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Journalism of Courage
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 8212; 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.
According to this theory, 8220;an ointment, still known as 8220;Marham-e-Issa8221; 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 Muree8217; which got its name from Mary.8221;
The belief is that Jesus began a new life in Kashmir and even married. 8220;There is no information about Jesus from 13 yearstill when he was 29 years old,8221; 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. 8220;The scrolls revealed that Jesus was born in Israel and when he was 13 years old, disappeared from his parents8217; house. Leaving Jerusalem, he travelled to Sindh and reached here,8221; he said.
Aziz Kashmiri also refers to a Sanskrit epic to further support the theory Bavishya Mahapurana8217; written in 115 AD by Mahareshi Vedvyas. Quoting the Purana, he said, 8220;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, 8220;Know me as the son of God, born to a virgin. I am a preacher and a follower of true principles.8221; When the King asked him what was his religion, the saint said, 8220;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.8221;
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, 8220;My religion is love and truth and my name is 8220;Issa-Masseh8221; or Jesus Christ8217;.
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.
8220;Christ had gone out to gather these lost tribes thus the name 8211; Yuz Asif or Jesus the gatherer,8221; Aziz Kashmiri said.
