Kolkata-based author Debasree 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: Alexandria, Year 2021
There is a strange charm in this city. It feels like a city from a fairy tale, with beautifully arranged white houses, buildings, and palaces along the blue sea, all of which seem to have borne witness to a changing civilization for thousands of years. The car turned right along the seaside, beginning its journey on the main road. Each city has a special richness of colors in its nature. In this city, the sky and sea are a deep blue, while the land is white. The rugged landscapes feature occasional greenery. The doors, windows, and walls of the houses lining the road are all painted white. This clean and pristine city of Egypt remarkably resembles the southern Indian city of Pondicherry.
This morning, Omkari arrived in Alexandria. As soon as she stepped out of the airport, she encountered Ali, who was waiting with a placard displaying Omkari’s name. Ali’s car is white, and he himself is dressed in a white pair of trousers, a white T-shirt, and a white cap. Ali set off with Omkari towards an unknown destination. Robert had told Omkari that she must blindly trust Ali on this journey. At the right moment, she will receive all her answers in a very mysterious way. No questions can be asked of Ali.
Omkari traveled along with Ali for nearly three hours, but Ali didn’t said a word to her. After traveling a while, they stopped at a petrol pump on the side of the road. Ali pointed out a building on the left, saying, “It’s still an hour and a half away. You won’t find anything on the road, so you can buy water and food here.” Speaking these robotic words, Ali remained silent, almost waiting for Omkari to step out of the car. As soon as Omkari got out, she realized the temperature here was dangerously high. Flames seemed to dance around amidst the barren landscape. She hurried toward the building, which had a white wall and white door.
Upon entering, her mind and spirit felt cooled down. The interior was air-conditioned. Here, she found headscarves, sunglasses, various foods, drinks, battery-operated small fans, as well as tissues and sanitizers—everything she could need.
Omkari bought some food, drinks, and a scarf. Here, the scorching heat of the sun made it very difficult to go outside without a scarf. She also bought a beautiful pair of sunglasses. After stepping out of the shop, she felt as if she was starting to see darkness all around. Ali’s vehicle was filled with oil, and he stopped in front of Omkari with the car. Then they started their journey again. While driving, she caught sight of vast ruins against the backdrop of the blue sky and stark white landscape. Ali turned right off the straight road, driving the car over the rugged terrain towards those vast ruins. Omkari gazed at the ruins as if mesmerized. She felt she was advancing towards a deep mystery of knowledge, science, and ancient Egypt. As the car’s tires gripped the rough ground, a white dust began to envelop the surroundings. This dust felt like a thick fog between the present and the past; Omkari understood very well that she had begun this journey in search of that mystery, and she had just taken the first step on its mysterious staircase. Now, she only had to wait to ascend continuously. The car stopped behind that mysterious architectural relic from the past. Here stood a small two-story house that had gone unnoticed until now. This vast structure seemed to separate the house from the earthly realm. Constructed amid the rugged landscape, the house was surrounded by various small shrubs and trees. It seemed as if the homeowner was attempting to establish an ethereal spiritual world through some mysterious magical power, cutting through the harsh realities of this earthly realm. Ali, sitting in the car, glanced sideways at Omkari and said, “Knock on the door three times, and it will be opened.”
Omkari realized that Ali had done what he needed to do; there was nothing more that he had to be asked to accomplish.
After knocking three times at the door, a little girl opened it from inside. She took Omkari to a room, which also had a bathing area. Omkari wasn’t used to the heat and truly needed a bath at that moment. The walls and curtains inside this house were white, while the bed sheets, pillows, sofa, and even the dining table were yellow. In the bathing room, there was a white bucket filled with bathing water, with leaves scattered over the water. As she bathed in the leaf-infused water, Omkari felt all her fatigue melting away, realizing the medicinal properties of the leaves. After bathing, a wonderfully pleasant fragrance began emanating from her body. Clean and fresh, she stepped out of the room after changing into a new outfit, and the girl seated her at the dining table to eat. The meal consisted entirely of vegetarian food: two different vegetable dishes, a pudding-like dish, and thick rotis. She was served in stone plates and bowls, along with a glass of water filled from a white jug. After the meal, the girl advised her to rest. Omkari was told not to ask any questions, as she would receive answers in due time. So, she followed the girl’s instruction and went to rest. As soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep.
