Kolkata, April 20: Amid controversy over Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deba's claim that internet and satellite communication existed in Mahabharata's time, state Governor Tathagata Roy on Friday said people in the Puranic period either had superhuman imagination or some kind of prototypes otherwise they could not have conceived such ideas.

"In the Puranic period, people had thought of 'Divya Drishti', Pushpaka Ratha' (divine sight, flying chariot, respectively), which means, they must have had superhuman imagination or some kind of prototype. There could be things which are beyond our imagination.

"Unless there was a prototype of something of that type, it was not possible to conceive such a thing," Roy said while responding to a query on the sidelines of the launch of his book "Syama Prasad Mookerjee".

In the 1960s, "could we ever imagine such a thing as a cell phone? Impossible... We could not conceive of it because there was no prototype in front of our eyes," he contended.

Deb had recently claimed that internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata.

"Internet and satellite communication had existed in the days of Mahabharata. Sanjaya (the charioteer of king Dhritarashtra) using the technology gave a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of Kurukshetra," Deb had said on Tuesday.

Subsequently, the Governor had tweeted: "Tripura Chief Minister's observations about the happenings of the Puranic period are topical. It is virtually impossible to conceive of devices like 'Divya drishti',Pushpaka Ratha', etc. without some kind of prototype and study thereon."

Roy, however, on Friday said: "I have not said there was internet at that time. I have merely said this is a thing worth trying to find out." 

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Manchester, Jul 25 (PTI): The prolific Joe Root on Friday surpassed Australian legend Ricky Ponting's tally to become the second highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket and next in sight of the England batter is Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar who continues to head the list.

On the third day of the fourth Test against India here, Root first leapfrogged legendary Indian Rahul Dravid and South African great Jacques Kallis' aggregate of runs in a space of eight balls and then went past Ponting by steering the ball behind point for a single as the Old Trafford crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Ponting had scored 13378 runs in 168 matches at an average of 51.85, while Tendulkar continues to top the list with 15921 runs.

It was apt that Ponting was in the commentary box when Root went past him. The 34-year-old Root began his Test career with a 73-run knock on debut during England's tour of India back in 2012 at Nagpur.

"Congrats, Joe Root. Magnificent," a delighted Ponting, doing commentary alongside Ravi Shastri, hailed the Yorkshire man.

Root is playing in his 157th Test.

It was some sight as England skipper Ben Stokes, who was also in the middle, raised his bat even before Root could take off his helmet and acknowledged the cheers and applause from the crowd and the players

Earlier, Root entered the history books by breaking the record of most Test centuries against India with his 12th hundred against the Asian giants, against whom he has played in 34 Tests so far.

Root had equalled Australian Steve Smith's record (11 centuries) in the third India-England Test at Lord's last week by scoring a hundred (104 runs from 199 balls) in the first innings.

Overall, the ton at Old Trafford was his 38th in red ball format as he joined former Sri Lanka star Kumar Sangakkara at fourth place in the list of centurions in the game's longest format.

Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45) and Ponting (41) are ahead of him in the hundred's list.