Updated On: 28 January, 2024 06:52 AM IST | Mumbai | Devdutt Pattanaik
They even use words like plagiarism without actually knowing what it means.

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik
Recently, a very senior gentleman argued that Europeans stole science from the Vedas. He kept quoting verses from Vedas to prove how everything from gravity to Newtonian physics can be traced to the Rig Vedic mantras. Nobody in the room knew the Vedas, or science, so no one could challenge him, but the idea made everyone feel good. And because it made everyone feel good, everyone seemed to agree with him.
On the Internet, one finds a lot of quotations claiming scientific truths within the Vedas. When you cross check this with other texts, with more meticulous translations of the Vedas, you realise these are cases of enthusiastic amateurs cleverly twisting words, misusing metaphors to suit their own poor understanding of science. They even use words like plagiarism without actually knowing what it means.