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For more details on Vaidik science the seekers of Vaidik knowledge can see "Glimpses of Vaidik Metaphysics" for on line reading and even taking print at no cost on Website http://www,sabhlokcity.com/metaphysics /OR through search engine of google.com, or yahoo.com, lulu.com.

Static Earth
Even a fourth standard student knows that the Earth rotates on its axis causing day and night. But according to Ved, the Earth is static and this statement is repeated several times. The following are some of the examples ---

(1) Oh Man ! He who made the trembling Earth static is Indra. (Rig Ved, 2.12.12)
(2) The God who made the Earth stable (Yajur Ved, 32.6)
(3) Indra protects the wide Earth which is immovable and has many forms (Atharv Ved, 12.1.11)
(4) Let us walk on the wide and static Earth (Atharv Ved, 12.1.17)
(5) The Sun never sets or rises and it is the earth, which rotates (Saam Ved, 121)
(6) The gravitational effect of solar system makes the earth stable (Rig Ved, 1-103-2, 1-115-4 and 5-81-2).
(7) The subtle axle of the earth does not get rusted and the earth continues to revolve on its axle (Rig Ved, 1-164-29)

As the Ved claim that the Earth is static and so they tried to prove that the Sun moves around the Earth. The following statement from the Rig Ved tries to clarify it --
(1) "Sun is full of light and knows all the human beings, so his horses take him to sky to look at the world" (Rig Ved, 1.50.1)
(2) "O, Bright Sun, a chariot named Harit with seven horses takes you to sky" (Rig Ved, 1.50.8)

Innumerable passages from the 'Rig Ved' can be quoted to show how poor knowledge of science our Ved had.

A Universal Fact
While proving the existence of scientific knowledge in Ved, some go to the extent of claiming that the Sun has magnetic powers or powers of attraction of gravity.

"O Man, the Sun who is most attractive, takes round of the Earth, on his golden chariot through the sky and removes the darkness of the Earth" (Yajur Ved, 33.43)

As for the Moon, the Ved have only to say that he runs in the space, which is full of water - a universal fact that no one can deny, hence nothing new. (Rig Ved, 1.105.1)

Eclipse
Ved also refer to eclipses - Lunar and Solar - but in the most imaginative and illogical form, leading to blind faith. The explanation of a Lunar eclipse is given as a demon Raahu capturing the Moon; and about the Solar eclipse, it is said that the demon named Swarbhaanu stops the Sun in his round. It was released by Atri Rishi and his son, who rescued the Sun from the demon.

Vimaan
The admirers of the Ved have claimed that even the know how of the airplanes existed in holy scriptures. But the irony is that one hymn which has been cited to show the existence of airplanes has been interpreted differently by various scholars.
Pandit Shiv Shankar Kavyatirth, a staunch Aarya Samaaj, has written a book entitled 'Science in Vedas' in which he has made an attempt to prove ancient knowledge of aeronautics by quoting the following Mantra --
"He looks like an airplane placed in the sky. He travels continuously through the three worlds - Earth, space and sky. Seated in his airborne vehicle, who traverses the whole universe, and who can travel high above the clouds, beholds the light spread everywhere" - (Yajur Ved, 17.59)

After giving the meaning of the verse, the author gives the following explanations in support of his contention: "It is evident that the word airplane does occur in this verse. the verse also gives description of its movements as well as of its rider. Therefore it is evident that the 'Rishi' were familiar with aeronautics in those days". But it is interesting to note that Swami Dayanand, who was the teacher of Pandit Kavyatirth, interpreted the meaning of the same verse in a different way. He gives the meaning as follows:
"The Sun who is moving fast like the swift moving 'airplanes' is going to settle after spreading his light on the Earth and the space."
(Vide Yajur Ved Dayanand Bhashya, p 589)

Besides, many other scholars have also explained the verses as related to the Sun, for example Acharya Gopal Prasad Kaushik gives following meaning:
"The Soorya (Sun) who is the maker of the world, stands in the centre of the Heaven. He pervades the three worlds, namely the Earth, the space and the sky, by his brilliance."
(Vide Yajur Ved, p 327)

Swami Dayanad gives some more examples to prove that the knowledge of the celestial vehicles existed in the Ved. He gives and elaborates explanation of the meanings of the words that occur in the hymn in the 'Rig Ved' ('vide Rig Bhashya, p 200'). The explanations read:
"An industrious man does not attain a sorrowful death after securely possessing the material wealth. Prompted by whom the vehicles like boats move. They acquire the quality of motion from the elements like earth, space, air etc which in here in themselves the quality of movement which is known as Ashwee. The movements of vehicles like boats, airplanes, chariots etc are made possible in all directions."

Secret of 5000 Year Old Flying Machine Discovery with Steve Quayle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBlwhVyZxmQ

Incoherent Explanations
By such elaborate explanation, the Swami can only impress person who has not gone deeply into Ved. In the name of elucidation, he has written something which has nothing to do with the actual meanings of the words. In fact the words in the question simply mean "like man who parts with his wealth at the time of death." The lengthy and incoherent explanation of Swami Ji presents an example of clumsy thoughts of biased minds. He gives an overstretched meaning to another verse from 'Rig Ved' (1.1164). It reads --
"It becomes quite impossible to cross the Earth, the ocean and the space by means of boat, aircraft or chariot."

