124 - Jesus In India: A Road Map of His Lost Years
If I recall correctly from my quite incomplete study of the Bible, Jesus’ biography is missing a big chunk in the middle: nothing is known of his doings between ages 12 and 30. Some have speculated that Jesus must have travelled to the East in those formative years, achieving and imparting wisdom along the way.
In Srinagar, in the Indian state of Kashmir, there’s even a shrine of which it is said that it is Jesus’ tomb - implying that he didn’t die on the cross, nor did he go to heaven (as claimed by the Muslims). The Roza Bal shrine is revered by Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. The Muslim sect of the Ahmadiyyas positively identifies the shrine as the tomb of Yuz Asaf - i.e. Jesus.
Other beliefs about Yuz Asaf include that:
he married a woman called Meryem (Mary), who bore him a number of children; until recently, the shrine was guarded by the descendants of the sage buried in the tomb.
he lived to be about 110 years old
his mother Mary died when he was 38 and is buried in Mai Mari da Ashtan in the town of Murree (Pakistan)
Apart from figuring prominently in Ahmadiyya religious practice, the ‘Indian’ Jesus has been adopted by some in the New Age movement and by others seeking to distinguish Jesus’ teachings from his divinity. Some find in the story of Jesus’ eastward wanderings proof of links between Judeo-Christian and Buddhist teachings.
This map, documenting Jesus’ supposed trek from Jerusalem over Tehran and Kabul to Srinagar, taken from this Ahmadiyya website.
Jesus went even further east, dying in Aomori, northern Japan, where his grave is… Can we start counting the graves?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5326614.stm
Comment by Sophie — June 4, 2007 @
Two reasons this is highly improbably:
1. 11 out of 12 of his apostles were eventually executed because they kept insisting he rose from the dead. So they knew he was really in India, but they just kept agitating until they were killed anyway? Why? For the fun of it?
2. Buddha, Confucious, Mohammed, we know where all their graves are. Why? Because they were so bloody famous that people REMEMBERED WHERE THEY BURIED THEM. We remember where Jesus was buried also, but somehow he’s the only major world religion founder whose tomb is empty. Hmmmmm…
Comment by John M. — June 4, 2007 @
@ John: Buddha is not a person, but the highest state of enlightenment and 28 people are said to have reached it.
The historical founder of Buddhism, Siddhārtha Gautama, was cremated after his death (which date is uncertain), so there’s no grave.
Confucius was a philosopher, not a religious leader.
Comment by Xavier — June 5, 2007 @
Though a trip to India would explain some of the eastern saying he has in the gospel of thomas.
Comment by David Schwartz — June 5, 2007 @
Whats the fun of looking for a grave! you won’t find him in there anyway. Lets invest the energies in something related to those alive. No?
Comment by Ghana — June 6, 2007 @
John M: Jesus was not a famous person at the time of his death. It took decades before he became famous.
Comment by Mattias — June 8, 2007 @
Re: #2
Sorry, John M, but there is no evidence that the “apostles” actually existed, much less that most of them were “martyred,” especially since each apostle has several conflicting traditions about their deaths.
“We remember where Jesus was buried” — right: Your choice of three different places.
Are you sure the tombs of those other religious figures have bodies?
Comment by CortxVortx — June 8, 2007 @
Muslims believe that Jesus was not killed on the cross. The Quran says :“yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them.” Jesus is still alive with God.
By the way, most Mulims do not accept the Ahmadi movement followers as Muslims because they have views different from them. You can check the Wikipedia article about Jesus.
Comment by Asch — June 12, 2007 @
[...] Jesus’ trip to India [...]
Pingback by The Heinrich Show » Blog Archive » Do you like Maps? — June 12, 2007 @
CortxVortx - Have you been paying attention regarding the existence of the apostles? Peter’s tomb has been found in Rome, pretty much where tradition had it, under the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. You can find the details of the archeological proofs in John Evangelist Walsh’s book, The Bones of St. Peter. Ah well, a lot of people just make stuff up about how inconvenient people didn’t really exist. They usually call that tactic “orwellian”.
Comment by TMLutas — June 12, 2007 @
John M makes a fairly unremarkable orthodox statement and encounters all the usual partial truths in response. People just have these lines on disk, which they spit out whenever the subject gets near them.
As to Jesus and Eastern thought, Chesterton said it best: “She was one of those people who told you that Christianity and Buddhism taught the same thing - especially Buddhism.”
