact on the world. We'd have to reorient our whole lives--and things are complicated enough already."<br /><br />Standing at the gate, waiting for my plane to be called, I thought over that angle. Assuming that space travel was the solution--which I still couldn't believe-what would be the effect on the world?<br /><br />It was a hard thing to picture. So much depended on the visitors from space. What would their purpose be? Would they be peaceful or hostile? Why had they been observing the earth so intensively in the past few years?<br /><br />I could think of a hundred questions. What would the space people be like? Would they be similar to men and women on earth, or some fearsome Buck Rogerish creatures who would terrify the average American--including myself?<br /><br />It was obvious they would be far superior to us in many ways. But their civilization might be entirely different. Evolution might have developed their minds, and possibly their bodies, along lines we couldn't even grasp. Perhaps we couldn't even communicate with them.<br /><br />What would be the net effect of making contact with beings from a distant planet? Would earthlings be terrified,<br /><br />{p. 56}<br /><br />or, if it seemed a peaceful exploration, would we bc intrigued by the thought of a great adventure? It would depend entirely on the space visitors' motives, and how the world was prepared for such a revelation.<br /><br />The more I thought about it, the more fantastic thc thing seemed.<br /><br />And yet it hadn't been too long since airplane flight was considered an idiot's dream. This scene here at La Guardia would have seemed pure fantasy in 1900--thc huge Constellations and DC-6's; the double-decked Stratocruisers, sweeping in from all over the country; the big ships at Pan-American, taking off for points all over the globe. We'd come a long way in the forty-six years since the Wright brothers' first flight.<br /><br />But space travel!<br /><br />The gateman checked my ticket, and I went out to the Washington plane. It was a luxury ship, a fifty-two-passenger, four-engined DC-6, scheduled to be in the capital one hour after take-off. By morning this plane, the Aztec, would be in Mexico City.<br /><br />The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late sixties. Fifty years ago, what would they have said if someone had predicted this flight? The answer to that was easy; at that time, high-school songbooks featured a well-known piece entitled "Darius Green and His Flying Machine." Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded lad who actually thought he could fly.<br /><br />Fifty years. That was the time the Air Force had estimated it would take us to start exploring space. Would Americans come to accept space travel as matter-of-factly as the people now boarding this plane? The youngsters would, probably; the older ones, as a rule, would be a little more cautious.<br /><br />In the oval lounge at the rear of the plane, I took out the file of old sighting reports. Glancing through it, I, saw excerpts from nineteenth-century astronomical and scientific journals and extracts from official gazettes. Most of the early sightings had been in Great Britain and on the Continent, with a few reports scattered around the world. The American reports did not begin until the latter part of the century.<br /><br />{p. 57}<br /><br />The DC-6 rolled out and took off. For a few minutes I<br /><br />watched the lights of Manhattan and Greater New York twinkling below. The Empire State Building tower was still above us, as the plane banked over the East River.<br /><br />We climbed quickly, and the familiar outline of Manhattan took shape like a map pin-pointed with millions of lights.<br /><br />Any large city seen from the air at night has a certain magic, New York most of all. Looking down, I thought: What would a spaceman think, seeing this brilliantly lighted city, the towering skyscrapers? Would other planets have such cities, or would it be something new and puzzling to a visitor from space?<br /><br />Turning back to the old reports, I skipped through until I found the American sightings. One of the first was an incident at Bonham, Texas, in the summer of 1873.<br /><br />It was broad daylight when a strange, fast-moving object appeared in the sky, southwest of the town. For a moment, the people of Bonham stared at the thing, not believing their eves. The only flying device then known was the drifting balloon. But this thing was tremendous, and speeding so fast its outlines were almost a blur.<br /><br />Terrified farmers dived under their wagons. Townspeople fled indoors. Only a few hardy souls remained in the streets. The mysterious object circled Bonham twice, then raced off to the cast and vanished. Descriptions of the strange machine varied from round or oval to cigar-shaped. (The details of the Bonham sighting were later confirmed for me by Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, who investigated this case.)<br /><br />Twenty-four hours after the Bonham incident, a device of the same description appeared at Fort Scott, Kansas. Panic-stricken soldiers fled the parade ground as the thing flashed overhead. In a few seconds it disappeared, circling toward the north.<br /><br />Until now, I had supposed that the term "saucer" was original with Kenneth Arnold. Actually, the first to compare a flying object with a saucer was John Martin, a farmer who lived near Denison, Texas. The Denison Daily News of January 25, 1878, gives the following account:<br /><br />{p. 58}<br /><br />From Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lives some six miles south of this city, we learn the following strange story: Tuesday morning while out hunting, his attention was directed to a dark object high up in the southern sky. The peculiar shape and velocity with which the object seemed to approach riveted his attention and he strained his eves to discover its character.<br /><br />When first noticed, it appeared to be about the size of an orange, which continued to grow in size. After gazing at it for some time Mr. Martin became blind from long looking and left off viewing it for a time in order to rest his eyes. On resuming his view, the object was almost overhead and had increased considerably in size, and appeared to be going through space at wonderful speed.<br /><br />When directly over him it was about the size of a large saucer and was evidently at great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled, as well as he could judge, a balloon. It went as rapidly as it had come and was soon lost to sight in the heavenly skies. Mr. Martin is a gentleman of undoubted veracity and this strange occurrence, if it was not a balloon, deserves the attention of our scientists.<br /><br />In the file, I saw a memo DuBarry had written:<br /><br />"I would take the very early reports with caution. For instance, the one on August 9, 1762, which describes an odd, spindle-shaped body traveling at high speed toward the sun. I recall that Charles Fort accepted this, along with other early sightings, as evidence of space ships. But this particular thing might have been a meteor--meteors as such were almost unknown then. The later reports are more convincing, and it is also easier to check the sources, especially those from 1870 on."<br /><br />From 1762 to 1870, the reports were meager. Some described mysterious lights in the sky; a few mentioned round objects seen in daylight. Even though they were not so fully documented as later ones, one point struck me. In those days, there was no telegraph, telephone, or radio to spread news rapidly and start a flood of rumors. {p. 59} A sighting in Scotland could not be the cause of a similar one two days later in the south of France.<br /><br />Beginning in 870, there was a series of reports that went on to the turn of the century. In the London Times, September 26, 1870, there was a description of a queer object that was seen crossing the moon. It was reported as elliptical, with some kind of tail, and it took almost thirty seconds to complete its passage of the moon. Then in 1871, a large, round body was sighted above Marseilles, France. This was on August 1. It moved slowly across the sky, apparently at great height, and was visible about fifteen minutes.<br /><br />On March 22, 1880, several brilliantly luminous objects were reported seen at Kattenau, Germany. Sighted just before sunrise, they were described as rising from the horizon and moving from east to west. The account was published in the British Nature Magazine, Volume 22, page 64.<br /><br />The next report in the file mentioned briefly a strange round object seen in the skies over Bermuda. The source for this account was the Bermuda Royal Gazette. This was in 1885. That same year, an astronomer and other witnesses reported a gigantic aerial object at Adrianople, Turkey. On November 1, the weird apparition was seen moving across the sky. Observers described it as round and four to five times the size of the moon.<br /><br />This estimate is similar to the Denison, Texas, comparison with an orange. The object would actually be huge to be seen at any great height. But unless the true height were known, any estimate of size would be guesswork.<br /><br />On March 19, 1887, two strange objects fell into the sea near a Dutch barkentine. As described by the skipper, Captain C. D. Sweet, one of the objects was dark, the other brightly luminous. The glowing object fell with a loud roaring sound; the shipmaster was positive it was not a meteor.<br /><br />In New Zealand, a year later, an oval-shaped disk was reported speeding high overhead. This was on May 4, 1888. About two years after this, several large aerial bodies were sighted hovering over the Dutch East Indies. {p. 60} Most accounts described them as roughly triangular, about one hundred feet on the base and two hundred feet on the sides. But some observers thought they might be longer and narrower, with a rounded base; this would make them agree with more recent stories of cone-shaped objects with rounded tops seen in American skies.<br /><br />On August 26, 1894, a British admiral reported sighting a large disk with a projection like a tail. And a year after this, both England and Scotland buzzed with stories of triangular-shaped objects like those seen in the Dutch East Indies. Although many officials scoffed at the stories, more than one astronomer stuck to his belief that the mysterious things might be coming from outer space. Since planes and dirigibles were then unknown, there was no one on earth who could have been responsible for them.<br /><br />In 1897, sightings in the United States began to be more frequent. One of the strangest reports describes an incident that began on April 9. Flying at a great height, a huge cigar-shaped device was seen in the Midwest. Short wings projected from the sides of the object, according to reports of astronomers who watched it through telescopes.<br /><br />For almost a week, the aerial visitor was sighted around the Midwest, as far south as St. Louis and as far west as Colorado. Several times, red, green, and white lights were seen to flash in the sky; some witnesses thought the crew of this strange craft might be trying to signal the earth.<br /><br />On April 16, the thing, whatever it was, disappeared from the Midwest. But on April 19, the same object--or else a similar one--appeared over West Virginia. Early that morning the town of Sisterville was awakened by blasts of the sawmill whistle. Those who went outside their homes saw a strange sight. From a torpedo-shaped object overhead, dazzling searchlights were pointing downward, sweeping the countryside. The thing appeared to be about two hundred feet long, some thirty feet in diameter, with stubby wings and red and green lights along the sides. For almost ten minutes the aerial visitor circled the town, then it swung eastward and vanished.<br /><br />The next report was published in the U.S. Weather Bureau's monthly Weather Review. On page 115 in the<br /><br />{p. 61}<br /><br />March 1904 issue, there is an account of an odd sighting at sea. On February 24, 1904, a mysterious light had been seen above the Atlantic by crew members of the U.S.S. Supply. It was moving swiftly, and evidently at high altitude. The report was attested by Lieutenant Frank H. Schofield, U.S.N.<br /><br />On July 2, 1907, a mysterious explosion occurred, in the heavens near Burlington, Vermont. Some witnesses described a strange, torpedo-shaped device circling above. Shortly after it was seen, a round, luminous object flashed down from the sky, then exploded, (Weather Review, 1907, page 310.)<br /><br />Another cigar-shaped craft was reported at a low altitude over Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1905. Like the one at Sisterville, it carried searchlights, which swept back and forth across the countryside. After a few moments, the visitor rose in a steep climb, and the searchlights blinked out.<br /><br />There was no report for 1909 in America, though an odd aerial object was sighted near the Galapagos Islands. But in 1910, one January morning, a large silvery cigar-shaped device startled Chattanooga. After about five minutes, the thing sped away, appearing over Huntsville, Alabama, shortly afterward. It made a second appearance over Chattanooga the next day, then headed east and was never seen again.<br /><br />In Popular Astronomy, January 27, 1012, a Dr. F. B. Harris described an intensely black object that he saw crossing the moon. As nearly as he could tell, it was gigantic in size--though again there was no way to be sure of its distance from him or the moon. With careful understatement, Dr. Harris said, "I think a very interesting and curious phenomenon happened that night."<br /><br />A strange shadow was noted on the clouds at Fort Worth, Texas, on April 8, 19, 3. It appeared to be caused by some large body hovering motionless above the clouds. As the cloud layer moved, the shadow remained in the same position. Then it changed size, diminishing, and quickly disappeared, as if it had risen vertically. A report on this was given in the Weather Bureau Review of that year, Number 4-599<br /><br />{p. 62}<br /><br />By 1919, dirigibles were of course well known to most of the world. When a dirigible-shaped object appeared over Huntington, West Virginia, in July of that year, there was no great alarm. It was believed to be an American blimp, though the darkness--it was eleven at night--prevented observers from being sure. But a later check-up proved it was not an American ship, nor was it from any country possessing such craft.<br /><br />For some time after this, there were few authentic reports. Then in 1934, Nicholas Roerich, head of the American-Roerich expedition into Tibet, had a remarkable experience that bears on the saucer riddle.<br /><br />On pages 361 and 362 of his book Altai Himalaya, Roerich describes the incident. The expedition party was in the wilds of Tibet one morning when a porter noticed the peculiar actions of a buzzard overhead. He called Roerich's attention to it; then they all saw something high in the sky, moving at great speed from north to south. Watching it through binoculars, Roerich saw it was oval-shaped, obviously of huge size, and reflecting the sun's rays like brightly polished metal. While he trailed it with his glasses, the object suddenly changed direction, from south to southwest. It was gone in a few moments.<br /><br />This was the last sighting listed before World War II.<br /><br />When I had finished, I stared out the plane window, curiously disturbed. Like most people, I had grown up believing the earth was the center of everything--life, intelligence, and religion. Now, for the first time in my life, that belief was shaken.<br /><br />It was a curious thing. I could accept the idea that we would eventually explore space, land on the moon, and go on to distant planets. I had read of the plans, and I knew our engineers and scientists would somehow find a way. It did not disturb my belief in our superiority.<br /><br />But faced with this evidence of a superior race in the universe, my mind rebelled. For years, I had been accustomed to thinking in comic-strip terms of any possible spacemen--Buck Rogers stuff, with weird-looking space ships and green-faced Martians.<br /><br />But now, if these sightings were true, the shoe was on the other foot. We would be faced with a race of beings<br /><br />{p. 63}<br /><br />at least two hundred years ahead of our civilization--perhaps thousands. In their eyes, we might look like primitives.<br /><br />My conjectures before the take-off had just been idle thinking; I had not really believed this could be the answer. But now the question came back sharply. How would we react to a sudden appearance of space ships, bringing that higher race to the earth? If we were fully prepared, educated to this tremendous adventure, it might come off without trouble. Unprepared, we would be thrown into panic.<br /><br />The lights of Philadelphia showed up ahead, and a thought struck me. What would Philadelphians of 1776 have thought to see this DC-6 flying across their city at three hundred miles an hour? What would the sentries at Valley Forge have done, a year later, if this lighted airliner had streaked over their heads?<br /><br />Madness. Stampede. Those were the plain answers.<br /><br />But there was a difference now. We had had modern miracles, radio, television, supersonic planes, and the promise of still more miracles. We could be educated, or at least partly prepared, to accept space visitors.<br /><br />In fifty years we had learned to fly. In fifty years more, we would be exploring space. Why should we believe such creative intelligence was limited to the earth? It would be incredible if the earth, out of all the millions of planets, proved the only inhabited spot in the whole universe.<br /><br />But, instinctively, I still fought against believing that the flying saucers were space ships. Eventually, we would make contact with races on other planets; they undoubtedly would someday visit the earth. But if it could be put off . . . a problem for later generations to handle . . .<br /><br />If the disks proved American guided missiles, it would be an easier answer.<br /><br />Looking through the Project "Saucer" report DuBarry had loaned me, I read the space-travel items, hoping to find some hint that this was a smoke screen. On page 18, in a discussion on Mars, I found this comment:<br /><br />"Reports of strange objects seen in the skies have been handed down through the generations. However, scientists believe that if Martians were now visiting the earth<br /><br />{p. 64}<br /><br />without establishing contact, it could be assumed that they have just recently succeeded in space travel, and that their civilization would be practically abreast of ours. This because they find it hard to believe that any technically established race would come here, flaunt its ability in mysterious ways over the years, but each time simply go way without ever establishing contact."<br /><br />There could be several answers to that. The Martians might not be able to live in our atmosphere, except in their sealed space ships. They, or some other planet race, could have observed us periodically to check on our slow progress. Until we began to approach their level of civilization, or in some way caused them concern, they would probably see no reason for trying to make contact. But somehow I found a vague comfort in the argument, full of holes though it was.<br /><br />Searching further, I found other space-travel comments. On one page, the Air Force admitted it was almost a certainty that space travelers would be operating from planets outside the solar system. But on the following page, I discovered this sentence: "Thus, although visits from outer space are believed to be possible, they are thought to be highly improbable."<br /><br />What was the answer? Was this just a wandering discussion of possibilities, badly put together, or was it a hint of the truth? it could be the first step in preparing America for a revelation. It could also be a carefully thought-out trick.<br /><br />This whole report might be designed to conceal a secret weapon. If the Air Force or the Navy did have a secret missile, what better way to distract attention? The old sighting reports could have been seized on as a buildup for space travel hints.<br /><br />Then suddenly it hit me.<br /><br />Even if it were a smoke screen, what of those old reports?<br /><br />They still remained to be answered. There was only one possible explanation, unless you discarded the sightings as lies. That meant discrediting many reliable witnesses--naval officers, merchant shipmasters, explorers, astronomers, ministers, and responsible public officials. {p. 65} Besides all these, there had been thousands of other witnesses, where large groups had seen the objects.<br /><br />The answer seemed inevitable, but I held it off. I didn't want to believe it, with all the changes it might bring, the unpredictable effect upon our civilization.<br /><br />If I kept on checking I might find evidence that would bring a different explanation for the present saucers.<br /><br />DuBarry had put another group of reports in the envelope; this series covered the World War II phase and on up to the outbreak of the saucer scare in the United States. Some of it, about the foo fighters, I already knew. This was tied in with the mystery rockets reported over Sweden. The first Swedish sightings had occurred during the early part of the war. Most of the so-called "ghost rockets" were seen at night, moving at tremendous speed. Since they came from the direction of Germany, most Swedes believed that guided rockets were the answer.<br /><br />During the summer of 1946, after the Russians had taken over Peenemunde, the Nazi missile test base, ghost rockets again were reported flying over Sweden. Some were said to double back and fly into Soviet areas. Practically all were seen at night, and therefore none had been described as a flying disk. Instead, they were said to be colored lights, red, green, blue, and orange, often blurred from their high speed.<br /><br />But there was a puzzling complication. Mystery lights, and sometimes flying disks, were simultaneously reported over Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Spain, and even French Morocco. Either there were two answers, or some nation had developed missiles with an incredibly long range.<br /><br />By January 1947, ghost-rocket sightings in Europe had diminished to less than one a month. Oddly enough, the first disk report admitted by Project "Saucer" was in this same month. The first '47 case detailed by Project "Saucer" occurred at Richmond, Virginia. It was about the middle of April. A Richmond weather observer had released a balloon and was tracking it with a theodolite when a strange object crossed his field of vision. He swung the theodolite and managed to track the thing, despite its high speed. (The actual speed and altitude--the latter determined by a comparison of the balloon's height at<br /><br />{p. 66}<br /><br />various times--have never been released. Nor has the Air Force released this observer's report on the object's size, which Project "Saucer" admitted was more accurate than most witnesses' estimates.)<br /><br />About the seventeenth of May 1947, a huge oval-shaped saucer ten times longer than its diameter was sighted by Byron Savage, an Oklahoma City pilot. Two days later, another fast-flying saucer was reported at Manitou Springs, Colorado. In the short time it was observed, it was seen to change direction twice, maneuvering at an unbelievable speed.<br /><br />Then on June 24 came Kenneth Arnold's famous report, which set off the saucer scare. The rest of the story I now knew almost by heart.<br /><br />When the DC-6 landed at Washington, I had made one decision. Since it was impossible to check up on most of the old sightings, I would concentrate on certain recent reports--cases in which the objects had been described as space ships.<br /><br />As I waited for a taxi, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear summer night, without a single cloud. Beyond the low hill to the west I could see the stars.<br /><br />I can still remember thinking, If it's true, then the stars will never again seem the same.<br /><br />{p. 67}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER VIII</span><br /><br />NEXT MORNING, in the broad light of day, the idea of space visitors somehow had lost its menace. If the disks were space ships, at least they had shown no sign of hostility, so far as I knew. Of course, there was Mantell; but if he had been downed by some weapon on the disk, it could have been self-defense. In most cases, the saucers retreated at the first sign of pursuit.<br /><br />My mind was still reluctant to accept the space-travel answer, in spite of the old reports. But I kept thinking of the famous aircraft designer who thought the disks were space craft; the airline pilots Purdy had mentioned; Blake's copilot, Chuck. . . .<br /><br />Now that I recalled it, Blake had been more embarrassed than seemed called for when he told about Chuck. Perhaps he had been the one who believed the saucers were space ships, instead of his absent copilot.<br /><br />After breakfast, I went over the list of sightings since June 1947. There were several saucers that actually had been described as projectile-like ships. The most famous of all was the Eastern Airlines case.<br /><br />It was 8:30 P.M., July 23, 1948, when an Eastern Airlines DC-3 took off from Houston, Texas, on a flight to Atlanta and Boston. The airliner captain was Clarence S. Chiles. During the war, he had been in the Air Transport Command, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He had 8,500 flying hours. His first officer was John B. Whitted, a wartime pilot on B-29's. Both men were known in Eastern as careful, conservative pilots.<br /><br />It was a bright, moonlit night, with scattered clouds overhead. The DC-3 was twenty miles west of Montgomery, at 2:45 A.M., when a brilliant projectile-like craft came hurtling along the airway.<br /><br />Chiles saw it first and took it to be a jet plane. But the next instant both pilots saw that this was no jet fighter.<br /><br />"It was heading southwest," Chiles said later, "exactly opposite to our course. Whatever it was, it flashed down toward us at terrific speed. We veered to the left. It veered<br /><br />{p. 68}<br /><br />sharply, too, and passed us about seven hundred feet to the right. I saw then that it had no wings."<br /><br />The mystery ship passed on Whitted's side, and he had a fairly close look.<br /><br />"The thing was about one hundred feet long, cigar-shaped, and wingless," he described it. "It was about twice the diameter of a B-twenty-nine, with no protruding fins."<br /><br />Captain Chiles said the cabin appeared like a pilot compartment, except for its eerie brilliance. Both he and Whitted agreed it was as bright as a magnesium flare. They saw no occupants, but at their speed this was not. surprising.<br /><br />"An intense dark-blue glow came from the side of the ship," Chiles reported. (It was later suggested by engineers that the strange glare could have come from a power plant of unusual type.) "It ran the entire length of the fuselage--like a blue fluorescent light. The exhaust was a red-orange flame, with a lighter color predominant around the outer edges."<br /><br />Both pilots said the flame extended thirty to fifty feet behind the ship. As it passed, Chiles noted a snout like a radar pole. Both he and Whitted glimpsed two rows of windows.<br /><br />"Just as it went by," said Chiles, "the pilot pulled up as if he had seen the DC-three and wanted to avoid its. There was a tremendous burst of flame from the rear. It zoomed into the clouds, its jet wash rocking our DC-three."<br /><br />Chiles's estimate of the mystery ship's speed was between five hundred and seven hundred miles an hour.<br /><br />As the object vanished, Chiles went back into the cabin to check with the passengers. Most had been asleep or were drowsing. But one man confirmed that they were in their right senses. This passenger, Clarence McKelvie of Columbus, Ohio, told them (and a Project "Saucer" team later) that he had seen a brilliant streak of light flash past his window. It had gone too swiftly for him to catch any details.<br /><br />The A.P. interviewed Mr. McKelvie soon after he landed, and ran the following story:<br /><br />{p. 69}<br /><br />"Kennett Square, Pa., July 24 (AP) . Clarence L. McKelvie, assistant managing editor of the American Education Press, said he was the only passenger on the EAL Houston-Boston plane who was not asleep when the phantom craft was sighted.<br /><br />"'I saw no shape or form,' Mr. McKelvie said. 'I was on the right side of the plane, and suddenly I saw this strange eerie streak out of my window. It was very intense, not like lightning or anything I had ever seen.'<br /><br />"The Columbus man said he was too startled and the object moved too quickly for him to adjust his eyes to it."<br /><br />In Washington, Air Force officials insisted they could shed no light on the mystery. Out in Santa Monica, General George C. Kenney, then chief of the Strategic Air Command, declared the Air Force had nothing remotely like the ship described.<br /><br />"I wish we did," General Kenney told reporters. "I'd sure like to see that."<br /><br />The publicized story of this "space ship" set off another scare--also the usual cracks about screwball pilots. But Chiles and Whitted were not screwballs; they were highly respected pilots. The passenger's confirmation added weight. But even if all three had been considered deluded, the Air Force investigators could not get around the reports from Robbins Air Force Base.<br /><br />Just about one hour before the DC-3 incident, a strange flaming object came racing southward through the night skies over Robbins Field, at Macon, Georgia. Observers at the air base were astounded to see what appeared to be a huge, wingless craft streak overhead, trailing a varicolored exhaust. (The witnesses' description tallied with those of Chiles and Whitted.) The mystery ship vanished swiftly; all observers agreed that it disappeared from the line of sight just like a normal aircraft.<br /><br />While I was working on this case, a contact in Washington gave me an interesting tip.<br /><br />"Within forty-eight hours after that Eastern sighting, Air Force engineers rushed out blueprint plans and elevations of the 'space ship,' based on what the two pilots told them."<br /><br />Whether or not this was true, I found that the Air<br /><br />{p. 70}<br /><br />Force engineers did compute the probable speed and lift of the mystery craft. The ship was found to be within the bounds of aerodynamic laws for operations in our atmosphere. Here is the Air Force statement:<br /><br />"Application of the Prandtl theory of lift indicated that a fuselage of the dimensions reported by Chiles and Whitted could support a load comparable to the weight of an aircraft of this size, at flying speeds in the sub-sonic range." (This supports Chiles's estimate of 500-700 m.p.h.)<br /><br />Four days after the space-ship story was published, a Navy spokesman was quoted as hinting it might have been a high-atmosphere rocket gone astray from the proving grounds in New Mexico. The brief report appeared on the editorial page of the Washington Star on July 28, 1947. It ran as follows:<br /><br />"The Navy says that naval technicians have been testing a 3,000-mile-per-hour rocket in New Mexico. If one went astray, it could travel across our continent in a short time."<br /><br />At first glance I thought this might be the real answer to the Chiles-Whitted case. But after a few minutes I saw it was almost impossible.<br /><br />First, rockets at White Sands are launched and controlled with utmost care. There have been no reported cases of such a long-distance runaway.<br /><br />Second, if such a rocket had gone astray, it would certainly have caused wild confusion at White Sands until they found where it landed. Hundreds of people would have known about it; the story would be certain to leak out.<br /><br />Third, such a rocket would have had to travel from White Sands to Macon, Georgia, then circle around south of this city for over forty minutes. (If it had kept on at the speed observed at Robbins Field, it would have passed Montgomery long before the DC-3 reached the area.) In addition, the rocket would have had to veer sharply away from the airliner, as both pilots testified, and then zoom into the clouds. No high-atmosphere test rocket has automatic controls such as this would require. {p. 71} And if it had gone astray from White Sands, the station's remote control would no longer be guiding it.<br /><br />The Eastern Airlines "space ship," then, was not just a fugitive rocket. But it could be a new type of aircraft, something revolutionary, developed in absolute secrecy.<br /><br />Other airline pilots had reported flying disks racing along the airways, though none that I knew of had described projectile-like objects. Chiles and Whitted insisted the mystery ship was not a disk, and the report from Robbins Field agreed on this point. Man-made devices or not, it seemed fairly certain there was more than one type of saucer.<br /><br />The more I studied the evidence, the harder it was to believe that this was an earth-made ship. Such a wingless rocket ship would require tremendous jet power to keep it in the air. Even our latest jet bombers could not begin to approach its performance.<br /><br />Going back over the Project "Saucer" preliminary report, I found strong evidence that the Air Force was worried. In their investigation, Project teams had screened 225 military and civilian flight schedules. After nine months, they reported that the mysterious object was no conventional aircraft.<br /><br />On April 27, 1949, the Air Force admitted that Project "Saucer" had failed to find the answer. The "space ship" was officially listed as unidentified.<br /><br />"But Wright Field is still working on it," an Air Force officer told me. "Both Chiles and Whitted are responsible pilots, and McKelvie has a reputation for making careful statements. Even without the Robbins Field confirmation, no one could doubt that they saw something."<br /><br />The Chiles-Whitted "space ship" was not the first of this type to be reported. Another wingless aircraft was sighted in August 1947, by two pilots for an Alabama flying service. It was at Bethel, Alabama, just after sunset, when a huge black wingless craft swept across their course. Silhouetted against the evening sky, it loomed larger than a C-54. The pilots saw no wings, motors, or jet exhausts.<br /><br />Swinging in behind the mystery ship, they attempted to follow. But at their speed of 170 m.p.h. they were quickly outdistanced. Careful checking showed there were no<br /><br />{p. 72}<br /><br />other planes nearby that could have been mistaken for this strange craft.<br /><br />On New Year's Day, 1948, a similar rocket-shaped object was sighted at Jackson, Mississippi. It was first seen by a former Air Force pilot and his passenger, and later by witnesses on the ground. Before the pilot could begin to close in, the odd wingless ship pulled away. Speeding up from 200 to 500 m.p.h., it swiftly disappeared.<br /><br />Besides these two cases, already on record, I had the tips Purdy had given me. One wingless ship was supposed to have been seen three or four days before the Chiles-Whitted sighting; like the thing they reported, the unidentified craft was a double-decked "space ship" but moving at even higher speed. At first I ran into a stone wall trying to check this story. Then I found a lead conforming that this was a foreign report. It finally proved to be from The Hague.<br /><br />The tip had been right. This double-decked, wingless ship had been sighted on July 20, 1948--four days before the Eastern case. Witnesses had reported it at a high altitude, moving at fantastic speed.<br /><br />While working on this report, I verified another tip. We had heard a rumor of a space-ship sighting at Clark Field, in the Philippine Islands. Although I didn't learn the date, I found that there was such a record.