Politicians often cite ancient epics like the Mahabharata as proof of advanced technologies including space travel, test tube babies, and internet to instil cultural pride.
These claims blur the line that separates mythology and science.
In the last one week alone, two high-profile Indian politicians have made bold claims that blur the line between mythology and science. On August 26, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said ancient Indians were flying before the Wright Brothers. BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Space Day—August 23—told schoolkids that Hanuman was the first space traveller.
Made within days of each other, Chouhan and Thakur’s assertions have started debate about the state of education in India and the importance of promoting scientific temper.
Here are some of the latest and past controversial statements by politicians and esteemed public officials, along with how similar myths play out in other countries.
1. August 26, 2025: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claims that ancient India had advanced technologies such as airplanes, drones, missiles. He cites Pushpak Vimana, a mythological flying machine that is described in the Mahabharata, saying that Indians had invented air travel eons before before the Wright brothers.
2. August 23, 2025: BJP MP Anurag Thakur told school children during an address he was giving for National Space Day that Lord Hanuman was "the first person to travel in space, and not American astronaut Neil Armstrong. The former Union Minister shared a video of the interaction on X with the caption: “Pawansut Hanuman Ji… the first astronaut.”
3. January 2019: Andhra University Vice Chancellor G. Nageshwar Rao was speaking at the Indian Science Congress when he claimed that India had invented stem-cell technology at the time of the Mahabharata. Rao said that the birth of the Kauravas’ was proof ancient Indians used test-tube technology. He also added that that Ravana used 24 types of aircraft with airports.
4. January 2019: Panjab University Geologist Ashu Khosla also said that Brahma, the Hindu god, had discovered dinosaurs—“Rajasauras”—and said this was documented in the Hindu scriptures.
5. April 2018: Tripura CM Biplab Deb said that Indians had invented internet and satellite connections at the time of the Mahabharata. Deb specifically said that Sanjaya’s real-time narration of the battle to King Dhritarashtra proves ancient India invented the internet and satellite communication.
6. March 2018: Union Minister of Science & Technology Harsh Vardhan had previously claimed that physicist Stephen Hawking had said the Vedas contain a theory superior to Einstein’s theory of relativity. No such statement exists on record by Hawking.
7. January 2018: Satyapal Singh, the-then Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD), said that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was “scientifically wrong.” He said that the theory should be removed from school curriculums.
8. December 2014: then-HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank described science as a “dwarf” in front ancient Indian astrology practices. He said that Indians had conducted nuclear tests 100,000 years ago.
9. October 2014: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his first term as PM, stood before a roomful of medical professionals and referenced Lord Ganesha to say that plastic surgery existed in ancient India. Modi also said Karna’s womb-free birth was an early form of genetics.
10. 2015: A paper presented during the Indian Science Congress claimed that Vedic-age aircraft existed and could hover, fly backward, even travel between planets. The paper has been criticised it as pseudo-science.
