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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, by Nicolas
+Notovitch, Translated by J. H. Connelly and L. Landsberg
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
+       The Original Text of Nicolas Notovitch's 1887 Discovery
+
+
+Author: Nicolas Notovitch
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 1, 2009  [eBook #29288]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Edwards, Paul Motsuk, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+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
+
+_Resumé_                                                      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 archæology, 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 Guernaï. 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.
+
+During my sojourn at Leh, capital of Ladak, I visited the great convent
+Himis, situated near the city, the chief lama of which informed me that
+their monastic library contained copies of the manuscripts in question.
+In order that I might not awaken the suspicions of the authorities
+concerning the object of my visit to the cloister, and to evade
+obstacles which might be opposed to me as a Russian, prosecuting further
+my journey in Thibet, I gave out upon my return to Leh that I would
+depart for India, and so left the capital of Ladak. An unfortunate fall,
+causing the breaking of a leg, furnished me with an absolutely
+unexpected pretext for returning to the monastery, where I received
+surgical attention. I took advantage of my short sojourn among the lamas
+to obtain the consent of their chief that they should bring to me, from
+their library, the manuscripts relating to Jesus Christ, and, assisted
+by my interpreter, who translated for me the Thibetan language,
+transferred carefully to my notebook what the lama read to me.
+
+Not doubting at all the authenticity of this chronicle, edited with
+great exactitude by the Brahminic, and more especially the Buddhistic
+historians of India and Nepaul, I desired, upon my return to Europe, to
+publish a translation of it.
+
+To this end, I addressed myself to several universally known
+ecclesiastics, asking them to revise my notes and tell me what they
+thought of them.
+
+Mgr. Platon, the celebrated metropolitan of Kiew, thought that my
+discovery was of great importance. Nevertheless, he sought to dissuade
+me from publishing the memoirs, believing that their publication could
+only hurt me. "Why?" This the venerable prelate refused to tell me more
+explicitly. Nevertheless, since our conversation took place in Russia,
+where the censor would have put his veto upon such a work, I made up my
+mind to wait.
+
+A year later, I found myself in Rome. I showed my manuscript to a
+cardinal very near to the Holy Father, who answered me literally in
+these words:--"What good will it do to print this? Nobody will attach to
+it any great importance and you will create a number of enemies. But,
+you are still very young! If it is a question of money which concerns
+you, I can ask for you a reward for your notes, a sum which will repay
+your expenditures and recompense you for your loss of time." Of course,
+I refused.
+
+In Paris I spoke of my project to Cardinal Rotelli, whose acquaintance I
+had made in Constantinople. He, too, was opposed to having my work
+printed, under the pretext that it would be premature. "The church," he
+added, "suffers already too much from the new current of atheistic
+ideas, and you will but give a new food to the calumniators and
+detractors of the evangelical doctrine. I tell you this in the interest
+of all the Christian churches."
+
+Then I went to see M. Jules Simon. He found my matter very interesting
+and advised me to ask the opinion of M. Renan, as to the best way of
+publishing these memoirs. The next day I was seated in the cabinet of
+the great philosopher. At the close of our conversation, M. Renan
+proposed that I should confide to him the memoirs in question, so that
+he might make to the Academy a report upon the discovery.
+
+This proposition, as may be easily understood, was very alluring and
+flattering to my _amour propre_. I, however, took away with me the
+manuscript, under the pretext of further revising it. I foresaw that if
+I accepted the proposed combination, I would only have the honor of
+having found the chronicles, while the illustrious author of the "Life
+of Jesus" would have the glory of the publication and the commenting
+upon it. I thought myself sufficiently prepared to publish the
+translation of the chronicles, accompanying them with my notes, and,
+therefore, did not accept the very gracious offer he made to me. But,
+that I might not wound the susceptibility of the great master, for whom
+I felt a profound respect, I made up my mind to delay publication until
+after his death, a fatality which could not be far off, if I might judge
+from the apparent general weakness of M. Renan. A short time after M.
+Renan's death, I wrote to M. Jules Simon again for his advice. He
+answered me, that it was my affair to judge of the opportunity for
+making the memoirs public.
+
+I therefore put my notes in order and now publish them, reserving the
+right to substantiate the authenticity of these chronicles. In my
+commentaries I proffer the arguments which must convince us of the
+sincerity and good faith of the Buddhist compilers. I wish to add that
+before criticising my communication, the societies of _savans_ can,
+without much expense, equip a scientific expedition having for its
+mission the study of those manuscripts in the place where I discovered
+them, and so may easily verify their historic value.
+
+--_Nicolas Notovitch_
+
+
+
+
+The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
+
+
+
+
+_A Journey in Thibet_
+
+
+During my sojourn in India, I often had occasion to converse with the
+Buddhists, and the accounts they gave me of Thibet excited my curiosity
+to such an extent that I resolved to make a journey into that still
+almost unknown country. For this purpose I set out upon a route crossing
+Kachmyr (Cashmere), which I had long intended to visit.
+
+On the 14th of October, 1887, I entered a railway car crowded with
+soldiers, and went from Lahore to Raval-Pinidi, where I arrived the next
+day, near noon. After resting a little and inspecting the city, to which
+the permanent garrison gives the aspect of a military camp, I provided
+myself with the necessaries for a journey, where horses take the place
+of the railway cars. Assisted by my servant, a colored man of
+Pondichery, I packed all my baggage, hired a tonga (a two-wheeled
+vehicle which is drawn by two horses), stowed myself upon its back seat,
+and set out upon the picturesque road leading to Kachmyr, an excellent
+highway, upon which we travelled rapidly. We had to use no little skill
+in making our way through the ranks of a military caravan--its baggage
+carried upon camels--which was part of a detachment returning from a
+country camp to the city. Soon we arrived at the end of the valley of
+Pendjab, and climbing up a way with infinite windings, entered the
+passes of the Himalayas. The ascent became more and more steep. Behind
+us spread, like a beautiful panorama, the region we had just traversed,
+which seemed to sink farther and farther away from us. As the sun's last
+glances rested upon the tops of the mountains, our tonga came gaily out
+from the zigzags which the eye could still trace far down the
+forest-clad slope, and halted at the little city of Muré; where the
+families of the English functionaries came to seek shade and
+refreshment.
+
+Ordinarily, one can go in a tonga from Muré to Srinagar; but at the
+approach of the winter season, when all Europeans desert Kachmyr, the
+tonga service is suspended. I undertook my journey precisely at the time
+when the summer life begins to wane, and the Englishmen whom I met upon
+the road, returning to India, were much astonished to see me, and made
+vain efforts to divine the purpose of my travel to Kachmyr.
