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Another Broken Part of Cross:
Why the Pope must stop by at Kashmir
MUZAMIL JALEEL
SRINAGAR, NOV 7: Why should Pope John Paul II visit Kashmir? Because there is a belief that Jesus Christ survived the crucification, escaped to Kashmir, lived and died here and is buried in Srinagar.
The place in the heart of downtown city at Khanyar locality called Rouzabal is where Christ breathed his last, goes the theory. The theory, that was first put forth by the founder of the Ahmadiyas -- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani and later by a journalist-scholar, Aziz Kashmiri who wrote Christ in Kashmir on the basis of his fifty years of research, has also been backed by a German scholar, Andreas Faber-Kaiser in Jesus died in Kashmir.
The local Muslim population believes that Yuz Asif' is buried in Rouzabal mausoleum. According to 81-year-old Aziz Kashmiri, Yuz is the short form of Yuzu, the Arabic name for Jesus and Asif is a Hebrew word meaningthe gatherer'. Quoting historians like Dr Herman Oldenburg, H W Bellow (Kashmir and Kashghar), James Milne (The Road to Kashmir) he says Kashmiris are one amongthe ten lost tribes of Israel that were forced to migrate from their homeland by Sargon II in 721 BC. And if one believes Andreas Faber Kaiser, Mirza Qadiyani or Aziz Kashmiri, Jesus had actually been unconscious when he was brought down from the cross'' as the following day was Sabbath day.All Gospels are unanimous that Jesus was taken down from the cross at 9th hour as the following day was Sabbath day and bodies ought not to remain upon the cross,'' Kashmiri said quoting St Johan.
According to this theory, an ointment, still known asMarham-e-Issa'' (Ointment of Jesus), was applied to his wounds which got healed. Then Jesus moved to the East with his mother, Mary, and his beloved disciple Thomas. They crossed Iran, passed through Afghanistan and finally reached Kashmir. Mary died on the way to Kashmir at a place in Pakistan called `Muree' which got its name from Mary.''
The belief is that Jesus began a new life in Kashmir and even married. There is no information about Jesus from 13 yearstill when he was 29 years old,'' said Aziz Kashmiri. Quoting from Life of Saint Jesus, by Russian traveller, Nicolai Norovich who visited Kashmir in 1887, Kashmiri said while exploring Ladakh, the traveller saw scrolls in Pali which included a biography of Jesus.The scrolls revealed that Jesus was born in Israel and when he was 13 years old, disappeared from his parents' house. Leaving Jerusalem, he travelled to Sindh and reached here,'' he said.
Aziz Kashmiri also refers to a Sanskrit epic to further support the theory Bavishya Mahapurana' written in 115 AD by Mahareshi Vedvyas. Quoting the Purana, he said,Once Raja Shalewahin visited the mountains in Kashmir in 78 AD. The king came across a saint of white complexion in white robes. When the king asked him who he was, the saint replied,Know me as the son of God, born to a virgin. I am a preacher and a follower of true principles.'' When the King asked him what was his religion, the saint said,`Raja on the disappearance of truth anddestruction of traditions, I appeared there and through my work, the wicked and the guilty suffered, and in turn, I also suffered in their hands.''
According to this Purana, Aziz Kashmiri said that King Shalewahin again requested the saint to reveal his identity and religion, to which the latter replied, My religion is love and truth and my name isIssa-Masseh'' or Jesus Christ'.
Kashmiri, who has published a book, Christ in Kashmir, has also worked on the origin of Kashmiri language and believes that it has been derived from Hebrew. In his book, he gives a full list of Hebrew words that are also used in Kashmiri. To support his thesis, Aziz Kashmiri lists names of villages and towns besides several local castes that could be found in the Bible as well.
``Christ had gone out to gather these lost tribes thus the name - Yuz Asif or Jesus the gatherer,'' Aziz Kashmiri said.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.