Geologist Ashu Khosla, who has been conducting research for more than 25 years on the origin and existence of dinosaurs in India, on Sunday suggested that Hindu god Brahma knew about dinosaurs and documented them in Vedas, The Indian Express reported.

Khosla, who teaches at Panjab University, made the remarks while presenting a research paper at the 106th Indian Science Congress at Lovely Professional University in Phagwara in Kapurthala district.

“There is nothing that Lord Brahma, who is creator of this universe, did not know,” Khosla said. “He was completely aware of the existence of dinosaurs and even mentioned them in Vedas. Before anyone else in the world, it was Lord Brahma who discovered dinosaurs’ existence on earth.” The geologist added that India was “a hotspot for dinosaur evolution and breeding” before they went extinct and pointed out that a dinosaur named Rajasaurus had originated in India.

“It is from our Vedas that Americans and Britishers took the concept of dinosaurs and got to know about them,” Khosla added. “Even though the dinosaurs had become extinct almost 6.5 crore years back, Lord Brahma must have got to know about them through his unmatched spiritual powers when he might have closed his eyes, while writing the Vedas.”

The geologist said even the word dinosaur has its origin in Sanskrit. “‘Dino’ means terrible, it translates to ‘daayan [witch]’ and ‘saur’, which otherwise means lizard, is related to ‘asur [rakshas]’,” he claimed. “So, everything that exists on earth is well-mentioned in Vedas.”

Khosla claimed that he and his team had discovered the remains of the “Indian” dinosaur in Kheda district of Gujarat in 2001 and officially named it “Rajasaurus Narmada ensis”.

“When we found the remains of Rajasaurus in Gujarat in 2001 along the banks of river Narmada, we named it ‘Raja’ to signify ‘lion’ as it was a meat-eating dinosaur,” the geologist added. “It was believed that Rajasaurus was linked to Tyranosaurus, which had origin in North America, but we proved that Rajasaurus was a new dinosaur and originated in India.”

Asked if he has evidence to back his claims about dinosaurs being mentioned in the Vedas, Khosla said the religious texts were written 25,000-30,000 years ago while dinosaurs became extinct 6.5 crore years back. “Since Vedas were not written on paper, but on leaves, we might not have a scientific evidence but dinosaurs were certainly mentioned in Vedas by Lord Brahma,” he added. “People will even dismiss the existence of Lord Brahma and question if he even wrote Vedas. There is no scientific proof, but Vedas are the biggest proof in itself.”

He claimed that he prays to the Hindu god of creation when he visits fields for excavation of dinosaur fossils. “Even Wright Brothers took the idea of aeroplane from Pushpak Vimaan that was used by Ravana in Ramayana,” Khosla added.

Talks reflect speakers, says government

Khosla’s comments are the latest among irrational statements made by some speakers at the Indian Science Congress. On Sunday morning, a small group of scientists and research scholars gathered at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru to protest against such remarks being made at the gathering.

The government too has attempted to distance itself from these comments, the Hindustan Times reported on Sunday. India’s Principal Scientific Adviser K Vijay Raghavan said, in a blogpost on Saturday night, that the government has no role in selecting the speakers and the association cannot determine what the scientists say.

“The Indian Science Congress Association does get some support from the Department of Science and Technology, ISCA raises funds for its activities, such as for the holding of the Congress, from other sources,” VijayRaghavan wrote. “ISCA decides the agenda, the venue and selects the speakers. The government has no role whatsoever in these matters. The organisers rightly don’t have a filter [over what the scientists say] and the government rightly has no role in the matter. The talks, then, reflect the speakers.”