<br /><br />(In the final Project "Saucer" report, the attempt to explain away this sighting was painfully evident. Analyzing this case, Number 206, the Air Force said: "If the facts are correct, there is no astronomical explanation. A few points favor the daytime meteor hypothesis--snow-white color, speed faster than a jet, the roar, similarity to sky-writing and the time of day. But the tactics, if really performed, oppose it strenuously: the maneuvers in and out of cloud banks, turns of 180 degrees or more, Possibly these were illusions, caused by seeing the object intermittently through clouds. The impression of a fuselage with windows could even more easily have been a sign of imagination."<br /><br />(With this conjecture, Project "Saucer" listed the sighting as officially answered. The Hague space-ship case was unexplained.)<br /><br />{p. 73}<br /><br />In following up the Jackson and Bethel reports, I talked with two officials in the Civil Aeronautics Administration. One of these was Charley Planck, who handled public relations. I found that the pilots concerned had good records; C.A.A. men who knew them discounted the hoax theory.<br /><br />"Charley, there's a rumor that airline pilots have been ordered not to talk," I told Planck. "You know anything about it?"<br /><br />"You mean ordered by the Air Force or the companies?" he said.<br /><br />"The Air Force and the C.A.A."<br /><br />"If the C.A.A.'s in on it, it's a top-level deal," said Charley. "I think it's more likely the companies--with or without a nudge from the Air Force."<br /><br />While we were talking, an official from another agency came in. Because the lead he gave me was off the record, I'll call him Steve Barrett. I knew Steve fairly well. We were both pilots with service training; our paths had crossed during the war, and I saw him now and then at airports around Washington.<br /><br />When the saucer scare first broke, Steve had been disgusted. "Damn fools trying to get publicity," he snorted. "The way Americans fall for a gag! Even the Air Force has got the jitters."<br /><br />So I was a little surprised to find he now thought the disks were real.<br /><br />"What sold you?" I asked.<br /><br />"The radar reports," said Steve. "I know of half a dozen cases where they've tracked the things. One was in Japan. The thing was climbing so fast no one believed the radarmen at first. Then they got some more reports. One was up in Canada. There was a case in New Mexico, and I think a Navy destroyer tracked a saucer up in the North Atlantic."<br /><br />"What did they find out?" said Charley Planck.<br /><br />Steve shrugged. "I don't know all the answers. Whatever they are, the things can go like hell."<br /><br />I had a hunch he was holding back. I waited until he had finished with Charley, and then went, down the hall with him.<br /><br />{p. 74}<br /><br />"You think the saucers are guided missiles?" I said. "If I thought so, I wouldn't be talking," he said flatly, "That's not a dig at you. But I was cleared last year for some secret electronics work, and it might be used in some way with guided missiles."<br /><br />"I didn't know that, Steve."<br /><br />"It's O.K.," he said. "I don't mind talking, because can't believe the saucers are guided missiles. Maybe few of the things sighted out in the Southwest have beer our test rockets, but that doesn't explain the radar reports in Canada and Japan."<br /><br />"I'd already heard about a radar case in Labrador," I told Steve. He looked at me quickly.<br /><br />"Where'd you pick that up;"<br /><br />"True passed it on to me," I said.<br /><br />"They've had some trouble tracking the things, they maneuver so fast," said Steve. "It sounds crazy, but I've been told they hit more than ten thousand miles an hour."<br /><br />"You believe it.?"<br /><br />"Well, it's not impossible. Those saucers were tracked about fifty miles up, where there's not much resistance."<br /><br />The elevator door opened. Steve waited until we were outside of the Commerce Building.<br /><br />"There's one other thing that gets me," he said. "Unless the radar boys are way off, some of those saucers are enormous. I just can't see a guided missile five hundred feet in diameter." He stopped for a moment. "I suppose this will sound screwy to you--"<br /><br />"You think they're interplanetary," I said.<br /><br />Steve was quickly on the defensive. "I haven't bought it yet, but it's not as crazy as it sounds."<br /><br />Without mentioning names, I told him about the aircraft designer and the airline pilots.<br /><br />"They're in good company," said Steve. "You know the Air Institute?"<br /><br />"Sure--the Air Force school down at Montgomery."<br /><br />"Six months ago, I was talking with an officer who'd been instructing there." Steve looked at me, deadly serious. "He told me they are now teaching that the saucers are probably space ships."<br /><br />{p. 75}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER IX</span><br /><br />THREE DAYS after my meeting with Steve Barrett, I was on a Mainliner 300, starting, a new phase of the saucer investigation. By the time I returned, I hoped to know the truth about Project "Saucer."<br /><br />As the ship droned westward, fourteen thousand feet above the Alleghenies, I thought of what Steve had told me. I believed, that he had told me about the radar tracking. And I was fairly sure he believed the Air Institute story. But I wasn't so certain the story itself was true.<br /><br />It would hardly be a gag; Steve wasn't easily taken in. It was more likely that one Institute officer, or perhaps several, believed the saucers were space craft and aired their personal opinions. The Institute wasn't likely to give an official answer to something that Project "Saucer" still declared unsolved.<br /><br />If it were possible to get an inside look at Project "Saucer" operations, I could soon tell whether it was an actual investigation or a deliberate cover-up for something else. Whichever it was, the wall of official. secrecy still hid it.<br /><br />As a formality, I had called the Pentagon again and asked to talk with some of the Project officers. As I expected, I was turned down. The only alternative was to dig out the story by talking with pilots and others who had been. quizzed by Project teams. I had several leads, and True had arranged some interviews for me.<br /><br />My first stop was Chicago, where I met an airline official and two commercial pilots. I saw the pilots first. Since they both talked in confidence, I will not use their right names. One, a Midwesterner I already knew, I'll call Pete Farrell; the other, a wartime instructor, Art Green.<br /><br />Pete was about thirty-one, stocky, blue-eyed, with a pleasant, intelligent face. Art Green was a little older, a lean, sunburned, restless man with an emphatic voice. Pete had served with the Air Force during the war; he<br /><br />{p. 76}<br /><br />was now part owner of a flying school, also a pilot in the Air National Guard. Green was working for an air charter service<br /><br />We met at the Palmer House. Art Green didn't need much prompting to talk about Project "Saucer." After reporting a disk, seen during a West Coast Right, he had been thoroughly grilled by a Project "Saucer" team.<br /><br />"They practically took me apart," he said irritably. "They've got a lot of trick questions. Some of 'em are figured out to trip up anybody faking a story. The way they worked on me, you'd think I committed a murder.<br /><br />"Then they tried to sell me on the idea I'd seen a balloon, or maybe a plane, with the sun shining on it when it banked. I told them to go to the devil--I knew what I saw. After seventeen years, I've got enough sense to tell a ship or a balloon when I see it."<br /><br />"Did they believe you?" I asked him.<br /><br />"If they did, they didn't let on. Two of 'em acted as if they thought I was nuts. The other guy-I think he was Air Force Intelligence--acted decent. He said not to get steamed up about the Aero-Medical boys; it was their job to screen out the crackpots.<br /><br />"And on top of that, I found out later the F.B.I. had checked up on me to find out if I was a liar or a screwball. They went around to my boss, people in my neighborhood--even the pilots in my outfit. My outfit's still razzing me. I wouldn't report another saucer if one flew through my cockpit."<br /><br />Pete Farrell hadn't encountered any Project "Saucer" teams personally, but he had some interesting angles. Some of the information had come from commercial and private pilots in the Midwest, part of it through National Guard contacts.<br /><br />"I can tell you one thing," Pete said. "Guard pilots got the same order as the Air Force. If we saw anything peculiar flying around, we were to do our damnedest to identify it."<br /><br />"What about trying to bring one down? I've heard that was in one order."<br /><br />Pete hesitated for a second. "Look, I told you that much because it's been in the papers. But I'm still in the<br /><br />{p. 77}<br /><br />Guard. I can't tell you the order itself. It was confidential."<br /><br />"Well, I'm not in the Guard," said Art Green. He lit a cigarette, blew out the match. "Why don't you look into the Gorman case? Get thc dope on that court-martial angle."<br /><br />I'd heard of the Gorman case, but the court-martial thing was new to me. Gorman, I recalled, was a fighter pilot in the North Dakota Air National Guard. He had a mystifying encounter with a strange, fast-moving "light" over Fargo Airport in the fall of 1948.<br /><br />"That case is on my list," I told Green. "But I don't remember anything about a court-martial."<br /><br />"It wasn't in the papers. But all the pilots up that way know about it. In his report, Gorman said something about trying to ram the thing. The idea got around that Air Force orders had said to try this. Anyway, it got into the papers and Gorman almost got court-martialed. If his family hadn't had some influence in the state, the Air Force probably would have pushed it."<br /><br />"Are you sure about this?" I said. "You know how those things build up."<br /><br />"Ask Gorman," he said. "Or ask some of the pilots at Fargo."<br /><br />Before I left them, Green double-checked my report on his sighting, which Hilton had forwarded. As in the majority of cases, he had seen just one disk. It had hovered at a very high altitude, gleaming in the sun, then had suddenly accelerated and raced off to the north.<br /><br />"I couldn't tell its size or speed," said Green. "But if it was as high as I think, it must have been pretty big."<br /><br />Pete told me later that Green believed the disk had been at least twenty miles high, because it was well above clouds at thirty thousand feet.<br /><br />"It's kind of hard to believe," said Pete. "The thing would have to be a lot bigger than a B-twenty-nine, and the speed over two thousand miles an hour."<br /><br />"You know what they said about the Mantell saucer," I reminded him. "Some of the Godman Field people said it was at least three hundred feet in diameter."<br /><br />"I've heard it was twice that," said Pete.<br /><br />{p. 78}<br /><br />"You know any Kentucky National Guard pilots?" I asked.<br /><br />"One or two," said Pete. "But they couldn't tell me anything. It was hushed up too fast."<br /><br />That evening I talked with the airline official, whom I knew well enough to call by his first name. I put it to him bluntly.<br /><br />"Dick, if you're under orders not to talk, just tell me. Fm trying to find out whether Project 'Saucer' has muzzled airline pilots."<br /><br />"You mean the ones who've sighted things? Perhaps, in a few cases. But most of the pilots know what happened to Captain Emil Smith, on United, and those Eastern pilots. They keep still so they won't be laughed at. Also the airlines don't like their pilots to talk for publication."<br /><br />"I've heard of several cases," I said, "where Air Force Intelligence is supposed to have warned pilots to keep mum. Two of the reports come pretty straight."<br /><br />He made a gesture. "That could be. I'm not denying that airline pilots--and that includes ours--see these things all the time. They've been sighted on the Seattle-Alaska route, and between Anchorage and Japan. I know of several saucers that pilots have seen between Honolulu and the mainland. Check with Pan-American--you'll find their pilots have seen them, too."<br /><br />"What happens to those reports?"<br /><br />"They go to Operations," said Dick. "Of course, if something really important happens, the pilot may radio the tower before he lands. Then the C.A.A. gets word to the Air Force, and they rush some Intelligence officers to quiz the pilots. if it's not too hot, they'd come from Wright Field--regular Project 'Saucer' teams. Otherwise, they'd send the nearest Intelligence officers to take over temporarily."<br /><br />I asked him if he had ever been in on one of thee sessions. Dick said he hadn't.<br /><br />"But a couple of pilots talked to me later. They said these Air Force men seemed quite upset about it; they pounced on everything these boys said about the thing's appearance--how it maneuvered and so on."<br /><br />{p. 79}<br /><br />"What do your pilots think the saucers are?"<br /><br />Dick gave me a slightly ironic grin. "Why ask me? Captain Blake says you've been getting it firsthand."<br /><br />"I wasn't pulling a fast one," I protested. "We're not going to quote actual names or sources, unless people. O.K. it."<br /><br />"Sure, I know that," said Dick. "But you've got thc answer already. Some pilots say interplanetary, some say guided missiles. A few--a very few--still think it's all nonsense, because they haven't seen any."<br /><br />"What do you think?"<br /><br />"I don't know the answer," said Dick, "but I'm positive of one thing. Either the Air Force is sitting on a big secret, or they're badly scared because they don't know the answer."<br /><br />During the next week or so, I covered several northwest and mountain states. Although I was chiefly trying to find out about Project "Saucer," I ran onto two sightings that were not on my list.<br /><br />One of these had occurred in California, at Fairfield Suisan Air Force Base. A Seattle man who had been stationed there gave me the details. It was on the night of December 1918, with unusually high winds sweeping across the airfield. At times the gusts reached almost seventy miles an hour. Suddenly a weird ball of light flashed into view, at a height of a thousand feet. As the men on the base watched it, astonished, the mysterious light abruptly shot skyward. In an incredibly short time, it reached an altitude of twenty thousand feet and vanished.<br /><br />"Was there any shape outlined behind the light?" I asked the Seattle man.<br /><br />"Nobody saw any," he replied. "It looked just like I said--a ball of light, going like a streak."<br /><br />"Did it leave any smoke behind it?"<br /><br />"You mean like an engine, or a jet?" He shook his head. "Not a thing. And it didn't make a sound--even when it shot up like that."<br /><br />"Did you hear any guesses about it, or reports later on?"<br /><br />"Some major who didn't see it said it must have been<br /><br />{p. 80}<br /><br />a balloon. Anybody with brains could see that was screwy. No balloon ever went up that fast--and besides, the thing was going against the wind."<br /><br />The second incident occurred at Salmon Dam, Idaho, on August 13, 1947. When I heard the date, it sounded familiar. I checked my sightings file and saw it was the same day as the strange affair at Twin Falls, Idaho.<br /><br />In the Twin Falls case, the disk was sighted by observers in a canyon. There was one interesting difference from the usual description. This disk was sky-blue, or else its gleaming surface somehow reflected the sky because of the angle of vision. Although it was not close to the treetops, the observers were amazed to see the trees whip violently when the disk raced overhead, as though the air was boiling from the object's swift passage.<br /><br />At Salmon Dam, that same day, two miners heard an odd roaring sound and stared into the sky. Several miles away, two brightly gleaming disks were circling at high speed.<br /><br />"It was like two round mirrors whirling around the sky," one of the men was later quoted as saying. "They couldn't have been any ordinary planes; not round like that. And they were going too fast."<br /><br />During this part of my trip, I also was told that one saucer had fallen into a mountain lake. This came to me secondhand. The lone witness was said to have rushed over to his car to get his camera as the disk approached. When it plunged toward the lake, he was so startled that he failed to snap the picture until the moment it struck. This story sounded so flimsy that I didn't bother to list it.<br /><br />Months later, a Washington newsman confirmed at least part of the lake story. When he first related it, I thought he had fallen for a gag.<br /><br />"I heard that yarn," I said. "Don't tell me you believe it?"<br /><br />"I come from Idaho," he told me. "And I happen to know the fellow who took the picture. Maybe it wasn't a disk, but something fell into that lake."<br /><br />"Did you see the picture?"<br /><br />"Yes, at the Pentagon." At my surprised look, he added,<br /><br />{p. 81}<br /><br />"That was long before they clamped down. I was talking to an Air Force officer about this lake thing, and he showed me the picture."<br /><br />"What did it look like?"<br /><br />"You couldn't tell much about it-just a big splash and a blur where something went under. Maybe a magnifying glass would bring it out, but I didn't get a chance to try it."<br /><br />It was early in 1950 when he told me this. I asked at the Pentagon if this picture was in the Wright Field files, and if so whether I could see it. My inquiries drew blank looks. No one remembered such a photograph. And even if it were in the Project "Saucer" files, I couldn't see it.<br /><br />This was more than two months after Project "Saucer" had been officially closed and its secrets presumably all revealed.<br /><br /> <br /><br />The rest of my interviews during this 1949 trip helped to round out my picture of Project "Saucer" operations.<br /><br />Some witnesses seemed afraid to talk; a few flatly refused. I found no proof of official pressure, but I frequently had the feeling that strong hints had been dropped.<br /><br />Though one or two witnesses showed resentment at investigators' methods, most of them seemed more annoyed at the loss of time involved. One man had been checked first by the police, then by the sheriff's office; an Air Force team had spent hours questioning him, returning the next day, and finally the F.B.I. had made a character check. What he told me about the Air Force interrogation confirmed one of Art Green's statements.<br /><br />"One Intelligence captain tried to tell me I'd seen a weather balloon. I called up the airport and had them check on release schedules. They said next day it didn't fit any schedules around this area. Anyway, the wind wasn't right, because the thing I saw was cutting into the wind at a forty-five-degree angle."<br /><br />Other witnesses told me that investigators had suggested birds, meteors, reflections on clouds, shooting stars, and starshells as probable explanations of what they had seen. I learned of one pilot who had been<br /><br />{p. 82}<br /><br />startled by seeing a group of disks racing past his plane. Air Force investigators later suggested that he had flown through a flock of birds, or perhaps a cluster of balloons,<br /><br />On the flight back to Washington, I reread all the information the Air Force had released on Project "Saucer." Suddenly a familiar phrase caught my eye. I read over the paragraph again:<br /><br />"Preliminary study of the more than 240 domestic and thirty foreign incidents by Astro-Physicist Hynek indicates that an over-all total of about 30% can probably be explained away as astronomical phenomena."<br /><br />Explained away.<br /><br />I went through the report line by line. On page 17 I found this:<br /><br />"Available preliminary reports now indicate that a great number of sightings can be explained away as ordinary occurrences which have been misrepresented as a result of human errors."<br /><br />On page 22 I ran onto another use of the phrase:<br /><br />"The obvious explanation for most of the spherical-shaped objects reported, as already mentioned, is that they are meteorological or similar type balloons. This, however, does not explain reports that they travel at high speed or maneuver rapidly. But 'Saucer' men point out that the movement could be explained away as an optical illusion or actual acceleration of the balloon caused by a gas leak and later exaggerated by observers. . . . There are scores of possible explanations for the scores of different type sightings reported."<br /><br />Explained away . . . It might not mean anything. It could be just an unfortunate choice of words. But suppose that the real mission of Project "Saucer" was to cover up something. Or that its purpose was to investigate something serious, at the same time covering it up, step by step. The Project "Saucer" teams, then, would check on reports and simultaneously try to divert attention from the truth, suggesting various answers to explain the sightings. Back at Wright Field, analysts and Intelligence officers would go over the general picture and try to work up plausible explanations, which, if necessary, could even be published.<br /><br />{p. 83}<br /><br />"Explaining away" would be one of the main purposes of Project personnel. These words would probably be used in discussions of ways and means; they would undoubtedly would be used in secret official papers. And since this published preliminary report had been made up from censored secret files, the use of those familiar words might have been overlooked, since, read casually, they would appear harmless. If the report had been thrown together hastily, the use of these telltale words could be easily understood, and so could the report's strange contradictions.<br /><br />As an experiment, I fixed the idea firmly in mind that Project "Saucer" was a cover-up unit. Then I went back once more and read the items quoted above. The effect was almost startling.<br /><br />It was as though I were reading confidential suggestions for diverting attention and explaining away the sightings; suggestions made by Project members and probably circulated for comment.<br /><br />"Now, wait a minute," I said to myself. "You may be dreaming up this whole thing."<br /><br />Trying to get back to a neutral viewpoint, I skimmed through the other details of Project operations, as described in the report.<br /><br />The order creating Project "Saucer" was signed on December 30, 1947. (The actual code name was not "Saucer," but since for some reason the Air Force still has not published the name, I have followed their usage of "Saucer" in its place.)<br /><br />On January 22, 1948, two weeks after Captain Mantell's death, the project officially began operations. (Preliminary investigation at Godman Field had been done by local Intelligence officers.) Project "Saucer" was set up under the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field.<br /><br />Contracts were made with an astrophysicist (Professor Joseph Hynek), also a prominent scientist (still unidentified), and a group of evaluation experts (Rand Corporation). Arrangements were made for services by the Air Weather Service, Andrews Field; the U. S. Weather Bureau; the Electronics Laboratory, Cambridge Field Station; the A.M.C. Aero-Medical Laboratory; the Army<br /><br />{p. 84}<br /><br />and Navy Departments; the F.B.I.; the Department of Commerce, Civil Aeronautics Administration; and various other government and private agencies. In addition, the services of rocket experts, guided-missile authorities, space-travel planners, and others (in the defense services or assigned to them) were made available as desired. Under the heading "How Incidents Are Investigated," the Project "Saucer" report says:<br /><br />But the hoaxes and crank letters in reality play a small part in Project "Saucer."<br /><br />Actually, it is a serious, scientific business of constant investigation, analysis and evaluation which thus far has yielded evidence pointing to the conclusion that much of the saucer scare is no scare at all, but can be attributed to astronomical phenomena, to conventional aerial objects, to hallucinations and to mass psychology.<br /><br />But the mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project "Saucer" personnel and the civilian population. Investigation is greatly stepped up when observers report incidents as soon as possible to the nearest military installation or to Headquarters, A.M.C., direct.<br /><br />A standard questionnaire is filled out under the guidance of interrogators. In each case, time, location, size and shape of object, approximate altitude, speed, maneuvers, color, length of time in sight, sound, etc., are carefully noted. This information is sent in its entirety, together with any fragments, soil photographs, drawings, etc., to Headquarters, A.M.C. Here, highly trained evaluation teams take over. The information is broken down and filed on summary sheets, plotted on maps and graphs and integrated with the rest of the material, giving an easily comprehended over-all picture.<br /><br />Duplicate copies on each incident arc sent to other investigating agencies, including technical labs within the Air Materiel Command. These are studied in relation to many factors such as guided missile research<br /><br />{p. 85}<br /><br />activity, weather, and many others, atmospheric sounding balloon launchings, commercial and military aircraft flights, flights of migratory birds and a myriad of other considerations which might furnish explanations.<br /><br />Generally, the flying objects are divided into four groups: Flying disks, torpedo or cigar-shaped bodies with no wings or fins visible in flight, spherical or balloon-shaped objects and balls of light. The first three groups are capable of flight by aerodynamic or aerostatic means and can be propelled and controlled by methods known to aeronautical engineers. As for the lights, their actions--unless they were suspended from a higher object or were the product of hallucination--remain unexplained.<br /><br />Eventually, reports are sent back to Project "Saucer" headquarters, often marking incidents closed. The project, however, is a young one-much of its investigation is still under way.<br /><br />Currently, a psychological analysis is being made by A.M.C.'s Aero-Medical laboratory to determine what percentage of incidents are probably based on errors of the human mind and senses. Available preliminary reports now indicate that a great number can be explained away as ordinary occurrences which have been misrepresented as a result of these human errors.<br /><br />Near the end of the last page, a paragraph summed tip the report.<br /><br />"The 'Saucers' are not a joke. Neither are they cause for alarm to the population. Many of the incidents already have answers. Meteors. Balloons. Falling stars. Birds in flight. Testing devices, etc. Some of them still end in question marks."<br /><br />From what I had learned on this trip, I strongly doubted the answer suggested. All but the "testing devices." What did they mean by that? It could be a hint at guided missiles; they had already mentioned guided-missile research activity in another spot.<br /><br />But if that was what lay behind this elaborate project,<br /><br />{p. 86}<br /><br />they would hardly be hinting at it. If the answer was space travel, then such hints made sense, They would be part of the cover-up plan. Everyone--including the Soviet Union--knew we were working on guided missiles. It would do no harm to use this as one of the "myriad explanations" for the flying saucers.<br /><br />I was still trying to figure it out when my plane let down for the landing at Washington. I had hoped by this time to know the truth about Project "Saucer." Instead, it was a deeper mystery than ever.<br /><br />True, I had found out how they operated--outside of Wright Field. Some of the incidents had been enlightening. By now, I was certain that Project "Saucer" was trying hard to explain away the sightings and hide the real answer.<br /><br />{p. 87}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER X</span><br /><br />WHEN I reached home, I found a brief letter from Ken Purdy.<br /><br />Dear Don:<br /><br />The Mantell and Eastern cases both look good. I don't see how they can brush them off. It looks more like the interplanetary answer to me, but we won't decide on treatment until we're sure. [I had suggested two or three angles, if this proved the real answer.]<br /><br />Who would be the best authority to check our disk operation theory and give us more details on directional control? I'd like to have it checked by two more engineers.<br /><br />KEN<br /><br />Next day, I dug out my copy of Boal's interview with D------, the famous aircraft designer.<br /><br />"Certainly the flying saucers are possible," the designer had told Boal. "Give me enough money and I'll build you one. It might have to be a model because the fuel would be a problem. If the saucers that have been seen came from other worlds, which isn't at all Buck Rogerish, they may be powered with atomic energy or by the energy that produces cosmic rays--which is many times more powerful--or by some other fuel or natural force that our research hasn't yet discovered. But the circular airfoil is quite feasible.<br /><br />"It wouldn't have the stability of the conventional airplane, but it would have enormous maneuverability--it could rise vertically, hover, descend vertically, and fly at extremely high speed, with the proper power. Don't take my word for it. Check with other engineers."<br /><br />Before looking up a private engineer I had in mind, I went to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The N.A.C.A. {the predecessor of NASA--jbh} is America's most authoritative source of aerodynamic knowledge. I knew they had already tried<br /><br />{p. 88}<br /><br />out disk-shaped airfoils, and I asked about this first. I found that two official N.A.C.A. reports, Technical Note 539 and Report 431, discuss tests on circular and elliptical Clark Y airfoils. Both reports state that these designs were found practical.<br /><br />Later, I talked with one of the top engineers in the N.A.C.A. Without showing him D------'s sketch, I asked how a disk might operate.<br /><br />"It could be built with variable-direction jet or rocket nozzles," be said. "The nozzles would be placed around the rim, and by changing their direction the disk could be made to rise and descend vertically. It could hover, fly straight ahead, and make sharp turns.<br /><br />"Its direction and velocity would be governed by the number of nozzles operating, the power applied, and the angle at which they were tilted. They could be pointed toward the ground, rearward, in a lateral direction, or in various combinations.<br /><br />"A disk flying level, straight ahead, could be turned swiftly to right or left by shifting the angles of the nozzles or cutting off power from part of the group. This method of control would operate in the earth's atmosphere and also, using rocket power, in free space, where conventional controls would be useless."<br /><br />The method he had described was not the one which D------ had outlined.<br /><br />"What about a rotating disk?" I asked the N.A.C.A. man. "Suppose you had one with a stationary center, and a large circular section rotating around it? The rotating part would have a camber built into it, or it would have slotted vanes."<br /><br />He gave me a curious look, "Where'd you get that idea about the camber?"<br /><br />I told him it had come to me from True.<br /><br />"It could be done," he said. "The slotted-vanes method has already been tried. There's an engineer in Glendale, California, who's built a model. His name's E. W. Kay."<br /><br />He gave me a few details on how a cambered or slotted-vane rotating disk might operate, then interrupted himself to ask me what I thought the saucers were.<br /><br />{p. 89}<br /><br />"They're either interplanetary or some secret development," I said. 'What do you think?"<br /><br />"The N.A.C.A. has no proof they even exist," he answered.<br /><br />When I left the building a few minutes later, I was still weighing that statement. If the Air Force or the Navy had a secret disk device, the N.A.C.A. would almost certainly know about it. The chances were that any disk-shaped missile or new type of circular aircraft would first have been tested in the N.A.C.A. wind tunnels at Langley Field. If the saucers were interplanetary, the N.A.C.A.--at least top officials--would probably have been in on any discussion of the disks' performance. Either way, the N.A.C.A.'s official attitude could be expected to match the Pentagon's.<br /><br />After lunch, I took a taxi to the office of the private engineer. Like D------, he has asked that he not be quoted by name. The name I am using, Paul Redell, will serve that purpose. Redell is a well-known aeronautical engineer. He has worked with major aircraft companies and served as a special consultant to government agencies and the industries. He is also a competent pilot.<br /><br />Although I had known him several years, he refused at first to talk about the saucers. Then I realized he thought I meant to quote him. I showed him some of the material I had roughed out, in which names were omitted or changed as requested.<br /><br />"All right," Redell said finally. "What do you want to know?"<br /><br />"Anything you can tell us. But first, your ideas on these sketches." I showed him D------'s drawings and then gave him the high points of the investigation. When I mentioned the mystery-light incident at Fairfield Suisan Air Force Base, Redell sat up quickly.<br /><br />"The Gorman case again!"<br /><br />"We heard about some other 'light' cases," I said. "One was at Las Vegas."<br /><br />"I know about that one. That is, it you mean the green light--wait a minute!" Redell frowned into space for a few seconds, "You say that Fairfield Suisan sighting<br /><br />{p. 90}<br /><br />was on December third? Then the Las Vegas sighting was only a few days later. It was the first week of the month, I'm positive."<br /><br />"Those light reports have got me stumped," I said. "A light just can't fly around by itself. And those two-foot disks--"<br /><br />"You haven't worked on the Gorman case?" asked Redell.<br /><br />I told him I hadn't thought it was coming up on my schedule.<br /><br />"Leave these sketches here," he said. "Look into that Gorman sighting. Then check on our plans for space exploration. I'll give you some sources. When you get through, come on back and we'll talk it over."<br /><br />The Gorman "saucer dogfight" had been described in newspapers; the pilot had reported chasing a swiftly maneuvering white light, which had finally escaped him. Judging from the Project "Saucer" preliminary report, this case had baffled all the Air Force investigators. When I met George Gorman, I found him to be intelligent, coolheaded, and very firmly convinced of every detail in his story. I had learned something about his background. He had had college training. During the war, he had been an Air Force instructor, training French student pilots. In Fargo, his home, he had a good reputation, not only for veracity but as a businessman. Only twenty-six, he was part owner of a construction company, and also the Fargo representative for a hardware-store chain. Even knowing all this, I found it hard at first to believe some of the dogfight details. But the ground observers confirmed them.<br /><br />It was about nine o'clock in the evening, October 1, 1948. Gorman, now an Air National Guard lieutenant, had been on a practice flight in an F-51 fighter. The other pilots on this practice patrol had already landed. Gorman had just been cleared by the C.A.A. operator in the Fargo Airport tower when he saw a fast-moving light below his circling fighter.<br /><br />From his altitude, 4,500 feet, it appeared to be the tail light of a swiftly flying plane. As nearly as he could tell, it was 1,000 feet high, moving at about 250 m.p.h.