+
+Abandoning the tonga, I hired saddle horses--not without considerable
+difficulty--and evening had arrived when we started to descend from
+Muré, which is at an altitude of 5,000 feet. This stage of our journey
+had nothing playful in it. The road was torn in deep ruts by the late
+rains, darkness came upon us and our horses rather guessed than saw
+their way. When night had completely set in, a tempestuous rain
+surprised us in the open country, and, owing to the thick foliage of the
+centenarian oaks which stood on the sides of our road, we were plunged
+in profound darkness. That we might not lose each other, we had to
+continue exchanging calls from time to time. In this impenetrable
+obscurity we divined huge masses of rock almost above our heads, and
+were conscious of, on our left, a roaring torrent, the water of which
+formed a cascade we could not see. During two hours we waded in the mud
+and the icy rain had chilled my very marrow, when we perceived in the
+distance a little fire, the sight of which revived our energies. But how
+deceitful are lights in the mountains! You believe you see the fire
+burning quite near to you and at once it disappears, to reappear again,
+to the right, to the left, above, below you, as if it took pleasure in
+playing tricks upon the harassed traveller. All the time the road makes
+a thousand turns, and winds here and there, and the fire--which is
+immovable--seems to be in continual motion, the obscurity preventing you
+realizing that you yourself modify your direction every instant.
+
+I had quite given up all hope of approaching this much-wished-for fire,
+when it appeared again, and this time so near that our horses stopped
+before it.
+
+I have here to express my sincere thanks to the Englishmen for the
+foresight of which they gave proof in building by the roadsides the
+little bengalows--one-story houses for the shelter of travellers. It is
+true, one must not demand comfort in this kind of hotel; but this is a
+matter in which the traveller, broken down by fatigue, is not exacting,
+and he is at the summit of happiness when he finds at his disposal a
+clean and dry room.
+
+The Hindus, no doubt, did not expect to see a traveller arrive at so
+late an hour of the night and in this season, for they had taken away
+the keys of the bengalow, so we had to force an entrance. I threw myself
+upon a bed prepared for me, composed of a pillow and blanket saturated
+with water, and almost at once fell asleep. At daybreak, after taking
+tea and some conserves, we took up our march again, now bathed in the
+burning rays of the sun. From time to time, we passed villages; the
+first in a superb narrow pass, then along the road meandering in the
+bosom of the mountain. We descended eventually to the river Djeloum
+(Jhelum), the waters of which flow gracefully, amid the rocks by which
+its course is obstructed, between rocky walls whose tops in many places
+seem almost to reach the azure skies of the Himalayas, a heaven which
+here shows itself remarkably pure and serene.
+
+Toward noon we arrived at the hamlet called Tongue--situated on the bank
+of the river--which presents an unique array of huts that give the
+effect of boxes, the openings of which form a façade. Here are sold
+comestibles and all kinds of merchandise. The place swarms with Hindus,
+who bear on their foreheads the variously colored marks of their
+respective castes. Here, too, you see the beautiful people of Kachmyr,
+dressed in their long white shirts and snowy turbans. I hired here, at a
+good price, a Hindu cabriolet, from a Kachmyrian. This vehicle is so
+constructed that in order to keep one's seat in it, one must cross his
+legs in the Turkish fashion. The seat is so small that it will hold, at
+most, only two persons. The absence of any support for the back makes
+this mode of transportation very dangerous; nevertheless, I accepted
+this kind of circular table mounted on two wheels and drawn by a horse,
+as I was anxious to reach, as soon as possible, the end of my journey.
+Hardly, however, had I gone five hundred yards on it, when I seriously
+regretted the horse I had forsaken, so much fatigue had I to endure
+keeping my legs crossed and maintaining my equilibrium. Unfortunately,
+it was already too late.
+
+Evening was falling when I approached the village of Hori. Exhausted by
+fatigue; racked by the incessant jolting; my legs feeling as if invaded
+by millions of ants, I had been completely incapable of enjoying the
+picturesque landscape spread before us as we journeyed along the
+Djeloum, the banks of which are bordered on one side by steep rocks and
+on the other by the heavily wooded slopes of the mountains. In Hori I
+encountered a caravan of pilgrims returning from Mecca.
+
+Thinking I was a physician and learning my haste to reach Ladak, they
+invited me to join them, which I promised I would at Srinagar.
+
+I spent an ill night, sitting up in my bed, with a lighted torch in my
+hand, without closing my eyes, in constant fear of the stings and bites
+of the scorpions and centipedes which swarm in the bengalows. I was
+sometimes ashamed of the fear with which those vermin inspired me;
+nevertheless, I could not fall asleep among them. Where, truly, in man,
+is the line that separates courage from cowardice? I will not boast of
+my bravery, but I am not a coward, yet the insurmountable fear with
+which those malevolent little creatures thrilled me, drove sleep from my
+eyelids, in spite of my extreme fatigue.
+
+Our horses carried us into a flat valley, encircled by high mountains.
+Bathed as I was in the rays of the sun, it did not take me long to fall
+asleep in the saddle. A sudden sense of freshness penetrated and awoke
+me. I saw that we had already begun climbing a mountain path, in the
+midst of a dense forest, rifts in which occasionally opened to our
+admiring gaze ravishing vistas, impetuous torrents; distant mountains;
+cloudless heavens; a landscape, far below, of wondrous beauty. All about
+us were the songs of numberless brilliantly plumaged birds. We came out
+of the forest toward noon, descended to a little hamlet on the bank of
+the river, and after refreshing ourselves with a light, cold collation,
+continued our journey. Before starting, I went to a bazaar and tried to
+buy there a glass of warm milk from a Hindu, who was sitting crouched
+before a large cauldron full of boiling milk. How great was my surprise
+when he proposed to me that I should take away the whole cauldron, with
+its contents, assuring me that I had polluted the milk it contained! "I
+only want a glass of milk and not a kettle of it," I said to him.
+
+"According to our laws," the merchant answered me, "if any one not
+belonging to our caste has fixed his eyes for a long time upon one of
+our cooking utensils, we have to wash that article thoroughly, and throw
+away the food it contains. You have polluted my milk and no one will
+drink any more of it, for not only were you not contented with fixing
+your eyes upon it, but you have even pointed to it with your finger."
+
+I had indeed a long time examined his merchandise, to make sure that it
+was really milk, and had pointed with my finger, to the merchant, from
+which side I wished the milk poured out. Full of respect for the laws
+and customs of foreign peoples, I paid, without dispute, a rupee, the
+price of all the milk, which was poured in the street, though I had
+taken only one glass of it. This was a lesson which taught me, from now
+on, not to fix my eyes upon the food of the Hindus.
+
+There is no religious belief more muddled by the numbers of ceremonious
+laws and commentaries prescribing its observances than the Brahminic.
