The Indian Science Congress has for several years been in the news for all the wrong reasons. From accusations of being “saffronised”, to propagating mythology-based stories as scientific facts, the ISC has been gathering a lot of criticism, especially from the scientific community.

In keeping with the same “tradition”, the 106th Indian Science Congress also made headlines for making startling claims and statements made by well-known speakers.

In this article, we list down the most bizarre mind-boggling statements made at the ISC this year:

1. Kauravas Were Born With Stem Cell  And Test Tube Technologies

“We had hundreds of Kauravas from one mother because of stem cell research and test tube baby technology. Mahabharat says, 100 eggs were fertilised and put into 100 earthen pots. Are they not test-tube babies?” said The VC of Andhra University, G Nageshwar Rao, in the recently held 106th Science Congress.

2. Ravana Had 24 Types Of Aircraft — Pushpak Viman

The Infamous Rao Sir had also claimed that the Ramayana states that Ravana didn’t just have the Pushpak Viman but had 24 types of varied aircraft of varying sizes and capacities. He also had several airports in Lanka and also he used these aircraft for different military purposes.

3. Lord Vishnu’s Avatar  Predates The Theory Of Evolution Given By Charles Darwin

Mr Rao, the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University said that Darwin stated life started from water and the first avatar of Lord Vishnu was also a fish a.ka. Matysa. Therefore, the Theory of Evolution was known to India much before Charles Darwin proved it. Mr Rao said that as Darwin stated life started from water the first avatar of Lord Vishnu was also a fish.

For the second avatar, he took shape of a tortoise, the third avatar was a boar’s head and a human body, the fourth was the Narasimha avatar with the head of a lion and human body. He took on the human form of Vaman in the fifth avatar. According to Rao, Dashavtar, the known ten avatars of Lord Vishnu, predates the Theory of Evolution given by Charles Darwin.

Here are the other strange statements made at the ISC over the years:

4. Cows Can Turn Their Food Into 24-Carat Gold

A speaker at the Indian Science Congress had earlier also claimed that the cow carries a bacterium in its body which enables it to turn whatever it consumes into pure 24-carat gold. This was aberrated agenda for the cow that continues to be mystified as right-wing groups campaign for laws that ban cow slaughter across the nation.

5. Gravitational Waves Should Be Renamed As ‘Narendra Modi Waves’

Kannan Jegathala Krishnan, the senior research scientist at the World Community Service Centre at Aliyar, Tamil Nadu, claimed that modern Physics will be completely destroyed, and a new understanding of Physics will emerge based on his observations. Modern Physics will be destroyed, and gravitational waves will be renamed as ‘Narendra Modi waves’.

6. Higgs Boson Is Not The God Particle

After years of research at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists confirmed the detection of Higgs boson, the elementary particle that gives mass to all other particles in the universe. But Krishnan maintained that based on his observations Higgs boson is no longer the God particle. According to him, the international scientific community will soon declare that Higgs boson is not the God particle.

7. Science Of Guided Missiles Was Present In India Thousands Of Years Ago

G Nageshwar Rao had also claimed earlier that Lord Rama used astras and shastras, while Lord Vishnu sent a Sudarshan Chakra to chase his enemies/targets. After hitting them they would come back to him, the same way it went. So, according to him, this proves that the science of guided missiles is not new to India and it was present thousands of years ago.

8. Pythagoras’s Theorem Was Invented In India, Not Greece

In the very same Congress, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had also claimed earlier that India had given the world algebra and the Pythagoras’s Theorem, which is used to calculate the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle.

“In the Sulbha Sutra written in 800 BCE, Baudhayan wrote the geometric formula now famously known as Pythagoras theorem. It was written by Baudhayan 300 years before Pythagoras,” said the head of Sanskrit department at Mumbai University, Dr Gauri Mahulikar, to a leading daily to back his claims.

9. Blowing A Conch Shell Exercises Your Rectal Muscles

In 103rd Indian Science Congress, an IAS officer Rajeev Sharma had claimed that by blowing a conch shell for two whole minutes showcases the fact that the common Indian ritual at the beginning of any auspicious occasion has many positive effects on the body.

Speaking at the ISC, Sharma had said that blowing a conch shell provides excellent exercise for rectal muscles, prostate, urinary tract, lower abdomen, diaphragm, chest and neck muscles.

10. Inter-Planetary Planes In Vedic Age

In another instance, Captain Anand J Bodas had claimed that there were 200-foot planes that could fly forwards, backwards and sideways and even hover in mid-air during the Vedic age. Bodas claimed that the planes were invented by a sage called Maharishi Bharadwaj over 7000 years ago, had up to 30 engines and were equipped for warfare.

11. Helmet From Mahabharata Days On Mars

One exhibitor at the ISC, Kiran Naik had also claimed that during the Mahabharata war, there was a chase in one of those Vedic planes from the earth to the moon and then to Mars, where a king attacked his rival which broke his helmet.

“If you don’t believe me, will you believe the National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA) of the USA? If you search on Google for ‘helmet on Mars’, it will tell you that even NASA has found this helmet on Mars and it will give you evidence for it,” said Kiran Naik to a leading daily.

12. Plastic Surgery  Was Done To Affix Lord Ganesha’s Elephant Head

Naik also made another claim once where he according to him heated sugar was used in the plastic surgery to affix Lord Ganesha’s elephant head to his human torso. The claim about Ganesha’s head being a plastic surgery miracle was earlier made by our very own PM Narendra Modi while inaugurating a hospital in Mumbai last year.

13. Autopsy By Leaving The Dead Body In Water

According to leading daily, one of the guest speakers in the ISC had claimed that autopsies were conducted in ancient days by leaving the dead body to float in water for nearly three days. When the muscles and nerves of the dead body got swelled, it was then dissected with surgical instruments that carried the names of the animals and birds they belonged to in their previous lives.

14. The first human flight took off from Chowpatty

A  research paper presented at the 102nd ISC stated that the first human flight took off in Chowpatty (Mumbai) eight years before the Wright brothers flew an aircraft did.

“We must look at ancient sciences with academic and scientific vigour. If we want to unlock the ancient theories, then we must read the original texts and not the translations that carry an anti-Indian viewpoint,” said Uma Vaidya, vice-chancellor, KK Sanskrit University to a leading daily.

15. Cow Urine Can Help You Locate Underground Water

Another research paper presented in 102nd Indian Science Congress on ‘Engineering applications of ancient Indian botany’ claimed that herbal paste made of seeds and roots mixed with cow’s urine when applied to a person’s feet could easily locate underground water sources. “Also, cow dung, jaggery, coconut water, egg whites and green algae were used as natural polymers,” said Professor Ashok Nene from the KK Sanskrit University.