<br /><br />{p. 91}<br /><br />Gorman called the tower to recheck his clearance. He was told the only other plane in the area was a Piper Cub. Gorman Could see the Cub plainly outlined below him. There was a night football game going on, and the field was brightly lighted.<br /><br />But the Cub was nowhere near the strange light.<br /><br />As the mystery light raced above the football field. Gorman noticed an odd phenomenon. Instead of seeing the silhouette of a plane, he saw no shape at all around the light. By contrast, he could see the Cub's outline clearly.<br /><br />Meantime, the airport traffic controller, L. D. Jensen, had also spotted the queer light. Concerned with the danger of collision--he said later that he, too, thought it a plane's tail light--he trained his binoculars on it. Like Gorman, he was unable to distinguish a shape near the light. Neither could another C.A.A. man who was with him in the tower, a Fargo resident named Manuel E. Johnson.<br /><br />Up in the F-51, Gorman dived on the light, which was steadily blinking on and off.<br /><br />"As I closed in," he told Project "Saucer" men later, "it suddenly became steady and pulled up into a sharp left turn. It was a clear white and completely roundabout six to eight inches in diameter.<br /><br />"I thought it was making a pass at the tower. I dived after it and brought my manifold pressure up to sixty, but I couldn't catch the thing."<br /><br />Gorman reported his speed at full power as 350 to 400 miles per hour. During the maneuvers that followed, both the C.A.A. men watched from the tower. Jensen was using powerful night glasses, but still no shape was visible near the mysterious light. The fantastic dogfight continued for twenty minutes. Gorman described it in detail.<br /><br />"When I attempted to turn with the light, I blacked out temporarily, owing to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition, and I don't believe there are many, if any, pilots who could withstand the turn and speed effected by the light and remain conscious."<br /><br />{p. 92}<br /><br />During these sharp maneuvers, the light climbed quickly, then made another left bank.<br /><br />"I put my fifty-one into a sharp turn and tried to cut it off," said Gorman. "By then we were at about seven thousand feet, Suddenly it made a sharp right turn and we headed straight at each other. Just when we were about to collide I guess I lost my nerve. I went into a dive and the light passed over my canopy at about five hundred feet. Then it made a left circle about one thousand feet above and I gave chase again."<br /><br />When collision seemed imminent a second time, the object shot straight into the air. Gorman climbed after it at full throttle.<br /><br />Just about this time, two. other witnesses, a private pilot and his passenger, saw the fast-moving light. The pilot was Dr. A. D. Cannon, an oculist; his passenger was Einar Nelson. Dr. Cannon later told investigators the light was moving at high speed. He thought it might be a Canadian jet fighter from over the border. (A careful check with Canadian air officials ruled out this answer.) After landing at the airport, Dr. Cannon and Mr. Nelson again watched the light, saw it change direction and disappear.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Gorman was making desperate efforts to catch the thing. He was now determined to ram it, since there seemed nothing solid behind it to cause a dangerous crash. If his fighter was disabled, or if it caught fire, he could bail out.<br /><br />But despite the F-51's fast climb, the light still outdistanced him. At 14,000 feet, Gorman's plane went into a power stall, He made one last try, climbing up to 17,000 feet. A few moments later, the light turned in a north-northwest direction and quickly disappeared.<br /><br />Throughout the dogfight, Gorman noticed no deviation on his instruments, according to the Project "Saucer" report. Gorman did not confirm or deny this when I talked with him. But he did agree with the rest of the Project statement. He did not notice any sound, odor, or exhaust trail.<br /><br />Gorman's remarks about ramming the light reminded me of what Art Green had said. When I asked Gorman<br /><br />{p. 93}<br /><br />about the court-martial rumor, he gave me a searching glance.<br /><br />"Where did you hear that?"<br /><br />"Several places," I told him. "At Chicago, in Salt Lake City--in fact, we've been hearing it all over."<br /><br />"Well, there's nothing to it," Gorman declared. He changed the subject.<br /><br />Some time afterward, a Fargo pilot told me there had been trouble over the ramming story.<br /><br />"But it wasn't Gorman's fault. Somebody else released that report to the A. P. The news story didn't actually say there was an Air Force order to ram it, but the idea got around, and we heard that Washington squawked. Gorman had a pretty rough time of it for a while. Some of the newspapers razzed his story. And the Project 'Saucer' teams really worked on him. I guess they were trying to scare him into saying he was mistaken, and it was a balloon."<br /><br />When I asked Gorman about this, he denied he'd had rough treatment by the Project teams.<br /><br />"Sure, they asked about a thousand questions, and I could tell they thought it might be a hoax at first. But that was before they quizzed the others who saw it."<br /><br />"Anybody suggest it was a balloon?" I said casually.<br /><br />"At first, they were sure that's what it was," answered Gorman. "You see, there was a weather balloon released here. You know the kind, it has a lighted candle on it. The Project teams said I'd chased after that candle and just imagined the light's maneuvers--confused it with my own movement, because of the dark."<br /><br />Gorman grinned. "They had it just about wrapped up--until they talked to George Sanderson. He's the weather observer. He was tracking the balloon with a theodolite, and he showed them his records. The time and altitudes didn't fit, and the wind direction was wrong. The balloon was drifting in the opposite direction. Both the tower men backed him up. So that killed the weather-balloon idea."<br /><br />The next step by Project "Saucer" investigators had been to look for some unidentified aircraft. This failed, too. Obviously, it was only routine; the outline of a conventional<br /><br />{p. 94}<br /><br />plane would certainly have been seen by Gorman and the men in the tower.<br /><br />An astronomical check by Professor Hynek ruled out stars, fireballs, and comets--a vain hope, to begin with. The only other conventional answer, as the Project report later stated, was hallucination. In view of all the testimony, hallucination had to he ruled out. Finally, the investigators admitted they had no solution.<br /><br />The first Project "Saucer" report, on April 27, 1949, left the Gorman "mystery light" unidentified.<br /><br />In the Saturday Evening Post of May 7, 1949, Sidney Shallett analyzed the Gorman case, in the second of his articles on flying saucers. Shallet suggested this solution: that Gorman had chased one of the Navy's giant cosmic-ray research balloons. Each of these huge balloons is lighted, so that night-flying planes will not collide with the gas bag or the instrument case suspended below. Shallett concluded that Gorman was suffering from a combination of vertigo and confusion with the light on the balloon.<br /><br />As already mentioned, these huge Navy balloons are filled with only a small amount of helium before their release at Minneapolis. They then rise swiftly to very high altitudes, unless a leak develops. In Shallett's words, "These balloons travel high and fast. . . ."<br /><br />Fargo is about two hundred miles from Minneapolis. Normally, a cosmic-ray research balloon would have reached a very high altitude by the time it had drifted this far. The only possible answer to its low-altitude sighting would be a serious leak.<br /><br />If a leaking balloon had come down to one thousand feet at Fargo, it would either have remained at that height or kept on descending. The mystery light was observed at this altitude moving at high speed. If a Cub's outline was visible against the lighted football field, the massive shape of even a partly deflated balloon would have stood out like an elephant. Even before release, the partially inflated gas bags are almost a hundred feet tall. The crowd at the football game would certainly have seen such a monstrous shape above the glare of the floodlights, for the plastic balloons gleam brightly<br /><br />{p. 95}<br /><br />in any light rays. The two C.A.A. men, watching with binoculars, could not possibly have missed it.<br /><br />For the cosmic-balloon answer to be correct, this leaking gas bag would have had to rise swiftly to seventeen thousand feet--after a loss of helium had forced it down to one thousand. As a balloon pilot, I know this is impossible. The Project "Saucer" report said unequivocally: "The object could outturn and outspeed the F-51, and was able to attain a much steeper climb and to maintain a constant rate of climb far in excess of the Air Force fighter."<br /><br />A leaking balloon? More and more, I became convinced that Secretary Forrestal had persuaded some editors that it was their patriotic duty to conceal the answer, whatever it was.<br /><br />That thought had begun to worry me, because of my part in this investigation. Perhaps John Steele had been right, and we shouldn't be trying to dig out the answer. But I had already told Purdy, and he had agreed, that if national security was involved, we would drop the thing completely.<br /><br />By the time I had proved the balloon answer wrong, I was badly puzzled. The idea of a disembodied light was the hardest thing to swallow that I'd come across so far.<br /><br />And yet there were the other light reports--the strange sighting at Fairfield Suisan Field, the weird green lights at Las Vegas and Albuquerque. And there was the encounter that Lieutenant H. G. Combs had had one night above Andrews Field, near Washington, D. C.<br /><br />This incident had occurred on November 18, 1948, six weeks after Gorman's experience. Combs, flying with another lieutenant named Jackson, was about to land his T-6, at 9:45 P.M., when a strange object loomed up near him. It looked like a grayish globe, and it gave off an odd, fuzzy light.<br /><br />Combs chased the weird object for over ten minutes, during which it appeared to evade every move he made. Once, its speed was nearly six hundred miles an hour, as closely as he could estimate. In a final attempt to identify it, Combs zoomed the T-6 up at a steep angle<br /><br />{p. 96}<br /><br />and flashed his landing lights on it. Before he could get a good look, the globe light whirled off to the east and vanished.<br /><br />Since Combs's story had been in the newspapers, Project "Saucer" evidently had felt in wise to give some explanation. When I read it, in the preliminary report, I was amazed. Here was the concluding sentence:<br /><br />"The mystery was cleared up when the object was identified positively as a cluster of cosmic-ray research balloons."<br /><br />Even one of the giant balloons would have been hard to take as the explanation. Combs was almost sure to have collided with it in his head-on passes. But an entire cluster! I tried to picture the T-6 zooming and twisting through the night sky, with several huge balloons in its path. It would be a miracle if Combs got through without hitting one of them, even if each balloon was lighted. But he had seen only one light; so had Lieutenant Jackson. That would mean all the rest of the balloons were unlighted--an unbelievable coincidence.<br /><br />It was not until months afterward that I found Project "Saucer" had withdrawn this "solution." In its final report, this case, Number 207, was listed in the "Unidentified" group. How the balloon-cluster explanation ever got into the first report is still a mystery.<br /><br />When I talked with Gorman, I told him I was baffled by the idea of a light maneuvering through the skies with no airfoil to support it.<br /><br />"I know," he said. "It got me, too, at first."<br /><br />"You mean you know the answer?" I demanded.<br /><br />"It's just my personal opinion," said Gorman. "But I'd rather not have it printed. You see, I got some ideas from all the questions those Project teams asked me. If my hunch turns out to be right, I might be talking about an official secret."<br /><br />I tried to pry some hint out of him, but Gorman just smiled and shook his head.<br /><br />"I can tell you this much," he said, "because it's been mentioned in print. There was thought behind every move the light made. It wasn't any radar-responder gadget making it veer away from my ship."<br /><br />{p. 97}<br /><br />"How do you know that?"<br /><br />"Because it reacted differently at different times. If it had been a mechanical control, it would have turned or climbed the same way each time I got near it. Instead, it was as if some intelligent mind was directing every turn like a game of chess, and always one move ahead of me. Maybe you can figure out the rest."<br /><br />That was all I could get out of him. It bothered me, because Combs's report indicated the same thing. I had a strong temptation to skip the space-plans research and tell Redell what Gorman had told me. But Redell had an orderly mind, and he didn't like to be pushed.<br /><br />Reluctantly, I gave up the idea. I had a feeling Redell knew the answer to the mystery lights, and it wasn't easy to put off the solution.<br /><br />The letter that came from Art Green, while I was working on the space plans, didn't make it easier:<br /><br />Dear Keyhoe:<br /><br />Just heard about your Seattle visit. That Fairfield Suisan thing is on the level; several Air Force pilots have told me about it.<br /><br />When you get to Fargo, ask Gorman what they found when they checked his ship with a Geiger counter. If he says it was negative, then he must be under orders. I happen to know better.<br /><br />Yours, <br />ART GREEN<br /><br />{p. 98}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XI</span><br /><br />MY FIRST STEP, in checking on our space plans, was to look up official announcements. I found that on December 29, 1948, Defense Secretary James Forrestal had released this official statement:<br /><br />"The Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, which is being carried out independently by each military service, has been assigned to the Committee on Guided Missiles for co-ordination.<br /><br />"To provide an integrated program, the Committee has recommended that current efforts be limited to studies and component design. Well-defined areas of such research have been allocated to each of the three military departments."<br /><br />Appropriation bills had already provided funds for space exploration plans. The Air Force research was indicated by General Curtis E. LeMay, who was then Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development. In outlining plans for an Air Engineering Design Center at Wright Field, General LeMay included these space-exploration requisites:<br /><br />"Flight and survival equipment for ultra-atmospheric operations, including space vehicles, space bases, and devices for use therein."<br /><br />The idea of exploring space is, of course, nothing new. For many years, writers of imaginative fiction have described trips to the moon and distant planets. More recently, comic books and strips have gone in heavily for space-travel adventures.<br /><br />As a natural result of this, the first serious rocket experiments in this country were labeled screwball stunts, about on a par with efforts to break through the sonic barrier. The latter had been "proved" impossible by aeronautical engineers; as for rocket flight, it was too silly for serious consideration. Pendray, Goddard, and other rocket pioneers took some vicious ridicule before America woke up to the possibilities.<br /><br />Meantime, German scientists had gone far ahead.<br /><br />{p. 98}<br /><br />Their buzz bomb, a low-altitude semi-guided missile, was just the beginning. Even the devastating V-2, which soared high into the stratosphere before falling on England, was just a step in their tremendous space program. If the Nazis could have hung on a year or two more, the war might have had a grimly different ending.<br /><br />When the Allies seized Nazi secrets, some of the German plans were revealed. Among them was one for a huge earth satellite. From this base, which would circle the earth some five hundred miles away, enormous mirrors would focus the sun's rays on any desired spot. The result: swift, fiery destruction of any city or base refusing to surrender.<br /><br />First publication of this scheme brought the usual jeers. Many people, including some reputable scientists, believed it had been just a propaganda plan that even Goebbels had discarded as hopeless.<br /><br />Then the Pentagon announced the U.S. Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, along with plans for a moon rocket, The artificial satellite is to be a large rocket-propelled projectile. In its upward flight, it will have to reach a speed of 23,000 miles an hour, to escape the earth's pull of gravity. At a height of about 500 miles, special controls will turn the projectile and cause it to circle the earth. These controls will be either automatic or operated from the ground, by radar. Theoretically, once such a vehicle is beyond gravity's magnetism, it can coast along in the sky forever. Its rocket power will be shut off; the only need for such power would be if the satellite veered off course. A momentary burst from the jets would be sufficient to bring it back to its orbit.<br /><br />Circling the earth in about two hours, this first satellite is expected to be used as a testing station. Instruments will record and transmit vital information to the earth--the effect of cosmic rays, solar radiation, fuel required for course corrections, and many other items.<br /><br />A second space base farther out will probably be the next step. It may be manned, or it may be under remote control like the first. Perhaps the first satellite vehicle will be followed by a compartmented operating base, a sort of aerial aircraft carrier, with other rocket<br /><br />{p. 100}<br /><br />ships operating to and fro on the earth shuttle. The moon rocket is expected to add to our information about space, so that finally we will emerge with an interplanetary space craft.<br /><br />The first attempts may fail. The first satellite may fall back and have to be guided to an ocean landing. Or its controls might not bring it into the planned orbit. In this case, it could coast on out into space and be lost. But sooner or later, effective controls will be found. Then the manned space ships will follow.<br /><br />Once in free space, there will be no gravitational pull to offset. The space ship and everything in it will be weightless. Shielding is expected to prevent danger from cosmic rays and solar radiation.<br /><br />The danger from meteorites has been partly discounted in one scientific study. ("Probability that a meteorite will hit or penetrate a body situated in the vicinity of the earth," by G. Grimminger, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 947-956, October 1948) In this study, it is stated that a meteorite is unlikely to penetrate the thick shell our space vehicles will undoubtedly have. However, this applies only to the earth's atmosphere. Longer studies, using remote-controlled vehicles in space, may take years before it will be safe to launch a manned space ship. Radar or other devices may have to be developed to detect approaching meteorites at a distance and automatically change a space ship's course. The change required would be infinitesimal, using power for only a fraction of a second.<br /><br />But before we are ready for interplanetary travel, we will have to harness atomic power or some other force not now available, such as cosmic rays. Navigation at such tremendous speeds is another great problem, on which special groups are now at work. A Navy scientific project recently found that strange radio signals are constantly being sent out from a "hot spot" in the Milky Way; other nebulae or "hot" stars may be similarly identified by some peculiarity in their radio emanations. If so, these could be used as check points in long-range space travel.<br /><br />Escape from the earth's gravity is possible even now,<br /><br />{p. 101}<br /><br />according to Francis H. Clauser, an authority on space travel plans. But the cost would be prohibitive, with our present rocket motors, and practical operations must wait for higher velocity rocket power, atomic or otherwise. ("Flight beyond the Earth's Atmosphere, "S.A.E. Quarterly Transactions, Vol. 2, No, 4, October 1948.)<br /><br />Already, a two-stage rocket has gone more than 250 miles above the earth. This is the V-2-Wac Corporal combination. The V-2 rocket is used to power the first part of the flight, dropping off when its fuel is exhausted. The Wac Corporal then proceeds on its own fuel, reaching a fantastic speed in the thin air higher up.<br /><br />Hundreds of technical problems must be licked before the first satellite vehicle can be launched successfully. Records on our V-2 rockets indicate some of the obstacles. On the take-off, their present swift acceleration would undoubtedly kill anyone inside. When re-entering the earth's atmosphere the nose of a V-2 gets red-hot.<br /><br />Both the acceleration and deceleration must be controlled before the first volunteers will be allowed to hazard their lives in manned rockets. Willi Ley, noted authority on space-travel problems, believes that pilots may have to accept temporary blackout as a necessity on the take-off. (Two of his books, Rockets and Space Travel and Outer Space, give fascinating and well-thought-out pictures of what we may expect in years to come.)<br /><br />Some authorities believe that our space travel will be confined to our own solar system for a long time, perhaps forever. The trip to the moon, though now a tremendous project, would be relatively simple compared with a journey outside our system. Escape from the moon, for the return trip, would be easier than leaving the earth; because of its smaller mass, to escape the moon's gravitational pull would take a speed of about 5,000 miles an hour, against 23,000 for the earth. Navigation would be much simpler. Our globe would loom up in the heavens, much larger and brighter than the moon appears to us. Radar beams would also be a guide.<br /><br />The greatest obstacle to reaching far-distant planet is the time required. In the Project "Saucer" study of<br /><br />{p. 102}<br /><br />space travel, Wolf 359 was named as the nearest star likely to have possibly inhabited areas. Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the earth. The limiting speed in space, according to Einstein's law, would be just under the speed of light--186,000 miles per second. At this speed, Einstein states, matter is converted into energy. It is a ridiculous assumption, but even if atomic power, or some force such as cosmic rays, made an approach to that speed possible, it would still take eight years to reach Wolf 359. The round trip would take sixteen.<br /><br />There have been a few scientists who dispute Einstein's law, though no one has disproved it. If the speed of light is not an absolute limit for space ships, then travel to remote parts of the universe may someday be possible.<br /><br />Otherwise, a trip outside our solar system could be a lifetime expedition. Most space travel would probably be limited to the planets of our sun--the moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the others.<br /><br />Although it may be many years before the first manned space ship leaves the earth, we are already at work on the problems the crews would face. I learned some of the details from a Navy flight surgeon with whom I had talked about take-off problems.<br /><br />"They're a lot further than that" he told me. "Down at Randolph Field, the Aero-Medical research lab has run into some mighty queer things. Ever hear of 'dead distance'?"<br /><br />"No, that's a new one."<br /><br />"Well, it sounds crazy, but they've figured out that a space ship would be going faster than anyone could think."<br /><br />"But you think instantaneously," I objected.<br /><br />"Oh, no. It takes a fraction of a second, even for the fastest thinker. Let's say the ship was making a hundred miles a second--and that's slow compared with what they expect eventually. Everything would happen faster than your nerve impulses could register it. Your comprehension would always be lagging a split second behind the space ship's operation."<br /><br />"I don't see why that's so serious," I said.<br /><br />{p. 103}<br /><br />"Suppose radar or some other device warned you a meteorite was coming toward you head-on. Or maybe some instrument indicated an error in navigation. By the time your mind registered the thought, the situation would have changed."<br /><br />"Then all the controls would have to be automatic," I said. I told him that I had heard about plans for avoiding meteorites. "Electronic controls would be faster than thought."<br /><br />"That's probably the answer," he agreed. "Of course, at a hundred miles a second it might not be too serious. But if they ever get up to speeds like a thousand miles a second, that mental lag could make an enormous difference, whether it was a meteorite heading toward you or a matter of navigation."<br /><br />One of the problems he mentioned was the lack of gravity. I had already learned about this. Once away from the earth's pull, objects in the space ship would have no weight. The slightest push could send crewmen floating around the sealed compartment.<br /><br />"Suppose you spilled a cup of coffee," said the flight surgeon. "What would happen?"<br /><br />I said I hadn't thought it out.<br /><br />"The Randolph Field lab can tell you," he said. "The coffee would stay right there in the air. So would the cup, if you let go of it. But there's a more serious angle--your breath."<br /><br />"You'd have artificial air," I began.<br /><br />"Yes, they've already worked that out. But what about the breath you exhale? It contains carbon dioxide, and if you let it stay right there in front of your face you'd be sucking it back into your lungs. After a while, it would asphyxiate you. So the air has to be kept in motion, and besides that the ventilating system has to remove the carbon dioxide."<br /><br />"What about eating?" I asked. "Swallowing is partly gravity, isn't it?"<br /><br />He nodded. "Same as drinking, though the throat muscles help force the food down. I don't know the answer to that. In fact, everything about the human body presents a problem. Take the blood circulation. The<br /><br />{p. 104}<br /><br />amount of energy required to pump blood through the veins would be almost negligible. What would that do to your heart?"<br /><br />"I couldn't even guess," I said.<br /><br />"Well, that's all the Aero-Medical lab can do--guess at it. They've been trying to work out some way of duplicating the effect of zero gravity, but there's just no answer. If you could build a machine to neutralize gravity, you could get all the answers, except to the 'dead distance' question.<br /><br />"For instance, there's the matter of whether the human body would even function without gravity. All down through the stages of evolution, man's organs have been used to that downward pull. Take away gravity, and your whole body might stop working. Some of the Aero-Medical men I've talked with don't believe that, but they admit that long trips outside of gravity might have odd effects.<br /><br />"Then there's the question of orientation. Here on earth, orienting yourself depends on the feeling you get from the pull of gravity, plus your vision. just being blindfolded is enough to disorient some people. Taking away the pull of gravity might be a lot worse. And of course out in space your only reference points would be distant stars and planets. We've been used to locating stars from points on the earth, where we know their position. But how about locating them from out in space, with a ship moving at great speed? Inside the space ship, it would be something like being in a submarine. Probably only the pilot compartment would have glass ports, and those would be covered except in landing--maybe even then. Outside vision might be by television, so you couldn't break a glass port and let out your pressure.<br /><br />"But to go back to the submarine idea. It would be like a sub, with this big difference: In the submarine you can generally tell which way is down, except maybe in a crash dive when you may lose your equilibrium for a moment. But in the space ship, you could be standing with your feet on one spot, and another crewman might be--relative to you--standing upside down. You might be floating horizontally, the other man vertically. {p. 105} The more you think about it, the crazier it gets. But they've got to solve all those problems before we can tackle space."<br /><br />To make sure I had the details right, I checked on the Air Force research. I found that the Randolph Field laboratory is working on all these problems, and many more.<br /><br />Although plans arc not far enough advanced to make it certain, probably animals will be sent up in research rockets to determine the effect of no gravity before any human beings make such flights. The results could be televised back to the earth.<br /><br />All through my check-up on space exploration plans, one thing struck me: I met no resistance. There was no official reticence about the program; on the contrary, nothing about it seemed secret.<br /><br />Even though it was peacetime, this was a little curious, because of the potential war value of an earth satellite vehicle. Even if the Nazi scheme for destruction proved just a dream, an orbiting space base could be used for other purposes. In its two-hour swing around the earth, practically all of the globe could be observed-directly, by powerful telescopes, or indirectly, by a combination of radar and television. Long-range missiles could be guided to targets, after being launched from some point on the earth. As the missiles climbed high into the stratosphere, the satellite's radar could pick them up and keep them on course by remote control.<br /><br />There were other possibilities for both attack and defense. Ordinarily, projects with wartime value are kept under wraps, or at least not widely publicized. Of course, the explanation might be very simple: The completion of the satellite vehicle was so remote that there seemed no need for secrecy. But in that case, why had the program been announced at all?<br /><br />If the purpose had been propaganda, it looked like a weak gesture. The Soviets would not be greatly worried by a dream weapon forty or fifty years off. Besides that, the Pentagon, as a rule, doesn't go for such propaganda.<br /><br />There was only one conventional answer that made any sense. If we had heard that the Soviets were about<br /><br />{p. 106}<br /><br />to announce such a program, as a propaganda trick, it would be smart to beat them to it. But I had no proof of, any such Russian intention.<br /><br />The date on Secretary Forrestal's co-ordination announcement was December 30, 1948. One day later, the order creating Project "Saucer" had been signed. That didn't prove anything; winding up the year, Forrestal could have signed a hundred orders. I was getting too suspicious.<br /><br />At any rate, I had now analyzed the Gorman case and checked on our space plans. Tomorrow I would see Redell and find out what he knew.<br /><br />{p. 107}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XII</span><br /><br />'WHEN I called Redell's office I found he had flown to Dallas and would not be back for two days. By the time he returned, I had written a draft of the Gorman case, with my answer to the balloon explanation. When I saw him, the next morning, I asked him to look it over.<br /><br />Redell lighted his pipe and then read the draft, nodding to himself now and then.<br /><br />"I think that's correct analysis," he said when he finished. "That was a very curious case. You know, Project 'Saucer' even had psychiatrists out there. If Gorman had been the only witness, I think they'd have called it a hallucination. As it was, they took a crack at him and the C.A.A. men in their preliminary report."<br /><br />Though I recalled that there had been a comment, I didn't remember the wording. Redell looked it up and read it aloud:<br /><br />"'From a psychological aspect, the Gorman incident raised the question, "Is it possible for an object without appreciable shape or known aeronautical configuration to appear to travel at variable speeds and maneuver intelligently?"'"<br /><br />"Hallucination might sound like a logical answer," I said, "until you check all the testimony. But there are just too many witnesses who confirm Gorman's report. Also, he seems like a pretty level-headed chap."<br /><br />Redell filled his pipe again. "But you still can't quite accept it?"<br /><br />"I'm positive they saw the light--but what the devil was it? How could it fly without some kind of airfoil?"<br /><br />"Maybe it didn't. You remember Gorman described an odd fuzziness around the edge of the light? It's in this Air Force report. That could have been a reflection from the airfoil."<br /><br />"Yes, but Gorman would have seen any solid--" I stopped, as Redell made a negative gesture.<br /><br />"It could be solid and still not show up," he said.<br /><br />"You mean it was transparent? Sure, that would do it!"<br /><br />{p. 108}<br /><br />"Let's say the airfoil was a rotating plastic disk, absolutely transparent. The blurred, fuzzy look could have been caused by the whirling disk. Neither Gorman nor the C.A.A. men in the tower could possibly see the disk itself."<br /><br />"Paul, I think you've hit it," I said. "I can see thc rest of it--the thing was under remote control, radio or radar. And from the way it flew rings around Gorman, whoever controlled it must have been able to see the F-51, either with a television 'eye' or by radar,"<br /><br />"Or by some means we don't understand," said Redell. He went on carefully, "In all these saucer cases, keep this in mind: We may be dealing with some totally unknown principle--something completely beyond our comprehension."<br /><br />For a moment, I thought he was hunting at some radical discovery by Soviet--captured Nazi scientists. Then I realized what he meant.<br /><br />"You think they're interplanetary," I murmured.<br /><br />"Why not?" Redell looked surprised. "Isn't that your idea? I got that impression."<br /><br />"Yes, but I didn't think you believed it. When you said to check on our space plans, I thought you had some secret missile in mind."<br /><br />"No, I had another reason. I wanted you to see all the problems involved in space travel. If you accept the interplanetary answer, you have to accept this, too--whoever is looking us over has licked all those problems years ago. Technically, they'd be hundreds of years ahead of us--maybe thousands. It has a lot to do with what they'd be up to here."<br /><br />When I mentioned the old sighting reports, I found that Redell already knew about them. He was convinced that the earth had been under observation a long time, probably even before the first recorded sightings.<br /><br />"I know some of those reports aren't authentic," he admitted. "But if you accept even one report of a flying disk or rocket-shaped object before the twentieth century, then you have to accept the basic idea. In the last forty years, you might blame the reports on planes and dirigibles. But there was no propelled aircraft until 1903. {p. 109} Either all those early sightings were wrong, or some kind of fast aerial machine has been flying periodically over the earth for at least two centuries.<br /><br />I told him I was pretty well convinced, but that True faced a problem. There was some conflicting evidence, and part of it seemed linked with guided missiles. I felt sure we could prove the space-travel answer, but we had to stay clear of discussing any weapons that were still a secret.<br /><br />"I can't believe that guided missiles are the answer to the Godman Field saucer and the Chiles-Whitted case, or this business at Fargo. But we're got to be absolutely sure before we print anything."