Comment by Assistant Village Idiot — June 12, 2007 @
[...] más propuestas interesantes en Strange Maps: desde el supuesto recorrido que realizó Jesús en los años en la época de su vida que la Biblia parece ignorar, hasta un [...]
Pingback by TUMUNDOESONLINE » El blog de los mapas extraños — June 18, 2007 @
Mapa de los años perdidos de Jesucristo
Siempre se ha especulado (y no con mucha base) sobre los años de la vida no pública de Jesucristo, que van desde los 12 a los 30 años. Se ha dicho de todo, y una de las teorías más famosas es la que afirma que pasó esos años en la India, que era…
Trackback by meneame.net — June 19, 2007 @
Surprisingly, no one has mentioned a novel about this very topic. It’s very funny, and although a wishy-washy Christian might find it offensive, it amused my Jewish husband and I (a Christian) so much we bought the book and have read it aloud together more than once. Written by Christopher Moore, it’s titled, “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.” It tells of their childhood together and their journey east in search of the three wise men. And along the way it includes some excellent lessons.
Comment by Lori — June 21, 2007 @
Actually Thomas’s travels to India would explain “eastern saying he has in the gospel of thomas” and not Jesus’s possible trip.
I have actually visited the said tomb and it’s a bit dingey, not frequented that often, difficult to enter and smells slightly of urine. The theory told to me by the local who took it upon himself to show me around was after Jesus was resurected he didn’t ascend to heaven but instead travelled to India to live out his life with Mary it much the same way as was depected in the film The Last Temptation of Christ.
Comment by ben parer — June 27, 2007 @
Great post, man.
Great post.
Always wondered where he went off to.
Always wondered how he turnes water into wine.
Always wondered why he always wore the same pair of sandals.
Comment by Ramon — July 6, 2007 @
I’ve been to Jesus’ alleged tomb in Srinigar in Kashmir. They’ve built a mosque around it and it is quite beautiful. I couldn’t think of a nicer place to spend eternity.
Comment by Adam Stanhope — July 12, 2007 @
If you ask me this is all foolishness to attract tourists. Jesus promised after his death he would rise and then come back, he said not even he himself knows the time only the father. When the apostles saw him rise to heaven they made it up? For What reason? There are atleast two places claiming to have Jesus body inside a tomb, Shingho in Japan and now this place Srinigar. Both places are claiming they are telling the truth about having Jesus’s body in their tombs. Jesus can’t be buried in two places at once, so who’s telling the truth? Then in Srinigar they are claiming Jesus lived to be 110 years old and in Shingho they are claiming he lived to be 106 and died there. Which one is it? I find it funny that a man who was crucified, died, and then rose was seen traveling east after his resurection and no one from the holy land bothered to travel to see how true it is. This is all just something to attract tourists to make these towns or villages some money.
Comment by Brian Mayfield — September 19, 2007 @
It is very probably that Jesus returned to his home of spiritual teachers in India where he was trained during his young days. Jesus was as a child very attached to spirituality and he was for sure attracted to many stories he listened about ancient holly land of India told by merchants who in those days come from India to Palestina. For very eager kid, as was young Jesus, who looked for spiritual wisdom in those days it was not impossible to reach India from Palestina traveling by merchants. After many years spent in learning and practicing Vedic bhakti spiritual process and after He become fully enlightened personality, Jesus naturally wanted to help spiritually his fellow-peasants from his youth and therefore He returned to his birth place. But in his birth land Jesus wisdom was not wellcommed and Jesus was almost killed for spreading eternal spiritual teachings (his revolutionary message usurped some political levels and therefore his elimination was wanted) . After He survived death penalty it was logical that Jesus escaped further eventual death treaths by going to remote land he gained his spiritual edication – India. God dont need nor blood nor death for anybodies spiritual salvation and God specially grant His special mercy upon His preachers whom He protects. Preacher of Jesus rank would enjoy all Gods protection and therefore would be almost immposible to even hurt Him what to speak of killing Him. Yes, Jesus suffered a lot, as every spiritual master have to suffer for sins of His accepted disciples due to accepted bad karma of such disciples, but for sure – Jesus didnt die on the cross. Nor God wanted Jesus death on the cross. All of such ignorant ideas are constructed by later gentile (Jesus was born and raised in his early days as a jew) church speculators beggining with st. Paul who never saw Jesus during His lifetime. Paulinism was rooted in paganism which existed with all such ideas as god-dying-savior, eternal punishment, etc. much before christianity. Paul cunningly attached known paganistic elements to His picture of Jesus becouse He (Paul) preached to pagans; Paul idea was that pagans will be attracted to only such (paganistic) Jesus. Movement which sustained for some time original Jesus teachings was Jewish Christianity but it was proclaimed as heretic by latter gentile church. Therefore original teachings of Jesus was destorted into paganistic idea and nowadays we cant know much about it. But we could know for sure that it was not some wierd paganistic idea, full of blood, suffering, cross or eternal hell, but it was idea of complete surrender to God in loving servitorship.
