Gravity mentioned in Vedic texts much before Newton told world about it: Rajasthan Governor

Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde said several inventions, including electricity and airplanes, find a mention in India's ancient texts like the Rigveda. (Photo: @RajBhavanJaipur)

The theory of gravity was mentioned in our ancient Vedic texts much before Isaac Newton told the world about it in 1987, Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde said on Wednesday.

"India has been the best in the world in the tradition of knowledge. India gave the decimal system to the whole world. Newton told the world about the theory of gravity much later. In India, this was mentioned in Vedic texts long ago," the Governor said while addressing the convocation ceremony of the Indira Gandhi National Open University’s Regional Centre in Jaipur on Wednesday.

Noting that the British tried to suppress Indian knowledge during their rule, Governor Bagde stressed on the need to connect students with Indian knowledge and science. "It is important to increase the intellectual capacity of the students of the country and connect them with Indian knowledge and science," he said.

Governor Bagde further said that several inventions, including electricity and airplanes find a mention in India's ancient texts, including the Rigveda. He claimed that 50 years ago, NASA wrote a letter seeking a book written by Maharshi Bhardwaj that mentioned airplanes.

The Rajasthan Governor further said that continuous efforts were made to destroy Indian knowledge but failed. "You must have heard about Nalanda University and Taxila University. They were such that many students from all over the world used to come there to study. There used to be Sanskrit then and no other language,” Bagde said, adding that Nalanda was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji. "But now Nalanda is being set up with a fresh hope and will become the way it was before."

In a word of advice to students, the Governor said there were no “shortcuts” to studies and that students should not only study books related to the syllabus but also study material related to life and the new changes taking place every day.

"This will increase their intellectual capacity and they will be able to succeed in life," he said, calling for special attention to education related to Indian knowledge tradition.