<br /><br />"Well, let's analyze it," said Redell. "Let's see if all the saucers could be explained as something launched from the earth."<br /><br />He reached for a pad and a pencil.<br /><br />"First, let's take your rotating disk. That would be a lot simpler to build than the stationary disk with variable jet nozzles. With a disk rotated at high speed you get a tremendous lift, whether it's slotted or cambered, as long as there's enough air to work on."<br /><br />"The helicopter principle," I said.<br /><br />Redell nodded. "The most practical propulsion would be with two or more jets out on the rim, to spin your rotating section. But to get up enough speed for the jets to be efficient, you'd have to whirl the disk mechanically before the take-off. Here's one way. You could have a square hole in the center; then the disk launching device would have a square shaft, rotated by an engine or a motor. As the speed built up, the cambered disk would ride up the shaft and free itself, rising vertically, with the jets taking over the job of whirling the cambered section.<br /><br />"The lift would be terrific, far more than any normal aircraft. I don't believe any human being could take the G's involved in a maximum power climb; they'd have to use remote control. When it got to the desired altitude, your disk could be flown in any direction by tilting it that way. The forward component from that tremendous<br /><br />{p. 110}<br /><br />lift would result in a very high speed. The disk could also hover, and descend vertically."<br /><br />"What about maneuvering?" I asked, thinking of Gorman's experience.<br /><br />"It could turn faster than any pilot could stand," said Redell. "Of course, a pilot's cockpit could be built into a large disk; but there'd have to be some way of holding down the speed, to avoid too many G's in tight maneuvers."<br /><br />"Most of the disks don't make any noise," I said. "At least, that's the general report. You'd hear ordinary jets for miles."<br /><br />"Right, and here's another angle. Ram jets take a lot of fuel. Even with some highly efficient new jet, I can't see the long ranges reported. Some of these saucers have been seen all over the world. No matter which hemisphere they were launched from, they'd need an eight-thousand-mile range, at least, to explain all of the sightings. The only apparent answer would be some new kind of power, probably atomic. We certainly didn't have atomic engines for aircraft in 1947, when the first disks were seen here. And we don't have them now, though we're working on it. Even if we had such an engine, it wouldn't be tiny enough to power the small disks."<br /><br />"Anyway," I said, "we'd hardly be flying them all over everywhere. The cost would be enormous, and there'd always be a danger of somebody getting the secret if a disk landed."<br /><br />"Plus the risk of injuring people by radiation. just imagine an atomic-powered disk dropping into a city. The whole idea's ridiculous."<br /><br />"That seems to rule out the guided-missile answer," I began. But Redell shook his head.<br /><br />"Disk-shaped missiles are quite feasible. I'm talking about range, speed, and performance. Imagine for a moment that we have disk-type missiles using the latest jet or rocket propulsion--either piloted or remote-controlled. The question is, could such disks fit specific sightings like the one at Godman Field and the case at Fargo?"<br /><br />Redell paused as if some new thought had struck him.<br /><br />"Wait a minute, here's an even better test. I happen to<br /><br />{p. 111}<br /><br />know about this case personally. Marvin Miles--he's an aviation writer in Los Angeles--was down at White Sands Proving Ground some time ago. He talked with a Navy rocket expert who was in charge of naval guided-missile projects. This Navy man--he's a commander in the regular service--told Miles they'd seen four saucers down in that area."<br /><br />"You're sure he wasn't kidding Miles?" I said. Then I remembered Purdy's tip about a White Sands case.<br /><br />"I told you I checked on this myself," Redell said, a little annoyed. "After Miles told me about it, I asked an engineer who'd been down there if it was true. He gave me the same story, figures and all. The first saucer was tracked by White Sands observers with a theodolite. Then they worked out its performance with ballistics formulas."<br /><br />Redell looked at me grimly.<br /><br />"The thing was about fifty miles up. And it was making over fifteen thousand miles an hour!"<br /><br />One of the witnesses, said Redell, was a well-known scientist from the General Mills aeronautical research laboratory in Minneapolis, which was working with the Navy. (A few days later, I verified this fact and the basic details of Redell's account. But it was not until early in January 1950 that I finally identified the officer as Commander Robert B. McLaughlin and got his dramatic story.)<br /><br />"Here are two more items Miles told me," Redell went on. "This Navy expert said the saucer actually looked elliptical, or egg-shaped. And while it was being tracked it suddenly made a steep climb--so steep no human being could have lived through it."<br /><br />"One thing is certain," I said. "That fifty-mile altitude knocks out the rotating disk. Up in that thin air it wouldn't have any lift."<br /><br />"Right," said Redell. "And the variable jet type would require an enormous amount of fuel. Regardless, those G's mean it couldn't have had any pilot born on this earth."<br /><br />According to Marvin Miles, this White Sands saucer had been over a hundred feet long. (Later, Commander<br /><br />{p. 112}<br /><br />McLaughlin stated that it was 105 feet.) If this were an American device, then it meant that we had already licked many of the problems on which the Earth Satellite Vehicle designers were supposed to be just starting. Their statements, then, would have to be false--part of an elaborate cover-up.<br /><br />"If we had such an advanced design," said Redell, "and I just don't believe it possible--would we gamble on a remote-control system? No such system is perfect. Suppose it went wrong. At that speed, over fifteen thousand miles an hour, your precious missile or strato ship could be halfway around the globe in about forty-five minutes. That is, if the fuel held out. Before you could regain control, you might lose it in the sea. Or it might come down behind the Iron Curtain. Even if it were I smashed to bits, it would tip off the Soviets. They might claim it was a guided-missile attack. Almost anything could hap pen."<br /><br />"It could have a time bomb in it," I suggested. "if it got off course or out of control, it would blow itself up."<br /><br />Redell emphatically shook his head. "I've heard that idea before, but it won't hold up. What if your ship's controls went haywire and the thing blew up over a crowded city? Imagine the panic, even if no actual damage was done. No, sir--nobody in his right mind is going to let a huge ship like that go barging around unpiloted. It would be criminal negligence.<br /><br />"If the White Sands calculations were correct, then this particular saucer was no earth-made device. Perhaps in coming years, we could produce such a ship, with atomic power to drive it. But not now."<br /><br />Redell went over several other cases.<br /><br />"Take the Godman Field saucer. At one time, it was seen at places one hundred and seventy-five miles apart, as you know. Even to have been seen at all from both places, it would. have to have been huge--much larger than two hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The human eye wouldn't resolve an object that size, at such a distance and height."<br /><br />It was an odd thing; I had, gone over the Mantell case<br /><br />{p. 113}<br /><br />a dozen times. I knew the object was huge. But I had never tried to figure out the object's exact size.<br /><br />"How big do you think it was?" I asked quickly. This could be the key I had tried to find.<br /><br />"I haven't worked it out," said Redell. "But I can give you a rough idea. The human eye can't resolve any object that subtends less than three minutes of arc. For instance, a plane with a hundred-foot wing span would only be a speck twenty miles away, if you saw it at all."<br /><br />"But this thing was seen clearly eighty-seven miles away--or even more, if it wasn't midway between the two cities. Why, it would have to be a thousand feet in diameter."<br /><br />"Even larger." Redell was silent a moment. "What was the word Mantell used--'tremendous'?" I tried to visualize the thing, but my mind balked. One thing was certain now. It was utterly impossible that any nation on earth could have built such an enormous airborne machine. just to think of the force required to hold it in the sky was enough to stagger any engineer. We were years away--perhaps centuries--from any such possibility.<br /><br />As if he had read my thoughts, Redell said soberly, "There's no other possible answer. It was a huge space ship--perhaps the largest ever to come into our atmosphere."<br /><br />It was clear now why such desperate efforts had been made to explain away the object Mantell had chased.<br /><br />"What about that Eastern Airlines sighting?" I asked.<br /><br />"Well, first," said Redell, "it wasn't any remote-control guided missile. I'll say it again; it would be sheer insanity. Suppose that thing had crashed in Macon. At that speed it could have plowed its way for blocks, right through the buildings. It could have killed hundreds of people, burned the heart out of the city.<br /><br />"If it was a missile, or some hush-hush experimental job, then it was piloted. But they don't test a job like that on any commercial airways. And they don't fool around at five thousand feet where people will see the thing streaking by and call the newspapers.<br /><br />"To power a hundred-foot wingless ship, especially at those speeds, would take enormous force. Not as much<br /><br />{p. 114}<br /><br />as a V-two rocket, but tremendous power. The fuel load would be terrific. Certainly, the pilot wouldn't be circling around Georgia and Alabama for an hour, buzzing airliners. I'll stake everything that we couldn't duplicate that space ship's performance for less than fifty million dollars. It would take something brand-new in jets."<br /><br />Redell paused. He looked at me grimly. "And the way I'd have to soup it up, it would be a damned dangerous ship to fly. No pilot would deliberately fly it that low. He'd stay up where he'd have a chance to bail out."<br /><br />I told him what I had heard about the blueprints the Air Force was said to have rushed.<br /><br />"Of course they were worried," said Redell. "And probably they still are. But I don't think they need be; so far, there's been nothing menacing about these space ships."<br /><br />When I got him back to the Gorman case, Redell drew a sketch on his pad, showing me his idea of the disk light. He estimated the transparent rim as not more than five feet in diameter.<br /><br />"Possibly smaller," he said. "You recall that Gorman said the light was between six and eight inches in diameter. He also said it seemed to have depth--that was in the Air Force report."<br /><br />"You think all the mechanism was hidden by the light?"<br /><br />"Only possible answer," said Redell. "But just try to imagine crowding a motor, or jet controls for rim jets, along with remote controls and a television device, in that small space. Plus your fuel supply. I don't know any engineer who would even attempt it. To carry that much gear, it would take a fair-sized plane. You could make a disk large enough, but the mechanism and fuel section would be two or three feet across, at least. So Gorman's light must have been powered and controlled by some unique means. The same principle applies to all the other light reports I've heard. No shape behind them, high speed, and intelligent maneuvers. That thing was guided from some interplanetary ship, hovering at a high altitude," Redell declared. "But I haven't any idea what source of power it used."<br /><br />{p. 115}<br /><br />Until then, I had forgotten about Art Green's letter. I told Redell what Art had said about the Geiger counter.<br /><br />"I knew they went over Gorman's fighter with a Geiger counter," Redell commented. "But they said the reaction was negative. If Green is right, it's interesting. It would mean they have built incredibly small atomic engines. But with a race so many years ahead of us, it shouldn't be surprising. Of course, they may also be using some other kind of power our scientists say is impossible."<br /><br />I was about to ask him what he meant when his secretary came in.<br /><br />"Mr. Carson is waiting," she told Redell. "He had a four-o'clock appointment."<br /><br />As I started to leave, Redell looked at his calendar.<br /><br />"I hate to break this up; it's a fascinating business What about coming in Friday? I'd like to see the rest of those case reports."<br /><br />"Fine," I said. "I've got a few more questions, too."<br /><br />Going out, I made a mental note of the Friday date. Then the figure clicked; it was just three months since I'd started on this assignment.<br /><br />Three months ago. At that time I'd only been half sure that the saucers were real. If anyone had said I'd soon believe they were space ships, I'd have told him he was crazy.<br /><br />{p. 116}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XIII</span><br /><br />BEFORE my date with Redell, I went over all the material I had, hoping to find some clue to the space visitors' planet. It was possible, of course, that there was more than one planet involved.<br /><br />Project "Saucer" had discussed the possibilities in it! report of April 27, 1949. I read over this section again:<br /><br />Since flying saucers first hit the headlines almost two years ago, there has been wide speculation that the aerial phenomena might actually be some form of penetration from another planet.<br /><br />Actually, astronomers are largely in agreement that only one member of the solar system beside Earth is capable of supporting life. That is Mars. Even Mars, however, appears to be relatively desolate and inhospitable, so that a Martian race would be more occupied with survival than we are on Earth.<br /><br />On Mars, there exists an excessively slow loss of atmosphere, oxygen and water, against which intelligent beings, if they do exist there, may have protected themselves by scientific control of physical conditions. This might have been done, scientists speculate, by the construction of homes and cities underground where the atmospheric pressure would be greater and thus temperature extremes reduced. The other possibilities exist, of course, that evolution may have developed a being who can withstand the rigors of the Martian climate, or that the race--if it ever did exist--has perished.<br /><br />In other words, the existence of intelligent life on Mars, where the rare atmosphere is nearly devoid of oxygen and water and where the nights are much colder than our Arctic winters, is not impossible but is completely unproven.<br /><br />The possibility of intelligent life also existing on the planet Venus is not considered completely unreasonable<br /><br />{p. 117}<br /><br />by astronomers. The atmosphere of Venus apparently consists mostly of carbon dioxide with deep clouds of formaldehyde droplets, and there seems to be little or no water. Yet, scientists concede that living organisms might develop in chemical environments which are strange to us. Venus, however, has two handicaps. Her mass and gravity are nearly as large as the Earth (Mars is smaller) and her cloudy atmosphere would discourage astronomy, hence space travel.<br /><br />The last argument, I thought, did not have too much weight. We were planning to escape the earth's gravity; Martians could do the same, with their planet. As for the cloudy atmosphere, they could have developed some system of radio or radar investigation of the universe. The Navy research units, I knew, were probing the far-off Crab nebula in the Milky Way with special radio devices. This same method, or something far superior, could have been developed on Venus, or other planets surrounded by constant clouds.<br /><br />After the discussion of solar-system planets, the Project "Saucer" report went on to other star systems:<br /><br />Outside the solar system other stars--22 in number--have satellite planets. Our sun has nine. One of these, the Earth, is ideal for existence of intelligent life. On two others there is a possibility of life.<br /><br />Therefore, astronomers believe reasonable the thesis that there could be at least one ideally habitable planet for each of the 22 other eligible stars.<br /><br />(After publication of our findings in True, several astronomers said that many planets may be inhabited. One of these was Dr. Carl F. von Weizacker, noted University of Chicago physicist. On January 10, 1950, Dr. von Weizacker stated: "Billions upon billions of stars found in the heavens may each have their own planets revolving about them. It is possible that these planets would have plant and animal life on them similar to the earth's.")<br /><br />{p. 118}<br /><br />After narrowing the eligible stars down to twenty-two the Project "Saucer" report goes on:<br /><br />The theory is also employed that man represents the average in advancement and development. Therefore, one-half the other habitable planets would be behind man in development, and the other half ahead. It is also assumed that any visiting race could be expected to be far in advance of man. Thus, the chance of space travelers existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is very much greater than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as almost a certainty (if you accept the thesis that the number of inhabited planets is equal to those that are suitable for life and that intelligent life is not peculiar to the Earth) ."<br /><br />The most likely star was Wolf 359--eight light-years away. I thought for a minute about traveling that vast distance. It was almost appalling, considered in terms of man's life span. Of course, dwellers on other planets might live much longer.<br /><br />If the speed of light was not an absolute limit, almost any space journey would then be possible. Since there would be no resistance in outer space, it would be simply a matter of using rocket power in the first stages to accelerate to the maximum speed desired. In the latter phase, the rocket's drive would have to be reversed, to decelerate for the landing.<br /><br />The night before my appointment with Redell, I was checking a case report when the phone rang. It was John Steele.<br /><br />"Are you still working on the saucers?" he asked. "If you are, I have a suggestion--something that might be a real lead."<br /><br />"I could use a lead right now," I told him.<br /><br />"I can't give you the source, but it's one I consider reliable," said Steele. "This man says the disks are British developments."<br /><br />This was a new one. I hadn't considered the British. Steele talked for over half an hour, expanding the idea.<br /><br />{p. 119}<br /><br />The saucers, his informant said, were rotating disks with cambered surfaces--originally a Nazi device. Near the end of the war, the British had seized all the models, along with the German technicians and scientists who had worked on the project.<br /><br />The first British types had been developed secretly in England, according to this account. But the first tests showed a dangerous lack of control; the disks streaked up to high altitudes, hurtling without direction. Some had been seen over the Atlantic, some in Turkey, Spain, and other parts of Europe.<br /><br />The British then had shifted operations to Australia, where a guided-missile test range had been set up. (This part, I knew, could be true; there was such a range.) After improving their remote-control system, which used both radio and radar, they had built disks up to a hundred feet in diameter. These were launched out over the Pacific, the first ones straight eastward over open sea. British destroyers were stationed at 100-mile and later 500-mile intervals, to track the missiles by radar and correct their courses. At a set time, when their fuel was almost exhausted, the disks came down vertically and landed in the ocean. Since part of the device was sealed, the disks would float; then a special launching ship would hoist them abroad, refuel them, and launch them back toward a remote base in Australia, where they were landed by remote control.<br /><br />Since then, Steele said, the disks' range and speed had been greatly increased. The first tests of the new disks was in the spring of 1947, his informant had told him. The British had rushed the project, because of Soviet Russia's menacing attitude. Their only defense in England, the British knew, would be some powerful guided missile that could destroy Soviet bases after the first attack.<br /><br />In order to check the range and speeds accurately, it was necessary to have observers in the Western Hemisphere--the disks were now traversing the Pacific. The ideal test range, the British decided, was one extending over Canada, where the disks could be tracked and even landed,<br /><br />{p. 120}<br /><br />If the account was right, said Steele, a base had been set up in the desolate Hudson Bay country. Special radar-tracking stations had also been established, to guide the missiles toward Australia and vessels at sea. These stations also helped to bring in missiles from Australia.<br /><br />Some of the disk missiles were supposed to have been launched from a British island in the South Pacific; others came all the way from Australia. Still others were believed to have been launched by a mother ship stationed between the Galapagos Islands and Pitcairn.<br /><br />It was these new disks that had been seen in the United States, Alaska, Canada, and Latin America, Steele's informant had told him. At first, the sightings were due to imperfect controls; the disks sometimes failed to keep their altitude, partly because of conflicting radio and radar beams from the countries below. Responding to some of these mixed signals, Steele said, the disks had been known to reverse course, hover or descend over radar and radio stations, or circle around at high speeds until their own control system picked them up again.<br /><br />For this reason, the British had arranged a simple detonator system, operated either by remote control or automatically under certain conditions. In this way, no disk would crash over land, with the danger of hitting a populated area. If it descended below a certain altitude, the disk would automatically speed up its rotation, then explode at a high altitude. When radar trackers saw that a disk was off course and could not be realigned, the nearest station then sent a special signal to activate the detonator system. This was always done, Steele had been told, when a disk headed toward Siberia; there had previously been a few cases when Australian-launched disks had got away from controllers and appeared over Europe.<br /><br />I listened to Steele's account with mixed astonishment and suspicion. It sounded like a pipe dream; but if it was, it had been carefully thought out, especially the details that followed.<br /><br />At first, Steele said, American defense officials had been completely baffled by the disk reports. Then the British, learning about the sightings, had hastily explained to top-level American officials. An agreement had been<br /><br />{p. 121}<br /><br />worked out. We were to have the benefit of their research and testing and working models, in return for helping to conceal the secret. We were also to aid in tracking and controlling the missiles when they passed over this country.<br /><br />"And I gather we paid in other ways," Steele said. "My source says this played a big part in increasing our aid to Britain, including certain atomic secrets."<br /><br />That could make sense. Sharing such a secret would be worth all the money and supplies we had poured into England. If America and Great Britain both had a superior long-range missile, it would be the biggest factor I knew for holding off war. But the long ranges involved in Steele's explanation made the thing incredible.<br /><br />"How are they powered? What fuel do they use?" I asked him.<br /><br />"That's the one thing I couldn't get," said Steele. "This man told me it was the most carefully guarded secret of all. They've tapped a new source of power."<br /><br />"If he means atomic engines," I said, "I don't believe it. I don't think anyone is that far along."<br /><br />"No, no," Steele said earnestly, "he said it wasn't that. And the rest of the story hangs together."<br /><br />Privately, I thought of two or three holes, but I let that go.<br /><br />"If it's British," I said, "do you think we should even hint at it?"<br /><br />"I don't see any harm," Steele answered. "The Russians undoubtedly know the truth. They have agents everywhere. It might do a lot of good for American-British relations. Anyway, it would offset any fear that the saucers are Soviet weapons."<br /><br />"Then you're not worried about that angle any more?"<br /><br />Steele laughed. "No, but it had me going for a while. It was a big relief to find out the disks are British."<br /><br />"What's the disks' ceiling?" I asked, abruptly.<br /><br />"Oh--sixty thousand feet, at least," said Steele. After a moment he added quickly, "That's just a guess--they probably operate much higher. I didn't think to ask."<br /><br />Before I hung up, he asked me what I thought, of the British explanation.<br /><br />{p. 122}<br /><br />"It's certainly more plausible than the Soviet idea," I said. I thanked him for calling me, and put down the phone. I was tempted to point out the flaws in his story. But I didn't.<br /><br />If he was sincere, it would be poor thanks for what he had told me. If he was trying to plant a fake explanation, it wouldn't hurt to let him think I'd swallowed it. When I saw Redell, I told him about Steele.<br /><br />"It does look like an attempt to steer you away from the interplanetary answer," Redell agreed, "though he may be passing on a tip he believes."<br /><br />"You think there could be any truth in the British story?"<br /><br />"Would the British risk a hundred-foot disk crashing in some American city?" said Redell. "No remote control is perfect, and neither is a detonator system. By some freak accident, a disk might come down in a place like Chicago, and then blow up. I just can't see the British--any more than ourselves--letting huge unpiloted missiles go barging around the world, flying along airways and over cities. Certainly, they could have automatic devices to make them veer away from airliners--but what if a circuit failed?"<br /><br />"I go along with that," I said.<br /><br />"I don't say the British don't have some long-range missiles," Redell broke in. "Every big nation has a guided-missile project. But no guided missile on earth can explain the Mantell case and the others we've discussed."<br /><br />I showed him the material I had on the Nazi disk experiments. Redell skimmed through it and nodded.<br /><br />"I can tell you a little more," he said. "Some top Nazi scientists were convinced we were being observed by space visitors. They'd searched all the old reports. Some sighting over Germany set them off about 1940. That's what I was told. I think that's where they first got the idea of trying out oval and circular airfoils.<br /><br />"Up to then, nobody was interested. The rotation idea uses the same principle as the helicopter, but nobody had even followed that through. The Nazis went to work on the disks. They also began to rush space-exploration plans--the orbiting satellite idea. I think they realized these<br /><br />{p. 123}<br /><br />space ships were using some great source of power we hadn't discovered on earth. I believe that's what they were after--that power secret. If they'd succeeded, they'd have owned the world. As it was, that space project caused them to leap ahead of everybody with rockets."<br /><br />When I asked Redell how he thought the space ships were powered, he shrugged.<br /><br />"Probably cosmic rays hold the answer. Their power would be even greater than atomic power. There's another source I've heard mentioned, but most people scoff at it. That's the use of electromagnetic fields in space. The earth has its magnetic field, of course, and so does the sun. Probably all planets do.<br /><br />"There's a man named Fernand Roussel who wrote a book called The Unifying Principle of Physical Phenomena, about 1943. He goes into the electromagnetic-field theory. If he's right, then there must be some way to tap this force and go from one planet to another without using any fuel. You'd use your first planet's magnetic field to start you off and then coast through space until you got into the field of the next planet. At least, that's how I understand it. But you'd be safer sticking to atomic power. That's been proved."<br /><br />Most of our conversations had been keyed to the technical side of the flying-saucer problem. But before I left this time, I asked Redell how the thought of space visitors affected him.<br /><br />"Oh, at first I had a queer feeling about it," he answered. "But once you accept it, it's like anything else. You get used to the idea."<br /><br />"One thing bothers me," I said. "When I try to picture them, I keep remembering the crazy-looking things in some of the comics. What do you suppose they're really like?"<br /><br />"I've thought about it for months." Redell slowly shook his head. "I haven't the slightest idea."<br /><br />{p. 124}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XIV</span><br /><br />THAT EVENING, after my talk with Redell, the question kept coming back in my mind.<br /><br />What were they like? And what were they doing here?<br /><br />From the long record of sightings, it was possible to get an answer to the second question. Observation of the earth followed a general pattern. According to the reports, Europe, the most populated area, had been more closely observed than the rest of the globe until about 1870. By this time, the United States, beginning to rival Europe in industrial progress, had evidently become of interest to the space-ship crews.<br /><br />From then on, Europe and the Western Hemisphere, chiefly North America, shared the observers' attention. The few sightings reported at other points around the world indicate an occasional check-up on the earth in general. Apparently World War I had not greatly concerned the space observers. One reason might be that our aerial operations were still at a relatively low altitude.<br /><br />But World War II had drawn more attention, and this had obviously increased from 1947 up to the present time. Our atomic-bomb explosions and the V-2 high-altitude experiments might be only coincidence, but I could think of no other development that might seriously concern dwellers on other planets.<br /><br />It was a strange thing to think of some far-off race keeping track of the earth's progress. If Redell was right, it might even have started in prehistoric time; a brief survey, perhaps once a century or even further spaced, then gradually more frequent observation as cities appeared on the earth.<br /><br />Somewhere on a distant planet there would be records of that long survey. I wondered how our development would appear to that far-advanced race. They would have seen the slow sailing ships, the first steamships, the lines of steel tracks that carried our first trains.<br /><br />Watching for our first aircraft, they would see the drifting balloons that seemed an aerial miracle when the<br /><br />{p. 125}<br /><br />Montgolfiers first succeeded. More than a century later, they would have noted the slow, clumsy airplanes of the early 1900's. From our gradual progress to the big planes and bombers of today, they could probably chart our next steps toward the stratosphere--and then space.<br /><br />During the last two centuries, they would have watched a dozen wars, each one fiercer than the last, spreading over the globe. Adding up all the things they had seen, they could draw an accurate picture of man, the earth creature, and the increasingly fierce struggle between the earth races.<br /><br />The long survey held no sign of menace. If there had been a guiding purpose of attack and destruction, it could have been carried out years ago. It was almost certain that any planet race able to traverse space would have the means for attack.<br /><br />More than once, during this investigation, I had been asked: "If the saucers are interplanetary, why haven't they landed here? Why haven't their crews tried to make contact with us?"<br /><br />There was always the possibility that the planet race or races could not survive on earth, or that their communications did not include the methods that we used. But I found that hard to believe. Such a superior race would certainly be able to master our radio operations, or anything else that we had developed, in a fairly short time. And it should be equally simple to devise some means of survival on earth, just as we were already planning special suits and helmets for existence on the moon. During a talk with a former Intelligence officer, I got a key to the probable explanation.<br /><br />"Why don't you just reverse it--list what we intend to do when we start exploring space? That'll give you the approximate picture of what visitors to the earth would be doing."<br /><br />Naturally, all the details of space plans have not been worked out, but the general plan is clear. After the first successful earth satellites, we will either attempt a space base farther out or else launch a moon rocket. Probably many round trips to the moon will be made before going farther in space.<br /><br />{p. 126}<br /><br />Which planet will be explored first, after the moon?<br /><br />According to Air Force reports, it is almost a certainty that planets outside the solar system are inhabited. But because of the vast distances involved, expeditions to our neighboring planets may be tried before the more formidable journeys. More than one prominent astronomer believes that life, entirely different from our own, may exist on some solar planets. Besides Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, there are five more that, like the earth, revolve around the sun.<br /><br />One of the prominent authorities is Dr. H. Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal. In his book Life on Other Worlds, Dr. Jones points out that everything about us is the result of changing processes, begun millenniums ago and still going on. We cannot define life solely in our own terms; it can exist in unfamiliar forms.<br /><br />"It is conceivable," Dr. Jones states in his book, "that we could have beings, the cells of whose bodies contained silicon instead of the carbon which is an essential constituent of our cells and of all other living cells on the earth. And that because of this essential difference between the constitution of those cells and the cells of which animal and plant life on the earth are built up, they might be able to exist at temperatures so high that no terrestrial types of life could survive."<br /><br />According to Dr. Jones, then, life could be possible on worlds hotter and drier than ours; it could also exist on a very much colder one, such as Mars.<br /><br />Even if a survey of the sun's planets proved fruitless, it would decide the question of their being populated. Also, it would provide valuable experience for the much longer journeys into space.<br /><br />No one expects such a survey until we have a space vehicle able to make the round trip. One-way trips would tell us nothing, even if volunteers offered to make such suicidal journeys.<br /><br />The most probable step will be to launch a space vehicle equipped with supplies for a long time, perhaps a year or two, within the solar system. Since Mars has been frequently mentioned as a source of the flying<br /><br />{p. 127}<br /><br />saucers, let's assume it would be the first solar-system planet to be explored from the earth.<br /><br />As the space ship neared Mars, it could be turned to circle the planet in an orbit, just like our planned earth satellite vehicle. Once in this orbit, it could circle indefinitely without using fuel except to correct its course.