In Vaidik lexicons, the word 'Dhanvan' has the meanings of bow and desert. Mention of oceanic deserts can also be found in them. Therefore, in this context 'Dhanvan' applies to oceanic deserts. But the Swami has made it deliberately to mean sky and added the word 'Vimaan' meaning airplane of his own.
Would anyone explain which word in this verse denote 'Vimaan' meaning airplane?

Therefore, Pandit Ramgovind Trivedi, author of Hindi version of 'Rig Ved' is right when he says that there does not occur any word in the Ved meaning Airplane.

Tina Sadhwani - “The ancient Indians could navigate the air, and not only navigate it but fight battles in it like so many war-eagles, combating for the domination of the clouds. To be so perfect in aeronautics they must have known all the arts and sciences relating to the science, including the strata and currents of the atmosphere, the relative temperature, humidity, density and specific gravity of the various gases....." - Col. Olcott in a lecture in Allahabad in 1881.

The Rig Ved, the oldest document of the human race includes references to the following modes of transportation:
Jal-Yaan - a vehicle designed to operate in air and water (Rig Ved 6.58.3);
Kaara - a vehicle that operates on ground and in water. (Rig Ved 9.14.1);
Tri-Talaa (with three stories) - a vehicle consisting of three stories. (Rig Ved 3.14.1);
Trichakra Rath - a three-wheeled vehicle designed to operate in the air. (Rig Ved 4.36.1);
Vaayu Rath - a gas or wind-powered chariot. (Rig Ved 5.41.6);
Vidyut Rath -  a vehicle that operates on power. (Rig Ved 3.14.1).

These ancient Indian texts on Vimaan are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimaan, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English. The Samaraangan Sootraad Haara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimaan.

There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. The Vaimaanik Shaastra also includes information on steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightning and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity.

Like it or not, the Vaidik cosmological treatises are loaded with references to aircraft and devastating weapons. There is no way to ignore the plain fact. Yet, most Indology experts have managed to do just that. How do you overlook or trivialize these innumerable descriptions? It is impossible to escape them unless your mind is already made up to reject them. Discard them you must, because mainstream academia will not consider that humans in remote antiquity could have been advanced – not to mention expert – in a technology far more subtle than the crudities we are proud of today."

Telegraphy
In the name of telegraphy, Swami Dayanand has tried to prove that the knowledge about electric wires and Telegrams did exist in Ved. He cites the following verse as an example --
"Learn the secret of telegraphy, the benefits of which are manifold. It helps to produce extremely quick locomotion to achieve best results. The wire must be made of pure metal charged with electricity. It can be used again and again after charging with electricity. In order to attain the best results and to bring about complete victory over the enemies, one should acquire the knowledge of the telegraphy. Just as the Sun illumines the near and the far objects alike, this telegraph machine also accomplishes near and distant transactions."

But even an ordinary reader would not fail to notice the deliberate attempt has been made to stretch the meaning of the verse too far. For example, two different meanings are given to the word 'Shwetres'. Similarly the word 'Pedve' means white, whereas it has been taken as to mean "that wire must be pure".

In another example, the meaning of the word is twisted to mean "a telegraph machine" simply because it contains the word 'Taar'. In Sanskrit the word 'Taar' means a metallic wire or string. It is never used to mean telegraph.

Swami Ji rejected the conventional meaning of the Vaidik words and gave them arbitrary meanings to suit his purpose. But such literary aerobics fail to prove the existence of science in Ved. Now let us examine the exact meaning of the verse in the question --
"Oh Ashwee, You gave the king Pedu the white horse which was desired by all and which was capable of defeating the enemies. That undefeatable, brilliant and multipurpose horse was like Indra who triumphed over man."
(Vide Hindi Rig Ved, p 177)

Another tall claim is about the existence of powerful rocket which could reach even the Sun. The following hymn from the Yajur Ved is put forward in support of the claim --
"I reached the space from where I went to Heaven. I also reached the lustrous region situated at the auspicious back portion of the heaven."

Evidently there exists nothing that even smacks of science in this hymn, the subject matter of which is Fire god. From the commentaries of Uvvat and Mahidar and also from 'Shraut Sootra of Kaatyaayan' it become clear that this verse as well as its preceding and its succeeding verses are in the praise of the Fire god.

In the preceding verses, it has been mentioned that the priest and the 'sacrificer' should carry the fire from the mortar to the Heaven and live there among the gods. Later the 'sacrificer' says that he reached the Heaven from the Earth after passing through the space. The succeeding verses eulogize such rituals saying that those who perform the auspicious rituals attain the Heaven which is free from all sorrows.
(Yajur Ved, 17.68)

Writing
Indians always knew the art of writing. The Rig Ved (10.71.4) says speech has two forms -- one which can be heard (Shravya) and one which can be seen (Drishya). Script was in vogue since ancient times in India. Bhoj Patra and Taapatra (papyrus) were abundantly available in nature before man walked the earth. Like paper, even these forms of recording scripts was not permanent. Manuscripts were copied onto new papyrus if they got damaged due to climatic conditions. How else would we find thousands of ancient manuscripts in India? How else would we remember the Ved, epics, scriptures, and other astronomical subjects?

Conclusion
The logical conclusion from the forgoing statements is that the Ved do not contain even elementary knowledge of Science. The attempts that have been made to prove the existence of science in the Ved are mere superimpositions of facts and lack conviction. Therefore, let it be known to the science crazy enthusiasts of the Ved that they cannot fool all the people all the time.

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