YATAG – THE TIBETAN CONNECTION, PART THE SECOND

It’s Hoax-us pokes-us time again.

This is approximately along the same timeline as the last, so let’s not worry about the chronology, shall we?

This was yet another piece of esoterica I stumbled upon during that fateful struggle with faith and reality (luckily, reality won, as we all know). This is known in some circles as the ’12 missing years of Christ’, or ‘The Unknown Life of Jesus’ as the title of the book.

“Nicolas Notovitch (1858-?) was a Russian Aristocrat and journalist made famous for his revelation that during the years of Jesus Christ's life missing from the Bible, he followed traveling merchants abroad into India and Nepal, where he studied and taught Buddhism. Notovitch's writings were immediately controversial and his claims where widely rejected. However, the modern scholar Fida Hassnain claims the visit to be real and there are others who claim to have seen the same manuscripts.”

The story here is an interesting one, replete with foreign lands, strange circumstances, and even stranger politics.

I’ll quote mix-‘n-match here, as some websites provide rather…stilted versions.

“Dec 03, USA (SUN) — In his book entitled "The Unknown Life of Christ", published in 1894, Nicholas Notovitch published the findings of his life study and experiences concerning Jesus Christ's travels to India. Born in 1858 into a wealthy Russian family in the Crimea, Notovitch converted from Judaism to Eastern Orthodox when he was quite young. He later became a journalist and political writer who did a great deal of traveling. In 1877, Notovitch undertook a journey to India, “to study the customs and habits of the inhabitants of India amid their own surroundings, as well as the grand, mysterious archæology and the colossal, majestic nature of the country”. “Wandering” about the land, traveled through Afghanistan, what is now Pakistan, Northern India, Kashmir and finally arrived in Ladakh, India. While in Ladakh, which is sandwiched between Kashmir and Tibet, Notovitch fell from his horse and was injured. The Buddhist monks from the Hemis monastery who cared for him, and it was through this relationship that he learned of the proof that Christ had, in fact, spent time in India. One of the Lamas at Hemis that Notovitch became friendly with produced a number of ancient scrolls written in Tibetan by Buddhist historians. An interpreter translated the scrolls, and Notovitch managed to make copies of a significant portion of them. The scrolls narrate the story of Jesus (identified as "Issa") from birth to death. But most significantly, the scrolls tell of Christ’s travels between the ages of 13-30. According to the Hemis scrolls, Christ came specifically to study the teachings of the Buddhists. His travels took him through Sindh, the Punjab and eventually to Juggernaut, where he studied the Vedas. The scrolls also indicate that Jesus was driven out of the temples when he taught the Holy Scripture to those whom the local Brahmins thought unworthy, and when Jesus spoke out against caste distinction. The Hemis Lamas noted: "We also respect the one whom you recognize as Son of the one God. The spirit of Buddha was indeed incarnate in the sacred person of Issa [Jesus], who without aid of fire or sword; spread knowledge of our great and true religion throughout the world. Issa is a great prophet, one of the first after twenty-two Buddhas. His name and acts are recorded in our writings."

I spy with my little eye – something that begins with the letter ‘S’. Yepper, syncretism it is.

It does leave out the more…combative portions.

From here:

