Ramayana

Ramayana See also: Vaimānika Shāstra In Hindu mythology, the gods and their avatars travel from place to place in flying vehicles (see Vimana ) There are many mentions of these flying machines in the Ramayana, which used by the Lankan king Ravana from Sri Lanka dates to the 5th or 4th century BCE. Below are some examples:

From Book 6, Canto CXXIII: The Magic Car:
Is not the wondrous chariot mine, Named Pushpak, wrought by hands divine. … This chariot kept with utmost care, Will waft thee through the fields of air, And thou shalt light unwearied down In fair Ayodhyá's royal town.

From Book 6, Canto CXXIV: The Departure:
Swift through the air, as Ráma chose, The wondrous car from earth arose. And decked with swans and silver wings Bore through the clouds its freight of kings.

Erich von Däniken discusses the Ramayana and the vimanas in Chapter 6 of Chariots of the Gods  suggesting that they were "space vehicles". To support his hypothesis, he offers a quotation which he says is from an 1889 translation of the Mahabharata by C. Roy: "Bhima flew with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the thunder of a storm".