Holger Kersten: "It is simply of vital importance to find again the pathto the sources, to the eternal and central truths of Christ's message,which has been shaken almost beyond recognition by the profane ambitionsof more or less secular institutions arrogating to themselves a religiousauthority. This is an attempt to open a way to a new future, firmlyfounded in the true spiritual and religious sources of the past".    _____     Thus begins Holger Kersten's book "Jesus Lived in India". This German bookis a thorough, methodical and authoritative examination of the evidence ofChrist's life beyond the Middle East before the Crucifixion and in Indiaand elsewhere after it.  This article is a summary of Kersten's exhaustive research into Christ'stravels after the Crucifixion, his arrival in India with the Mother Maryand finally his death and entombment in Kashmir. Kersten notes the manyparallels of Christ's teachings with other religious and culturaltraditions and suggests that at least some of these figures may have beenone and the same personality. It is not possible, Kersten asserts, todisprove that Christ went to India. The current information documentingChrist's life is restricted to the gospels and the work of Churchtheologians. One can hardly trust these sources to be objectiveconsidering their obvious interest in maintaining the authority of theirChurch and its grip on the masses. The Russian scholar, Nicolai Notovich, was the first to suggest thatChrist may have gone to India. In 1887, Notovich, a Russian scholar andOrientalist, arrived in Kashmir during one of several journeys to theOrient. At the Zoji-la pass Notovich was a guest in a Buddhist monastery,where a monk told him of the bhodisattva saint called "Issa". Notovich wasstunned by the remarkable parallels of Issa's teachings and martyrdom withthat of Christ's life, teachings and crucifixion. For about sixteen years, Christ travelled through Turkey, Persia, WesternEurope and possibly England. He finally arrived with Mary to a place nearKashmir, where she died. After many years in Kashmir, teaching to anappreciative population, who venerated him as a great prophet, reformerand saint, he died and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir itself. The first step in Christ's trail after the Crucifixion is found in thePersian scholar F. Mohammed's historical work "Jami-ut-tuwarik" whichtells of Christ's arrival in the kingdom of Nisibis, by royal invitation.(Nisibis is today known as Nusaybin in Turkey) . This is reiterated in theImam Abu Jafar Muhammed's "Tafsi-Ibn-i-Jamir at-tubri." Kersten found thatin both Turkey and Persia there are ancient stories of a saint called "YuzAsaf" ("Leader of the Healed"), whose behaviour, miracles and teachingsare remarkably similar to that of Christ. The many Islamic and Hindu historical works recording local history andlegends of kings, noblemen and saints of the areas thought to be travelledby Jesus also give evidence of a Christ like man; the Koran, for example,refers to Christ as "Issar". Further east, the Kurdish tribes of EasternAnatolia have several stories describing Christ's stay in Eastern Turkeyafter his resurrection. These traditional legends have been ignored by thetheological community. Kersten also suggests that prior to Christ's mission in the Middle East,he may have been exposed to Buddhist teachings in Egypt. After his birthin Bethlehem, his family fled to Egypt to avoid Herod's persecution.Surprisingly some scholars now acknowledge that Buddhist schools probablyexisted in Alexandria long before the Christian era. More clues are drawn from the Apocrypha. These are texts said to have beenwritten by the Apostles but which are not officially accepted by theChurch. Indeed, the Church regards them as heresy since a substantialamount of the Apocrypha directly contradicts Church dogma and theology.The Apocryphal 'Acts of Thomas', for example, tell how Christ met Thomasseveral times after the Crucifixion. In fact they tell us how Christ sentThomas to teach his spirituality in India. This is corroborated byevidence found in the form of stone inscriptions at Fatehpur Sikri, nearthe Taj Mahal, in Northern India. They include "Agrapha", which aresayings of Christ that don't exist in the mainstream Bible. Theirgrammatical form is most similar to that of the Apocryphal gospel ofThomas. This is but one example giving credibility to the idea that textsnot recognised by the Church hold important clues about Christ's true lifeand his teachings. In tracing Christ's movements to India and beyond, Kersten also discoveredthat many of his teachings, which have been gradually edited out of themodern Bible were originally Eastern in nature. Principles such as karmaand re-incarnation, for example, were common knowledge then, and seem tohave been reaffirmed by Christ. Imagine the implications that thisdiscovery holds for Western Christianity and its churches, who have keptChrist in their doctrinal top pockets and have constrained the entireWestern culture within the narrow teachings of blind faith, organisedreligion and original sin! Further clues are cited from The Apocryphal Acts of Thomas, and the Gospelof Thomas which are of Syrian origin and have been dated to the 4thCentury AD, or possibly earlier. They are Gnostic Scriptures and despitethe evidence indicating their authenticity, they are not given credence bymainstream theologians. In these texts Thomas tells of Christ's appearancein Andrapolis, Paphlagonia (today known as in the extreme north ofAnatolia) as a guest of the King of Andrappa. There he met with Thomas whohad arrived separately. It is at Andrapolis that Christ entreated Thomasto go to India to begin spreading his teachings. It seems that Christ andMary then moved along the West coast of Turkey, proof of this could be anold stopping place for travellers called the "Home of Mary", found alongthe ancient silk route. From here Christ could easily have entered Europevia France. He may have even travelled as far as the British Isles, for inEngland there ! is an