+
+While each of the other principal religions has but one inspired book,
+one Bible, one Gospel, or one Koran--books from which the Hebrew, the
+Christian and the Musselman draw their creeds--the Brahminical Hindus
+possess such a great number of tomes and commentaries in folio that the
+wisest Brahmin has hardly had the time to peruse one-tenth of them.
+Leaving aside the four books of the Vedas; the Puranas--which are
+written in Sanscrit and composed of eighteen volumes--containing 400,000
+strophes treating of law, rights, theogony, medicine, the creation and
+destruction of the world, etc.; the vast Shastras, which deal with
+mathematics, grammar, etc.; the Upa-Vedas, Upanishads, Upo-Puranas--which
+are explanatory of the Puranas;--and a number of other commentaries in
+several volumes; there still remain twelve vast books, containing the
+laws of Manu, the grandchild of Brahma--books dealing not only with
+civil and criminal law, but also the canonical rules--rules which
+impose upon the faithful such a considerable number of ceremonies that
+one is surprised into admiration of the illimitable patience the
+Hindus show in observance of the precepts inculcated by Saint Manu.
+Manu was incontestably a great legislator and a great thinker, but
+he has written so much that it has happened to him frequently to
+contradict himself in the course of a single page. The Brahmins do
+not take the trouble to notice that, and the poor Hindus, whose
+labor supports the Brahminic caste, obey servilely their clergy,
+whose prescriptions enjoin upon them never to touch a man who does not
+belong to their caste, and also absolutely prohibit a stranger from
+fixing his attention upon anything belonging to a Hindu. Keeping himself
+to the strict letter of this law, the Hindu imagines that his food is
+polluted when it receives a little protracted notice from the stranger.
+
+And yet, Brahminism has been, even at the beginning of its second birth,
+a purely monotheistic religion, recognizing only one infinite and
+indivisible God. As it came to pass in all times and in religions, the
+clergy took advantage of the privileged situation which places them
+above the ignorant multitude, and early manufactured various exterior
+forms of cult and certain laws, thinking they could better, in this way,
+influence and control the masses. Things changed soon, so far that the
+principle of monotheism, of which the Vedas have given such a clear
+conception, became confounded with, or, as it were, supplanted by an
+absurd and limitless series of gods and goddesses, half-gods, genii and
+devils, which were represented by idols, of infinite variety but all
+equally horrible looking. The people, once glorious as their religion
+was once great and pure, now slip by degrees into complete idiocy.
+Hardly does their day suffice for the accomplishment of all the
+prescriptions of their canons. It must be said positively that the
+Hindus only exist to support their principal caste, the Brahmins, who
+have taken into their hands the temporal power which once was possessed
+by independent sovereigns of the people. While governing India, the
+Englishman does not interfere with this phase of the public life, and so
+the Brahmins profit by maintaining the people's hope of a better future.
+
+The sun passed behind the summit of a mountain, and the darkness of
+night in one moment overspread the magnificent landscape we were
+traversing. Soon the narrow valley of the Djeloum fell asleep. Our road
+winding along ledges of steep rocks, was instantly hidden from our
+sight; mountains and trees were confounded together in one dark mass,
+and the stars glittered in the celestial vault. We had to dismount and
+feel our way along the mountain side, for fear of becoming the prey of
+the abyss which yawned at our feet. At a late hour of the night we
+traversed a bridge and ascended a steep elevation leading to the
+bengalow Ouri, which at this height seems to enjoy complete isolation.
+The next day we traversed a charming region, always going along the
+river--at a turn of which we saw the ruins of a Sikh fortress, that
+seemed to remember sadly its glorious past. In a little valley, nestled
+amid the mountains, we found a bengalow which seemed to welcome us. In
+its proximity were encamped a cavalry regiment of the Maharajah of
+Kachmyr.
+
+When the officers learned that I was a Russian, they invited me to share
+their repast. There I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of
+Col. Brown, who was the first to compile a dictionary of the
+Afghan-pouchton language.
+
+As I was anxious to reach, as soon as possible, the city of Srinagar, I,
+with little delay, continued my journey through the picturesque region
+lying at the foot of the mountains, after having, for a long time,
+followed the course of the river. Here, before our eyes, weary of the
+monotonous desolation of the preceding landscapes, was unfolded a
+charming view of a well-peopled valley, with many two-story houses
+surrounded by gardens and cultivated fields. A little farther on begins
+the celebrated valley of Kachmyr, situated behind a range of high rocks
+which I crossed toward evening. What a superb panorama revealed itself
+before my eyes, when I found myself at the last rock which separates the
+valley of Kachmyr from the mountainous country I had traversed. A
+ravishing tableau truly enchanted my sight. This valley, the limits of
+which are lost in the horizon, and is throughout well populated, is
+enshrined amid the high Himalayan mountains. At the rising and the
+setting of the sun, the zone of eternal snows seems a silver ring, which
+like a girdle surrounds this rich and delightful plateau, furrowed by
+numerous rivers and traversed by excellent roads, gardens, hills, a
+lake, the islands in which are occupied by constructions of pretentious
+style, all these cause the traveller to feel as if he had entered
+another world. It seems to him as though he had to go but a little
+farther on and there must find the Paradise of which his governess had
+told him so often in his childhood.
+
+The veil of night slowly covered the valley, merging mountains, gardens
+and lake in one dark amplitude, pierced here and there by distant fires,
+resembling stars. I descended into the valley, directing myself toward
+the Djeloum, which has broken its way through a narrow gorge in the
+mountains, to unite itself with the waters of the river Ind. According
+to the legend, the valley was once an inland sea; a passage opened
+through the rocks environing it, and drained the waters away, leaving
+nothing more of its former character than the lake, the Djeloum and
+minor water-courses. The banks of the river are now lined with
+boat-houses, long and narrow, which the proprietors, with their
+families, inhabit the whole year.
+
+From here Srinagar can be reached in one day's travel on horseback; but
+with a boat the journey requires a day and a half. I chose the latter
+mode of conveyance, and having selected a boat and bargained with its
+proprietor for its hire, took my seat in the bow, upon a carpet,
+sheltered by a sort of penthouse roof. The boat left the shore at
+midnight, bearing us rapidly toward Srinagar. At the stern of the bark,
+a Hindu prepared my tea. I went to sleep, happy in knowing my voyage was
+to be accomplished. The hot caress of the sun's rays penetrating my
+little roof awakened me, and what I experienced delighted me beyond all
+expression. Entirely green banks; the distant outlines of mountain tops
+covered with snow; pretty villages which from time to time showed
+themselves at the mountain's foot; the crystalline sheet of water; pure
+and peculiarly agreeable air, which I breathed with exhilaration; the
+musical carols of an infinity of birds; a sky of extraordinary purity;
+behind me the plash of water stirred by the round-ended paddle which was
+wielded with ease by a superb woman (with marvellous eyes and a
+complexion browned by the sun), who wore an air of stately indifference:
+all these things together seemed to plunge me into an ecstasy, and I
+forgot entirely the reason for my presence on the river. In that moment
+I had not even a desire to reach the end of my voyage--and yet, how many
+privations remained for me to undergo, and dangers to encounter! I felt
+myself here so well content!
