Kolkata-based author Debashree Chakraborty writes a novel about the 19 years of life of Jesus, which, according to some contemporary texts, he spent traveling extensively in the Middle East, Sindhu region and India
[Author’s Note: In the Old Testament of the Bible, there is no information about the life of Jesus for 19 years. There are some contemporary texts where eyewitnesses have stated that he traveled extensively in the Middle East and crossed the Sindhu region to enter India. Through this novel, I have tried to portray the diary of a profound spiritual journey of his life in the initial and final chapters. Foreign powers have tried to erase the history of our continent, Asia. That is why, when Notovitch returned from Hemis in Ladakh and mentioned that ancient text over 2000 years old, Max Müller sent people to Hemis to destroy that ancient manuscript. The mysterious manuscript is also mentioned in the book by Swami Abhedananda about Kashmir and Tibet. What was it that caused Max Müller so much concern over this manuscript? It is noteworthy that love cannot come into the life of the son of God, and he cannot have any children. Even the Gospels attributed to him have been confined to the secret, dark chambers of the Pope’s city, with words implanted into his mouth according to their wishes. In his name, imperialistic aggression is being carried out across the world. His only daughter, Sara, has not been recognized. His entire existence has been imprisoned. There lies an unknown chapter of his life hidden throughout the Middle East, the Sindhu region, and India. I have brought forth this history through this novel. “An Unknown Life” is in no way a novel imitating “Jesus lived in India.” This novel provides detailed descriptions of his presence across the vast land from Israel to India, not just his own, but also the mysterious narratives of many people associated with him. Was Jesus truly the founder of Christianity? If not, why must he still bear the burden of the “Roman Cross”? Is there ever to be a possibility of his release? All answers are coming. Debashree Chakraborty]
An Unknown Life
(Location: Kashmir, Time: 2022)
In the bustling neighborhood of Srinagar city, Ratul is currently sitting in a shop where pink tea is being prepared. This tea is made in a special kind of pot, which is covered at the top, with steam rising through a pipe at one end. Ratul is gazing at the steam.
Amid all the noise, he remains calm and indifferent. Nothing seems to affect him. He is simply thinking about the various branches of a river—the river mentioned in the Bible, along whose banks a civilization grew, its tributaries flowing through a region described as a green valley. This valley contains mountains covered in snow and lakes. This is the land of Moses’s ancestors. Ratul believes that the Indus River is that river, the one along whose banks a great civilization had developed in the past. We cannot now say that this civilization’s age is five thousand years; its age is even older than seven thousand years. This civilization, known to us as the Indus Valley Civilization, saw its origins in Mehrgarh, which was established along the Bolan River in Balochistan. The ancient philosophies that developed along the banks of this Indus River have spread out far and wide. Today, those philosophies are known by different names in various countries.
Yet, it is the allure of that river that has attracted pilgrims and ascetics here for generations. This river originates at the northeastern edge of Mount Kailash, flowing through Kashmir, crossing the Naga Mountains, and entering Pakistan, where it meets the Arabian Sea near Karachi. Deep within this vast region, those philosophies continue to flow like a sacred current. If we speak of Shiva Tantra, its origins lie in Kashmir. The ancient yogi whose form was found at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro is indeed Shiva. Therefore, this Indus-infused region was a center for the practice of Shiva Tantra. While he muses about all these thoughts, beautiful silver-colored cups are filled with pink tea, topped with cashews, pistachios, and almonds, and handed to Ratul, Julius, and Javed. This is Ratul’s first time tasting this tea, paired with Kashmiri kulcha, and he finds the flavor of the tea and the kulcha to be extraordinary.
While sipping his tea, Ratul said, “Julius, life is so diverse, so vast. We often judge life through a narrow lens, but it changes its colors every moment.”