ancient oak tree called the "Hallowed Tree" which(says local legend) was planted by Christ himself. In his travels through Persia (today's Iran) Christ became known as YuzAsaf (leader of the Healed). We know this because a Kashmiri historical> document confirms that Isa (the Koranic name for Christ) was in fact alsoknown as Yuz Asaf. The Jami - uf - Tamarik, Volume II, tells that Yuz Asafvisited Masslige, where he attended the grave of Shem, Noah's son. Thereare various other accounts such as Agha Mustafa's "Awhali Shahaii-i-paras"that tell of Yuz Asaf's travels and teachings all over Persia. It seemsthat Yuz Asaf blessed Afghanistan and Pakistan with his presence also.There are for example two plains in Eastern Afghanistan near Gazni andGalalabad, bearing the name of the prophet Yuz Asaf. Again in theApocryphal Acts of Thomas, Thomas says that he and Christ attended theCourt of King Gundafor of Taxila (now Pakistan), in about 47AD, and thateventually both the King and his brother accepted Christ's teachings.Kersten claims that there are ! more than twenty one historical documentsthat bear witness to the existence of Jesus in Kashmir, where he was knownalso as Yuz Asaf and Issa. For example the Bhavishyat Mahapurana (volume 9verses 17-32) contains an account of Issa-Masih (Jesus the Messiah). Itdescribes Christ's arrival in the Kashmir region of India and hisencounter with King Shalivahana, who ruled the Kushan area (39-50AD), andwho entertained Christ as a guest for some time.  {Christ's life in India, after the crucifixion, challenges current Churchteachings at their very foundation. The theology of Saint Paul, the majorinfluence on modern Christianity, is empty fanaticism in the light of thisdiscovery.| The historian Mullah Nadini (1413) also recounts a story of Yuz Asaf whowas a contemporary to King Gopadatta, and confirms that he also used thename Issar, ie. Jesus. There is also much historical truth in the townsand villages of Northern India to prove that Jesus and his mother Maryspent time in the area. For instance, at the border of a small town calledMari, there is nearby a mountain called Pindi Point, upon which is an oldtomb called Mai Mari da Asthan or "The final resting place of Mary". Thetomb is said to be very old and local Muslims venerate it as the grave ofIssa's (ie Christ's) Mother. The tomb itself is oriented East-Westconsistent with the Jewish tradition, despite the fact it is within aMuslim area. Assuming its antiquity, such a tomb could not be Hindu eithersince the Hindus contemporary to Christ cremated their dead and scatteredtheir ashes as do Hindus today.  Following Christ's trail into Kashmir, 40km south of Srinagar, between thevillages of Naugam and Nilmge is a meadow called Yuz-Marg (the meadow ofYuz Asaf, ie. Jesus). Then there is the sacred building called Aish Muqam,60km south east of Srinagar and 12km from Bij Bihara. "Aish" says Kerstenis derived from "Issa" and "Muqam" place of rest or repose. Within theAish Muqam is a sacred relic called the 'Moses Rod' or the 'Jesus Rod',which local legend says, belonged to Moses himself. Christ is said to alsohave held it, perhaps to confirm his Mosaic heritage. Above the town ofSrinagar is a temple known as "The Throne of Solomon", which dates back toat least 1000BC, which King Gopadatta had restored at about the same timeas Christ's advent. The restoration was done by a Persian architect whopersonally left four inscriptions on the side steps of the temple. Thethird and fourth inscription read: "At this time Yuz Asaf announced hisprophetic call! ing in Year 50 and 4" and "He is Jesus -- Prophet of theSons of Israel"! Herein lies a powerful confirmation of Kersten's theory.Kersten suggests that Christ may have travelled to the South of Indiaalso, finally returning to Kashmir to die at the age of approximately 80years. Christ's tomb, says Kersten, lies in Srinagar's old town in abuilding called Rozabal. "Rozabal" is an abbreviation of Rauza Bal,meaning "tomb of a prophet". At the entrance there is an inscriptionexplaining that Yuz Asaf is buried along with another Moslem saint. Bothhave gravestones which are oriented in North-South direction, according toMoslem tradition. However, through a small opening the true burial chambercan be seen, in which there is the Sarcophagus of Yuz Asaf in East-West(Jewish) orientation!  According to Professor Hassnain, who has studied this tomb, there arecarved footprints on the grave stones and when closely examined, carvedimages of a crucifix and a rosary. The footprints of Yuz Asaf have whatappear to be scars represented on both feet, if one assumes that they arecrucifixion scars, then their position is consistent with the scars shownin the Turin Shroud (left foot nailed over right). Crucifixion was notpractised in Asia, so it is quite possible that they were inflictedelsewhere, such as the Middle East. The tomb is called by some as "HazratIssa Sahib" or "Tomb of the Lord Master Jesus". Ancient recordsacknowledge the existence of the tomb as long ago as 112AD. The GrandMufti, a prominent Muslim Cleric, himself has confirmed that Hazrat IsaSahib is indeed the tomb of Yuz Asaf!   Thus Kersten deduces that the tomb of Jesus Christ Himself is in Kashmir!  The implications of Kersten's discovery are monumental. Christ's life inIndia, after the crucifixion, challenges current Church teachings at theirvery foundation. The theology of Saint Paul, the major influence on modernChristianity, is empty fanaticism in the light of this discovery.Threatened also are the doctrines of obedience to the Church, originalsin, salvation through blind faith and the non-existence of reincarnation,etc. Yet these ideas underlie the morality and ethics, (or lack of them),that govern the entire Western social Structure, from the legal system tomedical health care schemes. It is no wonder that the modern Churches andtheir secular interests refuse to consider such a proposition as Kersten's!   The Synopsis of "Jesus Lived In India" by Holger Kersten was written by Dr Ramesh Manocha & Anna Potts.