Sutra Seven deals with which foods the pilot should consume at different times of the year:
“Food according to Seasons.”
Section Eight tells of the food types required:
“The three Varieties ward off seasonal evil effects”
Sutra Nine informs us of strict meal times for the pilots:
“That at set times”
The times for taking meals are prescribed as follows: Family men should take food twice a
day, or once a day. Ascetics should take food once a day. Others can take food four times a day.
Air pilots should take food 5 times a day. And yogis may take as many times as they like.
Sutra Ten deals with vitamin supplements that may also be used:
We are told that if the food-stuffs prescribed above are not available for use during flights, then
essence extracts made by cooking certain foods with admixture of spices may be dried and ‘food
balls’ made from them should be supplied to the pilots for consumption during flights.
“There are 5 kinds of food that are nutritious and wholesome; cooked rice or grain, gruel, cooked
flour, baked flat bread, and preparations made out of essence-extracts from food materials. The
last named are superior to all the others”.
Sutra Eleven continues the theme of food supplements:
“Or essence of fruits, roots, and bulbs.”
We are told that that preparations made from edible roots, potato and other bulbous vegetables,
and from fruits are also suitable for use as food-balls.
Sutra Twelve continues the Supplement theme, this time speaking of herbal supplements:
“Like roots, bulbs and fruits, grasses, shrubs and herbs, provide good food for men. Six kinds
of doorva grass, 6 kinds of munja hemp, 6 kinds of darbha or long grass, 6 kinds of shoundeera,
and 6 kinds of Ashwakarna or sal, or mimordica charantia, Shatamoolee of 3 kinds, Kaaruvellee;
Chandravellee, Madhuvellee, Varchulee, Makutee vellee, sugandhaa, and sooryavellee may be
made to yield good food, nutritious and bracing.”
Sutra Thirteen Deals with the various metals and alloys used in the construction of Vimaanas:
The book tells us that: “There are 3 kinds of metals... By mixing them, 16 kinds of heat-
absorbing metals are produced.
“Metals which are light, and are suitable for producing vimaanas are 16. They are heat
absorbing, and should be used in the manufacture...”
“...16 metals formed by mixing root metals and are non-heat-conductors and are useful for
Vimanas.”
The texts also suggest a significant geological knowledge by the author. It also mentions
extensive mining operations to recover the metals required for the craft and speaks of where they
may be located:
“In the 7th layer of the earth, in the third mine therein, metals of the Soma series are found. They
are of 38 kinds. Among them there are three from which heat resisting metals are to be extracted.
In the 3rd section of the 7th layer of the earth, Metals possessed of 5 special qualities, are called
“root-metals”.
“There are 3000 metal bearing layers within the earth. Of them 1300 layers contain the better
quality. In the 7th layer metals are of 27 types. The 3rd type of metals are of five-fold qualities, and
are known as root metals.”
Sutra Fourteen speaks of the methods for purifying the Metal ores for use in the manufacture of
various alloys: