Maharshi Bharadwaja is an august name in the pantheon of Hindu Sages who recorded Indian civilization, in the spiritual, intellectual, and scientific fields in the hoary past. The rishis transmitted knowledge from mouth to mouth and from ear to ear, for long eras. Written transmission through birch-backs or palm leaves or home made paper, are from this side of a thousand years. The word “yantra” is derived from the root yam, to control, and has been freely used in ancient India for any contrivance. Mechanical skills had produced in ancient India many accessories for scientific activities, such as surgical instruments in medicine, the pakayantras or laboratory equipment in medicine, Rasayana, and the astronomical yantras described in Jyotisa works. These belong to a different category. In the Mahabharata we hear of the Matsya-yantra or the revolving wheel with a fish which Arjuna had to shoot in order to win Draupadi in the svayamvara.
More interesting references are made by Valmiki to yantras on the field of battle, the continuity of which tradition we see later in the Arthasastra of Kautilya. The fortifications include equipment in the form of yantras. In Ayodhya 100.53, in the Kaccita-sarga, while enquiring about measures of defense, Rama asks Bharata whether the fort is equipped with yantras. Lanka, as a city built by Maya, is naturally more full of the yantras. The city, personified as a lady, is called yantra-agara-stani, informing us of a special chamber filled with yantras. (Sundara 3. 18). The Arthasastra of Kautilya is one of the books of culture which throws a flood of light on the particular epochs in which they arose. This work of 300 B.C.E. being a treatise on statecraft, speaks of yantras in connection mainly with battles, but also with architecture to some extent. An early work, a theoretical treatise and a text of great reputation, the Arthasastra forms our most valuable document on the subject of yantras.
And, as early as the Bhagavad Gita, the machine became an apt simile for man being a tool in the hands of the Almighty that sits in man's heart and by His mystic power makes man not only move but also delude himself into the notion of his being a free or competent agent.
The following machines are to be made of a metal called Veera. An alloy formed by melting and fusing the three metals Kshwinka, Arjunika and Kanta (magnet), in three, five and nine parts respectively, is called Veeraloha or a metal namely Veera. When it undergoes shastraic processes, it cannot be destroyed by fire, air, water, electricity, cannon, gun-powder or the like. It will then be very strong, light, and of golden color. The metal is specially meant for Machines.
Panchamukha Yantra::
A machine of this name contains doors in east, south, west, north and top. Weighs 170 Ratals. Carries one thousand Ratals. By the help of electricity it can travel five Kroshas per hour. It is used as conveyance for men and in wars. Since the machine is conducted by the power of a spirit called Gaja it is named as Gajaakarshana Panchamukha Ratha.
Mrugaakasrshana Yantra::
These are the machines drawn by such animals as oxen, asses, horses, camels, elephants and so on.
Chaturmukha Ratha Yantra::
This machine has faces or openings on four sides. Weighs 120 Ratals. It can be conducted with any oil, preferably that of coconut shells, or with the help of electricity. Travels six Kroshas per hour. Used for traveling, wars, and transporting things.
Trimukha Ratha Yantra::
This Machine weighs 116 Ratals. It has three doors, downwards, upwards and on one side. It can carry a weight of 600 Ratals. It is conducted with the help of oil extracted from knotted root of Simha-Krantha, and from that extracted out of the stalks of a kind of grass. If such oils are not available, electricity may be made use of. It is used for the purposes that the above machine, viz. Cahkra-mukha-Ratha Yantra is used.
Dwimukha Yantra
It weights 80 Ratals. Doors to east and west. Conducted by a wheel fitted with screws. Travels three Koshas per hour. Can carry a weight of three hundred Ratals. Used for the above purposes.
Ekamukha Ratha Yantra
This machine has only one door. Weighs 48 Ratals. Carries two hundred Ratals of weight. Travels with the help of oil extracted from the seeds of Kancha-Thoola or Sovlaalika or by electricity: speed 1 Keosha per hour. Used for the above purposes.
Simhaasya Ratha Yantra
This machine presents a front of a lion’s appearance. Possesses two doors. 75 Ratals in weight. Carries a weight of 50 Ratals. It can travel both on land and air. It has the quality of expanding and contracting. Used for the above purposes.
Vyaaghraasya Ratha Yantra
This is modeled after a tiger. Possesses wings. Weighs 64 Ratals. Carries 200 Ratals of weight. It travels in air expanding its wings with electric power, but contracting its wings with steam power. It is used for the above purposes.
Source :: Diamonds, Mechanisms Weapons of War Yoga Sutras - By G. R. Josyer
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