+
+The boat glided rapidly and the landscape continued to unfold new
+beauties before my eyes, losing itself in ever new combinations with the
+horizon, which merged into the mountains we were passing, to become one
+with them. Then a new panorama would display itself, seeming to expand
+and flow out from the sides of the mountains, becoming more and more
+grand.... The day was almost spent and I was not yet weary of
+contemplating this magnificent nature, the view of which reawakened the
+souvenirs of childhood and youth. How beautiful were those days forever
+gone!
+
+The more nearly one approaches Srinagar, the more numerous become the
+villages embowered in the verdure. At the approach of our boat, some of
+their inhabitants came running to see us; the men in their turbans, the
+women in their small bonnets, both alike dressed in white gowns reaching
+to the ground, the children in a state of nudity which reminded one of
+the costumes of our first parents.
+
+When entering the city one sees a range of barks and floating houses in
+which entire families reside. The tops of the far-off, snow-covered
+mountains were caressed by the last rays of the setting sun, when we
+glided between the wooden houses of Srinagar, which closely line both
+banks of the river. Life seems to cease here at sunset; the thousands of
+many colored open boats (dunga) and palanquin-covered barks (bangla)
+were fastened along the beach; men and women gathered near the river, in
+the primitive costumes of Adam and Eve, going through their evening
+ablutions without feeling any embarrassment or prudery before each
+other, since they performed a religious rite, the importance of which is
+greater for them than all human prejudices.
+
+On the 20^th of October I awoke in a neat room, from which I had a gay
+view upon the river that was now inundated with the rays of the sun of
+Kachmyr. As it is not my purpose to describe here my experiences in
+detail, I refrain from enumerating the lovely valleys, the paradise of
+lakes, the enchanting islands, those historic places, mysterious
+pagodas, and coquettish villages which seem lost in vast gardens; on all
+sides of which rise the majestic tops of the giants of the Himalaya,
+shrouded as far as the eye can see in eternal snow. I shall only note
+the preparations I made in view of my journey toward Thibet. I spent six
+days at Srinagar, making long excursions into the enchanting
+surroundings of the city, examining the numerous ruins which testify to
+the ancient prosperity of this region, and studying the strange customs
+of the country.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kachmyr, as well as the other provinces attached to it, Baltistan,
+Ladak, etc., are vassals of England. They formerly formed part of the
+possessions of Randjid Sing, the Lion of the Pendjab. At his death, the
+English troops occupied Lahore, the capital of the Pendjab, separated
+Kachmyr from the rest of the empire and ceded it, under color of
+hereditary right, and for the sum of 160,000,000 francs, to Goulab-Sing,
+one of the familiars of the late sovereign, conferring on him besides
+the title of Maharadja. At the epoch of my journey, the actual Maharadja
+was Pertab-Sing, the grandchild of Goulab, whose residence is Jamoo, on
+the southern slope of the Himalaya.
+
+The celebrated "happy valley" of Kachmyr (eighty-five miles long by
+twenty-five miles wide) enjoyed glory and prosperity only under the
+Grand Mogul, whose court loved to taste here the sweetness of country
+life, in the still existent pavilions on the little island of the lake.
+Most of the Maharadjas of Hindustan used formerly to spend here the
+summer months, and to take part in the magnificent festivals given by
+the Grand Mogul; but times have greatly changed since, and the happy
+valley is today no more than a beggar retreat. Aquatic plants and scum
+have covered the clear waters of the lake; the wild juniper has
+smothered all the vegetation of the islands; the palaces and pavilions
+retain only the souvenir of their past grandeur; earth and grass cover
+the buildings which are now falling in ruins. The surrounding mountains
+and their eternally white tops seem to be absorbed in a sullen sadness,
+and to nourish the hope of a better time for the disclosure of their
+immortal beauties. The once spiritual, beautiful and cleanly inhabitants
+have grown animalistic and stupid; they have become dirty and lazy; and
+the whip now governs them, instead of the sword.
+
+The people of Kachmyr have so often been subject to invasions and
+pillages and have had so many masters, that they have now become
+indifferent to every thing. They pass their time near the banks of the
+rivers, gossiping about their neighbors; or are engaged in the
+painstaking work of making their celebrated shawls; or in the execution
+of filagree gold or silver work. The Kachmyr women are of a melancholy
+temperament, and an inconceivable sadness is spread upon their features.
+Everywhere reigns misery and uncleanness. The beautiful men and superb
+women of Kachmyr are dirty and in rags. The costume of the two sexes
+consists, winter and summer alike, of a long shirt, or gown, made of
+thick material and with puffed sleeves. They wear this shirt until it is
+completely worn out, and never is it washed, so that the white turban of
+the men looks like dazzling snow near their dirty shirts, which are
+covered all over with spittle and grease stains.
+
+The traveller feels himself permeated with sadness at seeing the
+contrast between the rich and opulent nature surrounding them, and this
+people dressed in rags.
+
+The capital of the country, Srinagar (City of the Sun), or, to call it
+by the name which is given to it here after the country, Kachmyr, is
+situated on the shore of the Djeloum, along which it stretches out
+toward the south to a distance of five kilometres and is not more than
+two kilometres in breadth.
+
+Its two-story houses, inhabited by a population of 100,000 inhabitants,
+are built of wood and border both river banks. Everybody lives on the
+river, the shores of which are united by ten bridges. Terraces lead from
+the houses to the Djeloum, where all day long people perform their
+ceremonial ablutions, bathe and wash their culinary utensils, which
+consist of a few copper pots. Part of the inhabitants practice the
+Musselman religion; two-thirds are Brahminic; and there are but few
+Buddhists to be found among them.
+
+It was time to make other preparations for travel before plunging into
+the unknown. Having purchased different kinds of conserves, wine and
+other things indispensable on a journey through a country so little
+peopled as is Thibet, I packed all my baggage in boxes; hired six
+carriers and an interpreter, bought a horse for my own use, and fixed my
+departure for the 27^th of October. To cheer up my journey, I took from
+a good Frenchman, M. Peicheau, the wine cultivator of the Maharadja, a
+big dog, Pamir, who had already traversed the road with my friends,
+Bonvallot, Capus and Pepin, the well-known explorers. As I wished to
+shorten my journey by two days, I ordered my carriers to leave at dawn
+from the other side of the lake, which I crossed in a boat, and joined
+them and my horse at the foot of the mountain chain which separates the
+valley of Srinagar from the Sind gorge.
