THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

The Original Text of Nicolas Notovitch's 1887 Discovery

by

NICOLAS NOTOVITCH

Translated by J. H. Connelly and L. Landsberg

Printed in the United States of America

New York: R.F. Fenno. 1890.

Table of Contents

_Preface_ vi

_A Journey in Thibet_ 1

_Ladak_ 33

_A Festival in a Gonpa_ 45

_The Life of Saint Issa_ 61

_Resume_ 89

_Explanatory Notes_ 117

Preface

After the Turkish War (1877-1878) I made a series of travels in the Orient. From the little remarkable Balkan peninsula, I went across the Caucasus to Central Asia and Persia, and finally, in 1887, visited India, an admirable country which had attracted me from my earliest childhood. My purpose in this journey was to study and know, at home, the peoples who inhabit India and their customs, the grand and mysterious archaeology, and the colossal and majestic nature of their country. Wandering about without fixed plans, from one place to another, I came to mountainous Afghanistan, whence I regained India by way of the picturesque passes of Bolan and Guernai. Then, going up the Indus to Raval Pindi, I ran over the Pendjab--the land of the five rivers; visited the Golden Temple of Amritsa--the tomb of the King of Pendjab, Randjid Singh, near Lahore; and turned toward Kachmyr, "The Valley of Eternal Bliss." Thence I directed my peregrinations as my curiosity impelled me, until I arrived in Ladak, whence I intended returning to Russia by way of Karakoroum and Chinese Turkestan.

One day, while visiting a Buddhist convent on my route, I learned from a chief lama, that there existed in the archives of Lhassa, very ancient memoirs relating to the life of Jesus Christ and the occidental nations, and that certain great monasteries possessed old copies and translations of those chronicles.

As it was little probable that I should make another journey into this country, I resolved to put off my return to Europe until a later date, and, cost what it might, either find those copies in the great convents or go to Lhassa--a journey which is far from being so dangerous and difficult as is generally supposed, involving only such perils as I was already accustomed to, and which would not make me hesitate at attempting it.

Table of contents (by pages)

• 1: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ by Notovitch
• 2: And so left the capital of Ladak
• 3: And set out upon the picturesque road leading to Kachmyr
• 4: For they had taken away the keys of the bengalow
• 5: Evening was falling when I approached the village of Hori
• 6: Upo Puranas which are explanatory of the Puranas
• 7: Directing myself toward the Djeloum
• 8: Bearing us rapidly toward Srinagar
• 9: The actual Maharadja was Pertab Sing
• 10: Hastening to gain the village of Haiena
• 11: How beautiful is nature in the Sind pass
• 12: My hunting adventures closed before reaching Baltal
• 13: Left them and arrived in the evening at Drass
• 14: From Karghil to the centre of Ladak
• 15: I left my horses in the hamlet of Wakkha
• 16: Him whom I meant was your terrestrial Dalai Lama
• 17: During their sojourn in Lhassa
• 18: In Lamayure commences a declivity which
• 19: Six miles from Pitak and a thousand feet higher
• 20: And are divided into Ladakians and Tchampas
• 21: The settled population of Ladak is engaged in agriculture
• 22: While the properly called Ladakians are peaceable
• 23: The firstborn is consecrated to a gonpa
• 24: And men eagerly seek her in marriage
• 25: Above the gonpa rises a battlemented tower
• 26: Leading to the rooms of the lamas
• 27: With bells and tambourines in their hands
• 28: Three lamas brought pitchers of tchang
• 29: And our direct chief is the Dalai Lama
• 30: In a visit which I recently made to a gonpa
• 31: On a height of which is perched the gonpa of Piatak
• 32: I cherish for him sincere gratitude
• 33: When Mossa saw that the Israelites
• 34: Prince Mossa went before his father
• 35: When Issa was thirteen years old
• 36: He spent six years in Djagguernat
• 37: The Vaisyas and the Sudras were filled with great admiration
• 38: And Issa answered them If your idols
• 39: They put faith in the words of Issa
• 40: Since the departure therefrom of Issa
• 41: Issa went from one city to another
• 42: And Issa said to them The human race perishes
• 43: When the priests and the elders heard Issa
• 44: Healed in your sickness and whoso asks of Him
• 45: Thus Saint Issa taught the people of Israel for three years
• 46: For the purpose of judging Issa
• 47: The soldiers seized Issa and the two robbers
• 48: Whose true name was Sakya Muni was written upon parchment
• 49: So as to be able to translate it into the Thibetan
• 50: Have attached himself to the Israelites
• 51: The calamities which befell the Israelites
• 52: In common with the Evangelists
• 53: He had in his thirteenth year attained an age when
• 54: But Jesus left them to settle in Djagguernat
• 55: This is the trimurti trinity
• 56: Each part of the trimurti possesses
• 57: Where he creates Bodhisattvas masters
• 58: Pilate felt not at all assured
• 59: Pilate employed his final resource for prejudicing the trial
• 60: Judas probably was simply hanged
• 61: Pilate began by having the body buried
• 62: 12 It must be admitted that the Israelites
• 63: Its name is derived from Djain conqueror