‘Ravana’s airports’, ‘Modi waves’ leave science congress stunned

“拉瓦纳机场”、“莫迪波”在科学大会上留下一片愕然

NEW DELHI/ JALANDHAR: Two lectures at the Indian Science Congress in which scientists, including the vice-chancellor of a state university, made claims about achievements of ancient Indians have created a new controversy. These claims have highlighted a fundamental problem for the congress: in the past few years, what had once been a gathering of the country’s most reputed scientific minds has become a platform for numerous such statements based on mythology.

新德里/贾朗达尔：在印度科学大会上，包括一所邦立大学的副校长在内的科学家们就古代印度人的成就所做的两场演讲引发了新争议。这些演讲凸显了国大党面临的一个根本问题：过去几年，这个曾经汇聚了全印度最有声誉的科学家的大会，已经变成了发表许多诸如此类神说迷思的平台。

On Friday, Andhra University vice-chancellor G Nageswara Rao, a professor of inorganic chemistry, claimed that Kauravas from the Indian mythological epic Mahabharata were born using stem cell technology and that Ravana from the Ramayana had 24 types of aircraft and that Sri Lanka at that time had airports. Rao then explained evolution and human civilization while talking about the Dasavatara or 10 incarnations of Vishnu. He said this at a session which included children in the audience.

At the same session, K J Krishnan, a scientist at a centre in Tamil Nadu, claimed that the theories of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were wrong and would be disproved. He said gravitational waves would soon be renamed as ‘Narendra Modi waves’, while the gravitational lensing effect in physics would be renamed as ‘Harsh Vardhan effect’. He went on to claim that electricity and magnetism were the same phenomena.

上周五，安得拉邦大学副校长、无机化学教授G Nageswara Rao声称，印度神话史诗《摩诃婆罗多》中的俱卢族就是通过干细胞技术诞生的，《罗摩衍那》中的Ravana有24种飞机，当时斯里兰卡也有机场。Rao接着谈到了进化论和人类文明，同时谈及毗瑟奴的十种化身。他是在一个有儿童参加的会议上说这番话的。

在同一会议上，泰米尔纳德邦一个中心的科学家KJ克里斯南声称，艾萨克牛顿和阿尔伯特爱因斯坦的理论是错误的，会被人们推番。他说，引力波将很快被重新命名为“纳伦德拉莫迪波”，而物理学中的引力透镜效应将被重新命名为“哈什瓦尔丹效应”。他还声称电和磁是同一现象。

This was not the first time that the congress has witnessed such claims. In the Mumbai session in January 2015, Anand J Bodas, principal of a pilot training school in Kerala and Ameya Jadhav, lecturer at a Mumbai junior college, presented a paper within a symposium titled ‘Ancient Sciences Through Sanskrit’. Bodas and Jadhav claimed that ancient Indians had invented aircraft that could fly in multiple directions and had even reached other planets. They cited as reference a text known as the ‘Vaimanika Shastra’, which has descriptions and some diagrams of what have been claimed to be ancient aircraft. The text, claimed to have been written by the Vedic sage Bharadwaja is, however, dated to 1904 and scientists earlier had concluded that the designs in it were unrealistic and such aircraft could not have achieved flight. Prior to the congress, noted scientists had objected to the paper being presented because of its pseudo-scientific nature.

这并不是第一次在科学大会上听到这样的说法。在2015年1月的孟买会议上，喀拉拉邦一所试点培训学校的校长阿南德·J·博达斯和孟买一所专科学院的讲师阿米亚·雅达夫在一场名为“梵文中的古代科学”研讨会上发表了一篇论文。博达斯和博达斯声称，古代印度人发明了可以多方向飞行的飞机，去到过其他星球。他们引用了“Vaimanika Shastra（航空科学）”中的内容作为参考，书中有对据称是古代飞机的描述和图片。这本书是吠陀圣贤巴拉德瓦贾所著，可以追溯到1904年，科学家们早先曾得出结论，书中的设计是不现实的，这种飞机不可能飞上天。在大会召开之前，一些著名科学家因为这篇论文的伪科学性质反对该论文的发表。