+
+I shall never forget the tortures which we had to undergo in climbing
+almost on all fours to a mountain top, three thousand feet high. The
+carriers were out of breath; every moment I feared to see one tumble
+down the declivity with his burden, and I felt pained at seeing my poor
+dog, Pamir, panting and with his tongue hanging out, make two or three
+steps and fall to the ground exhausted. Forgetting my own fatigue, I
+caressed and encouraged the poor animal, who, as if understanding me,
+got up to make another two or three steps and fall anew to the ground.
+
+The night had come when we reached the crest; we threw ourselves
+greedily upon the snow to quench our thirst; and after a short rest,
+started to descend through a very thick pine forest, hastening to gain
+the village of Haïena, at the foot of the defile, fearing the attacks of
+beasts of prey in the darkness.
+
+A level and good road leads from Srinagar to Haïena, going straight
+northward over Ganderbal, where I repaired by a more direct route across
+a pass three thousand feet high, which shortened for me both time and
+distance.
+
+My first step in the unknown was marked by an incident which made all of
+us pass an ugly quarter of an hour. The defile of the Sind, sixty miles
+long, is especially noteworthy for the inhospitable hosts it contains.
+Among others it abounds in panthers, tigers, leopards, black bears,
+wolves and jackals. As though by a special misfortune, the snow had
+covered with its white carpet the heights of the chain, compelling those
+formidable, carnivorous beasts to descend a little lower for shelter in
+their dens. We descended in silence, amid the darkness, a narrow path
+that wound through the centennary firs and birches, and the calm of the
+night was only broken by the crackling sound of our steps. Suddenly,
+quite near to us, a terrible howling awoke the echoes of the woods. Our
+small troop stopped. "A panther!" exclaimed, in a low and frightened
+voice, my servant. The small caravan of a dozen men stood motionless, as
+though riveted to the spot. Then it occurred to me that at the moment of
+starting on our ascent, when already feeling fatigued, I had entrusted
+my revolver to one of the carriers, and my Winchester rifle to another.
+Now I felt bitter regret for having parted with my arms, and asked in a
+low voice where the man was to whom I had given the rifle. The howls
+became more and more violent, and filled the echoes of the woods, when
+suddenly a dull sound was heard, like the fall of some body. A minute
+later we heard the noise of a struggle and a cry of agony which mingled
+with the fierce roars of the starved animal.
+
+"Saaïb, take the gun," I heard some one near by. I seized feverishly the
+rifle, but, vain trouble, one could not see two steps before oneself. A
+new cry, followed by a smothered howling, indicated to me vaguely the
+place of the struggle, toward which I crawled, divided between the
+ardent desire to "kill a panther" and a horrible fear of being eaten
+alive. No one dared to move; only after five minutes it occurred to one
+of the carriers to light a match. I then remembered the fear which
+feline animals exhibit at the presence of fire, and ordered my men to
+gather two or three handfuls of brush, which I set on fire. We then saw,
+about ten steps from us, one of our carriers stretched out on the
+ground, with his limbs frightfully lacerated by the claws of a huge
+panther. The beast still lay upon him defiantly, holding a piece of
+flesh in its mouth. At its side, gaped a box of wine broken open by its
+fall when the carrier was torn down. Hardly did I make a movement to
+bring the rifle to my shoulder, when the panther raised itself, and
+turned toward us while dropping part of its horrible meal. One moment,
+it appeared about to spring upon me, then it suddenly wheeled, and
+rending the air with a howl, enough to freeze one's blood, jumped into
+the midst of the thicket and disappeared.
+
+My coolies, whom an odious fear had all the time kept prostrated on the
+ground, recovered little by little from their fright. Keeping in
+readiness a few packages of dry grass and matches, we hastened to reach
+the village Haïena, leaving behind the remains of the unfortunate Hindu,
+whose fate we feared sharing.
+
+An hour later we had left the forest and entered the plain. I ordered my
+tent erected under a very leafy plane tree, and had a great fire made
+before it, with a pile of wood, which was the only protection we could
+employ against the ferocious beasts whose howls continued to reach us
+from all directions. In the forest my dog had pressed himself against
+me, with his tail between his legs; but once under the tent, he suddenly
+recovered his watchfulness, and barked incessantly the whole night,
+being very careful, however, not to step outside. I spent a terrible
+night, rifle in hand, listening to the concert of those diabolical
+howlings, the echoes of which seemed to shake the defile. Some panthers
+approached our bivouac to answer the barking of Pamir, but dared not
+attack us.
+
+I had left Srinagar at the head of eleven carriers, four of whom had to
+carry so many boxes of wine, four others bore my travelling effects; one
+my weapons, another various utensils, and finally a last, who went
+errands or on reconnaissance. His name was "Chicari," which means "he
+who accompanies the hunter and gathers the prey." I discharged him in
+the morning on account of his cowardice and his profound ignorance of
+the country, and only retained four carriers. It was but slowly that I
+advanced toward the village of Gounde.
+
+How beautiful is nature in the Sind pass, and how much is it beloved by
+the hunters! Besides the great fallow deer, you meet there the hind, the
+stag, the mountain sheep and an immense variety of birds, among which I
+want to mention above all the golden pheasant, and others of red or
+snow-white plumage, very large partridges and immense eagles.
+
+The villages situated along the Sind do not shine by their dimensions.
+They contain, for the greatest part, not more than ten to twenty huts of
+an extremely miserable appearance. Their inhabitants are clad in rags.
+Their cattle belongs to a very small race.
+
+I crossed the river at Sambal, and stopped near the village Gounde,
+where I procured relay horses. In some villages they refused to hire
+horses to me; I then threatened them with my whip, which at once
+inspired respect and obedience; my money accomplished the same end; it
+inspired a servile obedience--not willingness--to obey my least orders.
+
+Stick and gold are the true sovereigns in the Orient; without them the
+Very Grand Mogul would not have had any preponderance.
+
+Night began to descend, and I was in a hurry to cross the defile which
+separates the villages Gogangan and Sonamarg. The road is in very bad
+condition, and the mountains are infested by beasts of prey which in the
+night descend into the very villages to seek their prey. The country is
+delightful and very fertile; nevertheless, but few colonists venture to
+settle here, on account of the neighborhood of the panthers, which come
+to the dooryards to seize domestic animals.
+
+At the very exit of the defile, near the village of Tchokodar, or
+Thajwas, the half obscurity prevailing only permitted me to distinguish
+two dark masses crossing the road. They were two big bears followed by a
+young one. I was alone with my servant (the caravan having loitered
+behind), so I did not like to attack them with only one rifle; but the
+long excursions which I had made on the mountain had strongly developed
+in me the sense of the hunter. To jump from my horse, shoot, and,
+without even verifying the result, change quickly the cartridge, was the
+affair of a second. One bear was about to jump on me, a second shot
+made it run away and disappear. Holding in my hand my loaded gun, I
+approached with circumspection, the one at which I had aimed, and found
+it laying on its flank, dead, with the little cub beside it. Another
+shot killed the little one, after which I went to work to take off the
+two superb jet-black skins.