“Absolutely, Ratul,” Julius replied. “In the name of religion, we fight with one another; we use religion as a weapon to seize land. But just think about it: the river’s flow changes with the contours of the land, and in the same way, the stream of ancient spiritual practice has transformed itself over time, adopting different names in various places. Should we then hate these variations? They are all part of that original current. To hate them is to hate our primordial mother. The waters of the tributaries flow from the same Indus River. Here we sit today, and with the naked eye, this place may appear to be a bustling market, but it is an extremely sacred site where all spiritual currents converge, mingling together in a stream of transformation. This land has witnessed that transformation multiple times. After finishing our tea, I will take you to that place.”
“Julius, I want to know your true identity. I feel that the persona you present isn’t your real self; there’s another person hidden within that facade. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have shown such interest in the ancient spiritual practices of Isha and the Asian continent.”
Caught off guard by Ratul’s question, Julius seemed to fall into a trance, pondering while sipping his tea. The three of them sat around, drinking tea, as the current of time flowed frighteningly around them. Amidst all the commotion, a terrible silence prevailed. After a while, Julius said, “Many years ago, when I was in college, I lived far away from my family. My family is Roman Catholic, but I never had any faith or trust in religion from the beginning. There was a boy in my college hostel. He had come from Russia to Italy to become a doctor. We both…”
“I studied together with him. One day, I fell seriously ill. No medicine seemed to help me recover. Nearly a week passed in this condition, and I was nearly bedridden, utterly devoid of energy. In this state, my friend—my roommate—brought a plant. He placed the plant beside my bed and would gaze at it each night. After three days of this, I completely recovered, and all my weakness seemed to vanish. I had returned to health, but that plant my friend had brought had completely wilted during those three days. At that moment, I felt that I had regained my life in exchange for the life of that plant.
After this experience, I spoke with my friend and learned that he believed in shamanism. For a long time, he had been following this particular religious belief in the Siberian region of Russia. This belief is said to be a special form of ancient paganism. The term shaman refers to someone who, in a particular altered state of consciousness, is believed to communicate with special kinds of spirits, that is, extraterrestrial or supernatural forces. Through this communication, shamans are said to perform various tasks, such as healing illnesses, ensuring safety, and promoting crop growth, among other things. Additionally, they can also gather various ‘divine directives’ and ‘supernatural messages’ as a result of this communication. Shamans can be found across many countries in the world, from Greenland to Africa, Russia, the Andaman Islands, Korea, or Mexico. What we have here—or elsewhere—regarding possession by deities or spirits is essentially a form of this primitive shamanic practice.”
At the very dawn of human thought, it has been previously mentioned that humans imagined the existence of a mysterious force at the root of all things in nature. This particular aspect of human imagination is known as animatism; in this imaginative process, the essence of human life, animal life, and all natural events is believed to stem from a formless, intangible power or spirit. Primitive people sought to communicate with this power. The process of this attempt, with its unique behaviors, beliefs, and so on, is identified separately as a religion, specifically shamanism.
Later on, humans began to envision this power or ‘spirit’ in more concrete forms—leading to the creation of deities. However, many indigenous groups around the world still have a deep belief in this intangible, supernatural spirit and assign the responsibility of communicating with it to specific individuals within their groups. These individuals, who are tasked with such communication, are known as shamans, thought to be endowed with miraculous powers and manifestations of extraterrestrial forces. They can connect with the various powers present in nature, including plants, animals, and humans, and are said to be able to tap into energies from other worlds outside the universe. Through such connections, they can benefit others by utilizing a particular power, like the spirit of that plant that helped restore my health.
Listening to him, I began to feel deeply drawn to shamanism. During our college breaks, we would visit places like Denmark, Scotland, and Iceland to research ancient pagan religions and their connections with shamans. Among the surviving indigenous people, such as the Eskimos, indigenous Africans, Andaman Nicobarese, Koreans, and others, this shamanistic tradition exists in its primitive form.
For example, the Eskimos believe that the spirit of a grandfather or some ancestor enters a grandchild’s body. The shaman can “determine” whose spirits have entered that child. As the child grows, their own ‘soul’ is created. Until then, the Eskimos do not punish their child for any wrongdoing, because punishing the child would essentially mean punishing some revered ancestor.