At the same symposium, other papers were presented on ‘Engineering applications of ancient Indian botany’,‘Neuro-science of yoga’ and ‘Advances in surgery in Ancient India’, all of which claimed ancient Indians had made fantastic inventions predating ideas in the West in the Early Modern period. Addressing delegates at the session, Union science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan claimed that ancient Indian mathematicians had discovered the Pythagoras theorem “but very gracefully allowed the Greeks to take the credit”.

At the 105th Indian Science Congress at Imphal in March 2018, Vardhan had claimed that the late British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking had stated that the Vedas contained a “theory superior to that of Einstein’s e equals mc squared equation”.

在这个研讨会上，还发表了“古印度植物学的工程学应用”、“瑜伽的神经系统科学”和“古印度外科医学的先进之处”等论文，所有这些论文都声称，在近代早期，古印度人在西方思想出现之前就已经有了了不起的发明。欧盟科技部长哈什•瓦尔丹在会上向代表们发表讲话时声称，古代印度数学家发现了毕达哥拉斯定理，“但非常优雅地让希腊人抢得了功劳”。

在2018年3月于印帕尔举行的第105届印度科学大会上，瓦尔丹声称，已故的英国天体物理学家斯蒂芬•霍金曾表示，《吠陀》里就有“比爱因斯坦的e = mc平方方程更先进的理论”。

Mainstream scientists have expressed displeasure over these claims. Regarding the latest lecture by the Andhra University VC, the Indian Science Congress Association has expressed shock. “I feel very sad about the type of things he presented before the children. I had told our team to keep a check and that nothing unscientific should be spoken about from the stage. It is shocking when a person of the stature of a state university VC speaks like this,” said ISCA general president Manoj Kumar Chakrabarti, a biologist.

“All the abstracts of the papers to be presented at the sessions were scrutinised properly. The research papers were all above board and had no unscientific claims. However Rao came just for a talk at the Children’s Congress. The speech was not vetted as it must have been assumed that a vice-chancellor could give an inspiring talk to the children. I will now have to check how Rao got invited to give the lecture and whether there was a hint of what the contents of it would be,” Chakrabarti added.

主流科学家对这些说法表达了不满。对于安得拉邦大学副校长最近发表的演讲，印度科学大会协会表示震惊。“我对他在孩子们面前展示的东西感到非常难过。我告诉我们的团队要谨慎，不能在台上说任何不符合科学的东西。国立大学的副校长这样有声望的人居然说出这样的话，真是令人震惊。”ISCA主席，生物学家Manoj Kumar Chakrabarti说道。

“所有提交会议的论文摘要都经过了合规审查。这些研究论文都没有不科学的说法。Rao只是在儿童大会上做了一次演讲。这篇演讲没有经过审查，我们都以为副校长肯定会给孩子们一个鼓舞人心的演讲。我现在得查一查Rao为何会被邀请来做讲座，是否提前了解过讲座的内容。”查克拉巴蒂补充说。

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ISCA general secretary Premendu P Mathur said, “Science is based on citation, logical explanation and experimentation. Had I been there, I would have questioned him about it. One should have asked him for evidence.”

However, on Saturday Rao stood by his claims. “Ramayana and Mahabharata are not mythology, but history. Because we don’t understand it today, we can’t say that it’s not science,” he told TOI over the phone.

“I stated that now test tube baby and stem cell technology are known and probably Kauravas were born through a similar mechanism. I am relating present-day science with what happened during the Mahabharata period. Otherwise how could there be 100 sons from a single mother. About Ravana, if he had aircraft there must have been infrastructure and fuel for it,” Rao added.