+
+This incident made us lose two hours, and night had completely set in
+when I erected my tent near Tchokodar, which I left at sunrise to gain
+Baltal, by following the course of the Sind river. At this place the
+ravishing landscape of the "golden prairie" terminates abruptly with a
+village of the same name (Sona, gold, and Marg, prairie). The abrupt
+acclivity of Zodgi-La, which we next surmounted, attains an elevation of
+11,500 feet, on the other side of which the whole country assumes a
+severe and inhospitable character. My hunting adventures closed before
+reaching Baltal. From there I met on the road only wild goats. In order
+to hunt, I would have had to leave the grand route and to penetrate into
+the heart of the mountains full of mysteries. I had neither the
+inclination nor the time to do so, and, therefore, continued quietly my
+journey toward Ladak.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+How violent the contrast I felt when passing from the laughing nature
+and beautiful population of Kachmyr to the arid and forbidding rocks and
+the beardless and ugly inhabitants of Ladak!
+
+The country into which I penetrated is situated at an altitude of 11,000
+to 12,000 feet. Only at Karghil the level descends to 8,000 feet.
+
+The acclivity of Zodgi-La is very rough; one must climb up an almost
+perpendicular rocky wall. In certain places the road winds along upon
+rock ledges of only a metre in width, below which the sight drops into
+unfathomable abysses. May the Lord preserve the traveller from a fall!
+At one place, the way is upon long beams introduced into holes made in
+the rock, like a bridge, and covered up with earth. Brr!--At the thought
+that a little stone might get loose and roll down the slope of the
+mountain, or that a too strong oscillation of the beams could
+precipitate the whole structure into the abyss, and with it him who had
+ventured upon the perilous path, one feels like fainting more than once
+during this hazardous passage.
+
+After crossing the glaciers we stopped in a valley and prepared to spend
+the night near a hut, a dismal place surrounded by eternal ice and snow.
+
+From Baltal the distances are determined by means of daks, _i.e._,
+postal stations for mail service. They are low huts, about seven
+kilometres distant from each other. A man is permanently established in
+each of these huts. The postal service between Kachmyr and Thibet is yet
+carried on in a very primitive form. The letters are enclosed in a
+leather bag, which is handed to the care of a carrier. The latter runs
+rapidly over the seven kilometres assigned to him, carrying on his back
+a basket which holds several of these bags, which he delivers to another
+carrier, who, in his turn, accomplishes his task in an identical manner.
+Neither rain nor snow can arrest these carriers. In this way the mail
+service is carried on between Kachmyr and Thibet, and _vice versa_ once
+a week. For each course the letter carrier is paid six annas (twenty
+cents); the same wages as is paid to the carriers of merchandise. This
+sum I also paid to every one of my servants for carrying a ten times
+heavier load.
+
+It makes one's heart ache to see the pale and tired-looking figures of
+these carriers; but what is to be done? It is the custom of the country.
+The tea is brought from China by a similar system of transportation,
+which is rapid and inexpensive.
+
+In the village of Montaiyan, I found again the Yarkandien caravan of
+pilgrims, whom I had promised to accompany on their journey. They
+recognized me from a distance, and asked me to examine one of their men,
+who had fallen sick. I found him writhing in the agonies of an intense
+fever. Shaking my hands as a sign of despair, I pointed to the heavens
+and gave them to understand that human will and science were now
+useless, and that God alone could save him. These people journeyed by
+small stages only; I, therefore, left them and arrived in the evening at
+Drass, situated at the bottom of a valley near a river of the same name.
+Near Drass, a little fort of ancient construction, but freshly painted,
+stands aloof, under the guard of three Sikhs of the Maharadja's army.
+
+At Drass, my domicile was the post-house, which is a station--and the
+only one--of an unique telegraph line from Srinagar to the interior of
+the Himalayas. From that time on, I no more had my tent put up each
+evening, but stopped in the caravansarais; places which, though made
+repulsive by their dirt, are kept warm by the enormous piles of wood
+burned in their fireplaces.
+
+From Drass to Karghil the landscape is unpleasing and monotonous, if one
+excepts the marvellous effects of the rising and setting sun and the
+beautiful moonlight. Apart from these the road is wearisome and
+abounding with dangers. Karghil is the principal place of the district,
+where the governor of the country resides. Its site is quite
+picturesque. Two water courses, the Souron and the Wakkha, roll their
+noisy and turbulent waters among rocks and sunken snags of uprooted
+trees, escaping from their respective defiles in the rocks, to join in
+forming here the river Souron, upon the banks of which stands Karghil. A
+little fort, garrisoned by two or three Sikhs, shows its outlines at the
+junction of the streams. Provided with a horse, I continued my journey
+at break of day, entering now the province of Ladak, or Little Thibet. I
+traversed a ricketty bridge, composed--like all the bridges of
+Kachmyr--of two long beams, the ends of which were supported upon the
+banks and the floor made of a layer of fagots and sticks, which imparted
+to the traveller, at least the illusion of a suspension bridge. Soon
+afterward I climbed slowly up on a little plateau, which crosses the way
+at a distance of two kilometres, to descend into the narrow valley of
+Wakkha. Here there are several villages, among which, on the left shore,
+is the very picturesque one called Paskium.
+
+Here my feet trod Buddhist ground. The inhabitants are of a very simple
+and mild disposition, seemingly ignorant of "quarreling." Women are very
+rare among them. Those of them whom I encountered were distinguished
+from the women I had hitherto seen in India or Kachmyr, by the air of
+gaiety and prosperity apparent in their countenances. How could it be
+otherwise, since each woman in this country has, on an average, three to
+five husbands, and possesses them in the most legitimate way in the
+world. Polyandry flourishes here. However large a family may be, there
+is but one woman in it. If the family does not contain already more than
+two husbands, a bachelor may share its advantages, for a consideration.
+The days sacred to each one of those husbands are determined in advance,
+and all acquit themselves of their respective duties and respect each
+others' rights. The men generally seem feeble, with bent backs, and do
+not live to old age. During my travels in Ladak, I only encountered one
+man so old that his hair was white.
+
+From Karghil to the centre of Ladak, the road had a more cheerful aspect
+than that I had traversed before reaching Karghil, its prospect being
+brightened by a number of little hamlets, but trees and verdure were,
+unfortunately, rare.
