Jesus,
the Christ did visit India? Affirms Subhrajit Mitra, producer
of feature film “The Unknown Stories of the Messiah”.
Obvious, as it is, to kick interest and anxiety amongst faithful,
skeptics and other academically inclined scholars and historians.
When
did Jesus, if at all? He was crucified on a Friday by the Jews
and being hitherto down the ages observed as ‘Good Friday’,
the supreme sacrifice by the godman to the mankind. Gospels
speaks of Jesus resurrected the following Sunday, and which
is celebrated as Easter, but never attribute any givings about
the Subhrajit’s claim.
Jesus journeyed to the East after the crucifixion, stayed and
studied Hinduism and Buddhism, and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir…thus
goes Mitra’s version. He even substantiates his belief
from the mention found in scriptures and holy books of faiths
in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Tibet and India. Quoting evidence in Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist
scriptures that a “Jesus-like man” did traverse
India’s Himalayas.
There
is a book called “The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ”
by the nineteenth century Russian adventure Nicolai Notovitch.
This was inspiration for the film maker. The Russian was at
Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir State on an expedition in
the late 19th Century A.D. German scholar Holga Kersten, evincing
interest in Notovitch’s account of Jesus traveling to
the East, wrote two books “Jesus Lived in India”
and “The Jesus Conspiracy” which was best selling.
Both
the Germanian and Russian authors afloat the interesting episode
of hearsays and down to ages stories of Jesus visiting Ladakh
and the Kashmir Valley, as well as Uttar Pradesh, in particular
the Varanasi city. They allege that in the Kan Yar area of Kashmir’s
Srinagar District was Jesus buried in a tomb.
One
aspect further deepening the mystery, rather still puzzling
was, these two authors further propound that prior to resurrection
Jesus indeed came to India as a young lad to take to learning
from Hindu Gurus. Then, later returned to Palestine to teach
what he studied in the East. He survived the crucifixion and
returned to India and lived up to full bloom life of 120 years.
Notovitch asserted that while he was at Ladakh, he was shown
a manuscript by the monks in the secleded Himis monastery which
had detailed account of the hitherto “unknown life”
of Jesus, or “Issa”, as he was generally referred
to in the East. This Issa text, translated by a Lama for Notovitch
from Tibetan, allege that during his “lost years”
Jesus was educated by Yogis in India, Nepal and “the Himalaya
Mountains”.
Notovitch
declares that he has every reasons to believe that the manuscript
purportedly dated from the third Century of the Common Era to
be “true and genuine”, as its contents were written
“immediately after the Resurrection”. Further, he
maintained that the “two manuscripts” he perused
at Himis were “compiled from diverse copies written in
the Tibetan tongue, translated from rolls belonging to the Lassa
library and brought from India, Nepal and Maghada 200 years
after Christ”.
One
could infer the dust Notovitch kicked when returned to Europe.
The authenticity of the manuscript he clamed to have studied
was much debated. He was even accused an impostor never visited
the places he decribed.
One
Swami Abhedananda, who rubbished Notovitch, himself journeyed
into the arctic region of the Himalayas. His travelogue, “Kashmir
O Tibetti” vividly portrays his visit to the Himis gonpa
and has translation of two hundred twenty four verses in Bengali
ended seconding the Notovitch text and his conviction of Issa
legend.
In
1925, another Russian Philosopher Nicolai Roerich came to Himis.
He was a scientist also. He apparently saw the same documents
as Notovitch and Abhedananda and recorded his opinion adhering
others’ of Issa.
There
is one more interesting subsidiary to Issa’s imbroglio.
In Hinduism, there are countless Puranas and Maharishi Veda
Vyas compiled and classified them under 18 heads. One such is
Bhavishya Maha Purana. While doing research for his film “The
Unknown Stories of the Messaih”, Subhrajit Mitra was chanced
up on a story elaborated in the Bhavishya Maha Purana. There
described in it an encounter between King Shalivahana and a
holy man near Srinagar referred to as Issa- Masih. Incidentally,
Jesus is called the Messiah. This is long after the crucifixion.
It portrays Issa’s arrival in the Kashmir region and how
King Shalivahana the then ruler of the Kusham area (39-50 C.E.),
entertained and treated the visiting holy man as a guest for
some time. Bhavishya Maha Purana was supposedly dated back to
115 C.E.
Author
and researcher Holga Kersten of Germany, who credited himself
with his extensive research works, in his publication “Jesus
Lived in India” accounts more than twenty historical documents
standing testimony to the existence of Jesus in India, who referred
as Issa and also widely known as “Yuz Asaf”. The
vividly offers a thorough. Methodical and authoritative examination
of the evidence of Christ’s life beyond the Middle East
before the crucifixion and in India and elsewhere after it.
According to Kersten, “each story revolves round Jesus’s
voyage to the East are vital source of information in itself
to know better the eternal and central truths of Christ’s
message, which are at peril by the profane ambitions of more
or less secular institutions arrogating to themselves a religious
authority. This is an attempt to open a way to a new future,
firmly founded in the true spiritual and religious sources of
the past”.
Source : New Dawn Magazine