In the arid areas of central Australia, shamans are tasked with bringing rain, while in the jungles of Africa or among the Vedda tribe of Sri Lanka, their role is to ensure successful hunting. The shamans of California’s Red Indians primarily focus on healing. They attempt to utilize that otherworldly power or spirit alongside their use of herbs and plants.
Subsequently, other religions that emerged have been influenced by shamanism. For instance, Muslim dervishes claim to communicate with God and, in reality, imitate shamans. Taoists in China also follow shamanistic practices, entering trances and dancing wildly while shouting to connect with supernatural forces and perform miraculous deeds. Through my research with my friend, I’ve come to understand that this belief system is a transformed version of ancient paganism, which contains primitive tantra that originated in Kashmir. It is said that Isha (Jesus) came to Kashmir in search of this tantra and returned there even after the crucifixion, where he eventually died. It is believed that around two thousand years ago, this particular religion was practiced across all of Central and Southeast Asia as well as in Europe. Later, it spread to the Americas. My friend would often mockingly say that we Romans completely eradicated shamanism just as we did with Isha and his history.
We all know that Isha possessed a unique ability to heal people, and he was said to perform many miraculous acts. Things were going well until one day my friend informed me that a terrible disaster was about to befall my family. At first, I didn’t believe him. My parents were on vacation in Alexandria, Egypt, and I received news that they had supposedly died in a car accident. Just a week after this event, my friend suddenly died as well. There seemed to be nothing wrong with him—he had asthma, and shrimp was forbidden for him. He had gone to Switzerland for some work and allegedly ate shrimp, which caused a severe allergic reaction leading to his death. After that, I began to feel a change in myself, and I have been searching for my ancient roots in this somewhat detached state ever since.
Javed was listening to him attentively; it had been a while since he had finished his tea. Now, Javed stood up from the bench and said, “We’ve talked enough; there isn’t much time left. They don’t keep this place open for long. Many tourists have already left, and they’ve kept it open at my request. Let’s go now, or it will close.” Javed led the way, with the two of them following behind. As they walked, they arrived in front of a white house with a green roof. The house was surrounded by green railings, and there was a sign inside that read “Rozabal.” This place seemed very familiar to Ratul. During his stay in Ladakh, this was the very place he had seen in his dreams.
There was a wooden door, and they entered through it. A green carpet was laid out, and the walls inside were all painted green, encasing a glass room that housed a tomb. This was indeed the tomb he had seen. In this room, he had also seen a tall man. Now, Javed stood on one side of the room and said, “Listen carefully to what I have to say. No one can predict what will happen in life; death is a certainty for everyone. So it’s essential to know some truths before death, or else you’ll remain in regret your entire life.”
During the reign of Raja Gopadatta, Uj Asaf came to Kashmir from Israel. The people of Kashmir were drawn to his miraculous powers and spiritual sayings. Uj Asaf lived in Kashmir until his death. After he died, his body was buried in Anjumane. This tomb is what gave this place the name “Rozabal.” It means the place of a distinguished saint of high status. Look at what is written on the tomb: “Uj Asaf was present in Kashmir many centuries ago, and he died here.”
You can see that we are looking at two tombs covered with heavy shrouds. One of these tombs belongs to Uj Asaf, and the other belongs to Syed Nasir ud Din, who was buried in the 15th century. These two tombs face north and south, but these are not the original tombs. The actual tombs are kept below. If you look through that hole, you will see. First, Julius looked, and then Ratul looked. After seeing, Ratul said, “One of the corpses is placed north-south, and the other east-west. Why is that?”
“It’s because that is Uj Asaf’s tomb, and according to Jewish religious customs, it is oriented east-west. This means that when he died, he was not a follower of Islam. Uj Asaf is actually God Isha, and he traveled many paths from the Far East to come to Kashmir.”
As Ratul looked around this place, he felt that the words written on the tomb were things he had dreamed of during his time in Ladakh. After they finished viewing the tomb, Julius suddenly said, “You’re a descendant of Uj Asaf, aren’t you?”
Javed replied, “Now we need to lock up; our time is up.”