+
+Twenty miles from Karghil, at the end of the defile formed by the rapid
+current of the Wakkha, is a little village called Chargol, in the
+centre of which stand three chapels, decorated with lively colors
+(_t'horthenes_, to give them the name they bear in Thibet). Below, near
+the river, are masses of rocks, in the form of long and large walls,
+upon which are thrown, in apparent disorder, flat stones of different
+colors and sizes. Upon these stones are engraved all sorts of prayers,
+in Ourd, Sanscrit and Thibetan, and one can even find among them
+inscriptions in Arabic characters. Without the knowledge of my carriers,
+I succeeded in taking away a few of these stones, which are now in the
+palace of the Trocadero.
+
+Along the way, from Chargol, one finds frequently oblong mounds,
+artificial constructions. After sunrise, with fresh horses, I resumed my
+journey and stopped near the _gonpa_ (monastery) of Moulbek, which seems
+glued on the flank of an isolated rock. Below is the hamlet of Wakkha,
+and not far from there is to be seen another rock, of very strange form,
+which seems to have been placed where it stands by human hands. In one
+side of it is cut a Buddha several metres in height. Upon it are several
+cylinders, the turning of which serves for prayers. They are a sort of
+wooden barrel, draped with yellow or white fabrics, and are attached to
+vertically planted stakes. It requires only the least wind to make them
+turn. The person who puts up one of these cylinders no longer feels it
+obligatory upon him to say his prayers, for all that devout believers
+can ask of God is written upon the cylinders. Seen from a distance this
+white painted monastery, standing sharply out from the gray background
+of the rocks, with all these whirling, petticoated wheels, produce a
+strange effect in this dead country. I left my horses in the hamlet of
+Wakkha, and, followed by my servant, walked toward the convent, which is
+reached by a narrow stairway cut in the rock. At the top, I was received
+by a very fat lama, with a scanty, straggling beard under his chin--a
+common characteristic of the Thibetan people--who was very ugly, but
+very cordial. His costume consisted of a yellow robe and a sort of big
+nightcap, with projecting flaps above the ears, of the same color. He
+held in his hand a copper prayer-machine which, from time to time, he
+shook with his left hand, without at all permitting that exercise to
+interfere with his conversation. It was his eternal prayer, which he
+thus communicated to the wind, so that by this element it should be
+borne to Heaven. We traversed a suite of low chambers, upon the walls of
+which were images of Buddha, of all sizes and made of all kinds of
+materials, all alike covered by a thick layer of dust. Finally we
+reached an open terrace, from which the eyes, taking in the surrounding
+region, rested upon an inhospitable country, strewn with grayish rocks
+and traversed by only a single road, which on both sides lost itself in
+the horizon.
+
+When we were seated, they brought us beer, made with hops, called here
+_Tchang_ and brewed in the cloister. It has a tendency to rapidly
+produce _embonpoint_ upon the monks, which is regarded as a sign of the
+particular favor of Heaven.
+
+They spoke here the Thibetan language. The origin of this language is
+full of obscurity. One thing is certain, that a king of Thibet, a
+contemporary of Mohammed, undertook the creation of an universal
+language for all the disciples of Buddha. To this end he had simplified
+the Sanscrit grammar, composed an alphabet containing an infinite number
+of signs, and thus laid the foundations of a language the pronunciation
+of which is one of the easiest and the writing the most complicated.
+Indeed, in order to represent a sound one must employ not less than
+eight characters. All the modern literature of Thibet is written in this
+language. The pure Thibetan is only spoken in Ladak and Oriental Thibet.
+In all other parts of the country are employed dialects formed by the
+mixture of this mother language with different idioms taken from the
+neighboring peoples of the various regions round about. In the ordinary
+life of the Thibetan, there exists always two languages, one of which is
+absolutely incomprehensible to the women, while the other is spoken by
+the entire nation; but only in the convents can be found the Thibetan
+language in all its purity and integrity.
+
+The lamas much prefer the visits of Europeans to those of Musselmen, and
+when I asked the one who received me why this was so, he answered me:
+"Musselmen have no point of contact at all with our religion. Only
+comparatively recently, in their victorious campaign, they have
+converted, by force, part of the Buddhists to Islam. It requires of us
+great efforts to bring back those Musselmen, descendants of Buddhists,
+into the path of the true God. As regards the Europeans, it is quite a
+different affair. Not only do they profess the essential principles of
+monotheism, but they are, in a sense, adorers of Buddha, with almost the
+same rites as the lamas who inhabit Thibet. The only fault of the
+Christians is that after having adopted the great doctrines of Buddha,
+they have completely separated themselves from him, and have created for
+themselves a different Dalai-Lama. Our Dalai-Lama is the only one who
+has received the divine gift of seeing, face to face, the majesty of
+Buddha, and is empowered to serve as an intermediary between earth and
+heaven."
+
+"Which Dalai-Lama of the Christians do you refer to?" I asked him; "we
+have one, the Son of God, to whom we address directly our fervent
+prayers, and to him alone we recur to intercede with our One and
+Indivisible God."
+
+"It is not him of whom it is a question, Sahib," he replied. "We, too,
+respect him, whom we reverence as son of the One and Indivisible God,
+but we do not see in him the Only Son, but the excellent being who was
+chosen among all. Buddha, indeed, has incarnated himself, with his
+divine nature, in the person of the sacred Issa, who, without employing
+fire or iron, has gone forth to propagate our true and great religion
+among all the world. Him whom I meant was your terrestrial Dalai-Lama;
+he to whom you have given the title of 'Father of the Church.' That is a
+great sin. May he be brought back, with the flock, who are now in a bad
+road," piously added the lama, giving another twirl to his
+prayer-machine.
+
+I understood now that he alluded to the Pope. "You have told me that a
+son of Buddha, Issa, the elect among all, had spread your religion on
+the Earth. Who is he?" I asked.
+
+At this question the lama's eyes opened wide; he looked at me with
+astonishment and pronounced some words I could not catch, murmuring in
+an unintelligible way. "Issa," he finally replied, "is a great prophet,
+one of the first after the twenty-two Buddhas. He is greater than any
+one of all the Dalai-Lamas, for he constitutes part of the spirituality
+of our Lord. It is he who has instructed you; he who brought back into
+the bosom of God the frivolous and wicked souls; he who made you worthy
+of the beneficence of the Creator, who has ordained that each being
+should know good and evil. His name and his acts have been chronicled in
+our sacred writings, and when reading how his great life passed away in
+the midst of an erring people, we weep for the horrible sin of the
+heathen who murdered him, after subjecting him to torture."
+
+I was struck by this recital of the lama. The prophet Issa--his tortures
+and death--our Christian Dalai-Lama--the Buddhist recognizing
+Christianity--all these made me think more and more of Jesus Christ. I
+asked my interpreter not to lose a single word of what the lama told me.
+
+"Where can those writings be found, and who compiled them?" I asked the
+monk.