In the evening, the sound reminiscent of a bell waking her from sleep jolted her awake. Omkari felt as if she were lying in her home in Jajpur. In the evenings, her mother would ring a bell for worship in a similar manner. Worried about being idle in the evening, she quickly got up and followed the sound outside. The main door of the house was open, and she saw a gentleman facing the ruins of ancient architecture, lighting a fire in a container like a camphor burner, performing aarti. The girl stood behind him, making noise with a stick on a shiny golden plate. Both the man and the girl were dressed in white garments, tied with white cords around their waists.
After performing the aarti, the gentleman placed his hand over the fire and then above the girl’s head. He recited a continuous mantra, placed the camphor burner on a nearby stone, and bowed down in reverence. Despite performing the worship, the gentleman sensed Omkari’s presence. As this special evening puja concluded, the girl went back inside the house, and the gentleman looked at Omkari and said, “Come with me.”
Omkari walked along with the gentleman and entered the ancient sculpture. Inside, in one corner, a lamp was glowing like a light. In the faint glow of that lamp, the gentleman indicated that there was a white and sky-blue carpet laid out in the middle of this architecture and asked Omkari to sit, while he sat down himself. The lamp flickered just to their right. The gentleman said, “At this very moment we are sitting where once there was the largest library of the ancient world. The Library of Alexandria was destroyed in a fire two thousand years ago. It was a priceless reservoir of knowledge and science. For aeons, this library served as a sacred pilgrimage for the stream of hidden knowledge that flowed across the vast expanses of the earth. There was an attempt made to completely erase the existence of anyone associated with this sacred pursuit. And if this library could be destroyed, it would have been possible to erase all the information of our sacred practices. That’s why, in one night, a fire was set, and the entire library was reduced to ashes. A few individuals may have understood something in advance, and perhaps this is why several important manuscripts associated with this sacred pursuit were copied and stored in various places, on which practitioners have been relying for generations for their spiritual practices.”
“Listening to you has raised several questions in my mind. Robert had forbidden me to ask questions, but if this uncertainty doesn’t clear up, my purpose for coming here will not be fulfilled.”
“You wish to know about this primordial knowledge at this moment, don’t you?”
Yes.
For an eternity, a special stream of energy meditation has been flowing across the entire world. Shiva’s other name is Eeshan. The Eeshanas once spread widely throughout India, Asia, Egypt, Rome, and Greece. In this country, they are known as Nath Yogis. Eeshanath was their original guru. The Nath Yogis worship the phallic form of Shiva. In the figurines found in the Mohenjo-Daro archaeological site, a meditative yogi is depicted. This has been identified as the image of Pashupati. He wears a trident-like headgear. Surrounding this figure are an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros, a snake, a fish, and a human. This has a strange similarity to Shiva’s current trident. The Pashupatis had significant influence in areas like the Bannu province of Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Khotan. In the Old Testament of the Bible, it is said that King Rehoboam’s son Abijah forbade his mother Maacah from offering sacrifices in front of the phallic symbol. The Jews worshipped the phallic deity Baal-Peor. Before that, they would be initiated into Baal-Peor’s secret mantra. The Moabites worshipped a lingam situated on the mountain of Peor. The Judeans worshipped a lingam on the summit of forest-covered mountains. The name of their deity was “Baal.” There is an ancient lingam temple at Kottishwar before the Sindhus. The phallic image of the god Bacchus in Greece and Egypt is similar to this Kottishwar. This phallic image is referred to as Chium (Shium-Shivam) in the Bible. They, like the worshippers of the phallic symbol and Nath Yogis, wore ashes as a tilak on their foreheads. Your country’s Gorakhnath and this Eeshanath are one and the same. Their methods of meditation are also the same. Our ancestors lived in Nazareth. All members of my family belong to this special community. This entire meditation was carried out with great secrecy. These sages would share information among themselves in great secrecy and preserved it. All the members of our Nazareth and surrounding regions were engaged in agriculture. They loved to work in agriculture and gardens. By uniting with nature, they would use this natural energy for the advancement of human civilization. They produced various medicines from different types of plants. Most importantly, those whom we currently regard as communists adhered to a much greater form of communism than today. In the view of these sages, every person in society is equal. You will see the same philosophy among the Nath Yogis; they wanted to completely eliminate disparity. In Nazareth, our community did not speak to each other before sunrise. They had lunch and dinner with their families, during which they prayed together. This community had some strange rules. They adopted children among themselves. Unmarried men and women were also allowed to adopt children, as marriage was not completely established at that time. Any secret information discussed within the community, or any information that was to be kept confidential, could not be shared with anyone else. If for any reason, someone disclosed this information to outsiders, they would be expelled from the community. They aspired to become equal to God through knowledge, scientific study, and meditation. Participation in any political activities or revolutions was forbidden for them. They remained calm in any situation. Their worshipped deity was the Jehovah, meaning your Mahadev’s Rudra form. They offered bread and a glass of drink to the Jehovah. They believed that the body is a prison and that the soul is imprisoned within it; the only way for the soul to be liberated from the body is through death. This is why they were not afraid of death. The ultimate goal of this meditation was the eternal liberation of the soul.