After Javed locked the place and came outside, they started walking down the road where a car was parked a little distance away. Just as they were heading towards the car, suddenly Julius fell in the middle of the street. Ratul was taken aback by the sight of Julius falling like that. Julius was the strongest among them; he had seemed completely fine until now. What happened all of a sudden?
Javed called over a few people and had them help Julius into the car. He told Ratul to go back to the hotel while he took Julius to the hospital. That night, after returning from the hospital, Javed informed Ratul that Julius had died of a heart attack. After delivering the news, Javed very matter-of-factly said, “Ratul, you should leave here first thing in the morning; I will also return to my village. And if you have any pictures of Julius on your phone, delete them.”
At that moment, Ratul’s sixth sense was very active; he felt like he understood everything. He said, “Julius had taken pictures on his phone.”
“I’ve destroyed the phone; no one will find that phone now. It will lie there as an unclaimed body in the hospital morgue.”
Ratul sat next to Javed and placed his hand on Javed’s shoulder, saying, “Javed, I am a renunciant; you can trust me. I’ve been feeling for a few days now that you came to Kashmir with some ill intentions. It was during our tea time before going to Rozabal that I felt it the most.”
“At that moment, I had poured the medication into the tea among the dry fruits. When he contacted me, I became suspicious.”
“How did he recognize you?”
“My father named our travel business ‘Uj Asaf Travel.’ Our logo is a fish. As far as I know, everyone from Isha’s lineage uses this fish as their symbol. He had come to kill me. A few days ago, he was talking to someone on the phone and said that he had achieved what his parents could not. He had managed to find a descendant of Uj Asaf. He intended to finish me off right there in Rozabal and then eliminate my entire family. I was stunned to hear this. Our lineage has been protected by some invisible hands for ages. They are part of a special organization, similar to the Knights Templar of the Middle-Ages. We have very strong connections with them.
About fourteen years ago, two members of Isha’s family died in an accident in Alexandria. After that incident, their only daughter was moved to a safe place. This daughter is the current representative of Isha and Lady Magdalena’s lineage.”
“And what about you?”
“Me? After Isha came to Kashmir, he remarried here, and we are the heirs of his lineage. Even now, attempts are being made to eradicate our lineage. From what I understand, Julius had also killed his friend because he had learned something about Julius and his family.”
Javed pulled out a few pictures from his bag and handed them to Ratul. “These contain images of the footprints of Uj Asaf. From these pictures, you will understand that a person lies here who was crucified. There were holes in both feet. Here are some pictures of Rozabal and his tomb that I am giving you. I will return to the village tonight, and you should leave Kashmir as well.”
Ratul could no longer think about anything. It is truly unimaginable how life can take a person from one place to another. That very night, Ratul rented a car and set off towards Jammu. He did not know where his destiny would take him from there. Along the way, he deleted Javed’s and Julius’s phone numbers from his mobile. Throughout life, one meets many people. Although they may touch our hearts, they do not remain with us forever; they completely fade away from life. In that way, Javed and Julius were also erased. What Javed did might have been the right thing. Because if Julius had lived, he would have ended both Javed and Ratul along with his family. Isn’t it written in the Gita that everything happens for the good? So let life continue as it is. While sitting in the car, Ratul captured pictures of Rozabal and the footprints of Uj Asaf with his mobile camera and sent them to Omkari. There was thick fog on the road, in which Ratul’s car disappeared. (Continues)
Click here for Part-1, Part 2, Part-3, Part-4, Part-5, Part-6, Part-7, Part-8, Part-9, Part-10, Part-11, Part-12, Part-13, Part-14, Part-15, Part-16, Part-17, Part-18, Part-19, Part-20, Part-21, Part-22, Part-23, Part-24, Part-25, Part-26, Part-27, Part-28,
_____________
Debasree Chakraborti is a renowned novel writer of Bengali language. Based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, she has done Master’s in Modern History from the Kolkata University, and authored some thirty books, mostly the novels, with historical perspective and themes. Her novel is ‘Maharaja Dahir’ that covers the history of Sindh from 662, the year of first attack on Sindh by the Arab armies till date, was published last year and translated by Nasir Aijaz into Sindhi language.
