In 1983, a German writer on esoteric subjects, Holger Kersten, published Jesus Lived in India, which popularized the legend that Jesus' final resting place was Srinagar in Kashmir. The claim that the tomb of Jesus is the Roza Bal shrine was first asserted in 1899 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a religious leader and apologist. He argued that Jesus survived the crucifixion, traveled to India, married, had children, and died a natural death at the age of 120, eventually being buried in the Roza Bal shrine under the name Yuz Asaf (or Youza Asouph).
Earlier in 1976, the Spanish philosopher and scholar of comparative religions, Andreas Faber-Kaiser, published Jesus Died in Kashmir, which presented what he considered historical and physical evidence to support this claim. Somewhere in this amalgam of legends, we find the claim that Jesus was returning to the place where he’d spent the hidden years of early childhood until he became a prophet in Galilee, learning the wisdom of pre-Islamic sufis. The storytellers do have to account for the six-century gap between the execution of Jesus and the founding of Islam. But I quibble. The first wave of newly minted Western seekers had just discovered India and seemed swayed by the notion that Jesus had also been influenced by Indian magic. A shrine with an inscription and a name was, of course, conclusive evidence.
I’d read at least an abbreviated account of the connection between Jesus and India. On my second trip to Srinagar, I asked my host, Gul Mohammed, the son of a Kashmiri merchant I’d met in MacLeod Ganj, if he could arrange for a local guide to take me to the tomb of Jesus. A few days before, there had been an incident in the ongoing tension between the majority Hindu government of India and the Muslim majority population of Kashmir, and I’d been told that a white face might not be welcomed in the Old City. Of course, Mo knew an older, well-connected, respected, and savvy Sunni driver who could get us in and out safely.
But first, didn’t we want to visit the world's oldest wooden mosque? This is Khanqah Shah-i-Hamadan, 14th century. Made entirely of wood, it is unusual and stunning. We got out of the car, but we were not allowed to enter. The guards, however, were extremely courteous and friendly. They left their positions at the main gate, came up to us, introduced themselves, and showed us as much as they could through the windows. They had been the target of extremists, so their instructions were only to admit Muslims who were intending to pray.
Our next stop was Jama Masjid. Situated at Nowhatta in the Old City, the Mosque was commissioned by Sultan Sikandar in 1394 CE and completed in 1402 CE. As we drove in, just past the main gate, looking for a parking space, a few women began to gather around our car and pound on the hood. More women began to run over towards us. Our driver-guide apologized, backed up quickly, and told us we would have to skip it. He then told us that we’d been spotted; we could continue an abbreviated tour, driving slowly but not getting out of the car.
Probably 15 minutes later, we drove up to a very ordinary building, about the size of a Western two-car garage. The roof was tin and needed a paint job. The sign said that the opening hours were restricted to Wednesdays between noon and 3 PM. It appeared to be the shrine of a minor saint, not a major figure like Jesus, who appears in the Quran.
The belief that the tomb belongs to Jesus is a central belief for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community but is rejected by mainstream Christian and Muslim scholars, as well as the local Sunni Muslim caretakers of the shrine, who maintain it is the grave of a local Sufi saint. Modern scholarship generally dismisses the theory as legend or myth with no historical basis.
Photo credit: Indrajit Das/Wikimedia Commons
According to local Kashmiri traditions, Yuz Asaf was a saint or prophet who came from a foreign land. A few historical interpretations link "Yuz Asaf" to an Arabic or Urdu variant of Josaphat, which is also associated with the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, an Islamized and Christianized version of the life of the Buddha.
Photo credit: Indrajit Das/Wikimedia Commons
Yes, this is the small shrine that we were taken to when I asked to see the tomb of Jesus. You can see that there is more than a little dispute about this being his actual burial place. You know that the mullahs want to settle the dispute quickly when there’s a large sign with a long quote about Jesus from the Quran.
There it is, just as we saw it on our trip into the Old City. It was on a closed day, so we couldn’t get out of the car even under more favorable circumstances. It is not common for white skinned Westerners to be wandering around this part of Srinagar unless you’re a scholar of esotericism trying to prove a point.
The grave of Yuz Asaph. Photo credit: Indrajit Das/Wikimedia Commons
Standing in the need of prayer. After our adventure in the Old City, we were welcomed inside at Hazratbal. It is a huge Mosque, not located in the old city, but on the eastern shore of Dal Lake. We took off our shoes, faced Mecca, and prayed.