I don’t understand why you are telling me all this. How is this related to the person I came to learn about?
There is a deep connection; the complete identity and true essence of him have been completely erased. If you don’t know everything I am telling you, you won’t be able to understand his original identity.
You mentioned before that an attempt began to erase him and his community; what did you mean?
You have come in search of the one. There was no one else like him in Jerusalem. He walked barefoot, lost in thought, and in his presence, ordinary people became one. The common people felt as if a messenger from the gods had descended among them. There was an irresistible attraction in his eyes and throughout his body. In the shade of trees at a distance, the crowd would sit around him, enchanted, listening to his words. This was the case during the reign of King Tiberius Caesar of Jerusalem, when, under the supervision of two priests named Annas and Caiaphas, he was sentenced to death on March 27. Omkari, if the state power wishes, it can turn the devil into a god; similarly, it can also turn a god into a devil. The same happened in his case. He, who was regarded as a god by the local people, was accused of being a seducer, a traitor to the state. An enemy of the law, falsely claiming to be the son of God, he was said to consider himself the king of Israel and had entered the temple with palm branches for this reason. The signatories of these accusations were Daniel Rabani, Joanas Rabani, and Raphael Rabani. Several copper plates were made of this death warrant and sent too many places. In 1810, French soldiers discovered an ancient vase in the ancient town of Aquila in Naples, inside which were these copper plates.
In this manner of speaking, Omkari lost track of how many nights have passed. It seems that Maha Kal is engaged in a strange game with her. Her arrival in this mysterious environment and this encounter with an unfamiliar person feels like part of Maha Kal’s play. She is seemingly immersed in the effort to draw forth a current of time that has been lost, churning through the river of time. And Omkari Panigrahi is a key player in this game. The striking resemblance to the Gaura Kanti youth from five hundred years ago in Navadvipa is uncanny. The pain in both of their lives and the entire narrative of their existence appears to revolve in much the same way. Both seem to be like stirring sticks in a special phase of time, through which the lives of that time and its dancers have also been governed. Everything feels preordained. Otherwise, why would she arrive in the midst of the profound mystery surrounding the great human figure’s passing after Mahaprabhu’s disappearance?
For a long time, the gentleman had been talking continuously. In the meantime, the girl arrived with a tray bearing dinner. How old is she? Perhaps eighteen or nineteen. However, this girl is much more organized than children of her age. She spreads out some cloth a little away from the ancient sculpture, on the stone floor, and then places three plates and glasses from her bag on it. The plates and glasses are all made of paper. Perhaps bringing stone utensils outside is forbidden, or maybe dining like this in nature is a custom when guests arrive. This place is very sacred, so perhaps food is not consumed here. A fire has been lit on one side of the spot where the girl is preparing the dinner. The gentleman stood up and invited Omkari to dinner. Omkari rose and said, “I’ve been talking with you for a while, I’m staying at your place, yet I don’t even know your name.”
“My name is Auro.”
“Auro, your daughter is very good, girls of this age are not usually like this. I haven’t seen your wife; where is she?”
“Ara is not my own child but my adopted daughter. Her parents died in an accident; they were members of our community. After their death, I took her in as my adopted daughter. And I am unmarried myself.”
Ara neatly served chapati, vegetables, and drinks in a bowl. Then, father and daughter began to pray with their hands joined. Following their lead, Omkari also prayed. He understood that their deity and Mahadev are identical, so he chanted “Om Namah Shivaya” in his prayer. When the prayer was over, they offered the chapati and water to God before starting to eat.
That night, before coming into room, Auro said that his birth took place in Nazareth, the village of his ancestors. His ancestors were members of that community. Joseph and Mother Mary were members of this community; they wanted to start a new life by giving birth to the newborn in Egypt. But a command came from his ancestors to take them to a secret place in Nazareth.
After finishing his speech, Auro handed a letter to Omkari and said, “This is the English translation of the secret letter that arrived in Alexandria a few months after Jesus was crucified.”
Omkari’s eyes seemed to lose all sleep as she read the letter intently. (Continues)
Click here for Part-1, Part 2, Part-3,
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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.