“F. Max Muller. In October 1894, preeminent Orientalist Max Muller of Oxford University (who himself was an advocate of Eastern philosophy and therefore could not be accused of having a Christian bias) published a refutation of Notovitch in The Nineteenth Century, a scholarly review. Four of his arguments are noteworthy: (1) Muller asserted that an old document like the one Notovitch allegedly found would have been included in the Kandjur and Tandjur (catalogues in which all Tibetan literature is supposed to be listed). (2) He rejected Notovitch's account of the origin of the book. He asked how Jewish merchants happened, among the millions of India, to meet the very people who had known Issa as a student, and still more "how those who had known Issa as a simple student in India saw at once that he was the same person who had been put to death under Pontius Pilate." (3) Muller cites a woman who had visited the monastery of Himis and made inquiries about Notovitch. According to a letter she wrote (dated June 29, 1894), "There is not a single word of truth in the whole story! There has been no Russian here. There is no life of Christ there at all!” And (4) Muller questioned the great liberty Notovitch took in editing and arranging the alleged verses. Muller said this is something no reputable scholar would have done.Notovitch promptly responded to Muller's arguments in the preface to the London edition of The Life of Saint Issa, which was published the following year (1895). But his response did little to satisfy his critics. He said: (1) The verses which were found would not be in any catalogues because "they are to be found scattered through more than one book without any title." (But in his first preface he said the Convent of Himis contained "a few copies of the manuscript in question." (2) Regarding the unlikeliness of Jewish merchants encountering those who knew Issa as a child in India, Notovitch said "they were not Jewish but Indian merchants who happened to witness the crucifixion prior to returning home from Palestine." (Even so, it would still be unlikely that - among the millions in India - the merchants would come upon the precise people who knew Issa as a child.) (3) As for editing and arranging the verses in The Life of Saint Issa, Notovitch said that the same kind of editing was done with the Iliad and no one ever questioned that. (But how does this legitimize Notovitch's modus operandi?) (4) As to the refusal by the lama of Himis to affirmatively answer questions about the manuscript (as he apparently did with the lady who wrote Muller), Notovitch says this was because "Orientals are in the habit of looking upon Europeans as robbers who introduce themselves in their midst to despoil them in the name of civilization." Notovitch succeeded only "because I made use of the Eastern diplomacy which I had learnt in my travels." (This was a convenient rationalization, for Notovitch could always point to a lack of "Eastern diplomacy" on the part of a European challenger whenever a monk refused to corroborate the Issa legend.)Assuming (wrongly) that his response to Muller laid criticism of his work to rest, Notovitch suggested that in the future his critics restrict themselves solely to the question: "Did those passages exist in the monastery of Himis, and have I faithfully reproduced their substance?" J. Archibald Douglas. J. Archibald Douglas, Professor at Government College in Agra, India, took a three-month vacation from the college and retraced Notovitch's steps at the Himis monastery. He published an account of his journey in The Nineteenth Century (June 1895), the bulk of which reproduced an interview with the chief lama of the monastery. The lama said he had been chief lama for 15 years, which means he would have been the chief lama during Notovitch's alleged visit. The lama asserted that during these 15 years, no European with a broken leg had ever sought refuge at the monastery.When asked if he was aware of any book in any Buddhist monastery in Tibet pertaining to the life of Issa, he said: "I have never heard of [a manuscript] which mentions the name of Issa, and it is my firm and honest belief that none such exists. I have inquired of our principal Lamas in other monasteries of Tibet, and they are not acquainted with any books or manuscripts which mention the name of Issa." When portions of Notovitch's book were read to the lama, he responded, "Lies, lies, lies, nothing but lies!" The interview was written down and witnessed by the lama, Douglas, and the interpreter, and on June 3, 1895, was stamped with the official seal of the lama. The credibility of The Life of Saint Issa was unquestionably damaged by Douglas's investigation.Nicholas Roerich. In The Lost Years of Jesus, Elizabeth Clare Prophet documents other supporters of Notovitch work, the most prominent of which was Nicholas Roerich. Roerich - a Theosophist - claimed that from 1924 to 1928 he traveled throughout Central Asia and discovered that legends about Issa were widespread. In his book, Himalaya, he makes reference to "writings" and "manuscripts" about Issa - some of which he claims to have seen and others about which people told him. Roerich allegedly recorded independently in his own travel diary the same legend of Issa that Notovitch had seen earlier.”

There’s just so much wrong with so many of the final analyses that slander Notovitch, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Well, first and foremost, it was a rare moment of lucidity, engaging Mueller to discredit Notovitch’s work, in an effort to appear open-minded, by the Catholic See. But the holes begin appearing in BOTH sides of the debate fairly quickly. The actual story was that NN fell, broke his leg, and was laid up at the Himis monastery. The tale goes that, having learned of the ‘scrolls’, he pestered (and finally prevailed) on the Head Lama to translate/read the story to him. Some versions have a French translator (who is unnamed, and should’ve been the FIRST target of the detractors: instead, this little tidbit gets overlooked).

Here’s an overlooked gem:

“Muller cites a woman who had visited the monastery of Himis and made inquiries about Notovitch. According to a letter she wrote (dated June 29, 1894), "There is not a single word of truth in the whole story! There has been no Russian here. There is no life of Christ there at all!"

Who is this woman? I have found no version, which gives her name.

Here’s another:

“J. Archibald Douglas, Professor at Government College in Agra, India, took a three-month vacation from the college and retraced Notovitch's steps at the Himis monastery.”

Back when I was researching this, I found absolutely no outside references to this fellow. None, zip, zero, zilch. The only place (on the internet) that I’ve found is in reference to this event. I even shot off an email to Agra U, asking about him. Received no reply.
Strange. A university professor with no monograms, scholarly works, anything a normal academic instructor would be expected to output.

[As an aside, I found this portion especially amusing, for some reason:
“Notovitch says this was because "Orientals are in the habit of looking upon Europeans as robbers who introduce themselves in their midst to despoil them in the name of civilization."]

And here is some research, for those interested in looking at both sides of this coin. I have commented elsewhere on James W. Deardorff, and so shall forbear.

Final Analysis – mistaken identity.

I still say that all this hubbub was about Apollonius of Tyana – since baby Jebus never existed, and old A of T was known to have traveled in those parts, in accordance with Philostratus and Damius.

What a tangled web we weave…etc.