Having made his vow, the foolish King [Salva] proceeded to worship Lord Pasupati [Siva] as his deity . . . at the end of a year he gratified Salva, who had approached him for protection, by offering him a choice of gifts.

Salva chose a vimana that could not be destroyed by Devas, Asuras, humans, Gandharvas, Uragas nor Rakshasas, that could travel anywhere he wished to go, and that would terrify the Varishnis.

Lord Siva said, "So be it." On his order, Maya Danava, who conquers his enemies cities, constructed a flying vehicle made of iron named Saubha, and presented it to Salva.

This unassailable vehicle was filled with darkness and could go anywhere. Upon obtaining it, Salva, remembering the Varishnis' enmity toward him, went to Dvaraka.

Salva besieged the city with a large army . . . From his excellent vimana he threw down a torrent of projectiles, including stones, tree trunks, thunderbolts, snakes and hailstones. A fierce whirlwind arose and covered everything in thick dust.

The vimana possessed by Salva was very deceptive. It was so out of the ordinary that sometimes many vimanas would appear to be in the sky, but at other times none. Sometimes the vimana was visible, sometimes invisible. And the warriors of the Yadu dynasty were totally confused about the location of this mystifying vehicle: oftimes they would see the vimana on the ground, sometimes flying in the sky, other times resting on the crest of a hill, and even floating on the water. That awesome vimana flew in the sky looking like a whirling firebrand--it was never still, even for a moment.

It appears from this passage, and many others in Sanskrit literature, that a deity could be persuaded to offer a gift to a mortal after some long specified period of exceptional piety toward that deity. Siva was considered "the destroyer," therefore, in some ways evil. Salva did not have any intention of using his hard won gift for beneficial purposes.

The last sentence, containing the statement of Salva's celestial vehicle looking like a "whirling firebrand," should cause one to look twice at the so-called "wheels" of Ezekiel as described in the Old Testament. The similarities are striking. Did Ezekiel encounter ancient vimanas during his stay in Babylonia? For a complete exegetical analysis go back and click on "Ezekiel's Wheels".