<br /><br />From this space base, unmanned remote-control "observer" units with television "eyes" or other transmitters would be sent down to survey the planet at close range. If it then seemed fairly safe, a manned unit could be released to make a more thorough check-up.<br /><br />Such preliminary caution would be imperative. Our explorers would have no idea of what awaited them. The planet might be uninhabited. It might be peopled by a fiercely barbarous race unaware of civilization as we know it. Or it might have a civilization far in advance of ours.<br /><br />The explorers would first try to get a general idea of the whole planet. Then they would attempt to examine the most densely populated areas, types of armature, any aircraft likely to attack them. Combing the radio spectrum, they would pick up and record sounds and signals in order to decipher the language.<br /><br />As on earth, they might hear a hodgepodge of tongues. The next step would be to select the most technically advanced nation, listen in, and try to learn its language, or record it for deciphering afterward on earth.<br /><br />Our astronomers already have analyzed Mars's atmosphere, but the explorers would have to confirm their reports, to find out whether the atmosphere at the surface would support their lungs if they landed. The easiest way would be to send down manned or unmanned units with special apparatus to scoop in atmosphere samples. Later analysis would tell whether earthlings would need oxygen-helmet suits such as we plan to use on the moon.<br /><br />But before risking flight at such low altitudes, the explorers would first learn everything possible about the planet's aircraft, if any. They would try to determine their top ceiling, maximum speed, maneuverability, and if possible their weapons. Mitch of this could be done by sending down remote-control "observer" disks, or<br /><br />{p. 128}<br /><br />whatever type we decide to use. A manned unit might make a survey at night, or in daytime with clouds nearby to shield it. By hovering over the planet's aircraft bases, the explorers could get most of the picture, and also decide whether the bases were suitable for their own use later.<br /><br />It might even be necessary to lure some Martian aircraft into pursuit of our units, to find out their performance. But our explorers would above all avoid any sign of hostility; they would hastily. withdraw to show they had no warlike intentions.<br /><br />If the appearance of our observer units and manned craft caused too violent reactions on the planet, the explorers would withdraw to their orbiting space vehicle and either wait for a lull or else start the long trip back home. Another interplanetary craft from the earth might take its place later to resume periodic surveys.<br /><br />In this way, a vast amount of information could be collected without once making contact with the strange race. If they seemed belligerent or uncivilized, we would probably end our survey and check on the next possibly inhabited planet. If we found they were highly civilized, we would undoubtedly attempt later contact. But it might take a long time, decades of observation and analysis, before we were ready for that final step.<br /><br />We might find a civilization not quite so advanced as ours. It might not yet have developed radio and television. We would then have no way of getting a detailed picture, learning the languages, or communicating with. the Martians. Analysis of their atmosphere might show a great hazard to earthlings, one making it impossible to land or requiring years of research to overcome. There might be other obstacles beyond our present understanding.<br /><br />This same procedure would apply to the rest of the solar-system planets and to more distant systems. Since Wolf 359 is the nearest star outside our system that is likely to have inhabited planets, one of these planets would probably be listed as the first to explore in far-distant space. It would be a tremendous undertaking, unless the speed of light can be exceeded in space. Since<br /><br />{p. 129}<br /><br />Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the earth, even if a space ship traveled at the theoretical maximum--just under 186,00 miles a second--it would take over sixteen years for the round trip. Detailed observation of the planet would add to this period.<br /><br />If we assume half that speed--which would still be an incredible attainment with our present knowledge--our space explorers would have to dedicate at least thirty-two years to the hazardous, lonely round trip. However, there has never been a lack of volunteers for grand undertakings in the history of man.<br /><br />It is quite possible that in our survey of the solar-system planets we would find some inhabited, but not advanced enough to be of interest to us. Periodically, we might make return visits to note their progress. Meantime, our astronomers would watch these planets, probably developing new, higher powered telescopes for the purpose, to detect any signs of unusual activity. Any tremendous explosion on a planet would immediately concern us.<br /><br />Such an explosion, on Mars, was reported by astronomers on January 16, 1950. The cause and general effects are still being debated. Sadao Saeki, the Japanese astronomer who first reported it at Osaka, believes it was of volcanic nature.<br /><br />The explosion created a cloud over an area about seven hundred miles in diameter and forty miles high. It was dull gray with a yellowish tinge and a different color from the atmospheric phenomena customarily seen near Mars. Saeki believes the blast might have destroyed any form of life existing on the planet, but even though the telescopic camera recorded a violent explosion, other authorities do not believe the planet was wrecked. The canals first discovered on Mars by Giovanni Schiaparelli, about 1877, are still apparent on photographs.<br /><br />Mars is now being carefully watched by astronomers. If there are more of the strange explosions, the planet will be scanned constantly for some clue to their nature.<br /><br />If a mysterious explosion on Mars, or any other planet, were found of atomic origin, it would cause serious concern on earth. Suppose for a moment that it happened many years from now, when we will have succeeded in<br /><br />{p. 130}<br /><br />space explorations. At this time, let us assume our explorers have found that Mars is experimenting with high-altitude rockets; some of them have been seen, rising at tremendous speed, in the upper atmosphere of Mars.<br /><br />Then comes this violent explosion. A scientific analysis of the cloud by astrophysicists here on earth proves it was of atomic origin.<br /><br />The first reaction would undoubtedly be an immediate resurvey of Mars. As quickly as possible, we would establish an orbiting space base--out of range of Martian rockets--and try to find how far they had advanced with atomic bombs.<br /><br />Samples of the Martian atmosphere would be collected and analyzed for telltale radiation. Observer units would be flown over the planet, with instruments to locate atom-bomb plants and possibly uranium deposits. The rocket-launching bases would also come under close observation. We would try to learn how close the scientists were to escaping the pull of gravity. Since Mars's gravity is much less than the earth's, the Martians would not have so far to progress before succeeding in space travel.<br /><br />The detailed survey by our space-base observers would probably show that there was no immediate danger to the earth. It might take one hundred years--perhaps five hundred--before the Martians could be a problem. Eventually, the time would come when Mars would send out space-ship explorers. They would undoubtedly discover that the earth was populated with a technically advanced civilization. Any warlike ideas they had in mind could be quickly ended by a show of our superior space craft and our own atomic weapons--probably far superior to any on Mars. It might even be possible that by then we would have finally outlawed war; if so, a promise to share the peaceful benefits of our technical knowledge might be enough to bring Martian leaders into line.<br /><br />Regardless of our final decision, we would certainly keep a lose watch on Mars--or any other planet that seemed a possible threat.<br /><br />Now, if our space-exploration program is just reversed, it will give a reasonable picture of how visitors from<br /><br />{p. 131}<br /><br />space might go about investigating the earth. Such an investigation would tie in with the general pattern of authentic flying-saucer reports:<br /><br />1. World-wide sightings at long intervals up to the middle of the nineteenth century.<br /><br />2. Concentration on Europe, as the most advanced section of the globe, until late in the nineteenth century.<br /><br />3. Frequent surveys of America in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as we began to develop industrially, with cities springing up across the land.<br /><br />4. Periodic surveys of both America and Europe during the gradual development of aircraft, from the early 1900's up to World War II.<br /><br />5. An increase of observation during World War II, after German V-2's were launched up into the stratosphere.<br /><br />6. A steadily increasing survey after our atomic-bomb explosions in New Mexico, Japan, Bikini, and Eniwetok.<br /><br />7. A second spurt of observations following atom-bomb explosions in Soviet Russia.<br /><br />8. Continuing observations of the earth at regular intervals, with most attention concentrated on the United States, the present leader in atomic weapons. (Saucers have been reported seen over the Soviet Union, but the number is unknown. There is some evidence that Russia has an investigative unit similar to Project "Saucer.")<br /><br />There are other points of similarity to the program of American space exploration that I have outlined. Most of the extremely large saucers have been at high altitudes, some of them many miles above the earth. At that height, a space ship would be in no danger from our planes and antiaircraft guns and rockets. The smaller disks and the mystery lights have been seen at low altitudes. Occasionally a larger saucer has been seen to approach the earth briefly, as at Lockbourne Air Force Base, at Bethel, Alabama, at Macon and Montgomery, and other places. It has been suggested that this was for the purpose of securing atmospheric samples. It could also be to afford personal observation by the crews.<br /><br />The numerous small disks seen in the first part of<br /><br />{p. 132}<br /><br />the scare, in 1947, fit the pattern for preliminary and close observation by remote-controlled observer units. As the scare increased, the daytime sightings decreased for a while, and mystery lights began to be seen more often. This apparent desire to avoid unfavorable attention could have been caused by our pilots' repeated attempts to chase the strange flying objects.<br /><br />Authentic reports have described sightings; over the following Air Force bases: Chanute, Newark, Andrews, Hickam, Robbins, Godman, Clark, Fairfield Suisan, Davis-Monthan, Harmon, Wright-Patterson, Holloman, Clinton County Air Force Base, and air bases in Alaska, Germany, and the Azores. Saucers have also been sighted over naval air stations at Dallas, Alameda, and Key West, and from the station at Seattle. They have been reported maneuvering over the White Sands Proving Ground, over areas containing atomic developments, above the Muroc Air Base testing area, and over the super-secret research base near Albuquerque.<br /><br />Several times saucers have paced both military and civil aircraft; their actions strongly indicate deliberate encounters to learn our planes' speed and performance.<br /><br />It seems obvious that both the planes and the bases were being observed, and in some cases photographed by remote-control units or manned space ships.<br /><br />Although I thought it improbable that the location of our uranium deposits would be of interest to space men, a Washington official told me it would be relatively simple to detect the ore areas with airborne instruments.<br /><br />"The Geological Survey has already developed special Geiger counters for planes," he told me. "They had a little trouble from cosmic-ray noise. They finally had to cover the Geigers with lead shields. Whenever an important amount of radiation is present in the ground, the plane crew gets a signal, and they spot the place on their map. It's a quick way of locating valuable deposits."<br /><br />When I told him what I had in mind, he suggested an angle I had not considered.<br /><br />"Mind you," he said, "I'm not completely sold on the interplanetary answer. But assuming it's correct that we're being observed, I can think of a stronger reason<br /><br />{p. 133}<br /><br />than fear of some distant attack. Some atomic scientists say that a super-atomic bomb, or several set off at once, could knock the earth out of its orbit. It sounds fantastic, but so is the A-bomb. It's just possible that some solar-planet race discovered the dangers long ago. They would have good reason to worry if they found we were on that same track. There may be some other atomic weapon we don't suspect, even worse than the A-bomb, one that could destroy the earth and seriously affect other planets."<br /><br />At the time, I thought this was just idle speculation. But since then, several atomic scientists have confirmed this official's suggestion. One of these was Dr. Paul Elliott, a nuclear physicist who worked on the A-bomb during the war.<br /><br />According to Dr. Elliott, if several hydrogen bombs were exploded simultaneously at a high altitude, it could speed up the earth's rotation or change its orbit. He based his statement on the rate of energy the earth receives from the sun, a rate equal to some four pounds of hydrogen exploded every second. Still other atomic scientists have said that H-bomb explosions might even knock a large chunk out of the earth, with unpredictable results.<br /><br />A dramatic picture of what might happen if the earth were forced far out of its orbit is indicated in the much-discussed book Worlds in Collision, by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, recently published by Macmillan. After many years of research, Dr. Velikovsky presents strong evidence that the planet Venus, when still a comet resulting from eruption from a larger planet, moved erratically about the sky and violently disturbed both the earth and Mars.<br /><br />When the comet approached the earth, our planet was forced out of its orbit, according to Worlds in Collision. For a time, the world was on the brink of destruction. Quoting many authentic ancient records, including the Quiché manuscript of the Mayas, the Ipuwer papyrus of the Egyptians, and the Visiddhi-Magga of the Buddhists, Dr. Velikovsky describes the cataclysm that took place. "The face of the earth changed," he writes in his book. The details, reinforced by the Zend-Avesta of the Persians, tell of tremendous hurricanes, of a major upheaval<br /><br />{p. 134}<br /><br />in the earth's surface, of oceans rushing over many parts of the land, while rivers were driven from their beds. Some of the events in this period are mentioned in the Bible.<br /><br />Professor Horace M. Kallen, former dean of the New School of Social Research, strongly endorses Dr. Velikovsky's statements: "It is my belief that Velikovsky has supported his theses with substantial evidence and made an effective and persuasive argument."<br /><br />Many other authorities endorse this work, which is documented with impressive references. But even if this particular account is not accepted, all astronomers agree that the effect of a comet passing near the earth would be appalling. Worlds in Collision states that Mars, like the earth, was pulled out of its orbit by the comet's erratic passage. It may be that this near disaster to the earth and Mars is known on other solar planets, or remembered on Mars itself, if the planet is inhabited.<br /><br />The possibility of super-bomb explosions on the earth understandably disturb any dwellers on other solar-system planets.<br /><br />This may be what was back of the Project "Saucer" statement on the probable motives of any visitors from space. I mentioned this Air Force statement in an earlier chapter, but it may be of interest to repeat it at this time. The comment appeared in a confidential analysis of Intelligence reports, in the formerly secret Project "Saucer" document, "Report on Unidentified Aerial and Celestial Objects." It reads as follows:<br /><br />"Such a civilization might observe that on earth we now have atomic bombs and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of mankind, they should be alarmed. We should therefore expect at this time above all to behold such visitations.<br /><br />"Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between the time of the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships are seen, and the time required for such ships to arrive from and return to home base."<br /><br />{p. 135}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XV</span><br /><br />IT was early in October 1949 when I finished the reversal of our space-exploration plans. I spent the next two days running down a sighting report from a town in Pennsylvania. Like three or four other tips that had seemed important at first, it turned out to be a dud.<br /><br />When I got back home, I found Ken Purdy had been trying to reach me. I phoned him at True, and he asked me to fly up to New York the next day.<br /><br />"I've just heard there's another magazine working on the saucer story," he told me.<br /><br />"Who is it?" I said.<br /><br />"I don't know yet. It may be just a rumor, but we can't take a chance. We've got to get this in the January book."<br /><br />That night I gathered up all the material. It looked hopeless to condense it into one article, and I knew that Purdy had even more investigators' reports waiting for me in New York. Flying up the next morning, I suddenly thought of a talk I'd had with an air transport official. It was in Washington; I had just told him about the investigation.<br /><br />"If they are spacemen," he said, "they'd probably have a hard time figuring out this country by listening to our broadcasts. Imagine tuning in soap operas, 'The Lone Ranger,' and a couple of crime yarns, along with newscasts about strikes and murders and the cold war. They might pick up some of those kid programs about rocket ships. A few days of listening to that stuff--well, it would give them one hell of a picture."<br /><br />Except for some hoax reports, this was the first funny suggestion I'd had about the spacemen. But now, thinking seriously about it, I realized he had an important point. It was possible that men from another planet might have to reorient even their way of thinking to understand the earth's ways. It would not be automatic, despite their superior technical progress. Evolution might have produced basic differences in their understanding of life. Humor, for instance, might be totally lacking in their make-up.<br /><br />{p. 136}<br /><br />What would they be like?<br /><br />I'd tried to imagine how they might look, without getting anywhere. Dr. H. Spencer Jones hadn't helped much with his Life on Other Worlds. I couldn't begin to visualize beings with totally different cells, perhaps able to take terrific heat or bitter cold as merely normal weather.<br /><br />There were all kinds of possibilities. If they lived on Mars, for instance, perhaps they couldn't take the heavier gravity of the earth. They might be easily subject to our diseases, especially if they had destroyed disease germs on their planet--a natural step for an advanced race.<br /><br />It was possible, I knew, that the spacemen might look grotesque to us. But I clung to a Stubborn feeling that they would resemble man. That came, of course, from an inborn feeling of man's superiority over all living things. It carried over into a feeling that any thinking, intelligent being, whether on Mars or Wolf 359's planets, should have evolved in the same form.<br /><br />I gave up trying to imagine how the spacemen might look. There was simply nothing to go on. But there were strong indications of how they thought and reacted. Certain qualities were plainly evident.<br /><br />Intelligence. No one could dispute that. It took a high order of mentality to construct and operate a space ship.<br /><br />Courage. It would take brave men to face the hazards of space.<br /><br />Curiosity. Without this quality, they would never have thought to explore far-distant planets.<br /><br />There were other qualities that seemed almost equally certain. These spacemen apparently lacked belligerence; there had been no sign of hostility through all the years. They were seemingly painstaking and extremely methodical.<br /><br />It was still not much of a picture. But somehow, it was encouraging.<br /><br />Glancing down from the plane's window, I thought: How does this look to them? Our farms, our cities, the railroads there below; the highways, with the speeding cars and trucks; the winding river, and far off to the right, the broad stretch of the Atlantic.<br /><br />{p. 137}<br /><br />What would they think of America?<br /><br />Manhattan came into sight, as the pilot let down for the landing. An odd thought popped into my mind. How would a spaceman react if he saw a Broadway show?<br /><br />Not long before, I had seen South Pacific. I could still hear Ezio Pinza's magnificent voice as he sang "Some Enchanted Evening."<br /><br />Was music a part of spacemen's lives, or would it be something new and strange, perhaps completely distasteful?<br /><br />They might live and think on a coldly intelligent level, without a touch of what we know as emotion. To them, our lives might seem meaningless and dull. We ourselves might appear grotesque in form.<br /><br />But in their progress, there must have been struggle, trial and error, some feeling of triumph at success. Surely these would be emotional forces, bound to reflect in the planet races. Perhaps, in spite of some differences, we would find a common bond--the bond of thinking, intelligent creatures trying to better themselves.<br /><br />The airliner landed and taxied in to unload.<br /><br />As I went down the gangway I suddenly realized something. My last vague fear was gone.<br /><br />It had not been a personal fear of the visitors from space. It had been a selfish fear of the impact on my life. I realized that now.<br /><br />It might be a long time before they would try to make contact. But I had a conviction that when it came, it would be a peaceful mission, not an ultimatum. It could even be the means of ending wars on earth.<br /><br />But I had been conditioned to this thing. I had had six months of preparation, six months to go from complete skepticism to slow, final acceptance.<br /><br />What if it had been thrown at me in black headlines?<br /><br />Even a peaceful contact by beings from another planet would profoundly affect the world. The story in True might play an important part in that final effect. Carefully done, it could help prepare Americans for the official disclosure.<br /><br />But if it weren't done right, we might be opening a Pandora's box.<br /><br />{p. 138}<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XVI</span><br /><br />THAT MORNING, at True, we made the final decisions on how to handle the story. Using the evidence of the Mantell case, the Chiles-Whitted report, Gorman's mystery-light encounter, and other authentic cases, along with the records of early sightings, we would state our main conclusion: that the flying saucers were interplanetary.<br /><br />In going over the mass of reports, Purdy and I both realized that a few sightings did not fit the space-observer pattern. Most of these reports came from the southwest states, where guided-missile experiments were going on.<br /><br />Purdy agreed with Paul Redell that any long-range tests would be made over the sea or unpopulated areas, with every attempt at secrecy.<br /><br />"They might make short-range tests down there in New Mexico and Arizona-maybe over Texas," he said. "But they'd never risk killing people by shooting the things all over the country."<br /><br />"They've already set up a three-thousand-mile range for the longer runs," I added. "It runs from Florida into the South Atlantic. And the Navy missiles at Point Mugu are launched out over the Pacific. Any guided missiles coming down over settled areas would certainly be an accident. Besides all that, no missile on earth can explain these major cases."<br /><br />Purdy was emphatic about speculating on our guided-missile research.<br /><br />"Suppose you analyzed these minor cases that look like missile tests. You might accidentally give away something important, like their range and speeds. Look what the Russians did with the A-bomb hints Washington let out."<br /><br />It was finally decided that we would briefly mention the guided missiles, along with the fact that the armed services had flatly denied any link with the saucers.<br /><br />"After all, interplanetary travel is the main story," said Purdy. "And the Mantell case alone proves we've<br /><br />{p. 139}<br /><br />been observed from space ships, even without the old records."<br /><br />The question of the story's impact worried both of us. public acceptance of intelligent life on other planets would affect almost every phase of our existence-business, defense planning, philosophy, even religion. Of course, the immediate effect was more important. Personally, I thought that most Americans could take even an official announcement without too much trouble. But I could be wrong.<br /><br />"The only yardstick--and that's not much good--is that 'little men' story," said Purdy. "A lot of people have got excited about it, but they seem more interested than scared."<br /><br />The story of the "little men from Venus" had been circulating for some time. In the usual version, two flying saucers had come down near our southwest border. In the space craft were several oddly dressed men, three feet high. All of them were dead; the cause was usually given as inability to stand our atmosphere. The Air Force was said to have hushed up the story, so that the public could be educated gradually to the truth. Though it had all the earmarks of a well-thought-out hoax, many newspapers had repeated the story. It had even been broadcast as fact on several radio newscasts. But there had been no signs of public alarm.<br /><br />"It looks as if people have come a long way since that Orson Welles scare," I said to Purdy.<br /><br />"But there isn't any menace in this story," he objected. "The crews were reported dead, so everybody got the idea that spacemen couldn't live if they landed. What if a space ship should suddenly come down over a big city--say New York--low enough for millions of people to see it?"<br /><br />"it might cause a stampede," I said,<br /><br />Purdy snorted. "it would be a miracle if it didn't, unless people had been fully prepared. if we do a straight fact piece, just giving the evidence, it will start the ball rolling. People at least will be thinking about it."<br /><br />Before I left for Washington, I told Purdy of my last visit to the Pentagon. I had informed Air Force press<br /><br />{p. 140}<br /><br />relations officials of True's intention to publish the space-travel answer. There had been no attempt to dissuade me. And I had been told once again that there was no security involved; that Project "Saucer" had found nothing threatening the safety of America.<br /><br />At this time I had also asked if Project "Saucer" files were now available. The Wright Field unit, I was told, still was a classified project, both its files and its photographs secret. This had been the first week in October.<br /><br />When I asked if there was any other information on published cases, the answer again was negative. The April 27th report, according to Press Branch officials, was still an accurate statement of Air Force opinions and policies. So far as they knew, no other explanations had be n found for the unidentified saucers.<br /><br />'I in absolutely convinced now," I told Purdy, "that here's an official policy to let the thing leak out. It explains why Forrestal announced our Earth Satellite Vehicle program, years before we could even start to build it. It also would explain those Project 'Saucer' hints in the April report."<br /><br />"I think we're being used as a trial balloon," Purdy said thoughtfully. "We've let them know what we're doing. If they'd wanted to stop us, the Air Force could easily have done it. All they'd have to do would be call us in, give us the dope off the record, and tell us it was a patriotic duty to keep still. Just the way they did about uranium and atomic experiments during the war."<br /><br />He still did not have the name of the other magazine supposed to be working on the saucers. But it seemed a reliable tip (it later proved to be true), and from then on we worked under high pressure.<br /><br />In writing the article, I used only the most authentic recent sightings; all of the cases were in the Air Force reports. When it came to the Mantell case, I stuck to published estimates of the strange object's size; a mysterious ship 250 to 300 feet in diameter was startling enough. At first, I chose Mars to illustrate our space explorations. But Mars had been associated with the Orson Welles stampede. Most discussions of the planet had a menacing note, perhaps because of its warlike name.<br /><br />{p. 141}<br /><br />In the end, I switched to a planet of Wolf 359. The thought of those eight light-years would have a comforting effect on any nervous readers. The chance of any mass visitation would seem remote, if not impossible. But it would still put across the space-travel story.<br /><br />As finally revised, the article, written under my byline, stated the following points as the conclusions reached by True:<br /><br />1. For the past 175 years, the earth has been under systematic close-range examination by living, intelligent observers from another planet.<br /><br />2. The intensity of this observation, and the frequency of the visits to the earth's atmosphere, have increased markedly during the past two years.<br /><br />3. The vehicles used for this observation and for interplanetary transport by the explorers have been classed as follows: Type I, a small, nonpilot-carrying disk-shaped craft equipped with some form of television or impulse transmitter; Type II, a very large, metallic, disk-shaped aircraft operating on the helicopter principle; Type III, a dirigible-shaped, wingless aircraft that, in the Earth's atmosphere, operates in conformance with the Prandtl theory of lift.<br /><br />4. The discernible patterns of observation and exploration shown by the so-called flying disks varies in no important particular from well-developed American plans for the exploration of space, expected to come to fruition within the next fifty years. There is reason to believe, however, that some other race of thinking beings is a matter of two and a quarter centuries ahead of us.<br /><br />Following these points, I added a brief comment on the possibility of guided missiles, adding that the Air Force had convincingly denied this as an explanation of any sightings. As Purdy had suggested, I carefully omitted ten minor cases that I thought might be linked with guided-missile research. If disclosing the facts about space travel helped to divert attention from any secret tests, so much the better.<br /><br />"True accepts the official denial of any secret device," I stated, "because the weight of the evidence, especially the world-wide sightings, does not support such a belief."<br /><br />{p. 142}<br /><br />Most readers, of course, would know that some guided-missile experiments were going on, and that True was fully aware of it. But our main purpose would be achieved.<br /><br />The fact that the earth had been observed by beings from another planet would be fully presented. Some readers, of course, would reject even the fact that the saucers existed. Others would cling to the idea that they were of earthly origin. But the mass of evidence would make most readers think. At the very least, it would plant one strong suggestion: that we, men and women of the earth, are not the only intelligent species in the universe. When the article was finished, it was tried out on True's staff, then on a picked group that had not known about the investigation. One editor summed up the average opinion:<br /><br />"It will cause a lot of discussion, but the way it's written, it shouldn't start any panic."<br /><br />The January issue, in which the story ran, was due on the stands shortly after Christmas. With my family, I had gone to Ottumwa, Iowa, to spend the holidays with my mother and sister. While I was there, the story broke unexpectedly on radio networks.<br /><br />Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, led off the radio comment. He was followed by Walter Winchell, Lowell Thomas, Morgan Beatty, and most of the other radio commentators. The wire services quickly picked it up; some papers ran front-page stories.<br /><br />The publicity was far more than I had expected. I phoned a reporter in Washington whose beat includes the Pentagon.<br /><br />"The Air Force is running around in circles," he told me. "They knew your story was due, but nobody thought it would raise such a fuss. I think they're scared of hysteria. They're getting a barrage of wires and telephone calls."<br /><br />That night, as I was packing to rush back east, he called with the latest news.<br /><br />"They're going to deny the whole thing," he said. "But' I heard one Press Branch guy say it might not be enough<br /><br />{p. 143}<br /><br />--they're trying to figure some way to knock it down fast."<br /><br />Next day, while changing trains at Chicago, I saw the Air Force statement. The press release was dated December 27, 1949. Without mentioning True, the Air Force flatly denied having any evidence that flying saucers exist. After examining 375 reports, the release said, Project "Saucer" had found that they were caused by:<br /><br />1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects.<br /><br />2. A mild form of mass hysteria or "war nerves."<br /><br />3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to seek publicity.<br /><br />Evaluation of the reports of unidentified flying objects, said the Air Force, demonstrates that they constitute no direct threat to the national security of the United States.<br /><br />Then came the clincher: Project "Saucer," said the Air Force, had been discontinued, now that all the reports had been explained.<br /><br />It was plain that the release had been hastily prepared. It completely contradicted the detailed Project "Saucer" report, issued eight months before, that had called for constant vigilance, after admitting that most important cases were unsolved. Anyone familiar with the situation would see the discrepancy at once.<br /><br />From Washington I flew to New York, where I found True in a turmoil. Long-distance calls were pouring in. Letters on flying saucers had swamped the mail room. Reporters were hounding Purdy for more information.<br /><br />A hurried analysis of the first hundred letters showed a trend that later mail confirmed. Less than 5 per cent of the readers ridiculed the article. Between 15 and 20 per cent said they were not convinced; a few of these admitted they could not refute the evidence. About half the readers accepted the possibility; most of these said they saw no reason why other planets should not be inhabited. The remainder, between 25 and 30 per cent, said they were completely convinced.<br /><br />Even the disbelievers asked for more information. The intelligence level of the average letter was gratifyingly high. Comments came from scientists, engineers, airline and private pilots, college professors, officers of the armed<br /><br />{p. 144}<br /><br />services, and a wide variety of others--including far more women than True's readership usually includes.