The story of Revata, the first time travel story in human history!

Who wrote the first time travel story? Any modern sci-fi writers, science fiction? Nope.

It is the great sage Veda Vyasa who has written 18 great Hindu epics and had written the first story of time travel.

Vyasa has been glorified as the great one with a giant brain. There is nothing in the world that he has not touched; listed! In Devi Bhagavatham, we come across the story of Revata.

The great king by the name of Ravata was the ruler of Kusasthali. He was the son of King Anartta and the grandson of Emperor Saryati. He had a hundred sons and a daughter named Revathi.

When it was time for Revathi’s marriage, she was unable to find a suitable groom for her daughter. She then thought of meeting the creator Brahma, who created Revathi. Revathi also accompanied her father to the Brahmaloka, the world of Brahama.

When they entered the place of Brahams, there was something of Yaga. Revata respectfully worshiped Brahma. Seeing him, Brahma made signs to wait. The Yaga was completed and Brahma asked Revata about the purpose of his visit.

Revata explained that she had come to take his advice to find a suitable boyfriend.

Braham told him, “Oh! The time in Brahma Loka and the time on earth are different. Even if you think that you have waited here for a few minutes, thousands of years have passed on earth. Look at the people there on earth. Everyone is comparatively much shorter because a Yuga has been completed, while the beautiful Revathi is much taller than earthly men. But don’t worry. You can choose Balabadrarama as your son-in-law. He will do what is necessary.”

Hearing this, Revata was very happy and returned to earth along with Revathi and met Balabadrarama. Balabadrarama took the shovel from him and with it pressed down on Revathi’s head. Immediately Revathi shortened and attained a normal height befitting that of other earthly women.

Thus, Veda Vyasa very beautifully narrates the theory of time dilation, that is, the difference in time when you travel in space at a greater distance.

Now let’s compare this with the data given in the ‘Meyers Handbook on Space’.

Meyers’ table gives you the extent of time dilation between the rocket crew of the spacecraft on interstellar flight and the inhabitants at the rocket launch station on earth.

The following table shows the years of the Rocket Crew and the equivalent years of the inhabitants of the launch station, in this case, the humans on our earth.

Rocket crew years Earth launch site years

eleven

2 2.1

5 6.5

10 24

20,270

30 3100

40 36000

50 4,20,000

4,20,000 years is roughly equivalent to the length of one Kali Yuga. This is what Brahma told Revata who had passed a Yuga.

With a fantastic story, Vyasa has narrated the theory of time dilation in a beautiful way.

The great scientific theories are hidden in the Hindu Puranas. With the advancement of science we came to know the facts hidden in the epics and we were dumbfounded.