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Here is my Pushpaka Vimana flying away from Lanka. Image from Wikimedia
Pushpaka
Pushpaka
Ah, Pushpaka, another one of my famous inventions. Pushpaka is the most famous of the vimanas I created. Some of the vimanas I created are simply chariots, and some are massive, beautiful palaces flying through the sky. The vimanas are some of my most impressive inventions to date, but I have since slowed down with making them. The designs aren't only beautiful, but they have to be technically sound. I created several-million-pound palaces that can seemingly effortlessly fly through the sky. One such chariot that has proven my chariot design skills is the Pushpaka vimana.
When I designed Pushpaka, I used the sun as my architectural inspiration. As we all know, the sun is yellow, shining, and smoothly glides through the sky. To capture the color and luster of the sun, I made Pushpaka out of gold. As you can see in the picture of my chariot to the left of this text, Pushpaka lights up the sky as it flies from place to place as if it was the sun. As you can also see in the image, the sight of the flying chariot also inspires wonder in those who behold it.
You may be wondering why I created such a beautiful, bulky invention despite the obvious hurdle of needing the chariot to fly. Well, let me tell you. My father, Brahma, needed a way to get around the universe more quickly. I could not give Brahma just any aircraft; he is the god of creation and father of everything after all. So, I built him the beautiful chariot that was capable of going anywhere he wanted. All you have to do to guide Pushpaka is tell the chariot where you would like to go. It had a navigation system very similar to the smart cars modern-day engineers are beginning to make, except it was able to soar through the sky and space instead of being constrained to roadways.
At this point, you're probably curious as to why Pushpaka is pictured in Lanka in the picture above this text. Let me tell you. Brahma eventually found that he had no need for Pushpaka. While Pushpaka was beautiful and served Brahma well, he realized that others may need it more. And who better to gift Pushpaka to than Kubera, his great-great grandson and the lord of wealth? Kubera peacefully rested with Pushpaka in Lanka for quite some time until Ravana came to Lanka.
When Ravana took Lanka, Kubera left for the Himalayas with Pushpaka and formed the city of Alakapuri. Though Kubera lost Lanka, he escaped with Pushpaka to Alakapuri. However, Ravana was upset that he did not capture all of Kubera's riches. He wanted as much wealth as he could have. Eventually, Kubera struck up a conversation with Ravana about ending the war between the rakshasas and gods. However, Ravana was having none of this. He came for Kubera and my Pushpaka in Alakapuri and a terrifying battle was fought between the two.
Kubera and Ravana battled with each other in Alakapuri using my weapons; Kubera used Agneyastra and Ravana used Varunastra. I made Agneyastra for Agni, the god of fire. Agneyastra throws flames out that cannot be put out in any conventional ways. I knew the god of fire could be trusted with such a powerful weapon, but I also knew that I needed checks for the weapon in case it got into the wrong hands. So I created Varunastra for Varuna, the god of water, as a balance for the Agneyastra. It was a weapon that would release water volumes that rival the volumes we receive here in India during monsoon season.
Ravana found that, as I had intended, Varunastra was a perfect counter for Agneyastra. Ravana easily handled Kubera and stole Pushpaka. Ravana, at this point, had immense amounts of power. He had my very mobile Pushpaka, my powerful Varunastra, my fortified Lanka, and an army full of angry rakshasas. I knew the tremendous amounts of damage that Ravana could be capable of with these inventions of mine, and I knew we, the gods, needed to do something about it.
Author's Note
Author's Note
In this story, I worked more on the build-up to the battle for Lanka between Rama and Ravana through Vishvakarma discussing Pushpaka and two of his inventions. I have found it very interesting that Vishvakarma unwittingly played a much, much larger role in the war detailed in the Ramayana than I had realized. Without individual inventions such as Pushpaka or Lanka, the events of the Ramayana would not have taken place. In this story, I hoped to capture the history of Pushpaka as well as set up for Pushpaka's role in my final story. My final story will be about the battle for Lanka, and I will bring back discussions of Lanka and Pushpaka. Each story has brought a piece together for the final battle from the Ramayana that readers may have overlooked.
I chose to use the image I used and roll with it because there are so many accounts of what Pushpaka would have looked like. I had to make a decision and roll with it, and I was most interested in the idea that Pushpaka was a whole palace that could fly.
The story ended up being a conglomerate of a Kubera comic, information from Wikipedia, and information from another website that I found to be factual. The details of the website that I was already familiar with match up with what I know, so I am assuming the rest of the information is accurate as well. I hoped to intertwine these sources to teach a lot about Pushpaka while also furthering a plot.
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