<br /><br />Several confidential tips had come in when I arrived. Most of them were from usually reputable sources. We were given evidence that Project "Saucer" was still in operation; since its true code name was not "Saucer," it could be continued without violating the Air Force press release. This same information was received from a dozen sources within the next two weeks. We were also told that there had been 722 cases, instead of 375.<br /><br />Meantime, a number of astronomers had come out with statements, pro and con. One of these was Dr. Dean B. McLaughlin, of the University of Michigan.<br /><br />"No one knows what the saucers are as yet," Dr. McLaughlin said. "They could be anything, and I'm willing to be convinced once the evidence is presented."<br /><br />Dr. Bart J. Bok of Harvard was on the fence: "After all," he said, "all sort of things float around in space. But I'm not convinced the saucers are anything apart from the earth."<br /><br />Another Harvard astronomer, Dr. Armin J. Deutsch, took an oblique poke at True and me. "I don't think anyone--and that includes astronomers--knows enough about them to reach any conclusions."<br /><br />After this came the comment of Dr. Carl F. von Weizacker--that billions of stars may have planets, and many could be inhabited.<br /><br />Within a few days we had a huge stack of clippings, some supporting True, some deriding us. In the midst of all this, I read scientists' comments on Einstein's new unified-field theory, which had been printed about the time True appeared on the stands. A discussion by Lincoln Barnett, author of The Universe and Dr. Einstein, explained the basic premise--that gravitation and electromagnetic force are inseparable. As I read it, I thought of what Redell had said. If gravitation were a manifestation of electromagnetic force, was it possible that an advanced race had found a way--as unique as splitting the atom--to offset gravity and utilize that force?<br /><br />It was during these first tense days that we ran down the White Sands story. This also ended another puzzle--<br /><br />{p. 145}<br /><br />the identity of the magazine that we had feared might scoop us.<br /><br />The race had been closer than we knew. The editors of a national magazine had learned of Commander McLaughlin and the sightings at White Sands. Two of the staff had carefully investigated the details. Convinced that the report was accurate, they had planned to run the story in an early issue.<br /><br />Since True had appeared first with the space-travel story, the editors agreed to release the McLaughlin report for use in our March issue. The basic facts were in close agreement with what Redell had told me.<br /><br />The ellipsoid-shaped saucer had been tracked at a height of 56 miles, its speed 5 miles per second. This was 18,000 miles per hour, even faster than Redell had said. The strange craft, 105 feet in length, had climbed as swiftly as Marvin Miles had described it--an increase in altitude of about 25 miles in 10 seconds.<br /><br />Commander McLaughlin stated in his article that he was convinced the object was a space ship from another planet, operated by animate, intelligent beings. He also described two small circular objects, about twenty inches in diameter, that streaked up beside a Navy high-altitude missile. After maneuvering around it for a moment, both disks accelerated, passed the fast-moving Navy missile, and disappeared.<br /><br />It is Commander McLaughlin's opinion that the saucers come from Mars. Pointing out that Mars was in a good position to see our surface on July 16, 1945, he believes that the flash of the first A-bomb, at Alamogordo Base, a point not far from White Sands, was caught by powerful telescopes.<br /><br />During the first week of January, I appeared on "We, the People," with Lieutenant George Gorman. When I saw Gorman, before rehearsals, he seemed oddly constrained. I had a feeling that he had been warned about talking freely. During rehearsals, he changed his lines in the script. When the writers argued over a point, Gorman told them:<br /><br />"I can say only what was in my published report--nothing else."<br /><br />{p. 146}<br /><br />The day before the broadcast, a program official told me they had been told to include the Air Force denial in the script. That afternoon I learned that the Air Force planned to monitor the broadcast.<br /><br />Meantime, an A.P. story carried a new Air Force announcement. Formerly secret Project "Saucer" files would be opened to newsmen at the Pentagon, giving the answers to all the saucer reports.<br /><br />Just after my return to Washington, I saw an I.N.S. story that was widely printed. It was an interview with Major Jerry Boggs, a Project "Saucer" Intelligence officer who served as liaison man between Wright Field and the Pentagon. Major Boggs had been asked for specific answers to the Mantell, Chiles-Whitted, and Gorman cases.<br /><br />The answers he gave amazed me. I picked up the phone and called the Air Force Press Branch. After some delay, I was told that Major Boggs was being briefed for assignment to Germany. An interview would be almost impossible.<br /><br />"He wasn't too busy to talk with I.N.S.," I said. "All I want is thirty minutes."<br /><br />Later, Jack Shea, a civilian press official I had known for some time, arranged for the meeting. I was also to talk with General Sory Smith, Deputy Director for Air Information.<br /><br />Major Jesse Stay, a Press Branch officer, took me to General Smith's office for the interview. Both Jesse and Jack Shea, pleasant, obliging chaps who had helped me in the past, tried earnestly to convince me the saucers didn't exist. Jesse was still trying when Major Boggs came in.<br /><br />Boggs looked to be in his twenties, younger than I had expected. He was trim, well built, with a quietly alert face. Two rows of ribbons testified to his wartime service. When Jesse Stay introduced me, Boggs gave me a curiously searching look. It could have been merely his usual way of appraising people he met. But all through our talk, I had a strong feeling that he was on his guard.<br /><br />I had written out some questions, but first I mentioned the I.N.S. story.<br /><br />{p. 147}<br /><br />"Were you quoted correctly on the Mantell case?" I asked.<br /><br />"Yes, I was." Major Boggs looked me squarely in the eye. "Captain Mantell was chasing the planet Venus."<br /><br />It was so incredible that I shook my head. "Major, Venus; was practically invisible that day. We've checked with astronomers. Is that the official Air Force answer?"<br /><br />"Yes, it is," Boggs said. His eyes never left my face. I glanced across at General Sory Smith, then back at the intelligence major.<br /><br />"That's a flat contradiction of Project 'Saucer's' report. Last April, after they had checked for fifteen months, they said positively it was not Venus. It was still unidentified."<br /><br />Boggs said, in a slow, unruffled voice, "They rechecked after that report."<br /><br />"Why did they recheck, after fifteen months?" I asked him. "'They must have gone over those figures long before that, for errors."<br /><br />If my question annoyed him, Boggs gave no sign.<br /><br />There's no other possible answer," he said. "Mantell was chasing Venus."<br /><br />{p. 148}<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XVII</span><br /><br />FOR A MOMENT after Boggs's last answer, I had an impulse to end the interview. I had a feeling I was facing a sphinx--a quiet, courteous sphinx in an Air Force uniform.<br /><br />I was sure now why Major Jerry Boggs had been chosen for his job, the all-important connecting link with the project at Wright Field. No one would ever catch this man off guard, no matter what secret was given him to conceal. And it was more than the result of Air Force Intelligence training. His manner, his voice carried conviction. He would have convinced anyone who had not carefully analyzed the Godman Field tragedy.<br /><br />I made one more attempt. "Do the Godman Field witnesses--Colonel Hix and the rest--believe the Venus answer?"<br /><br />"I haven't asked them," said Boggs, "so I couldn't say."<br /><br />"What about the Chiles-Whitted case?" I asked. "You were quoted as saying they saw a meteor--a bolide that exploded in a shower of sparks."<br /><br />"That's right," said Boggs.<br /><br />"And Gorman was chasing a lighted balloon?"<br /><br />Again the Intelligence major nodded. I pointed, out that all three of the cases mentioned had been listed as unidentified in the April report.<br /><br />"They'd had those cases for months," I said. "What new facts did they learn?"<br /><br />Boggs said calmly, "They just made a final analysis, and those were the answers."<br /><br />We looked at each other a moment. Major Boggs patiently waited. I began to realize how a lawyer must feel with an imperturbable witness. And Boggs's unfailing courtesy began to make me embarrassed.<br /><br />"Major," I said, "I hope you'll realize this is not a personal matter. As an Intelligence officer, if you're told to give certain answers--"<br /><br />He smiled for the first time. "That's all right--but I'm<br /><br />{p. 149}<br /><br />not hiding a thing. There's just no such thing as a flying saucer, so far as we've found out."<br /><br />"We've been told," I said, "that Project 'Saucer' isn't closed--that you just changed its code name."<br /><br />"That's not so," Boggs said emphatically. "The contracts are ended, and all personnel transferred to other duty."<br /><br />"Then the announcement wasn't caused by True's article?"<br /><br />Both General Smith and Major Jesse Stay shook their heads quickly. Boggs leaned forward, eyeing me earnestly.<br /><br />"As a matter of fact, we'd finished the investigation months ago--around the end of August, or early in September. We just hadn't got around to announcing it."<br /><br />"Last October," I said, "I was told the investigation was still going on. They said there were no new answers to the cases just mentioned."<br /><br />"The Press Branch hadn't been informed yet," Boggs explained simply.<br /><br />"It seems very strange to me," I said. "In April, the Air Force called for vigilance by the civilian population. It said the project was young, much of its work still under way."<br /><br />Jesse Stay interrupted before Boggs could reply.<br /><br />"Don, the Press Branch will have to take the blame for that. The report wasn't carefully checked. There were several loose statements in it."<br /><br />This was an incredible statement. I was sure Jesse knew it.<br /><br />"But the case reports you quoted came from Wright Field. As of April twenty-seventh, 1949, all the major cases were officially unsolved. Then in August or early September, the whole thing's cleaned up, from what Major Boggs says. That's pretty hard to believe."<br /><br />No one answered that one. Major Boggs was waiting politely for the next question. I picked up my list. The rest of the interview was in straight question-and-answer style:<br /><br />Q. Do you know about the White Sands sightings in April 1948? The ones Commander R. B. McLaughlin has written up?<br /><br />{p. 150}<br /><br />A. Yes, we checked the reports. We just don't believe them.<br /><br />Q. One of the witnesses was Charles B. Moore, the director of the Navy cosmic-ray project at Minneapolis, He's considered a very reputable engineer. Did you know he confirms the first report--the one about the saucer 56 miles up, at a speed of eighteen thousand miles per hour.<br /><br />A. Yes, I knew about him. We think he was mistaken, like the others.<br /><br />Q. Mr. Moore says it was absolutely sure it was not hallucination. He says it should be carefully investigated.<br /><br />A. We did investigate. We just don't believe they saw anything.<br /><br />Q. Could I see the complete file on that case? Also on Mantell, Gorman, and the Eastern Airlines cases?<br /><br />A. That's out of my province.<br /><br />Q. If Project "Saucer" is ended, then all the files should be opened.<br /><br />A. Well, the summaries have been cleared, and you can see them.<br /><br />Q. No, I mean the actual files. Is there any reason I shouldn't see them?<br /><br />A. There'd be a lot of material to search through. Each case has a separate book, and some of them are pretty bulky.<br /><br />Q. There were 722 cases in all, weren't there?<br /><br />A. No, nowhere near that.<br /><br />Q. Then 375 is the total figure--I mean the number of cases Project "Saucer" listed?<br /><br />A. There were a few more--something over four hundred. I don't know the exact figure.<br /><br />Q. I've been told that Project "Saucer" had the Air Force put out a special order for pilots to chase flying saucers. Is that right?<br /><br />A. Yes, that's right.<br /><br />Q. Did that include National Guard pilots?<br /><br />A. Yes, it did. When the project first started checking on saucers we were naturally anxious to get hold of one of the things. We told the pilots to do practically anything in reason, even if they had to grab one by the tail.<br /><br />Q. Were any of those planes armed?<br /><br />{p. 151}<br /><br />A. Only if they happened to have guns for some other mission, like gunnery practice.<br /><br />Q. We've heard of one case where fighters chased a saucer to a high altitude. One of them emptied his guns at it.<br /><br />A. You must mean that New Jersey affair. The plane was armed for another reason.<br /><br />Q. No, I meant a case reported out at Luke Field. Three fighters took off, if the story sent us is correct. Apparently it made quite a commotion. That was back in 1945.<br /><br />A. It might have happened. I don't know.<br /><br />Q. What was this New Jersey case?<br /><br />A. I'd rather not discuss any more cases without having the books here.<br /><br />Q. Has Project "Saucer" released its secret pictures?<br /><br />A. What pictures? There weren't any that amounted to anything. Maybe half a dozen. They didn't show anything, just spots on film or weather balloons at a distance.<br /><br />Q. In the Kenneth Arnold case, didn't some forest rangers verify his report?<br /><br />A. Well, there were some people who claimed they saw the same disks. But we found out later they'd heard about it on the radio.<br /><br />Q. Didn't they draw some sketches that matched Arnold's?<br /><br />A. I never heard about it.<br /><br />Q. I'd like to go back to the Mantell case a second. If Venus was so bright--remember Mantell thought it was a huge metallic object--why didn't the pilot who made the search later on--<br /><br />A. Well, it was Venus, that's positive. But I can't remember all the details without the case books.<br /><br />Q. One more question, Major. Have any reports been received at Wright Field since Project "Saucer" closed? There was a case after that date, an airliner crew--<br /><br />At this point, Major Jesse Stay broke in.<br /><br />"It's all up to the local commanders now. If they want to receive reports of anything unusual, all right. And if they want to investigate them, that's up to each<br /><br />{p. 152}<br /><br />commander. But no Project 'Saucer' teams will check on reports. That's all ended."<br /><br />There at the last, it had been a little. like a courtroom scene, and I was glad the interview was over. Major Boggs was unruffled as ever. I apologized for the barrage of questions, and thanked him for being so decent about it.<br /><br />"It was interesting, getting your viewpoint," he said. He smiled, still the courteous sphinx, and went on out.<br /><br />After Bogs had left, I talked with General Smith alone. I told him I was not convinced,<br /><br />"I'd like to see the complete files on these cases I mentioned," I explained. "Also, I'd like to talk with the last commanding officer or senior Intelligence officer attached to Project 'Saucer.'"<br /><br />"I'm not sure about the senior officer," General Smith answered. "He may have been detached already. But I don't see any reason why you can't see those files. I'll phone Wright Field and call you."<br /><br />I was about to leave, but he motioned for me to sit down.<br /><br />"I can understand how you feel about the Mantell report," General Smith said earnestly. "I knew Tommy Mantell very well. And Colonel Hix is a classmate of mine. I knew neither one was the kind to have hallucinations. That case got me, at first."<br /><br />"You believe Venus is the true answer?" I asked him.<br /><br />He seemed surprised. "It must be, if Wright Field says so."<br /><br />When I went back to the Press Branch, I asked Jack Shea for the case-report summaries that Boggs had mentioned, He got them for me--two collections of loose-leaf mimeographed sheets enclosed in black binders. So these were the "secret files"!<br /><br />Across the hall, in the press room, I opened one book at random. The first thing I saw was this:<br /><br />"A meteorologist should compute the approximate energy required to evaporate as much cloud as shown in the incident 26 photographs."<br /><br />Photographs.<br /><br />{p. 153}<br /><br />Major Boggs had said there were no important pictures.<br /><br />I tucked the binders under my arm and went out to my car. Perhaps these books hinted at more than Boggs had realized. But that didn't seem likely. As liaison man, he should know all the answers. I was almost positive that he did.<br /><br />But I was equally sure they weren't the answers he had given me.<br /><br />{p. 154}<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XVIII</span><br /><br />THAT NIGHT I went through the Project "Saucer" summary of cases. It was a strange experience.<br /><br />The first report I checked was the Mantell case. Nothing that Boggs had said had changed my firm opinion. I knew the answer was not Venus, and I was certain Boggs knew it, too.<br /><br />The Godman Field incident was listed as Case 33. The report also touches on the Lockbourne Air Base sighting. As already described, the same mysterious object, or a similar one, was seen moving at five hundred miles an hour over Lockbourne Field. It was also sighted at other points in Ohio.<br /><br />The very first sentence in Case 33 showed a determined attempt to explain away the object that Mantell chased:<br /><br />"Detailed attention should be given to any possible astronomical body or phenomenon which might serve to identify the object or objects."<br /><br />(Some of the final Project report on Mantell has been given in an earlier chapter. I am repeating a few paragraphs below, to help in weighing Major Boggs's answer.)<br /><br />These are official statements of the Project astronomer:<br /><br />"On January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half its full brilliance. However, under exceptionally good atmospheric conditions, and with the eye shielded from the direct rays of the sun, Venus might be seen as an exceedingly tiny bright point of light. It is possible to see it in daytime when one knows exactly where to look. Of course, the chances of looking at the right spot are very few.<br /><br />"It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic ray balloon. If this can be established it is to be preferred as an explanation. However, if reports from other localities refer to the same object, any such device must have been a good many miles high--25 to 50--in order to have been seen clearly, almost simultaneously, from places 175 miles apart."<br /><br />{p. 155}<br /><br />This absolutely ruled out the balloon possibility, as the investigator fully realized. That he must have considered the space-ship answer at this point is strongly indicated in the following sentence:<br /><br />"If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and far enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings."<br /><br />The next paragraph of this Project "Saucer" report practically nullified Major Boggs's statement that Venus was the sole explanation:<br /><br />"It is most unlikely, however, that so many separate persons should at that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems therefore much more probable that more than one object was involved. The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or they might have included Venus (in the fatal chase) and balloons. . . . Such a hypothesis, however, does still necessitate the inclusion of at least two other objects than Venus, and it certainly is coincidental that so many people would have chosen this one day to be confused (to the extent of reporting the matter) by normal airborne objects. . . ."<br /><br />Farther on in the summaries, I found a report that has an extremely significant bearing on the Mantell case. This was Case 175, in which the same consultant attempts to explain a strange daylight sighting at Santa Fe, New Mexico.<br /><br />One of the Santa Fe observers described the mysterious aerial object as round and extremely bright, "like a dime in the sky." Here is what the Project "Saucer" investigator had to say:<br /><br />"The magnitude of Venus was -3.8 (approximately the same as on January 7, 1948). it could have been visible in the daylight sky. It would have appeared, however, more like a pinpoint of brilliant light than 'like a dime in the sky.' It seems unlikely that it would be noticed at all. . . . Considering discrepancies in the two reports, I suggest the moon in a gibbous phase; in daytime this is unusual and most people are not used to it, so that they fail to identify it. While this hypothesis<br /><br />{p. 156}<br /><br />has little to correspond to either report, it is worth mentioning.<br /><br />"It seems far more probable that some type of balloon was the object in this case."<br /><br />Both the Godman Field and the Santa Fe cases were almost identical, so far as the visibility of Venus was concerned. In the Santa Fe case, which had very little publicity, Project "Saucer" dropped the Venus explanation as a practically impossible answer. But in Case 33, it had tried desperately to make Venus loom up as a huge gleaming object during Mantell's fatal chase.<br /><br />There was only one explanation: Project "Saucer" must have known the truth from the start-that Mantell had pursued a tremendous space ship. That fact alone, if it had exploded in the headlines at that time, might have caused dangerous panic. To make it worse, Captain Mantell had been killed. Even if he had actually died from blacking out while trying to follow the swiftly ascending space ship, few would have believed it. The story would spread like wildfire: Spacemen kill an American Air Force Pilot!<br /><br />This explained the tight lid that had been clamped down at once on the Mantell case. It was more than a year before that policy had been changed; then the first official discussions of possible space visitors had begun to appear.<br /><br />True's plans to announce the interplanetary answer would have fitted a program of preparing the people. But the Air Force had not expected such nation-wide reaction from True's article; that much I knew. Evidently, they had not suspected such a detailed analysis of the Godman Field case, in particular. I could see now why Boggs, Jesse Stay, and the others had tried so hard to convince me that we had made a mistake.<br /><br />It was quite possible that we had revived that first Air Force fear of dangerous publicity. But Mantell had been dead for two years. News stories would not have the same impact now, even if they did report that spacemen had downed the pilot. And I doubted that there would be headlines. Unless the Air Force supplied some<br /><br />{p. 157}<br /><br />convincing details, the manner of his death would still be speculation.<br /><br />Apparently I had been right; this case was the key to the riddle. It had been the first major sighting in 1948. Project "Saucer" had been started immediately afterward. In searching for a plausible answer, which could be published if needed, officials had probably set the pattern for handling all other reports, "Explaining away" would be a logical program, until the public could be prepared for an official announcement.<br /><br />As I went through other case reports, I found increasing evidence to back up this belief.<br /><br />Case 1, the Muroc Air Base sightings, had plainly baffled Project men seeking a plausible answer. Because of the Air Force witnesses, they could not ignore the reports. Highly trained Air Force test pilots and ground officers had seen two fast-moving silver-colored disks circling over the base.<br /><br />Flying at speeds of from three to four hundred miles an hour, the disks whirled in amazingly tight maneuvers. Since they were only eight thousand feet above the field, these turns could be clearly seen.<br /><br />"It is tempting to explain the object as ordinary aircraft observed under unusual light conditions," the case report reads. "But the evidence of tight circles, if maintained, is strongly contradictory."<br /><br />Although Case 1 was technically in the "unexplained" group, Wright Field had made a final effort to explain away the reports. Said the Air Materiel Command:<br /><br />"The sightings were the result of misinterpretation of real stimuli, probably research balloons."<br /><br />In all the world's history, there is no record of a three-hundred-mile-an-hour wind. To cover the distance involved, the drifting balloons would have had to move at this speed, or faster. If a three-hundred-mile wind had been blowing at eight thousand feet, nothing on earth could have stood it, Muroc Air Base would have been blown off the map.<br /><br />What did the Muroc test pilots really see that day?<br /><br />While searching for the Chiles-Whitted report, ran across the Fairfield Suisan mystery-light case, which I<br /><br />{p. 158}<br /><br />had learned about in Seattle. This was Case 215. The Project "Saucer" comment reads:<br /><br />"If the observations were exactly as stated by the witnesses, the ball of light could not be a fireball. . . . A fireball would not have come into view at 1,000 feet and risen to 20,000. If correct, there is no astronomical explanation. Under unusual conditions, a fireball might appear to rise somewhat as a result of perspective. The absence of trail and sound definitely does not favor the meteor hypothesis, but . . . does not rule it out finally. It does not seem likely any meteor or auroral phenomenon could be as bright as this."<br /><br />Then came one of the most revealing lines in all the case reports:<br /><br />"In the almost hopeless absence of any other natural explanation, one must consider the possibility of the object's having been a meteor, even though the description does not fit very well."<br /><br />One air-base officer, I recalled, had insisted that the object had been a lighted balloon. Checking the secret report from the Air Weather Service, I found this:<br /><br />"Case 2 15. Very high winds, 60-70 miles per hour from southwest, all levels. Definitely prohibits any balloon from southerly motion."<br /><br />This case is officially listed as answered.<br /><br />In Case 19, where a cigar-shaped object was seen at Dayton, Ohio, the Project investigator made a valiant attempt to fit an answer:<br /><br />"Possibly a close pair of fireballs, but it seems unlikely. If one were to stretch the description to its very limits and make allowances for untrained observers, he could say that the cigar-like shape might have been illusion caused by rapid motion, and that the bright sunlight might have made both the objects and the trails nearly invisible.<br /><br />"This investigator does not prefer that interpolation, and it should he resorted to only if all other possible explanations fail."<br /><br />This case, too, is officially listed as answered.<br /><br />Case 24, which occurred June 12, 1947, twelve days before the Arnold sighting, shows the same determined<br /><br />{p. 159}<br /><br />attempt to find an explanation, no matter how farfetched.<br /><br />In this case, two fast-moving objects were seen at Weiser, Idaho, Twice they approached the earth, then swiftly circled upward. The Project investigator tried hard to prove that these might have been parts of a double fireball. But at the end, he said, "In spite of all this, this investigator would prefer a terrestrial explanation for the incident."<br /><br />It was plain that this report had not been planned originally for release to the public. No Project investigator would have been so frank. With each new report, I was more and more convinced that these had been confidential discussions of various possible answers, circulated between Project "Saucer" officials. Why they had been released now was still a puzzle, though I began to see a glimmer of the answer.<br /><br />The Chiles-Whitted sighting was listed as Case 144. As I started on the report, I wondered if Major Boggs's "bolide" answer would have any more foundation than these other "astronomical" cases.<br /><br />The report began with these words:<br /><br />"There is no astronomical explanation, if we accept the report at face value. But the sheer improbability of the facts as stated, particularly in the absence of any known aircraft in the vicinity, makes it necessary to see whether any other explanation, even though farfetched, can be considered."<br /><br />After this candid admission of his intentions, the Project consultant earnestly attempts to fit the two pilots' space ship description to a slow-moving meteor.<br /><br />"It will have to be left to the psychologists," he goes on, "to tell us whether the immediate trail of a bright meteor could produce the subjective impression of a ship with lighted windows. Considering only the Chiles-Whitted sighting, the hypothesis seems very improbable."<br /><br />As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, observers at Robbins Air Force Base, Macon, Georgia, saw the same mysterious object streak overhead, trailing varicolored<br /><br />{p. 160}<br /><br />flames. This was about one hour before Chiles and Whitted saw the onrushing space ship.<br /><br />To bolster up the meteor theory, the Project consultant suggests a one-hour error in time. The explanation: The airliner would be on daylight-saving time.<br /><br />"If there is no time difference," he proceeds, "the. object must have been an extraordinary meteor. . . . in which case it would have covered the distance from Macon to Montgomery in a minute or two."<br /><br />Having checked the time angle before, I knew this was incorrect. Both reports were given in eastern standard time. And in a later part of the Project report, the consultant admits this fact. But he has an alternate answer: "If the difference in time is real, the object was some form of known aircraft, regardless of its bizarre nature."<br /><br />The "bizarre nature" is not specified. Nor does the Project "Saucer" report try to fit the Robbins Field description to any earth-made aircraft. The air-base observers were struck by the object's huge size, its projectile-like shape, and the weird flames trailing behind. Except for the double-deck windows, the air-base men's description tallied with the pilots'. With the ship at five thousand feet or higher, its windows would not have been visible from the ground. All the observers agreed on the object's very high speed.<br /><br />Neither of the Project "Saucer" alternate answers will fit the facts.<br /><br />1. The one-hour interval has been proved correct. Therefore, as the Project consultant admits, it could not be a meteor.<br /><br />2. The Robbins Field witnesses have flatly denied it was a conventional plane. The Air Force screened 225 airplane schedules, and proved there was no such plane in the area. No ordinary aircraft would have caused the brilliant streak that startled the DC-3 passenger and both of the pilots.<br /><br />Major Boggs's bolide answer had gone the way of his Venus explanation. I wondered if the Gorman light-balloon solution would fade out the same way.<br /><br />But the Project report on Gorman (Case 172) merely<br /><br />{p. 161}<br /><br />hinted at the balloon answer. In the Appendix, there was a brief comment: "Note that standard 30 inch and 65 inch weather balloons have vertical speeds of 600 and 1100 feet per minute, respectively."<br /><br />In all the reports I have mentioned, and on through both the case books, one thing was immediately obvious. All the testimony, all the actual evidence was missing. These were only the declared conclusions of Project "Saucer." Whether they matched the actual conclusions in Wright Field secret files there was no way of knowing.<br /><br />But even in these sketch reports, I found some odd hints, clues to what Project officials might really be thinking.<br /><br />After an analysis of two Indianapolis cases, one investigator reports:<br /><br />"Barring hallucination, these two incidents and 17, 75 and 84 seem the most tangible from the standpoint of description, of all those reported, and the most difficult to explain away as sheer nonsense."<br /><br />Case 17, I found, was that of Kenneth Arnold. But in spite of the above admission that this case cannot be explained away, it is officially listed as answered.<br /><br />Case 75 struck a familiar note. This was the strange occurrence at Twin Falls, Idaho, on which True had had a tip months before. A disk moving through a canyon at tremendous speed had whipped the treetops as if by a violent hurricane. The report was brief, but one sentence stood out with a startling effect:<br /><br />"Twin Falls, Idaho, August 13, 1847," the report began. "There is clearly nothing astronomical in this incident. . . . Two points stand out, the sky-blue color, and the fact that the trees 'spun around on top as if they were in a vacuum.'"<br /><br />Then came the sentence that made me sit up in my chair.<br /><br />"Apparently it must be classed with the other bona fide disk sightings."<br /><br />The other bona fide sightings!<br /><br />Was this a slip? Or had the Air Force deliberately left this report in the file? If they had, what was back of it<br /><br />{p. 162}<br /><br />--what was back of releasing all of these telltale case summaries?<br /><br />I skimmed through the rest as quickly as possible looking for other clues. Here are a few of the things that. caught my eye:<br /><br />Case 10. United Airlines report . . . despite conjectures, no logical explanation seems possible. . . .<br /><br />Case 122. Holloman Air Force Base, April 6, 1948. [This was the Commander McLaughlin White Sands report.] No logical explanation. . . .<br /><br />Case 124. North Atlantic, April 18, 1948 . . . radar sighting . . . no astronomical explanation. . . .<br /><br />Case 127. Yugoslav-Greek frontier, May 7, 1948 . . . information too limited. . . .<br /><br />Case 168. Arnheim, The Hague, July 20, 1948 . . . object seen four times . . . had two decks and no wings . . . very high speed comparable to a V-2. . . .<br /><br />Case 183. Japan, October 15, 1948. Radar experts should determine acceleration rates. . . .<br /><br />Case 188. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 29, 1948. Not astronomical . . . picked up by radar . . . radar experts should evaluate the sightings . . . .<br /><br />Case 189. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 31, 1948 . . . not astronomical . . . observed on radarscope. . . .<br /><br />Case 196. Radarscope observation . . . object traveling directly into the wind. . . .<br /><br />Case 198. Radar blimp moving at high speed and continuously changing direction. . . .<br /><br />Case 222. Furstenfeldbruck, Germany, November 23, 1948 . . . object plotted by radar DF at 27,000 feet . . . short time later circling at 40,000 feet . . . speed estimated 200-500 m.p.h. . . .<br /><br />Case 223 . . . seventeen individuals saw and reported object . . . green flare . . . all commercial and government airfield questioned . . . no success. . . .<br /><br />Case 224. Las Vegas, New Mexico, December 8, 1948 . . . description exactly as in 223 . . . flare<br /><br />{p. 163}<br /><br />reported traveling very high speed . . . very accurate observation made by two F.B.I. agents. . . .<br /><br />Case 231 . . . another glowing green flare just as described above. . . .<br /><br />Case 233 . . . definitely no balloon . . . made turns . . . accelerated from 200 to 500 miles per hour . . . .<br /><br />Going back over this group of cases, I made an incredible discovery: All but three of these unsolved cases were officially listed as answered.<br /><br />The three were the United Airlines case, the White Sands sightings, and the double-decked space-ship report from The Hague.