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Jesus in India

Overview

In 1869, the French author Louis Jacolliot in his version of the Jesus Myth Theory claimed that the Gospels were a myth based on the mythology of ancient India. Jesus Christ (Iezeus Christna) was not an historical character; "Iezeus" meant pure essence in Sanskrit and Chrishna was only a way of spelling Krishna.

The Russian war correspondent and traveler Nicolas Notovitch is at the origin of the legend that the historical Jesus actually visited India. According to a manuscript he allegedly saw while visiting the Tibetan monastery of Himis in 1887 (Life of Saint Issa, the Best of the Sons of Men), Jesus spent six years among the Brahmins, then other six years among the Buddhists, before preaching to the pagans, the Zoroastrians and finally, the Jews. Notovitch’s work, published in French in 1894, was a hit, being translated in several languages and spurring large controversy.

Influenced by the work of Nicolas Notovitch, in 1908 the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Mirza Ghulam Ahmad offered an alternative narrative. He claimed that Jesus went to India not before but after the crucifixion; he preached there and died there an old man. Ahmad identified Jesus with the sage Yuz Asaf whose tomb was venerated in Srinagar, Kashmir. In his view, Yuz Asaf's shrine (known as the Roza Bal) was the actual burial place of Jesus of Nazareth.

Ever since, in the shaping of the legend of Jesus in India, speculations about Jesus Hidden Years have often come together with speculations about Jesus Survival. On one hand, some authors have followed Nicolas Notovitch and limited themselves to speculate about the possibility that Jesus visited India in his youth. On the other hand, the theory that Jesus died in India generated the most fanciful theories about Jesus simulating his death with drugs or experiencing a coma or even being abducted by aliens, in order to explain how he was able to survive the crucifixion and reach India in his old age. Some authors finally have combined the two narratives, claiming that Jesus visited India before and after the crucifixion. The question has been debated not only in works of fiction, but also in books and documentaries which disguised themselves as works of scholarship.

In Depth

• Jesus in India (sources) -- survey of ancient sources

• Jesus in India (arts) -- survey of fictional works

• Jesus in India (research) -- survey of scholarly works

External links

• The Rozabal Shrine of Shrinagar (2011 Yashendra), documentary]

• [ Wikipedia]