Most of the myths and legends of India are derived from ancient religious texts. They’ve been passed
down through the ages, enthralling generations of readers and listeners. But over the years, they’ve
also been interpreted as portals and doorways, giving insight into the future of humanity.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re exploring four bizarre predictions from ancient Indian texts.
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We’ll start on a somewhat pessimistic note. A key concept for today’s video is that in Hinduism,
time is cyclical. Each cycle lasts 4,320,000 years, and is comprised of four great seasons
or yugas: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga. According to various ancient texts,
we’re now in the last of those, the Kali Yuga. It’s generally described as being 432,000 years
long, and is said to have begun in the year 3,102 BC - at the climax of an epic war,
the Kurukshetra War. So, while we’re already some 5,000 years through this final season,
there are still 426,000 years left for it to run. But the bad news is that the world of the Kali
Yuga isn’t a good one. And our first bizarre prediction for the future of humanity is,
well, that we’ve only just begun an age of unrelenting darkness, misery and vice. With each
yuga, humanity’s moral and physical well-being deteriorates… which means that the Kali Yuga is
the summit of our deterioration. The pinnacle of all our problems. And, unfortunately, it’s
been invariably highlighted how we can seemingly see signs of the Kali Yuga all around us today.
In this most unfortunate of seasons, humanity’s spiritual purpose is said to have diminished.
Wealth becomes the key metric, but it’s often guided by deceit and corruption. Law and order
are then guided by wealth, while the collection of taxes hangs heavy over a busy, bustling society.
These conditions are then worsened by things like war, conflict, famine, drought, harsh weather,
and disease… leading to more and more suffering. As part of the Kali Yuga, it’s the most corrupt
who rise to political power, and they use that power to control everyone else. For those more
inclined to a cynical world view, then, the most bizarre aspect to these predictions might only
be how close to real life they appear to fall. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
That’s because today’s second bizarre prediction for the future is World War Three. Thankfully,
the Kali Yuga story concludes with the eventual arrival of a messianic figure, known as Kalki.
At the latest, this should happen around the year 428,899… but some say it could happen before then.
It’s said that Kalki - the tenth and last incarnation of the god Vishnu - will one day
bring the cycle of yugas to an end, refresh the seasons and move us back to the first yuga - the
Satya Yuga - which should be a golden age. It’s just that between now and then, it’s
predicted that rampant corruption, poverty, greed, hatred and intolerance will have utterly deprived
humanity of its soul... and World War Three could be the endgame for all of those issues.
While the great Kalki’s arrival does have the upside of bringing this nightmarish time to an
end, it’s also said that it will happen only following a great war.
A war vast and devastating enough that it will leave the world in total ruin. And, today,
most onlookers agree that World War Three will do exactly that. Most texts stop short of going
into great detail about what the war could look like, and most don’t suggest that it’s coming
tomorrow… but it is coming. And when it happens, humanity will’ve perhaps reached its lowest ebb.
Of course, we know that human history is already rife with war, conflict and suffering. But we
also know that, somewhat ironically, some wars have served as a means toward technological
advancement, as well. And, in Hindu mythology, wars have often been portrayed in this way…
wherein they, too, feature the use of imaginative machines and contraptions.
One such machine, the Vimana, particularly stands out as it appears to be a prediction - today’s
third prediction - toward modern-day space flight and propulsion technology.
The ancient Vimanas were machines piloted by the gods. They came in all shapes and sizes and were
multi-use, made for land and sea as well as for space travel. References to them have been found
in many ancient texts, including the Hindu epic, Mahabharata, and another more contemporary text,
the Vaimãnika Shãstra. One particular passage in the Mahabharata, for example,
provides a description of the Vimana that’s reminiscent of jet propulsion,
referring to them “radiating light” and carrying a “deep rumbling sound”. The Vaimãnika Shãstra
also includes similar references indicating, for instance, that Vimana propulsion was enabled by
the use of rotating gyroscopes of electricity and mercury - in what’s essentially a vortex engine.
Importantly, the Vaimãnika Shãstra was penned less than 100 years ago, so it can by no means
be considered an ancient text… plus a 1974 study of it, carried out by the Indian Institute of
Science, found that the crafts detailed within it were unfeasible and were much closer to fictional,
steampunk flying machines than real life. Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped theorists
from listing it as the last in a long line of works that seemingly pre-empt the engines,
systems and machines developed by the likes of NASA ever since the 1950s.
But, finally, Hindu scriptures, touch on many more cosmological concepts, too, not just space travel.
The Legend of Revati, found in the Vishnu Purana text, for example, provides the basis for today’s
fourth bizarre prediction; that humanity (and the world) is shaped by time dilation. It’s estimated
that the Vishnu Purana was composed between 1,100 and 2,200 years ago… and yet it includes within it
a mode of thought more in tune with Albert Einstein, and twentieth century science.
In the story, Revati is the daughter of King Kakudmi, a descendant of the Sun god
Surya. Believing that no human is worthy enough to marry his daughter, Kakudmi takes Revati to seek
counsel with the god, Brahma “The Creator”. When they arrive at Brahma’s abode, they wait a short
time while the god watches a musical performance. Then, when they explain the situation to him,
and when Kakudmi requests that a suitable partner be found for his daughter while presenting a
shortlist of candidates, Brahma laughs. He explains that time isn’t the same across different
levels of existence… so, within the short time that Kakudmi and Revati had awaited his counsel,
108 yugas - that’s more than 100 million years - had passed on Earth. Which means that every
suitor on Kakudmi’s shortlist will have died long ago. As well as all of his and Revati’s friends,
family, and everyone they’d ever known. Returning to Earth, Kakudmi and Revati marvel
at the incredible changes that have taken place on their home planet during what had seemed a brief
visit to Brahma. And, again, they bear witness to the shocking extent of humanity’s regression,
having been away from it for so long. But, regardless of how humanity may have fared,
the central concept here is literally millennia ahead of its time. Time dilation is a relatively
modern school of scientific thought, but the ancient scholars appear to have predicted its
nature within this story. Now, we see it as a basis for scientific experiment
and science fiction, with various movies featuring characters who age differently to
everyone else because of the physical journeys they take through space and reality. But,
really, Revati was the first to take that trip. Such is the rich and huge history and tradition
that the ancient texts cover, it would be impossible to summarise them all within one video.
But we can see in just these four cases that the earliest works, at times, provided a window into
the future. And part of that future is what we’re living in today. The nods towards space
travel and flying machines certainly fit. The discussion around time and the true nature of
reality still feels very modern. It remains to be seen whether World War Three will take hold, and
it’s perhaps an issue of contention as to whether all the worst parts of the Kali Yuga really are
taking place today. But, for now, those are four bizarre predictions from ancient Indian texts.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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