It is very probably that Jesus returned to his home of spiritual teachers in India where he was trained during his young days. Jesus was as a child very attached to spirituality and he was for sure attracted to many stories he listened about ancient holly land of India told by merchants who in those days come from India to Palestina. For very eager kid, as was young Jesus, looking for spiritual wisdom in those days it was not impossible to reach India from Palestina. After many years spent in learning and practicing Vedic bhakti spiritual process and after He become fully enlightened personality, Jesus naturally wanted to help spiritually
Comment by Vraj — October 1, 2007 @
The book (linked in this post) The Rozabal Line says that “A triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in a given year was very rare indeed. This conjunction in which the two planets seemed to almost touch one another occurred on May 29th, October 3rd and finally on December 5th in the year 7 B.C.” and that three Buddhist wise men observing this astronomical miracle were convinced that a reincarnation of Buddha had arrived on Earth. These three wise men found Jesus and took him to India to tutor him in spirituality. This accounts for the “lost years”. The author, Shawn Haigins, says that the very same process of discovering a “reincarnation” was adopted in 1935 when Tibetan Buddhists were searching for Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama.
Comment by Rick Davidson — November 22, 2007 @
It’s incredible that anybody could walk that distance, and the fact that Jesus probably walked this route makes it all the more valuable. I wonder how many devout Christians are going to use this map today.
Comment by trademark registration — December 9, 2007 @
It’s a pretty normal map. I mean, I could have drawn it quite easily :)
As for Jesus’ early years, it’s pretty common known that he was a carpenter and was doing what carpenters did during those times before he started being a Rabbi.
This is evident from the Gospels themselves, where a lot of people that he would have been in contact with seem to remember him (like his home town etc.)
He would have needed to finance a trip like this himself, and what for? To learn what the Eastern’s said? He could have done that quite easily through books and scrolls at the time anyway.
It’s a real conspiracy theory, but it actually backs any real evidence. Most historians really don’t believe it (incidentally, most historians also do not back up this idea that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even exist.) You have to have a heck of a lot of evidence to prove that, and most of the conspiracy theorists have come up with pretty much nothing (except theories.)
Comment by chain saw — February 27, 2008 @
Wow! When I first read your post I was reminded of the novel entitled The Da Vinci Code. I said to myself, “Not again.” This made me wonder about your religion, too. Not that I’m a close-minded person but if Jesus indeed married someone or didn’t die on a cross, then these things could have been investigated. Where are the children? Why aren’t they coming out to defend their father Jesus? What’s inside the tomb? If it’s indeed where Jesus was buried then the Catholic Church could have investigated it and turned it into a world heritage. It’s just frustrating that some people have nothing else to do but cause a stir.
Comment by Fine art paintings — April 22, 2008 @
Please visit my blog too…I studied the lost years of Jesus for several years…Will be updating every week…
http://jesusofeastandwest.blogspot.com/
Comment by neel1 — May 18, 2008 @
Jesus, mas de 2000years de su muerte y resurreccion hasta estos tiempos sigue siendo tema de que hablar si hubiera sido otro profeta mas como muchos dicen creo que no estuviera en tema de la gente y ya lo hubieran olvidado,pues si hubieran encontrado su tumba ya se hubiera olvidado,a que vino a este mundo, recordemos que las declaraciones de Jesus son mas controversiales que cualquier otro hombre en la historia del mundo,recordemos que casi todos aceptamos que existe un Dios pero en aquellos tiempos nadien declaro ni buda ,ni confucius, ni muhamed ,nadien que era el hijo de Dios con la autoridad como lo hizo Jesucristo.
Comment by manzano — July 15, 2008 @