哥伦比亚推荐

ISCA秘书长Premendu P Mathur说:“科学是建立在引证、逻辑解释和实验的基础上的。如果我当时在场，我肯定会向他提问。应该有人让他给出证据的。”

然而，Rao周六仍坚持自己的主张。他在电话采访中告诉印度时报：“罗摩衍那和摩诃婆罗多不是神话，是历史。不能因为我们今天不理解，就说它不是科学。”

“我那天说，如今试管婴儿和干细胞技术已经为人所知，可能俱卢族也是通过类似的技术诞生的。我把今天的科学与摩诃婆罗多时期发生的事情关联起来。否则，一个单身母亲怎么可能会有100个儿子呢?关于拉瓦纳，如果他有飞机，那么就一定有所需的基础设施和燃料。”

Such claims have led to noted scientists staying away from sessions of the congress in the past. In 2016, Indian-born Nobel laureate V Ramakrishnan, a biologist at Cambridge University, had objected to religious ideas being mixed with science. “I attended the congress once and very little science was discussed. I will never attend it again. The idea that Indians had aircraft 2000 years ago sounds almost essentially impossible to me.

在过去，此类说法让著名科学家不愿参加大会。2016年，出生于印度的诺贝尔奖得主、剑桥大学生物学家V Ramakrishnan反对将宗教思想与科学混为一谈。“我参加过一次大会，会上并没有进行多少关于科学的讨论。我再也不会参加了。那种2000年前印度人就拥有飞机的说法在我听来几乎是不可能的。”

印度时报网站读者评论

译文来源：三泰虎     http://www.santaihu.com/46855.html      译者：Joyceliu

外文链接：https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ravanas-airports-modi-waves-leave-science-congress-stunned/articleshow/67402208.cms

paarth d

paarth d - 5 days ago -Follow

Awesome to see the progress in Indian scientific temper thanks to the efforts of the BJP and the RSS. They forgot to mention that the cows could talk those days and recite the vedas too. In fact Valmiki when he wrote the Ramayan it was dictated by a cow. He just had to interpret the moos with the different intonations.

在印度人民党和国民志愿服务团的努力下，看到印度科学取得的进步，真是太棒了。他们忘了提，那时候的牛是会说话的，还能背诵吠陀。事实上，瓦尔米基在写《罗马人》时，就是记录牛的口述。他只需要解读不同的哞哞声调。

Subramaniam Panchacharam

Subramaniam Panchacharam - 5 days ago -Follow

Vet the papers before allowing these fools to present them. They will make India a laughing stock.

这些笨蛋发言之前，应该先审查一下的。他们会让印度成为笑柄的。

Mike

Mike - Mumbai - 5 days ago

Yes ancient India had made great strides in mathematics and science but to claim achievements on the basis of mythlogy is plain and simple ludicrous.

Our honourable Union science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan is also the product of stem cell science , only unfortunately they forgot to add brains to the stem cells. We sure know how to make ourselves the laughing stock in the world

是的，古代印度在数学和科学上成就斐然，但是把神话说成我们取得的成就，太简单可笑了。

我们尊敬的联邦科技部长哈什·瓦尔丹也是干细胞科学的产物，只是不幸的是他们忘了给干细胞添加脑子了。我们当然知道该怎么让自己成为世界的笑柄了。

Nitin Sawant

Hum - Thane - 5 days ago -Follow

Is this some sort of Joke??

Are they Scientists or Kapil Sharma disguised as a scientist..

这是在开玩笑吗?

他们到底是科学家还是伪装成科学家的卡皮尔·夏尔马？

Anup Sinha - 5 days ago -Follow

Now its time for aliens to visit India again.

现在是外星人再次造访印度的时候了。

Duck Good

Duck Good - Canada - 5 days ago -Follow

OMG this is India? Dark ages are here again.. Modi ji keep building more temples I think Indians will be sitting on their rear ends for ever... is on the moon, US is talking about building colonies on Mars ... But Modi with 8th grade education is supporting these geniuses..