<br /><br />Going back to the first report, I checked all the summaries. Nine times out of ten, the explanations were pure conjecture. Sometimes no answer was even attempted.<br /><br />Although 375 cases were mentioned, the summaries ended with Case 244. Several cases were omitted. I found clues to some of these in the secret Air Weather Service report, including the mysterious "green light" sightings at Las Vegas and Albuquerque.<br /><br />Of the remaining 228 cases, Project "Saucer" lists all but 34 as explained. These unsolved cases are brought up again for a final attempt at explaining them away. In the appendix, the Air Materiel Command carefully states:<br /><br />"It is not the intent to discredit the character of observers, but each case has undesirable elements and these can't be disregarded."<br /><br />After this perfunctory gesture, the A.M.C. proceeds to discredit completely the testimony of highly trained Air Force test pilots and officers at Muroc. (The 300-400 m.p.h. research balloon explanation.)<br /><br />The A.M.C. then brushes off the report of Captain Emil Smith and the crew of a United Airline plane. On July 4, 1947, nine huge flying disks were counted by Captain Smith and his crew. The strange objects were in sight for about twelve minutes; the crew watched them for the entire period and described them in detail later.<br /><br />Despite Project "Saucer's" admission that it had no<br /><br />{p. 164}<br /><br />answer, the A.M.C. contrived one. Ignoring the evidence of veteran airline pilots, it said:<br /><br />"Since the sighting occurred at sunset, when illusory effect are most likely, the objects could have been ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, or pure illusion."<br /><br />In only three cases did the A.M.C. admit it had no answer. Even here, it was implied that the witnesses were either confused or incompetent.<br /><br />In its press release of December 27, 1949, the Air Force had mentioned 375 cases. It implied that all of these were answered. The truth was just the reverse, as was proved by these case books. Almost two hundred cases still were shown to be unsolved-although the real answers might be hidden in Wright Field files.<br /><br />These two black books puzzled me. Why had the Air Force lifted its secrecy on these case summaries? Why had Major Boggs given me those answers, when these books would flatly refute them?<br /><br />I thought I new the reason now but there was only one way to make sure. The actual Wright Field files should tell the answer.<br /><br />When I phoned General Sory Smith, his voice sounded a little peculiar. "I called Wright Field," he said. "But they said you wouldn't find anything of value out there."<br /><br />"You mean they refused to let me see their files?"<br /><br />"No, I didn't say that. But they're short of personnel. They don't want to take people off other jobs to look up the records."<br /><br />"I won't need any help," I said. "Major Boggs said each case had a separate book. If they'd just show me the shelves, I could do the job in two days."<br /><br />There was a long silence.<br /><br />"I'll ask them again," the General said finally. "Call me sometime next week."<br /><br />I said I would, and hung up. The message from Wright Field hadn't surprised me. But Smith's changed manner did. He had sounded oddly disturbed.<br /><br />While I was waiting for Wright Field's answer, Ken Purdy phoned. He told me that staff men from Time and Life magazines were seriously checking on the "little men" story. Both Purdy and I were sure this was a<br /><br />{p. 165}<br /><br />colossal hoax, but there was just a faint chance that someone had been on the fringe of a real happening and had made up the rest of the story.<br /><br />They key man in the story seemed to be one George Koehler, of Denver, Colorado. The morning after Purdy called, I took a plane to Denver. During the flight I went over the "little men" story again. It had been printed in over a hundred papers.<br /><br />According to the usual version, George Koehler had accidentally learned of two crashed saucers at a radar station on our southwest border. The ships were made of some strange metal. The cabin was stationary, placed within a large rotating ring.<br /><br />Here is the story as it was told in the Kansas City Star:<br /><br />In flight, the ring revolved at a high rate of speed, while the cabin remained stationary like the center of a gyroscope.<br /><br />Each of the two ships seen by Koehler were occupied by a crew of two. In the badly damaged ship, these bodies were charred so badly that little could be learned from them. The occupants of the other ship, while dead when they were found, were not burned or disfigured, and, when Koehler saw them, were in a perfect state of preservation. Medical reports, according to Koehler, showed that these men were almost identical with earth-dwelling humans, except for a few minor differences. They were of a uniform height of three feet, were uniformly blond, beardless, and their teeth were completely free of fillings or cavities. They did not wear undergarments, but had their bodies taped.<br /><br />The ships seemed to be magnetically controlled and powered.<br /><br />In addition to a piece of metal, Koehler had a clock or automatic calendar taken from one of the crafts.<br /><br />Koehler said that the best assumption as to the source of the ships was the planet Venus.<br /><br />When I arrived at Denver, I went to the radio station<br /><br />{p. 166}<br /><br />where Koehler worked. I told him that if he had proof that we could print, we would buy the story.<br /><br />As the first substantial proof, I asked to see the piece of strange metal he was supposed to have. Koehler said it had been sent to another city to be analyzed. I asked to see pictures of the crashed saucers. These, too, proved to be somewhere else. So did the queer "space clock" that Koehler was said to have.<br /><br />By this time I was sure it was all a gag. I had the feeling that Koehler, back of his manner of seeming indignation at my demands, was hugely enjoying himself. I cut the interview short and called Ken Purdy in New York.<br /><br />"Well, thank God that's laid to rest," he said when I told him.<br /><br />But even though the "little men" story had turned out-as expected--a dud, Koehler had done me a good turn. An old friend, William E. Barrett, well-known fiction writer, now lived in Denver. Thanks to Koehler's gag, I had a pleasant visit with Bill and his family.<br /><br />On the trip back, I bought a paper at the Chicago airport. On an inside page I ran across Koehler's name. According to the A.P., he had just admitted the whole thing was a big joke.<br /><br />But in spite of this, the "little men" story goes on and on. Apparently not even Koehler can stop it now.<br /><br />{p. 167}<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XIX</span><br /><br />FOR TWO WEEKS after my return to Washington, General Sory Smith held off a final answer about my trip to Wright Field. Meantime, Ken Purdy had called him backing my request to see the Project files.<br /><br />It was obvious to me that Wright Field was determined not to open the files. But the General was trying to avoid making it official.<br /><br />"Why can't you accept my word there's nothing to the saucers?" he asked me one day. "You're impeaching my personal veracity."<br /><br />But finally he saw there was no other way out. He told me I had been officially refused permission to see the Wright Field files. Some time later, Ken Purdy phoned General Smith.<br /><br />"General, if the Air Force wants to talk to us off the record, we'll play ball. True will either handle it from then on whatever way you think best or we'll keep still."<br /><br />Whether this offer was relayed higher up, I don't know. But nothing came of it.<br /><br />Meantime, saucer reports had begun to come in from all over the country. Some even came from abroad. Some of these 1950 sightings have already been mentioned in early chapters. Besides the strange affair at Tucson on February 1, there were several other cases in February. Three of these were in South America. One saucer was reported near the naval air station at Alameda, California. Some were sighted in Texas, New Mexico, and other parts of the Southwest.<br /><br />In March, the wave of sightings reached such a height that the Air Force again denied the saucers' existence. This followed a report that a flying disk had crashed near Mexico City and that the wreckage had been viewed by U. S. Air Force officials.<br /><br />Scores of Orangeburg, South Carolina, residents watched a disk that hovered over that city on March 10. It was described as silver-bright, turning slowly in the air before it disappeared. The day before this, residents<br /><br />{p. 168}<br /><br />of Van Nuys, California, saw a bright disk moving swiftly four hundred feet in the air. Seen through a telescope, it appeared to be fifty feet in diameter.<br /><br />Disks were reported at numerous places in Mexico, including Guadalajara, Juárez, Mazatlán, and Durango. On the twelfth of March, the crew and passengers of an American Airlines ship saw a large gleaming disk high above Monterrey airport in Mexico.<br /><br />Captain W. R. Hunt, the senior airline pilot, watched the disk through a theodolite at the airport. This disk and most of the others seen in Mexico were similar in description to the one sighted at Dayton, Ohio, on March 8. This was the large metallic saucer that hovered high over Vandalia Airport, until Air Force and National Guard fighters raced up after it. The disk rose vertically into the sky at incredible speed, hovered a while longer, and then vanished.<br /><br />Within twenty-four hours this mystery disk had been "identified" as the planet Venus. (It was broad daylight.) Newspapers quoted "trained astronomical officials in Dayton" as the source for this explanation.<br /><br />Meanwhile the Mexican government newspaper, El Nacional, quoted "a famous and reputable astronomer" as saying the numerous disks reported over Mexico "carry visitors from Mars."<br /><br />One of the strangest reports came from the naval air station at Dallas, Texas. It was about 11:30 A.M. on March 16 when CPO Charles Lewis saw a disk streak up at a B-36 bomber. The disk appeared about twenty to twenty-five feet in diameter, Lewis reported. Racing at incredible speed, it shot up under the bomber, hung there for a second, then broke away at a 45-degree angle. Following this, it shot straight up into the air and disappeared.<br /><br />Captain M. A. Nation, C. O. of the station, said it was "I the second report in ten days. On March 7, said Captain Nation, a tower control operator named C. E. Edmundson saw a similar disk flying so fast it was almost a blur.<br /><br />"He estimated its speed at three thousand to four thousand miles per hour," Captain Nation stated. "Of<br /><br />{p. 169}<br /><br />course, he had no instruments to compute the speed, so that's a pure estimate."<br /><br />It was some time before this when I heard the first crazy rumor about the guided-missile display. This story, which had new details every time I heard it described the Air Force as refusing to let the Navy announce a new type of missile. According to the rumors, the Air Force was trying to prove its own missile far superior, to keep the Navy from invading its long-range bombing domain. Then the Army joined the pitched battle with still a third guided missile, according to the rumors.<br /><br />And the flying disks? Army, Navy, and Air Force missiles, launched in droves all over the country to prove whose was the best? A public missile race, with the joint Chiefs of Staff to decide the winner!<br /><br />It seems fantastic that this theory would be believed by any intelligent person. In effect, it accuses the armed services of deliberate, criminal negligence, of endangering millions in the cities below.<br /><br />I am convinced that some of these rumors led to at least one of the published guesses about our missile program. One widely publicized story stated that the flying saucers seen hurtling through our skies are actually two types of secret weapons. One, according to radio and newspaper accounts, is a disk that whizzes through space, halts suspended in the air, soars to thirty thousand feet, drops to one thousand feet, and then usually disintegrates in the air.<br /><br />These saucers, it was said, ranged from 20 inches to 250 feet in diameter. They were supposed to be pilotless--and harmless.<br /><br />The second type was said to be a jet version of the Navy's circular airfoil "Flying Flapjack." It was credited with fantastic speed.<br /><br />The "true disks," however, were mainly Air Force devices, according to the report.<br /><br />"Some are guided, others are not," said the radio commentator who released this story. "They can stay stationary, dash off to right or left, and move like lightning. But they are utterly harmless."<br /><br />In these "harmless" disks there was supposed to be an<br /><br />{p. 170}<br /><br />explosive charge that destroyed them in mid-air at a predetermined time.<br /><br />Within a few days after this story was broadcast, the United States News and World Report declared that the saucers are real, and identified them as jet models of Navy "Flying Flapjacks." This magazine, which is not an official publication despite its name, mentioned the variable-direction jet principle that I had previously described in the True article.<br /><br />These two flying-saucer "explanations" brought denials from the White House, the Navy, and the Air Force.<br /><br />The Air Force flatly declared that:<br /><br />1. None of the armed forces is conducting secret experiments with disk-shaped flying objects that could be a basis for the reported phenomena.<br /><br />2. There is no evidence that the latter stem from the activities of any foreign nation.<br /><br />Before this, President Truman stated he knew nothing of any such objects being developed by the United States or any other nation.<br /><br />The Navy denial came immediately after the first broadcast story. It ran:<br /><br />"The Navy is not engaged in research or in flying any jet-powered, circular-shaped aircraft."<br /><br />The Navy added that one model of a pancake-shaped aircraft, called the Zimmerman Skimmer, was built but was never flown. However, a small, three-thousand-pound scale model did fly and was under radio control during flight. This last device is now being rumored as the Navy's unpiloted "missile," said to have been launched over the country like the so-called "harmless" disks.<br /><br />Even though all these accounts have been officially denied, many Americans may still believe they are true. I have no desire to criticize the authors of these stories; I believe that in following up certain guided-missile leads they were misled into accepting the conclusions they gave.<br /><br />But these stories, particularly the accounts of huge unpiloted disks, may have planted certain fears in the public mind-fears that are completely unwarranted. For<br /><br />{p. 171}<br /><br />this reason, I have personally checked at Washington in regard to the dangers of unpiloted missiles. Here aye the facts I learned:<br /><br />1. Neither the Army, Navy, nor Air Force has at any time staged any guided-missile competition as rumored.<br /><br />2. No unpiloted missiles or remote-controlled experimental craft have been tested over American cities or heavily populated areas.<br /><br />3. No unpiloted missile carrying dangerous explosives, whether for destruction of the device or other purposes, has been deliberately launched or tested over heavily populated areas.<br /><br />In regard to the so-called jet-propelled "Flying Flapjack," I have been assured by Admiral Calvin Bolster, of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, that this type of plane has never been produced. I concede that he might make this statement to conceal a secret development, but there is one fact of which every American can be certain: Neither this type, nor the radio-controlled smaller model, has been or will be flown or launched over areas where people would be endangered.<br /><br />The three armed services are working on guided missiles. They are not risking American lives by launching such missiles at random across the United States,<br /><br />Although most of our guided-missile projects are secret, it is possible to give certain facts about guided-missile developments in general.<br /><br />The first successful long-range missiles were produced by the Germans. These were the buzz-bomb and. the V-2 rocket. But research in various other types was carried on during the war. Some of this was with oval and round types of airfoils. As already stated by Paul Redell, there is strong evidence that the disk-shaped foil resulted from German observations of either space ships or remote-control disk-shaped "observer units." All the Nazi space-exploration plans followed this discovery that we were being observed by a race from another planet.<br /><br />After the end of World War II, the international guided-missile race began, with the British, Russians, and ourselves as the chief contenders. Numerous types have been developed-winged bombs, small radar-guided<br /><br />{p. 172}<br /><br />projectiles launched from planes, and ground-to-plane plane-to-ground, and plane-to-plane missiles, equipped with target homing devices.<br /><br />In certain recent types, the range can be stated as several hundred miles. So far as I have learned, after weeks of rechecking this point, not a single long-range missile has been identified as Russian.<br /><br />Since this country is working closely with Great Britain on global defense problems, it is no violation of security to say that we have probably exchanged certain guided-missile information. In regard to the British long-range missile picture outlined to me by John Steele, I can state two major facts:<br /><br />1. The British have categorically denied testing such long-range missiles over American territory, where they might endanger American citizens. There is convincing evidence that they are telling the truth.<br /><br />2. There is no British missile now built, or planned, that could explain the objects seen by Captain Mantell, Chiles and Whitted, and witnesses in most of the major sightings.<br /><br />The preceding statement applies equally to American-built missiles. There is no experimental craft or guided missile even remotely considered in this country that would begin to approach the dimensions and performance of the space ships seen in these cases.<br /><br />There is concrete evidence that the United States is as well advanced as any other nation in guided-missile development. Certain recent advances should place us in the lead, unless confidential reports on Soviet progress are completely wrong.<br /><br />If American scientists and engineers can learn the source of the space ships' power and adapt it to our use, it may well be the means for ending the threat of war. The Soviet scientists are well aware of this; their research into cosmic rays and other natural forces has been redoubled since the flying-saucer reports of 1947.<br /><br />The secret of the space ships' power is more important than even the hydrogen bomb. It may someday be the key to the fate of the world.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">CHAPTER XX</span><br /><br />AFTER one year's investigation of the flying saucers and Air Force operations, I have come to the following conclusions:<br /><br />1. The Air Force was puzzled, and badly worried when the disks first were sighted in 1947.<br /><br />2. The Air Force began to suspect the truth soon after Mantell's death--perhaps even before.<br /><br />3. Project "Saucer" was set up to investigate and at the same time conceal from the public the truth about the saucers.<br /><br />4. During the spring of 1949 this policy, which had been strictly maintained by Forrestal, underwent an abrupt change. On top-level orders, it was decided to let the facts gradually leak out, in order to prepare the American people.<br /><br />5. This was the reason for the April 27, 1949, report, with its suggestions about space visitors.<br /><br />6. While I was preparing the article for the January 1950 issue of True, it had been considered in line with the general education program. But the unexpected public reaction was mistaken by the Air Force for hysteria, resulting in their hasty denial that the saucers existed.<br /><br />7. Because the Air Force feared any closer analysis of the Mantell case, Major Boggs was instructed to publicize the Venus explanation. Although it had been denied, the Air Force knew that most people had forgotten this or had never known it.<br /><br />8. Major Boggs, having stated this answer publicly (along with the other Chiles-Whitted and Gorman answers), was forced to stick to it, though he knew it was wrong and that the case summaries would prove it.<br /><br />9. The case summaries were released to a small number of Washington newsmen, to continue planting the space-travel thought; this decision being made after True's reception proved to the Air Force that the public was better prepared than had been thought.<br /><br />In regard to the flying saucers themselves, I believe<br /><br />{p. 174}<br /><br />that in the majority of cases, space ships are the answer:<br /><br />1. The earth has been under periodic observation from another planet, or other planets, for at least two centuries.<br /><br />2. This observation suddenly increased in 1947, following, the series of A-bomb explosions begun in 1945.<br /><br />3. The observation, now intermittent, is part of a long-range survey and will continue indefinitely. No immediate attempt to contact the earth seems evident. There may be some unknown block to making contact, but it is more probable that the spacemen's plans are not complete.<br /><br />I believe that the Air Force is still investigating the saucer sightings, either through the Air Materiel Command or some other headquarters. It is possible that some Air Force officials still fear a panic when the truth is officially revealed. In that case, we may continue for a long time to see routine denials alternating with new suggestions of interplanetary travel.<br /><br />The education problem is complicated by two imperative needs. We must try to learn as much as we can about the space ships' source of power, and at the same time try to prevent clues to this information from reaching an enemy on earth,<br /><br />If censorship is suddenly imposed on all flying-saucer reports, this will be the chief reason. This would also help solve a minor problem where partial censorship now exists. A few test missiles launched from a southwest base have been seen by citizens at a distance from the proving grounds. In some cases, their reports have got into local papers, though the wire services did not carry them.<br /><br />These missile tests are peculiarly different from the general run of flying-saucer reports. Contrasted with the Chiles-Whitted, Mantell, and other space-ship sightings, they stand out with a certain pattern, easy to recognize. News or radio reports of these tests might accidentally give an enemy clues to the type, speed, and range of this particular missile, once he learned the pattern. Periodic censorship, or even a complete blackout of sighting reports, may be enforced during the next year or so.<br /><br />For the purposes mentioned, such action would be<br /><br />{p. 175}<br /><br />justified. But whenever such censorship is lifted, the complete truth about space visitors should be told at the same time: the full details of all the major cases, the size of the Godman Field space ship, any attempted landings or other efforts at contact by interplanetary visitors, and all other details that now are official secrets.<br /><br />I also believe that a certain group of disk sightings in this country is linked with our guided missiles. Official announcements, of course, may be delayed a long time. With this exception, I believe that Americans should be told the truth, now.<br /><br />When the announcement of our guided missiles is made, some Americans not familiar with the facts may accept it as a full answer. If officials are not yet ready to reveal the space-travel facts, the Mantell evidence and other key cases may be deliberately glossed over.<br /><br />But even if all the evidence--the world-wide sightings, the old records, the Chiles-Whitted and other cases--should be completely ignored, Americans cannot escape eventual contact with dwellers on other planets. Even though space visitors never attempt contact with us, sooner or later earthlings will be traveling to distant planets--planets that scientists have said are almost surely inhabited.<br /><br />The American people have proved their ability to take incredible things. We have survived the stunning impact of the Atomic Age. We should be able to take the Interplanetary Age, when it comes, without hysteria.STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-452752596720505392009-06-25T12:45:00.004+07:002009-06-25T12:51:12.696+07:00200,000 Year Old Statue Found On Moon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkMQLewhScI/AAAAAAAABAc/5kUjHDigtL8/s1600-h/moonstatue.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 196px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkMQLewhScI/AAAAAAAABAc/5kUjHDigtL8/s320/moonstatue.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351138571667458498" /></a><br /><br />WASHINGTON, DC - A noted scientist has just produced proof that the lunar surface was inhabited by intelligent life: a 10-inch angel sculpture embedded in a moon rock.<br />200,000 Year Old Statue Found On Moon<br />Geologist Dr. Morris Charles revealed last week that NASA lab workers chipped the angel from one of the rocks brought to Earth by Apollo 11 astronauts 40 years ago, in 1969. Dr. Charles was a NASA scientist himself for 23 years but left the agency in 1987. He still maintains close ties to many of his former colleagues.<br /><br />“The implications of this figurine are absolutely mind-boggling,” Dr. Charles told reporters. “It means that at one time the moon had an atmosphere conducive to life. And what’s more, it was once home to a sophisticated race of people with a highly refined sense of beauty.”<br /><br />The angel - a humanoid female with wing-like appendages on her back and long flowing hair - is made of an iron compound found exclusively in the highlands of the moon.<br /><br />This rules out the possibility that it was dropped by a race of aliens from another planet. It’s been hand polished to a silvery metallic sheen. Based on chemical analysis of the metal, geologists estimate the sculpture to be 200,000 years old which means it was made 170,000 years before the human species appeared on Earth.<br /><br />It’s been examined by art experts who concur with Dr. Charles’ appraisal of the culture that produced it. “Clearly these beings had a sense of religion that parallels our Christianity. Perhaps they had a Jesus of their own, proving that the important spiritual principles are, in a very literal sense, universal,” said a Washington anthropologist.<br /><br />Others are not so sure of its religious significance. Dr. Miles Fredericks of New York University countered, “This is just more Christian propaganda. The Sumerians told stories of the Annunaki, winged deities, as far back as 18th century BC. Maybe the Sumerians were visited by these moon beings, who merely modeled the statue after their own image.”<br /><br />While many ponder the significance of the figure, others are curious about why it has remained a secret for so long. “The artifact has been common knowledge among NASA insiders for years,” said Dr. Charles. “But space agency higher-ups have kept the information highly classified, fearing world-wide panic. It was smuggled out to me by persons who must, for obvious reasons, remain anonymous.”<br /><br />NASA officially denies Dr. Charles’ allegations. The statue was displayed to photographers and newsmen but is now being held for further study at an undisclosed location.<br /><br />Astronauts of Antiquity - Zecharia Sitchin has already shown in The Twelfth Planet that the statues of gods and goddesses from Sumer present special helmets with protuberances on both sides (the Middle Ages’s illiteracy turned them into”devil horns”), which perfectly look like the pilots’ headphones; the statues were provided with the SHU.GAR.RA - a term that literally means”that which makes you go far into the Universe”.<br /><br />Another image discovered in North Israel, dating back to the ninth millennium B.C., represents the sculpted head of a god with a helmet and safety glasses. Also a picture of the goddess Ishtar from her temple in Sumer…<br /><br />Relief<br />All this suggests to us that the attire …was that of an aeronaut or an astronaut”…<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkMP9e8BijI/AAAAAAAABAU/VDqU0I_wotg/s1600-h/cris4.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 227px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkMP9e8BijI/AAAAAAAABAU/VDqU0I_wotg/s320/cris4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351138331197540914" /></a><br /><br />Many drawings on the Sumerian plates show the gods with wings, which were not belonging to the body, but they were accessories of the flight suit, therfore the gods looked like eagles…<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkMPvCtI8YI/AAAAAAAABAM/CkAEFBWEQ8Y/s1600-h/3picsp.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/SkMPvCtI8YI/AAAAAAAABAM/CkAEFBWEQ8Y/s320/3picsp.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351138083100750210" /></a><br />This drawing on a Sumerian plate suggests that an Anunnaki / Elohim spaceship is connected to the base on Earth.”The central object … it is more mechanical, more manufactured than natural.Its (( wings )) looks almost exactly like the solar panels which American spacecraft are provided to convert the Sun’s energy to electricity. The two antennas cannot be mistaken. The circular craft … is located between Mars (the six - pointed star) and Earth and its Moon”(Z. Sitchin, The Twelfth Planet)…<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Source : http://thecrit.com/</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-12451036882942142872009-06-09T15:47:00.006+07:002009-06-09T15:57:11.170+07:00The Iron Pillar from Delhi<span style="font-weight:bold;">Strange Artifacts</span><br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;">Standing at the center of the Quwwatul Mosque the Iron Pillar is one of Delhi's most curious structures. Dating back to 4th century A.D., the pillar bears an inscription which states that it was erected as a flagstaff in honour of the Hindu god, Vishnu, and in the memory of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413). How the pillar moved to its present location remains a mystery. The pillar also highlights ancient India's achievements in metallurgy. The pillar is made of 98 per cent wrought iron and has stood 1,600 years without rusting or decomposing.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4jzEFfUTI/AAAAAAAABAE/i4yRG5fm7wU/s1600-h/sar_delhiironpillar.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 148px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4jzEFfUTI/AAAAAAAABAE/i4yRG5fm7wU/s320/sar_delhiironpillar.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345249167912423730" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Iron Pillar from Delhi<br />7.3 m tall, with one meter below the ground; the diameter is 48 centimeters at the foot, tapering to 29 cm at the top, just below the base of the wonderfully crafted capital; it weighs approximately 6.5 tones, and was manufactured by forged welding.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Enigma of the Iron Pillar<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style:italic;">B.N. Goswamy<br /><br /></span>The sight is so familiar: each time you are in the vicinity of the Qutab Minar in Delhi, you find groups of tourists gathered around a tall, sleekly tapering iron pillar in that complex, one person from the group standing with his or her back firmly against it, and trying to make the fingers of the two hands touch while holding the pillar in embrace. Very few succeed but, almost always, there is a feeling of merriment around, since terms are set within the group and each person is 'tested', as it were, for fidelity or truthfulness or loyalty, even longevity, it could be anything. When a person fails to make the contact between the fingers of the two hands wrapped around the pillar, squeals of delight go up. This has gone on for years, certainly ever since tourist guides came into being.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4jN1lLCpI/AAAAAAAAA_8/MQeljpYZTxA/s1600-h/sar_ironpillar1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 243px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4jN1lLCpI/AAAAAAAAA_8/MQeljpYZTxA/s320/sar_ironpillar1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345248528363621010" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4jGR5qFvI/AAAAAAAAA_0/Bwu6je5nvSA/s1600-h/sar_indiapillar2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4jGR5qFvI/AAAAAAAAA_0/Bwu6je5nvSA/s320/sar_indiapillar2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345248398526781170" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Iron Pillar at Delhi seen through an arch.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4iy_Th6GI/AAAAAAAAA_s/aOY4zBLHmVA/s1600-h/sar_delhipillar.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 272px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4iy_Th6GI/AAAAAAAAA_s/aOY4zBLHmVA/s320/sar_delhipillar.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345248067117508706" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Iron Pillar dates from Gupta King,who ruled from 375 - 413 AD</span><br /><br />Barely anyone from these thronging groups of tourists, however, cares to find out the history of this pillar, or knows that it has been something of a riddle for people—historians, archaeologists, palaeographers, metallurgists, etc—for close to a century and a half. The pillar is now located in Delhi, although one knows almost for certain that it was moved to that place from somewhere in Madhya Pradesh about a thousand years ago. But, somehow, in my own mind, it has come to be associated also with Shimla. For that is where I have been hearing of it mostly of late.<br /><br />When I was there last year, at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study(IIAS), a series of lectures on the Iron Pillar were being delivered by a visiting scholar, a well-known metallurgist, Prof R. Balasubramaniam of the IIT, Kanpur. This year again, when I was in Shimla, the pillar came up, for the institute had brought out a finely detailed publication based on that series of lectures, under the title, "The Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights." Like last year, however, a debate about the points made in the book ensued again, for there were, and are, scholars at the institute who hold other opinions on the points raised in the book. Each serious study that appears—and Professor Balasubramaniam's is certainly one—adds to the scholarship on this theme, and extends the field further. But nothing, it seems, is finally settled.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4iRG281-I/AAAAAAAAA_k/NtrkOqI1QHA/s1600-h/sar_ironpillar2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 243px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4iRG281-I/AAAAAAAAA_k/NtrkOqI1QHA/s320/sar_ironpillar2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345247485029570530" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Inscription on the rust resilient Iron Pillar from Delhi</span><br /><br />Some physical facts about the pillar are reasonably well-established: it is 7.3 metres tall, with one metre below the ground; the diameter is 48 centimetres at the foot, tapering to 29 cm at the top, just below the base of the wonderfully crafted capital; it weighs approximately 6.5 tonnes, and was manufactured by forged welding. But, this said, nearly everything else about the pillar is surrounded by acute controversy: For whom was it made? Exactly when? Where did it originally stand before it was moved to Delhi? What is the true import of the long inscription in Brahmi characters engraved upon it? Who placed the later inscriptions on it, and when? Who had the pillar moved to its present location, and why? What exact processes were followed in forging it into shape at that early a point of time, the 4th/5th century AD? Above all, from the scientists' point of view, what is the secret, the great mystery, behind the fact of its being virtually non-rusting? There seems to be no end to the questions.