Uploaded on Jul 3, 2011
Documentary produced by the government of India showing how that Jesus came to India for lessons and to teach Dharma.
Nikolaj Aleksandrovič Notovič, known as Nicolas Notovitch (born 1858) was a Russian aristocrat, Cossack officer, spy[1][2] and journalist. Notovitch is known for his 1887 book claiming that during his unknown years, Jesus left Galilee for India and studied with Buddhists and Hindus there before returning to Judea.[3][4] Notovitch's claim was based on a document he said he had seen at the Hemis Monastery while he stayed there, but later confessed to having fabricated his evidence.[5][6] Modern scholars view Notovitch's accounts of the travels of Jesus to India a hoax which includes major inconsistencies.[6][7] Notovitch also wrote some political books on the role of Russia in war.
Notovitch claimed that he broke his leg in India and while recovering from it at the Hemis monastery in Ladakh, he learned of the "Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men" - Isa being the Arabic name of Jesus in Islam. Notovitch's story, with the text of the "Life," was published in French in 1894 as La vie inconnue de Jesus Christ. It was translated into English,[10] German, Spanish, and Italian.
Notovitch claimed that the chief lama at Hemis told him of the existence of the work, which was read to him, through an interpreter, the somewhat detached verses of the Tibetan version of the "Life of Issa," which was said to have been translated from the Pali. Notovitch says that he himself afterward grouped the verses "in accordance with the requirements of the narrative." As published by Notovitch, the work consists of 244 short paragraphs, arranged in fourteen chapters. The otherwise undocumented name "Issa" resembles the Arabic name Isa (عيسى), used in the Koran to refer to Jesus and the Sanskrit "īśa", the Lord.
The "Life of Issa" begins with an account of Israel in Egypt, its deliverance by Moses, its neglect of religion, and its conquest by the Romans. Then follows an account of the Incarnation. At the age of thirteen the divine youth, rather than take a wife, leaves his home to wander with a caravan of merchants to India (Sindh), to study the laws of the great Buddhas. Issa is welcomed by the Jains, but leaves them to spend time among the Buddhists, and spends six years among them, learning Pali and mastering their religious texts. Issa spent six years studying and teaching at Jaganath, Rajagriha, and other holy cities. At twenty-nine, Issa returns to his own country and begins to preach. He visits Jerusalem, where Pilate is apprehensive about him. The Jewish leaders, however, are also apprehensive about his teachings yet he continues his work for three years. He is finally arrested and put to death for blasphemy, for claiming to be the son of God. His followers are persecuted, but his disciples carry his message to the world.
Notovitch's book gained significant controversy as soon as it was published - historian Max Müller expressed incredulity at the accounts presented and suggested that either Notovitch was the victim of a practical joke, or had fabricated the evidence.[11][12] Müller said: "Taking it for granted that M. Notovitch is a gentleman and not a liar, we cannot help thinking that the Buddhist monks of Ladakh and Tibet must be wags, who enjoy mystifying inquisitive travelers, and that M. Notovitch fell far too easy a victim to their jokes."[5]
Muller then wrote to the head lama at Hemis monastery to ask about the document and Notovitch's story and the head lama replied that there had been no Western visitor at the monastery in the past fifteen years, during which he had been the lama there, and there were no documents related to Notovitch's story.[5][13] Other European scholars also opposed Notovitch's account and Indologist Leopold von Schroeder called Notovitch's story a "big fat lie".[5]
J. Archibald Douglas who was a professor of English and History at the Government College in Agra India then visited the Hemis monastery to interview the head lama who had corresponded with Müller and the lama again stated that Notovitch had never been there and no such documents existed.[13] Wilhelm Schneemelcher states that Notovich's accounts were soon exposed as fabrications, and that to date no one has even had a glimpse at the manuscripts Notovitch claims to have had.[6] Notovich at first responded to claims to defend himself.[14] But once his story had been re-examined by historians, Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence.[5]
Although Notovitch had been discredited in Europe, Swami Abhedananda wrote a book called Journey to Kashmir and Tibet in which he stated that had visited Hemis and seen a document similar to the one Notovitch had mentioned, and produced a Bengali translation of parts of it.[15] But after Abhedananda's death, one of his disciple admitted that when he went to the monsatery to ask about the documents he was told that they had disappeared.[15]
Bart D. Ehrman, a Bible scholar and historian famous for his best sellers, says that "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax."
Николай (Шулим) Александрович Нотович (1858 — ?) — российский разведчик, писатель, журналист, дворянин и казак-офицер. Известен написанной по-французски книгой «Неизвестная жизнь Иисуса Христа» (более известной как «Тибетское Евангелие»), якобы содержащей ранние проповеди Иисуса и предполагающей, что Иисус от 12 до 30 лет жил в Индии.