天哪，这就是印度?黑暗时代又来了。莫迪继续建造更多寺庙吧，我认为印度人将永远落后…登月了，美国想在火星上建立殖民地…但只受过8年教育的莫迪支持这些天才…

Duck Good

Duck Good - Canada - 5 days ago -Follow

The whole world is laughing at us... God save us from these ignorant geniuses... I don''t know what to say? I can''t stop laughing... This must April fools Joke... Is it?

全世界都在嘲笑我们……上帝把我们从这些无知的天才手中救出来……我不知道该说什么?我笑得不能自已……这一定是愚人节的玩笑……是吗?

Rakesh Ranjan

Rakesh Ranjan - 5 days ago -Follow

Indians first invented aircraft but fact was suppressed to show write brother invented it. We should change the mentallty of ourselves that we did not do anything. We were fountain head of knowledge which was burnt out at Nalanda by Khilji.

印度人最先发明了飞机，但事实上被压制了，让怀特兄弟成了发明者。我们应该改变自己一事无成的心态。我们是知识学问的泉源，被基列人在那烂陀寺烧尽了。

shiv

shiv - rajkot - 5 days ago

Why we have to go purchase Rafale? If BJP ruled for fifty years more with Modi, Shah, Jaeitly at the helm of affairs, we can really go back to those golden times again.

我们为什么要买阵风战机?如果人民党在莫迪、沙阿和贾尔共同掌舵的情况下再执政50年，我们真的可以再次回到黄金时代。

Raj D

Raj D - 5 days ago -Follow

Darwin’s theory is a “THEORY”, Big Bang theory is a “THEORY”, They are not facts or laws proven but only a theory. I’m not blindly supporting or rejecting the statements made but if someone wants put a theory across based on some research why would you bluntly shame them??? Even great philosophers were punished by the church and looks like now the so called liberals and intellectuals want to shame free thinkers.

达尔文的理论是种“理论”，大爆炸理论是种“理论”，他们不是事实或规律证明，但只是一个理论。我不是在盲目地支持或反对这些说法，但如果有人想在进行研究后提出某个理论，你为什么要羞辱他们???即使是伟大的哲学家也会受到教会的惩罚，现在看起来所谓的自由主义者和知识分子想要羞辱自由思想家。

Pack Man

PACK MAN - 5 days ago -Follow

It is now confirmed that monkeys and gorillas are ruling us

现在事实证明，我们正被猴子和大猩猩统治着

Kumar

Kumar - 5 days ago -Follow

Earlier it was "white people are so great, we brown boys are so stupid". Now some people says it may not be true. What a shame this science Congress has become

早些时候他们说“白人很了不起，我们棕色人种就很愚蠢”。现在有人说这也许并不是真的。这次科学大会真是变得有够无耻的。

Manish Patel

Manish - 5 days ago -Follow

if they had aircraft during the Ramayana time, why didn't they continue building more aircrafts? They forgot the art to built ? why are we importing it from Airbus and Boeing?

如果罗摩衍那时代有飞机，为什么后来就不造飞机呢?他们忘记了建造飞机的工艺了?我们为什么还要从空客和波音进口飞机呢?

Duck Good

Duck Good - Canada - 5 days ago -Follow

Funny part is India''s Prime Minister is sitting in the front row smiling. OMG Modi Ji you need a gold medal for just sitting with these ignorant, not a bright Prime Minister at all.

搞笑的是看到印度总理坐在前排一脸微笑着。天哪，莫迪，你和这些无知的人坐在一起，真需要给你颁发一枚金牌，你根本就不是一个聪明的总理。

Amir Saghir

Amir Saghir - 5 days ago -Follow

In BJP era monkeys are taking. Isn't it a great achievement.

在人民党执政的时代，猴子们大出风头。这不是一个伟大的成就吗?

