‘Puranic period people had superhuman imagination’

KOLKATA: Amid controversy over Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deba’s claim that Internet and satellite communication existed in Mahabharata’s time, state Governor Tathagata Roy on Friday said people in the Puranic period either had superhuman imagination or some kind of prototypes otherwise they could not have conceived such ideas. “In the Puranic period, people had thought of ‘Divya Drishti’, Pushpaka Ratha’ (divine sight, flying chariot, respectively), which means, they must have had superhuman imagination or some kind of prototype. There could be things which are beyond our imagination. “Unless there was a prototype of something of that type, it was not possible to conceive such a thing,” Roy said while responding to a query on the sidelines of the launch of his book “Syama Prasad Mookerjee”. In the 1960s, “could we ever imagine such a thing as a cell phone? Impossible... We could not conceive of it because there was no prototype in front of our eyes,” he contended. Deb had recently claimed that Internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata. “Internet and satellite communication had existed in the days of Mahabharata. Sanjaya (the charioteer of king Dhritarashtra) using the technology gave a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of Kurukshetra,” Deb had said on Tuesday. Subsequently, the Governor had tweeted: “Tripura Chief Minister’s observations about the happenings of the Puranic period are topical. It is virtually impossible to conceive of devices like ‘Divya drishti’, Pushpaka Ratha’, etc. without some kind of prototype and study thereon.” Roy, however, on Friday said: “I have not said there was Internet at that time. I have merely said this is a thing worth trying to find out.” — IANS