<br /><br />Take the case of the Brahmi inscription alone. Readings of this six-line, three-stanza inscription in Sanskrit verse vary considerably, the one most often published being that by Fleet, who translated it in 1888. It speaks, in very poetic terms, of the powerful, all-conquering monarch who had the pillar made: "He on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when in battle in the Vanga countries, he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the enemies who, uniting together, came against him; … he, by the breezes of whose prowess the southern ocean is even still perfumed." But, this eloquent panegyric apart, when it comes to identifying the king with clarity, and giving further details about the erection of the pillar, the inscription suddenly leaves some questions unanswered: obviously, not for those who lived in those early times, but for later generations, for whom so much information was lost in the centuries that have gone by.<br /><br />Thus, the verse concludes with the words: "He who, having the name of Chandra, carried a beauty of countenance like (the beauty of) the full moon, having in faith fixed his mind upon (the God) Vishnu, (had) this lofty standard of the divine Vishnu set up on the hill (called) Vishnupada." But who exactly was king Chandra remains a puzzle. On other grounds, historical or palaeographic, it can be concluded that the pillar belongs to the Gupta period, but, from among the imperial Guptas, who is it that is referred to here simply by the name of 'Chandra': Chandragupta I, Chandragupta II, also celebrated as Vikramaditya, or, as some firmly believe, Samudragupta? Again, the Guptas were known to have been devotees of Lord Vishnu, but where was this hill called 'Vishnupada' located?<br /><br />Questions like these are, however, only a relatively simple sample of the issues that centre on the great pillar. There are others, very complex ones, that have engaged the minds of scholars. Prof Balasubramaniam addresses them in his inquiry without once losing sight of the sheer elegance of the pillar, especially of its exquisitely made capital atop which a figure of Garuda, the ' Sun-bird ', who is the vahana of Vishnu, or a chakra, the discus that is his emblem, might once have stood. There are long and detailed chapters on the structural features of the pillar, the methodology of its manufacture, a general inquiry into other large iron objects in ancient India, including the iron pillars in Dhar and Mandu in Madhya Pradesh, Mount Abu in Rajasthan, the Kodachadri Hill in Karnataka. But, understandably, the most densely argued chapter is on the corrosion-resistant nature of this iron pillar, the P-content and the S-content of the low carbon mild steel of which it is made, the process of rust protection, the colour of whatever rust there is, spectroscopic analyses, are all themes, something that has led to its being widely regarded as a 'miracle' of technology, given the times in which the pillar was forged and erected.<br /><br />With all this, however, will the whole clutch of issues addressed in the book get finally settled, one might ask? I doubt it. But then this is the way it should be; this is how scholarship proceeds.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Corrosion, of a different kind</span><br /><br />I was very taken up with a saying of the Buddha, cited from the Dhammapada, which serves as an epigraph at the beginning of the book. This is how it runs:<br />"As rust, sprung from iron, eats itself away when arisen, even so his own deeds lead the transgressor to states of woe…."<br /><br />Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020714/spectrum/art.htm<br />Mystery of Delhi's Iron Pillar unraveled<br /><br />New Delhi, July 18: Experts at the Indian Institute of Technology have resolved the mystery behind the 1,600-year-old iron pillar in Delhi, which has never corroded despite the capital's harsh weather.<br /><br />Metallurgists at Kanpur IIT have discovered that a thin layer of "misawite", a compound of iron, oxygen and hydrogen, has protected the cast iron pillar from rust.<br /><br />The protective film took form within three years after erection of the pillar and has been growing ever so slowly since then. After 1,600 years, the film has grown just one-twentieth of a millimeter thick, according to R. Balasubramaniam of the IIT.<br /><br />In a report published in the journal Current Science Balasubramanian says, the protective film was formed catalytically by the presence of high amounts of phosphorous in the iron—as much as one per cent against less than 0.05 per cent in today's iron.<br /><br />The high phosphorous content is a result of the unique iron-making process practiced by ancient Indians, who reduced iron ore into steel in one step by mixing it with charcoal.<br /><br />Modern blast furnaces, on the other hand, use limestone in place of charcoal yielding molten slag and pig iron that is later converted into steel. In the modern process most phosphorous is carried away by the slag.<br /><br />The pillar—over seven metres high and weighing more than six tonnes—was erected by Kumara Gupta of Gupta dynasty that ruled northern India in AD 320-540.<br /><br />Stating that the pillar is "a living testimony to the skill of metallurgists of ancient India", Balasubramaniam said the "kinetic scheme" that his group developed for predicting growth of the protective film may be useful for modeling long-term corrosion behaviour of containers for nuclear storage applications.<br /><br />Source: Press Trust of India <br />http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=12824STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-23018049383939123952009-06-09T15:33:00.007+07:002009-06-09T15:44:45.983+07:00PIRI REIS MAP<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4gfFxy7lI/AAAAAAAAA_c/jMo5NhNAvTA/s1600-h/sar_1_a.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 245px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4gfFxy7lI/AAAAAAAAA_c/jMo5NhNAvTA/s320/sar_1_a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345245526234426962" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">INTRODUCTION</span><br /><br />In 1929, a group of historians found an amazing map drawn on a gazelle skin.<br /><br />Research showed that it was a genuine document drawn in 1513 by Piri Reis, a famous admiral of the Turkish fleet in the sixteenth century. <br /><br />His passion was cartography. His high rank within the Turkish navy allowed him to have a privileged access to the Imperial Library of Constantinople.<br /><br />The Turkish admiral admits in a series of notes on the map that he compiled and copied the data from a large number of source maps, some of which dated back to<br />the fourth century BC or earlier.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Controversy </span><br /><br />The Piri Reis map shows the western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of South America, and the northern coast of Antarctica. The northern coastline of Antarctica is perfectly detailed. The most puzzling however is not so much how Piri Reis managed to draw such an accurate map of the Antarctic region 300 years before it was discovered, but that the map shows the coastline under the ice. Geological evidence confirms that the latest date Queen Maud Land could have been charted in an ice-free state is 4000 BC.<br /><br />- - - - - - - <br /><br />On 6th July 1960 the U. S. Air Force responded to Prof. Charles H. Hapgood of Keene College, specifically to his request for an evaluation of the ancient Piri Reis Map:<br /><br />6, July, 1960<br />Subject: Admiral Piri Reis Map<br />TO: Prof. Charles H. Hapgood<br />Keene College<br />Keene, New Hampshire<br /><br /><br />Dear Professor Hapgood,<br />Your request of evaluation of certain unusual features of the Piri Reis map of 1513 by this organization has been reviewed.<br />The claim that the lower part of the map portrays the Princess Martha Coast of Queen Maud Land, Antarctic, and the Palmer Peninsular, is reasonable. We find that this is the most logical and in all probability the correct interpretation of the map.<br />The geographical detail shown in the lower part of the map agrees very remarkably with the results of the seismic profile made across the top of the ice-cap by the Swedish-British Antarctic Expedition of 1949.<br />This indicates the coastline had been mapped before it was covered by the ice-cap.<br />The ice-cap in this region is now about a mile thick.<br />We have no idea how the data on this map can be reconciled with the supposed state of geographical knowledge in 1513.<br /><br />Harold Z. Ohlmeyer Lt. Colonel, USAF Commander<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />The official science has been saying all along that the ice-cap which covers the Antarctic is million years old.<br />The Piri Reis map shows that the northern part of that continent has been mapped before the ice did cover it. That should make think it has been mapped million years ago, but that's impossible since mankind did not exist at that time.<br /><br />Further and more accurate studies have proven that the last period of ice-free condition in the Antarctic ended about 6000 years ago. There are still doubts about the beginning of this ice-free period, which has been put by different researchers everything between year 13000 and 9000 BC.<br />The question is: Who mapped the Queen Maud Land of Antarctic 6000 years ago? Which unknown civilization had the technology or the need to do that?<br /><br />It is well-known that the first civilization, according to the traditional history, developed in the mid-east around year 3000 BC, soon to be followed within a millennium by the Indus valley and the Chinese ones. So, accordingly, none of the known civilizations could have done such a job. Who was here 4000 years BC, being able to do things that NOW are possible with the modern technologies?<br /><br />All through the Middle Ages were circulating a number of sailing charts called "portolani", which were accurate maps of the most common sailing routes, showing coastlines, harbors, straits, bays, etc. Most of those portolani focused on the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas, and other known routes, just as the sailing book which Piri Reis himself had written.<br />But a few reported of still unknown lands, and were circulating among few sailors who seemingly kept their knowledge about those special maps as hidden as they could. Columbus is supposed to have been one of those who knew these special sailing charts.<br /><br />To draw his map, Piri Reis used several different sources, collected here and there along his journeys. He himself has written notes on the map that give us a picture of the work he had been doing on the map. He says he had been not responsible for the original surveying and cartography. His role was merely that of a compiler who used a large number of source-maps. He says then that some of the source-maps had been drawn by contemporary sailors, while others were instead charts of great antiquity, dating back up to the 4th century BC or earlier.<br /><br />Dr. Charles Hapgood, in his book Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings (Turnstone books, London 1979, preface), said that:<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;"> It appears that accurate information has been passed down from people to people. It appears that the charts must have originated with a people unknown and they were passed on, perhaps by the Minoans and the Phoenicians, who were, for a thousand years and more, the greatest sailors of the ancient world. We have evidence that they were collected and studied in the great library of Alexandria (Egypt) and the compilations of them were made by the geographers who worked there.</span><br /><br />Piri Reis had probably come into possession of charts once located in the Library of Alexandria, the well-known most important library of the ancient times.<br />According to Hapgood's reconstruction, copies of these documents and some of the original source charts were transferred to other centers of learning, and among them to Constantinople. <br />Then in 1204, year of the fourth crusade, when the Venetians entered Constantinople, those maps begun to circulate among the European sailors.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;"> Most of these maps - Hapgood goes on - were of the Mediterranean and the Black sea. But maps of other areas survived. These included maps of the Americas and maps of the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. It becomes clear that the ancient voyagers travelled from pole to pole. Unbelievable as it may appear, the evidence nevertheless indicates that some ancient people explored Antarctic when its coasts were free of ice. It is clear too, that they had an instrument of navigation for accurately determining the longitudes that was far superior to anything possessed by the peoples of ancient, medieval or modern times until the second half of the 18th century. [...]<br /><br /> This evidence of a lost technology will support and give credence to many of the other hypothesis that have been brought forward of a lost civilization in remote times. Scholars have been able to dismiss most of those evidences as mere myth, but here we have evidence that cannot be dismissed. The evidence requires that all the other evidences that have been brought forward in the past should be re-examined with an open mind." (Ibid.)</span><br /><br />In 1953, a Turkish naval officer sent the Piri Reis map to the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Bureau. To evaluate it, M.I. Walters, the Chief Engineer of the Bureau, called for help Arlington H. Mallery, an authority on ancient maps, who had previously worked with him.<br />After a long study, Mallery discovered the projection method used. To check out the accuracy of the map, he made a grid and transferred the Piri Reis map onto a globe: the map was totally accurate. He stated that the only way to draw map of such accuracy was the aerial surveying: but who, 6000 years ago, could have used airplanes to map the earth??<br /><br />The Hydrographic Office couldn't believe what they saw: they were even able to correct some errors in the present days maps!!<br />The precision on determining the longitudinal coordinates, on the other hand, shows that to draw the map it was necessary to use the spheroid trigonometry, a process supposedly not know until the middle of 18th century.<br /><br />Hapgood has proved that the Piri Re'is map is plotted out in plane geometry, containing latitudes and longitudes at right angles in a traditional "grid"; yet it is obviously copied from an earlier map that was projected using spherical trigonometry! Not only did the early map makers know that the Earth was round, but they had knowledge of its true circumference to within 50 miles!<br /><br />Hapggod had sent his collection of ancient maps (we will see the Piri reis map was not the only one...) to Richard Strachan, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hapggod wanted to know exactly the mathematical level needed in order to draw the original source maps. Strachan answered in 1965, saying that the level had to be very high.<br />In fact Strachan said that in order to draw such maps, the authors had to know about the spheroid trigonometry, the curvature of the earth, methods of projection; knowledge that is of a very high level.<br /> <br /><br />The way the Piri Reis map shows the Queen Maud land, its coastlines, its rivers, mountain ranges, plateaus, deserts, bays, has been confirmed by a British-Swedish expedition to Antarctic ( as said by Olhmeyer in his letter to Hapggod); the researchers, using sonar and seismic soundings, indicated that those bays and rivers etc, were underneath the ice-cap, which was about one mile thick.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4fQy8LrqI/AAAAAAAAA_M/LCskKG-uPxs/s1600-h/pirigrid3_small.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 153px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4fQy8LrqI/AAAAAAAAA_M/LCskKG-uPxs/s320/pirigrid3_small.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345244181147922082" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4fK62d0nI/AAAAAAAAA_E/kqS_kUo8nFQ/s1600-h/pirireis_2maps_small.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 138px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4fK62d0nI/AAAAAAAAA_E/kqS_kUo8nFQ/s320/pirireis_2maps_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345244080192213618" /></a><< View Piri Reis map with projected latitudes and longitudes<br /> <br /><br />Charles Hapggod, in 1953, wrote a book called "Earth's shifting crust: a key to some basic problems of earth science", where he made up a theory to explain how Antarctic had been ice-free until year 4000 BC (see Bibliography ).<br />The theory summing up is as follows:<br />The reason Antarctic was ice-free, and therefore much warmer, it is to be found in the fact that, at one time, its location wasn't the south pole. It was located approximately 2000 miles further north. Hapgood says this "would have put it outside the Antarctic Circle in a temperate or cold temperate climate".<br /><br />The reason why the continent moved down to its present location has to be found in a mechanism called "earth-crust-displacement". This mechanism, not to be confused with the plate-tectonics or the continental drift, is one whereby the lithosphere, the whole outer crust of the earth "may be displaced at times, moving over the soft inner body, much as the skin of an orange, if it were loose, might shift over the inner part of the orange all in one piece". (Charles Hapgood, "Maps of the ancient sea-kings", cited, visit the Bibliography for more info).<br /><br />This theory was sent to Albert Einstein, which answered to Hapgood in very enthusiastic terms. Though geologists did not seem to accept Hapgood's theory, Einstein seemed to be as much open as Hapgood saying:<br />"In a polar region there is a continual deposition of ice, which is not symmetrically distributed about the pole. The earth's rotation acts on these unsymmetrically deposited masses, and produces a centrifugal momentum that is transmitted to the rigid crust of the earth. The constantly increasing centrifugal momentum produced in this way will, when it has reached a certain point, produce a movement of the earth's crust over the rest of the earth's body...." (Einstein's foreword to "Earth's shifting crust" p.1)<br /><br />Anyway, whether Hapgood's theory is correct, the mystery still thrills.<br />The Piri Reis map is something which is not supposed to exist. I mean that by no means there was supposed to be anyone that far back in time able to draw a map of such precision; in fact the relative longitudinal coordinates are totally accurate, as stated by Official studies on the map that we saw above.<br />And this is a demonstration of impossible technology: the first instrument to calculate the longitude in a approximately correct way has been invented in 1761 by the english John Harrison.<br />Before there was no way to calculate the longitude in an acceptable way: there could be errors of hundreds kilometers....<br />And the Piri Reis map is just one of several which show supposedly unknown lands, impossible knowledge, precision which still today would surprise........<br /><br />In fact Piri Reis himself admitted he based his map on way older charts; and those older charts had been used as sources by others who have drawn different maps still of great precision.<br />Impressive is the "Dulcert's Portolano", year 1339, where the latitude of Europe and North Africa is perfect, and the longitudinal coordinates of the Mediterranean and of the Black sea are approximated of half degree.<br />An even more amazing chart is the "Zeno's chart", year 1380. It shows a big area in the north, going up till the Greenland; Its precision is flabbergasting. "It's impossible" says Hapgood "that someone in the fourteenth century could have found the exact latitudes of these places, not to mention the precision of the longitudes..."<br />Another amazing chart is the one drawn by the Turkish Hadji Ahmed, year 1559, in which he shows a land stripe, about 1600 Km. wide, that joins Alaska and Siberia. Such a natural bridge has been then covered by the water due to the end of the glacial period, which rose up the sea level.<br /><br />Oronteus Fineus was another one who drew a map of incredible precision. He too represented the Antarctic with no ice-cap, year 1532.<br />There are maps showing Greenland as two separated islands, as it was confirmed by a polar French expedition which found out that there is an ice cap quite thick joining what it is actually two islands.<br /><br />As we saw, many charts in the ancient times pictured, we might say, all the earth geography. They seem to be pieces of a very ancient world wide map, drawn by unknown people who were able to use technology that we consider to be a conquer of the very modern times.<br />When human beings were supposed to live in a primitive manner, someone "put on paper" the whole geography of the earth. And this common knowledge somehow fell into pieces, then gathered here and there by several people, who had lost though the knowledge, and just copied what they could find in libraries, bazaars, markets and about all kind of places.<br /><br />Hapggod made a disclosure which amazingly lead further on this road: he found out a cartographic document copied by an older source carved on a rock column, China, year 1137. It showed the same high level of technology of the other western charts, the same grid method, the same use of spheroid trigonometry. It has so many common points with the western ones that it makes think more than reasonably, that there had to be a common source: could it be a lost civilization, maybe the same one which has been chased by thousands years so far?<br /><br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Summary</span><br /><br />The Piri Re'is map is often exhibited in cases seeking to prove that civilization was once advanced and that, through some unknown event or events, we are only now gaining any understanding of this mysterious cultural decline. The earliest known civilization, the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, appear out of nowhere around 4,000 B.C. but have no nautical or maritime cultural heritage. They do, however, speak reverently of ancestral people who were like the "gods" and were known as the Nefilim.<br /><br />Here is a summary of some of the most unusual findings about the map:<br /><br />* Scrutiny of the map shows that the makers knew the accurate circumference of the Earth to within 50 miles.<br /> <br />* The coastline and island that are shown in Antarctica must have been navigated at some period prior to 4,000 B.C. when these areas were free of ice from the last Ice Age.<br /> <br /> * The map is thought to be one of the earliest "world maps" to show the Americas. Early scholars suggested that it showed accurate latitudes of the South American and African coastlines - only 21 years after the voyages of Columbus! (And remember, Columbus did NOT discover North America - only the Caribbean!) Writing in Piri Re'is own hand described how he had made the map from a collection of ancient maps, supplemented by charts that were drawn by Columbus himself. This suggests that these ancient maps were available to Columbus and could have been the basis of his expedition.<br /> <br />* As can be seen below, an azimuthal projection ( looking at the globe from a point above the globe), from the point above Cairo, Africa (Egypt) shows that the Piri Reis map corresponds more or less with the lower right quarter of this map if one rotates it some 20 degrees counter clockwise. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4fzGVqPrI/AAAAAAAAA_U/74pelOPZh88/s1600-h/piri_cairo1.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 310px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4fzGVqPrI/AAAAAAAAA_U/74pelOPZh88/s320/piri_cairo1.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345244770470608562" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4eo2Ve5CI/AAAAAAAAA-0/_emRTYl3Whk/s1600-h/piri_cairo2.gif"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 241px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FB8hNjiNySM/Si4eo2Ve5CI/AAAAAAAAA-0/_emRTYl3Whk/s320/piri_cairo2.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345243494864577570" /></a><br /><br /><br />Source: http://www.world-mysteries.com/STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38416463742853984.post-88195250911200972072009-06-09T10:37:00.000+07:002009-06-09T10:38:10.007+07:00ANCIENT VIMANA AIRCRAFTSOURCE: John Burrows<br /><br />Sanskrit texts are filled with references to gods who fought battles in the sky using Vimanas equipped with weapons as deadly as any we can deploy in these more enlightened times. For example, there is a passage in the Ramayana which reads:<br /><br />"The Puspaka car that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravan; that aerial and excellent car going everywhere at will .... that car resembling a bright cloud in the sky."<br /><br />".. and the King [Rama] got in, and the excellent car at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere."<br /><br />In the Mahabharatra, an ancient Indian poem of enormous length, we learn that an individual named Asura Maya had a Vimana measuring twelve cubits in circumference, with four strong wheels. The poem is a veritable gold mine of information relating to conflicts between gods who settled their differences apparently using weapons as lethal as the ones we are capable of deploying. Apart from 'blazing missiles', the poem records the use of other deadly weapons. 'Indra's Dart' operated via a circular 'reflector'. When switched on, it produced a 'shaft of light' which, when focused on any target, immediately 'consumed it with its power'. In one particular exchange, the hero, Krishna, is pursuing his enemy, Salva, in the sky, when Salva's Vimana, the Saubha is made invisible in some way. Undeterred, Krishna immediately fires off a special weapon: 'I quickly laid on an arrow, which killed by seeking out sound'. Many other terrible weapons are described, quite matter of factly, in the Mahabharata, but the most fearsome of all is the one used against the Vrishis. The narrative records:<br /><br />"Gurkha flying in his swift and powerful Vimana hurled against the three cities of the Vrishis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousands suns, rose in all its splendour. It was the unknown weapon, the Iron Thunderbolt, a gigantic messaenger of death which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas."<br /><br />It is important to note, that these kinds of records are not isolated. They can be cross-correlated with similiar reports in other ancient civilizations. The after-affects of this Iron Thunderbolt have an ominously recognizable ring. Apparently, those killed by it were so burnt that their corpses were unidentifiable. The survivors fared little etter, as it caused their hair and nails to fall out.<br /><br />Perhaps the most disturbing and challenging, information about these allegedly mythical Vimanas in the ancient records is that there are some matter-of-fact records, describing how to build one. In their way, the instructions are quite precise.<br /><br />In the Sanskrit Samarangana Sutradhara, it is written:<br /><br />"Strong and durable must the body of the Vimana be made, like a great flying bird of light material. Inside one must put the mercury engine with its iron heating apparatus underneath. By means of the power latent in the mecrcury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in the sky. The movements of the Vimana are such that it can vertically ascend, vertically descend, move slanting forwards and backwards. With the help of the machines human beings can fly in the air and heavenly beings can come down to earth."<br /><br />The Hakatha (Laws of the Babylonians) states quite unambiguously: "The privilege of operating a flying machine is great. The knowledge of flight is among the most ancient of our inheritances. A gift from 'those from upon high'. We received it from them as a means of saving many lives."<br /><br />More fantastic still is the information given in the ancient Chaldean work, The Sifrala, which contains over one hundred pages of technical details on building a flying machine. It contains words which translate as graphite rod, copper coils, crystal indicator, vibrating spheres, stable angles, etc.<br />Flying high<br /><br />Hundred years after Orville Wright’s first flight, K R N SWAMY remembers Shivkur Bapuji Talpade, the Indian who flew an unmanned aircraft, eight years before Wright.<br /><br />Orville Wright demonstrated on December 17th 1903 that it was possible for a ‘manned heavier than air machine to fly’. But, in 1895, eight years earlier, the Sanskrit scholar Shivkar Bapuji Talpade had designed a basic aircraft called Marutsakthi (meaning Power of Air) based on Vedic technology and had it take off unmanned before a large audience in the Chowpathy beach of Bombay. The importance of the Wright brothers lies in the fact, that it was a manned flight for a distance of 120 feet and Orville Wright became the first man to fly. But Talpade’s unmanned aircraft flew to a height of 1500 feet before crashing down and the historian Evan Koshtka, has described Talpade as the ‘first creator of an aircraft’.<br /><br />As the world observes the one hundredth anniversary of the first manned flight, it is interesting to consider the saga of India’s 19th century first aircraft inventor for his design was entirely based on the rich treasury of India’s Vedas. Shivkar Bapuji Talpade was born in 1864 in the locality of Chirabazar at Dukkarwadi in Bombay.<br /><br />He was a scholar of Sanskrit and from his young age was attracted by the Vaimanika Sastra (Aeronautical Science) expounded by the great Indian sage Maharishi Bhardwaja. One western scholar of Indology Stephen-Knapp has put in simple words or rather has tried to explain what Talpade did and succeeded!<br /><br />According to Knapp, the Vaimanika Shastra describes in detail, the construction of what is called, the mercury vortex engine the forerunner of the ion engines being made today by NASA. Knapp adds that additional information on the mercury engines can be found in the ancient Vedic text called Samaranga Sutradhara. This text also devotes 230 verses, to the use of these machines in peace and war. The Indologist William Clarendon, who has written down a detailed description of the mercury vortex engine in his translation of Samaranga Sutradhara quotes thus ‘Inside the circular air frame, place the mercury-engine with its solar mercury boiler at the aircraft center. By means of the power latent in the heated mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in a most marvellous manner. Four strong mercury containers must be built into the interior structure. When these have been heated by fire through solar or other sources the vimana (aircraft) develops thunder-power through the mercury.<br /><br />NASA (National Aeronau-tical and Space Administra-tion) world’s richest/ most powerful scientific organisation is trying to create an ion engine that is a device that uses a stream of high velocity electrified particles instead of a blast of hot gases like in present day modern jet engines. Surprisingly according to the bi-monthly Ancient Skies published in USA, the aircraft engines being developed for future use by NASA by some strange coincidence also uses mercury bombardment units powered by Solar cells! Interestingly, the impulse is generated in seven stages. The mercury propellant is first vapourised fed into the thruster discharge chamber ionised converted into plasma by a combination with electrons broke down electrically and then accelerated through small openings in a screen to pass out of the engine at velocities between 1200 to 3000 kilometres per minute! But so far NASA has been able to produce an experimental basis only a one pound of thrust by its scientists a power derivation virtually useless. But 108 years ago Talpade was able to use his knowledge of Vaimanika Shastra to produce sufficient thrust to lift his aircraft 1500 feet into the air!<br /><br />According to Indian scholar Acharya, ‘Vaimanika Shastra deals about aeronautics including the design of aircraft the way they can be used for transportation and other applications in detail. The knowledge of aeronautics is described in Sanskrit in 100 sections, eight chapters, 500 principles and 3000 slokas including 32 techniques to fly an aircraft. In fact, depending on the classifications of eras or Yugas in modern Kaliyuga aircraft used are called Krithakavimana flown by the power of engines by absorbing solar energies!’ It is feared that only portions of Bharadwaja’s masterpiece Vaimanika Shas-tra survive today.<br /><br />The question that comes to one’s mind is, what happened to this wonderful encyclopaedia of aeronautical knowledge accumulated by the Indian savants of yore, and why was it not used? But in those days, such knowledge was the preserve of sages, who would not allow it to be misused, just like the knowledge of atomic bombs is being used by terrorists today!<br /><br />According to scholar Ratnakar Mahajan who wrote a brochure on Talpade. ‘Being a Sanskrit scholar interested in aeronautics, Talpade studied and consulted a number of Vedic treatises like Brihad Vaimanika Shastra of Maharishi Bharadwaja Vimanachandrika of Acharya Narayan Muni Viman yantra of Maharish Shownik Yantra Kalp by Maharishi Garg Muni Viman Bindu of Acharya Vachaspati and Vimana Gyanarka Prakashika of Maharishi Dhundiraj’. This gave him confidence that he can build an aircraft with mercury engines. One essential factor in the creation of these Vedic aircraft was the timing of the Suns Rays or Solar energy (as being now utilised by NASA) when they were most effective to activate the mercury ions of the engine. Happily for Talpade Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of Baroda a great supporter of the Sciences in India, was willing to help him and Talpade went ahead with his aircraft construction with mercury engines. One day in 1895 (unfortunately the actual date is not mentioned in the Kesari newspaper of Pune which covered the event) before an curious scholarly audience headed by the famous Indian judge/ nationalist/ Mahadeva Govin-da Ranade and H H Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Talpade had the good fortune to see his un manned aircraft named as ‘Marutsakthi’ take off, fly to a height of 1500 feet and then fall down to earth.<br /><br />But this success of an Indian scientist was not liked by the Imperial rulers. Warned by the British Government the Maharaja of Baroda stopped helping Talpade. It is said that the remains of the Marutsakthi were sold to ‘foreign parties’ by the relatives of Talpade in order to salvage whatever they can out of their loans to him. Talpade’s wife died at this critical juncture and he was not in a mental frame to continue with his researches. But his efforts to make known the greatness of Vedic Shastras was recognised by Indian scholars, who gave him the title of Vidya Prakash Pra-deep.<br /><br />Talpade passed away in 1916 un-honoured, in his own country.<br /><br />As the world rightly honours the Wright Brothers for their achievements, we should think of Talpade, who utilised the ancient knowledge of Sanskrit texts, to fly an aircraft, eight years before his foreign counterparts.<br />Copyright,1999 The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec16/snt2.asp</span>STEVIEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04210453261844358834noreply@blogger.com1