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Vimana are believed to be mythological flying palaces or chariots as described in Hindu texts and Sanskrit epics. The Pushpaka Vimana belonging to king Ravana is the most cited example of a vimana. (king Ravana took the vimana from Lord Kubera). Vimanas also find notable mention in Jain texts.
Vi-mana is a Sanskrit word which literally translates into "measuring out, traversing" or "having been measured out". "A car or a chariot of the gods, any self-moving aerial car sometimes serving as a seat or throne, sometimes self-moving and carrying its occupant through the air; other descriptions make the Vimana more like a house or palace, and one kind is said to be seven stories high", Monier Monier-Williams says about Vimana. It can depict any car or vehicle, especially a ship as well as a palace of an emperor, which can be seven stories. In many Indian languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi, vimana or vimanam means "aircraft". Vimana at times can also be a feature in Hindu temple architecture.
And yes these flying vimanas had predecessors, in the form of flying chariots employed by various gods in the Vedas: the Sun, Indra and several other Vedic deities. The flying wheeled chariots are usually pulled by animals, like horses.
The existing Rigveda versions do not mention Vimanas, but verses from the Riddle Hymn were taken as evidence for the existence of spacecraft by Indian philosopher and social leader Dayananda Saraswati. Dayananda Saraswati translated these verses which meant: "jumping into space speedily with a craft using fire and water, containing twelve stamghas (pillars), one wheel, three machines, 300 pivots, and 60 instruments."
Ramayana also vividly describe the pushpaka ("flowery") vimana as,
"the Pushpaka Vimana that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent Vimana going everywhere at will, that chariot resembling a bright cloud in the sky and the King Rama got in, and the excellent chariot at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere."
This is notable that Pushpaka Vimana was the first flying vimana mentioned in existing Hindu texts which was different from the gods' flying horse drawn chariots. Pushpaka was originally designed and manufactured by Vishwakarma for Brahma, the Hindu god of creation but later Brahma gave it to Kubera, the God of wealth. However it was later stolen, along with Lanka, by Kubera's half-brother, king Ravana.
Interesting India also has a book on aircraft known as Vaimanika Shastra, a Sanskrit text on aeronautics. The existence of the text came to the limelight in 1952 with the efforts of G. R. Josyer. As per him, it was written by one Pandit Subbaraya Shastry, who dictated it in 1918–1923. A Hindi translation was published in 1959 and the Sanskrit text with an English translation was published in 1973. It has 3000 shlokas in 8 chapters. Subbaraya Shastry stated that the content was dictated to him by Maharishi Bharadvaja.
So we can see aircraft is not something new but was present in ancient times as well. Although a debatable topic but its interesting to see how developed ancient technology was in India.
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