Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra and its alleged vimāna passage

Record summary

The Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra is an architectural treatise traditionally attributed to King Bhoja of Malwa. Selected passages concerning mechanical devices and flying vehicles have been cited by modern writers as descriptions of aircraft or spacecraft. The text is relevant for comparing how translation choices and selective quotation produce “ancient technology” claims. Its genre, manuscript history and precise interpretation require specialist philology; the work is not a modern sighting report, and the existence of a passage about a device does not establish that such a machine was built or observed.