Mukesh

Mukesh - 5 days ago -Follow

Unless this country drops this stupid idea of being religious, unless this country drops the rotten culture that it has carried for centuries, which is only a corpse. It is stinking, but they go on carrying it because it is so ancient; it is their past, their ''heritage''. This country has to cut itself off from its past totally, abruptly; a discontinuity is needed. Only then will India be reborn.'' -Osho (1931-1990)

除非这个国家放弃这种愚蠢的宗教观念，除非这个国家放弃几个世纪以来传承的腐朽文化，这就是一具尸体。尸体很臭，但是他们还是要继续带着往前走，因为它很古老；这是他们的过去，他们的“遗产”。这个国家必须完全切断与过去的联系；必须截断开。只有这样，印度才能重生。奥修(1931 - 1990)

bornagain100

bornagain100 - 5 days ago -Follow

This kind of stupidity beings a bad name to Hinduism.

这种蠢事对印度教来简直是坏了名声。

Mathew Ag

Mathew Ag - 5 days ago -Follow

Spending public money to make such STUPID statements which cross every limit of DREAMING in broad daylight. Had this money been invested into funding student projects, better outcomes woud have come.

浪费公款，发表这种愚蠢的演讲，白日做梦都不敢这么做的。如果把这些钱拿来资助学生，绝对能有更好的结果。

Avinash BS

Avinash BS - Mysore, Karnataka - 5 days ago -Follow

I am wondering why Nityananda was not made president of of this science Congress.

我想知道为什么尼特亚南达没有被选作这次科学大会的主席。

Iffi J

Iffi J - 5 days ago -Follow

If there was a Nobel prize for presenting poor jokes these jokers would be on the lists.

如果有颁给讲蹩脚笑话的人的诺贝尔奖，这些人绝对榜上有名。

Jainti Patel

Jainti - 5 days ago -Follow

When are these Hindu BJP/RSS idiots realize that Ramayan and Mahabharat are just story books for entertainment purposes

这些印度人民党/国民志愿服务团白痴们，什么时候能明白《拉玛扬》和《摩诃婆罗多》只是供人消遣的娱乐书籍呢。

Duck Good

Duck - Canada - 5 days ago -Follow

Modi, Yogi, Shah for sure are going to make India third class country with this kind of temple and cow politics. Can't belive our Prime Minister Modi Ji sitting in front row with big smile and supporting these scientists.

莫迪，瑜伽修士，沙阿肯定会用这种寺庙和神牛政治把印度变成三流国家的。不敢相信，我们的总理莫迪居然还能面带微笑坐在前排支持这些科学家。

cabalco

cabalco - 5 days ago -Follow

Yes sure, while your at it, make harry potter holy books of science and shaktimaan proof that stuff works. What a load of bs. One look at these guys and you can know they cannot spell science let alone understand it.

是的，当然，你就努力让哈利波特的科学经典和莎士比亚的圣书证明这些东西吧。真是一派胡言。看看这些家伙，你就知道他们连科学二字都不会写，更不用说搞懂科学了。

Sp

Sp - 5 days ago -Follow

the world is watching while you make a fool of India, you idiots... wonder when one of these morons will watch harry potter and claim that daniel radcliffe was a british god...

全世界都在笑看你们玩弄印度，你们这些白痴啊…不知道这些笨蛋什么时候去看看《哈利·波特》，然后宣称丹尼尔·雷德克里夫是英国大神……

Pack Man

PACK MAN - 5 days ago -Follow

Time to kick out such idiots, who ruin the country and it's progress, already stressed cows are ruling the roads, hindering progress

是时候把这些祸国殃民的白痴赶走了，不堪重负的奶牛占了道，阻碍了进步

Guru

Guru - Kerala - 5 days ago

It's not surprising, if a person can become PM of country by bad mouth without doing anything. Why should scientists work hard, talking nonsense without any proof is enough for the dumb bhakts.

如果一个人作为国家的首相，啥都不做就臭名昭著，也不足为奇。科学家为什么要努力工作呢？对这些愚蠢的官老爷时，不用任何证据，只管胡说八道就够了。