I have been thinking about it for a long time now. And a recent programme on History Channel only strengthened my views. First I would want to narrate in brief what I saw on History channel. It was about the Mayan culture. Mayan culture comes out to be one of the barbaric cultures among all the ancient civilisations as they practised human sacrifice on a large scale. Lots of very very deep caves dug really deep into the earth have been discovered with lots of human skeletons and signs of human sacrifices. It really struck me. First I thought that it is possible that the lands falling in American continent were considered as " Patal Lok" ( Under ground world) as from India's point of view , Americas would fall below it on a globe). But when I saw the deep and dangerous caves in the Mayan excavations , it struck me that these caves are as good as Underground World -' Patal Lok'.
Now compare it with the story of Ahiravan. Ahiravan was the king of Underworld. He was barbaric and practised human sacrifice as a mode of worship. He abducted Ram and Lakshman and took them to a place beneath the ground and tried to sacrifice them. It is so similar to the attributes of Mayan culture.
I believe that the ancient civilisations were in touch with each other . They were not isolated. Ancient people were really advanced but in course of time and because of natural calamities , we lost that knowledge. Now consider the following facts. Ahiravan was an ally of King Raavan .Our ancient scriptures talk of Asian continent as Jambu Dwip and also refer to a 'Shwet Dwip'( White Island or Island of the Whites) which many scholars believe to be the lost island of Atlantis. Many ancient maps have been found by the scholars that date back to times even before Columbus discovered America and these maps of the world are so precise that those who study them think how could they be so accurate. Even the coast of Antarctica which is invisible because of permafrost has been drawn perfectly. We have been able to draw the map of Antarctica's coastline only with the help of satellites. In the excavations of ancient sites in Colombia , little models of aeroplanes have been found and are exhibited there in the museums. Earlier it was thought that they were just the models of fish or butterflies. But nobody paid attention that a fish does not have an upright fin at the end like an aeroplane. It is only now that historians and Ufologists have started paying attention to such details. And these little models are all to scale. When a bigger model was made , they were found to be aerodynamic. And let us not forget that the concept of Vimaan finds mention in Ramayan . This means that the concept of aeroplane was not unknown. We had a term for it -'Vimaan'. If this concept did not exist then such terminology would also not have existed.
I think we should all change our mindset of thinking about the ancient people as a civilisation living in dark ages. They were technically advanced and were great explorers like we are today.
Sometimes I also think what if a cataclysmic event occurred and all our knowledge was lost ! What would we do ? We would make drawings on the stone about the technical advancements like aeroplanes , ships , satellites , our knowledge of planets and lots of signs for the future generations to know what the life was in our times. Now , I know what an aeroplane is and the basic principle involved in its flight. But I do know about the real science behind it and I do not know anything about its manufacturing. So what would I do ? I would write or draw that there was a metal body and it flew like a bird and people sat in it. And may be the future generations would think -" Duh ! It is some stupid mythology ...some stupid superstition". Just as we used to say as kids about the "Pushpak Vimaan" mentioned in the Ramayan.
If the ancient civilisations were so advanced , is it possible that some of their know-how is safely secured some where ? May be with the change in sea-land pattern , we have lost it or may be it is still hiding in some nook and corner of the Earth. A legend goes that there is a secret room near the right paw of the Sphinx in Egypt but the Egyptian Govt does not permit anyone to get into it. Many think that all the know-how is stored there and when the time is right it will manifest itself to us. No one knows how this legend came into being but it sure is interesting.
With advent of Internet and websites like YouTube , there is a quick and unprecedented transfer & exchange of knowledge. I am sure that we would be able to unlock lots of mysteries in near future. Again ,what if all the computer systems in the world were destroyed ? How would a surviving layman explain to his kids what Internet was ? .....With this curiosity and with a fresh & different point of view ,let us explore our world again .
