I have always been very interested in accounts of Jesus’ life in the East. So many of these stories ring true for me. What is your sense about this mystery?

Pilgrim’s Progress, by Mandakini Gahlot

A small Buddhist town perched on the steep cliffs of the Himalayas celebrates history


In his controversial 1894 account of Jesus’s lost years La vie inconnue de Jesus Chris (The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ), Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch claimed that it was in Hemis, a tiny town about 40 km from Leh, that a previously unknown Gospel, “Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men,” originated. The gospel is said to be an account of Jesus’s travels in India and east Asia. While the town’s links to Christianity have never been proved, over the last 400 years, it has become one of the most important centres for Mahayana Buddhism in the world.

At an altitude of 12,000 feet, the journey to Hemis is not recommended for the faint-hearted. About two kilometres before the monastery, all traces of a motorable road disappeared. Our driver informed us that from thereon it would have to be on foot. For those fond of trekking, the climb up to the monastery is exhilarating. For others, the steep slopes and pebbled paths can prove to be exhausting.
Over the years, Hemis has become synonymous with the monastery. Most of its local population choose to reside in Leh and the surrounding villages located at a lower altitude of 11,000 feet. The only inhabitants are 350 monks who live and train here in austere simplicity. There is little by way of comfort, and the temperatures border on the extreme…

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