Nas Asuf

[poliphilo]

Jesus survived the crucifixion, fled to Kashmir, lived to be 80 and is buried in Srinigar, where his tomb, under the same roof as the tomb of a much later Muslim holy man, is still venerated- though no-one seems to get terribly excited about it.

In Kashmir they remember him as Nas Asuf- meaning the Healer.

That's what they told me on TV last night. Wow.

So I Googled. The tomb is for real. And it contains a burial oriented east-west, which is the Jewish standard, rather than north-south, which is the Muslim standard.

It also contains an odd little carving of Nas Asuf's feet. The feet have marks on them which the easily-persuaded interpret as the scars of crucifixion.

So?

There the trail runs into the sand. We have traditions of Jesus (Isa) having visited India and studied Buddhism, but they are either oral or based on documents that have disappeared (rather in the manner of Joseph Smith's golden tablets.) The prime propagators of the legend were a nineteenth century Russian adventurer and a nineteenth century Muslim bloke who set himself up as the Messiah- dodgy characters, both of them.

I get a strong whiff of theosophical nuttiness.

But the story isn't utterly implausible. People did survive crucifixion, there were established trade routes between the eastern Roman Empire and Northern India, and there's a tradition that the people of Kashmir are descended from the Jews who were carted off into exile by the Assyrians- and didn't Jesus say he had a mission to preach to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel"?

A simple way forward would be to dig up Nas Asuf and have a look at his hands and feet. But that would be sacrilege. And consider all the vested interests...

It's not going to happen, is it?

Comments

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

I saw the end of this, too. I liked the theory that Jesus was out in the East from 14-29, too, having been identified by the wise men (who followed stars) as the next Lama - I'm always happy about things that bring religions together, because the sheer number of different religions is part of my problem with the whole thing. And a lot of Jesus's views and teachings were kinda Buddhist in nature, even from what the bible says - they're closer to Buddhism than Judaism, certainly.

I was also interested in the people who pointed out that all the mentions of the Second Coming are very low-key, and could apply more to someone popping back over from Kashmir than to a miraculous return from the dead by the son of God.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Exactly. The story of Jesus's survival may be far-fetched, but it's a lot less far-fetched than what the Church would have us believe.

I find myself wanting to know more....