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{{Short description|Indian aviation pioneer}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
| image = Shivkar Talpade.jpg
| alt = Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
| caption = Shivkar Bapuji Talpade
|birth_date = {{birth year|1864}}
|birth_place = Bombay (Now [[Mumbai]]), [[Bombay Presidency]]
|death_date = 
}}

'''Shivkar Bāpuji Talpade''' (1864 – 1916) was an Indian instructor in the [[Sir JJ School of Art]] with an interest in [[Sanskrit]] and in aviation. He lived in [[Mumbai]], and is claimed to have constructed and flown an [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|unmanned]], [[Aircraft#Heavier than air|heavier-than-air aircraft]] in 1895. Contemporary accounts of a successful flight do not exist, and no reliable historical records document its existence.<ref name="Ganesan" /><ref name="Deb" />

== Biography ==
Talpade was born in South Bombay (present-day [[Mumbai]]), in a [[Pathare Prabhu]] family. The year of his birth has been reported as 1864.<ref name="Bhutia" /><ref name="Ganesan" /> Talpade worked as a technical instructor in the art and craft department of [[Sir JJ School of Art]]. He was a member of the [[Arya Samaj]]. According to Prathap Velkar, an author who studied Talpade, he had an interest in studying [[Sanskrit]].<ref name="Ganesan" /> Talpade had one son, who remained childless; Talpade therefore left no direct descendants.<ref name="Ganesan" />

== Talpade's aircraft ==
Talpade is reputed to have constructed an [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|unmanned]], [[Aircraft#Heavier than air|heavier-than-air]] aircraft, named ''Marutsakhā'', and flown it above Bombay's [[Chowpatty Beach]] in 1895.<ref name="Ganesan" /><ref name="Deb" /> Contemporary accounts of a successful flight do not exist, and no reliable historical records document its existence.<ref name="Ganesan" /><ref name="Deb" />

Talpade's aircraft was reputed to have flown to a height of {{convert|1500|ft|m}}, a claim that Velkar denies, stating that it rose to a small height before crashing.<ref name="Bhutia" /> The aircraft has been described as a cylinder of [[bamboo]], and to have used [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] or urine as a fuel.<ref name="Bhutia" /> Some of Talpade's drawings were said to have been sent to [[Hindustan Aeronautics]] (HAL), but Anuradha Reddy, a historian of aviation, was unable to trace them.<ref name="Ganesan" /> The aircraft itself has been described as being sold to [[Rallis Brothers]], or to HAL.<ref name="Bhutia" /> Some accounts of the event stated that the flight was watched by [[Sayajirao Gaekwad III]], then the [[Maharaja of Baroda]], but direct evidence for this is scant. Velkar states that no royals attended, as it was not well-publicized.<ref name="Ganesan" />

The aircraft was purportedly inspired by the ''[[Vaimānika Shāstra]]'' ("Science of Aeronautics"), a text authored in 1904 that is frequently associated with descriptions of aircraft in the [[Vedas]].<ref name="Bhutia" /><ref name="Deb" /> The technological feasibility of the designs in the Vaimānika Shāstra was debunked in a 1974 paper by scientists from the [[Indian Institute of Science]].<ref name="Mukunda 1974 5–12" /><ref name="Deb" /> The ''Vaimānika Shāstra'' itself states that Talpade was unsuccessful in his attempt to construct an aircraft.<ref name="Ganesan" />

==Cultural legacy==
Narratives about the event proliferated in the early 2000s among adherents of the nationalist [[right-wing]].<ref name="Deb" /> The absence of evidence of its construction is attributed to censorship by the [[British Raj]].<ref name="Deb" /> Talpade developed a reputation as the "first man to fly an aircraft", given that his achievement was supposed to have taken place eight years before the [[Wright Brothers]] flew their plane in 1903.<ref name="Ganesan" /> However, Talpade's craft was unmanned: unmanned aircraft built by English engineer [[John Stringfellow]] existed as early as 1848.<ref name="Ganesan" /> A film based on life of Talpade, ''[[Hawaizaada]]'', starring [[Ayushmann Khurrana]], was released on 30 January 2015. The government of [[Uttar Pradesh]] exempt the film from taxes in that state.<ref name=TOI/> The film states that Talpade had accomplished in 1895 what the Wright Brothers did in 1903.<ref name="Deb" /> The [[Hindi]] News channel [[Zee News]] aired a piece titled "''Wright brothers wrong thhe''" (the Wright brothers were wrong.)<ref name="Ganesan" /><ref name="Deb" /> The segment claimed that Talpade's craft was the first modern aircraft in the world, and that it was the first [[Drone (aircraft)|drone]].<ref name="Deb" /> Also in 2015, a [[2015 Indian Science Congress ancient aircraft controversy|controversial paper presented at the Indian Science Congress]] claimed that Talpade had "invented the modern aircraft".<ref name="Ganesan" /><ref name="Deb" /> Ram Prasad Gandhiraman, a scientist working for [[NASA]], described the paper as [[pseudoscience]].<ref name=PseudoScience>{{cite news|title=Pseudo-science must not figure in Indian Science Congress|url=http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/Pseudo-science-must-not-figure-in-Indian-Science-Congress/articleshow/45698353.cms|access-date=25 January 2015|work=[[Mumbai Mirror]]|date=31 December 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Ganesan">{{cite news |last1=Ganesan |first1=Ranjita |title=The aviator? |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-aviator-115010901145_1.html |access-date=26 August 2020 |work=Business Standard India |date=10 January 2015}}</ref>

<ref name="Bhutia">{{cite magazine |author=Lhendup G Bhutia |url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/india/the-myth-of-the-indian-aviator |title=The Myth of the Indian Aviator |date=2015-01-30 |publisher=OPEN Magazine |quote=Talpade is believed to have been born in 1864 in the Pathare Prabhu community in a South Mumbai home}}</ref>

<ref name="Mukunda 1974 5–12">{{cite journal |author=H.S. Mukunda |author2=S.M. Deshpande |author3=H.R. Nagendra |author4=A. Prabhu |author5=S.P. Govindraju |year=1974 |title=A critical study of the work "Vyamanika Shastra" |journal=[[Scientific Opinion]] |pages=5–12 |url=http://cgpl.iisc.ernet.in/site/Portals/0/Publications/ReferedJournal/ACriticalStudyOfTheWorkVaimanikaShastra.pdf |access-date= 2007-09-03}}</ref>

<ref name=TOI>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Hawaizaada-declared-tax-free-in-Uttar-Pradesh/articleshow/46050475.cms|title=Hawaizaada declared tax free in Uttar Pradesh|work=The Times of India|date=29 January 2015|access-date=21 January 2020}}</ref>

<ref name="Deb">{{cite news |last1=Deb |first1=Siddhartha |title=Those Mythological Men and Their Sacred, Supersonic Flying Temples |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/121792/those-mythological-men-and-their-sacred-supersonic-flying-temples |access-date=26 August 2020 |work=The New Republic |date=15 May 2015}}</ref>
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talpade, Shivkar Bapuji}}
[[Category:1864 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Marathi people]]

Shivkar Bapuji Talpade - Revision history

Subhah Shirin at 11:12, 18 March 2026

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imported>Vanamonde93: I think this is necessary in the lead