+
+"The principal scrolls--which were written in India and Nepaul, at
+different epochs, as the events happened--are in Lhassa; several
+thousands in number. In some great convents are to be found copies,
+which the lamas, during their sojourn in Lhassa, have made, at various
+times, and have then given to their cloisters as souvenirs of the period
+they spent with the Dalai-Lama."
+
+"But you, yourselves; do you not possess copies of the scrolls bearing
+upon the prophet Issa?"
+
+"We have not. Our convent is insignificant, and since its foundation our
+successive lamas have had only a few hundred manuscripts in their
+library. The great cloisters have several thousands of them; but they
+are sacred things which will not, anywhere, be shown to you."
+
+We spoke together a few minutes longer, after which I went home, all the
+while thinking of the lama's statements. Issa, a prophet of the
+Buddhists! But, how could this be? Of Jewish origin, he lived in
+Palestine and in Egypt; and the Gospels do not contain one word, not
+even the least allusion, to the part which Buddhism should have played
+in the education of Jesus.
+
+I made up my mind to visit all the convents of Thibet, in the hope of
+gathering fuller information upon the prophet Issa, and perhaps copies
+of the chronicles bearing upon this subject.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We traversed the Namykala Pass, at 30,000 feet of altitude, whence we
+descended into the valley of the River Salinoumah. Turning southward, we
+gained Karbou, leaving behind us, on the opposite bank, numerous
+villages, among other, Chagdoom, which is at the top of a rock, an
+extremely imposing sight. Its houses are white and have a sort of
+festive look, with their two and three stories. This, by the way, is a
+common peculiarity of all the villages of Ladak. The eye of the
+European, travelling in Kachmyr, would soon lose sight of all
+architecture to which he had been accustomed. In Ladak, on the contrary,
+he would be agreeably surprised at seeing the little two and three-story
+houses, reminders to him of those in European provinces. Near the city
+of Karbou, upon two perpendicular rocks, one sees the ruins of a little
+town or village. A tempest and an earthquake are said to have shaken
+down its walls, the solidity of which seems to have been exceptional.
+
+The next day I traversed the Fotu-La Pass, at an altitude of 13,500
+feet. At its summit stands a little _t'horthene_ (chapel). Thence,
+following the dry bed of a stream, I descended to the hamlet of
+Lamayure, the sudden appearance of which is a surprise to the traveller.
+A convent, which seems grafted on the side of the rock, or held there in
+some miraculous way, dominates the village. Stairs are unknown in this
+cloister. In order to pass from one story of it to another, ropes are
+used. Communication with the world outside is through a labyrinth of
+passages in the rock. Under the windows of the convent--which make one
+think of birds' nests on the face of a cliff---is a little inn, the
+rooms of which are little inviting. Hardly had I stretched myself on the
+carpet in one of them, when the monks, dressed in their yellow robes,
+filled the apartment, bothered me with questions as to whence I came,
+the purpose of my coming, where I was going, and so on, finally inviting
+me to come and see them.
+
+In spite of my fatigue I accepted their invitation and set out with
+them, to climb up the excavated passages in the rock, which were
+encumbered with an infinity of prayer cylinders and wheels, which I
+could not but touch and set turning as I brushed past them. They are
+placed there that they may be so turned, saving to the passers-by the
+time they might otherwise lose in saying their prayers--as if their
+affairs were so absorbing, and their time so precious, that they could
+not find leisure to pray. Many pious Buddhists use for this purpose an
+apparatus arranged to be turned by the current of a stream. I have seen
+a long row of cylinders, provided with their prayer formulas, placed
+along a river bank, in such a way that the water kept them constantly in
+motion, this ingenious device freeing the proprietors from any further
+obligation to say prayers themselves.
+
+I sat down on a bench in the hall, where semi-obscurity reigned. The
+walls were garnished with little statues of Buddha, books and
+prayer-wheels. The loquacious lamas began explaining to me the
+significance of each object.
+
+"And those books?" I asked them; "they, no doubt, have reference to
+religion."
+
+"Yes, sir. These are a few religious volumes which deal with the primary
+and principal rites of the life common to all. We possess several parts
+of the words of Buddha consecrated to the Great and Indivisible Divine
+Being, and to all that issue from his hands."
+
+"Is there not, among those books, some account of the prophet Issa?"
+
+"No, sir," answered the monk. "We only possess a few principal treatises
+relating to the observance of the religious rites. As for the
+biographies of our saints, they are collected in Lhassa. There are even
+great cloisters which have not had the time to procure them. Before
+coming to this gonpa, I was for several years in a great convent on the
+other side of Ladak, and have seen there thousands of books, and scrolls
+copied out of various books by the lamas of the monastery."
+
+By some further interrogation I learned that the convent in question was
+near Leh, but my persistent inquiries had the effect of exciting the
+suspicions of the lamas. They showed me the way out with evident
+pleasure, and regaining my room, I fell asleep--after a light
+lunch--leaving orders with my Hindu to inform himself in a skillful way,
+from some of the younger lamas of the convent, about the monastery in
+which their chief had lived before coming to Lamayure.
+
+In the morning, when we set forth on our journey, the Hindu told me that
+he could get nothing from the lamas, who were very reticent. I will not
+stop to describe the life of the monks in those convents, for it is the
+same in all the cloisters of Ladak. I have seen the celebrated monastery
+of Leh--of which I shall have to speak later on--and learned there the
+strange existences the monks and religious people lead, which is
+everywhere the same. In Lamayure commences a declivity which, through a
+steep, narrow and sombre gorge, extends toward India.
+
+Without having the least idea of the dangers which the descent
+presented, I sent my carriers in advance and started on a route, rather
+pleasant at the outset, which passes between the brown clay hills, but
+soon it produced upon me the most depressing effect, as though I was
+traversing a gloomy subterranean passage. Then the road came out on the
+flank of the mountain, above a terrible abyss. If a rider had met me, we
+could not possibly have passed each other, the way was so narrow. All
+description would fail to convey a sense of the grandeur and wild beauty
+of this cañon, the summit of the walls of which seemed to reach the sky.
+At some points it became so narrow that from my saddle I could, with my
+cane, touch the opposite rock. At other places, death might be fancied
+looking up expectantly, from the abyss, at the traveller. It was too
+late to dismount. In entering alone this gorge, I had not the faintest
+idea that I would have occasion to regret my foolish imprudence. I had
+not realized its character. It was simply an enormous crevasse, rent by
+some Titanic throe of nature, some tremendous earthquake, which had
+split the granite mountain. In its bottom I could just distinguish a
+hardly perceptible white thread, an impetuous torrent, the dull roar of
+which filled the defile with mysterious and impressive sounds.
+
+Far overhead extended, narrow and sinuously, a blue ribbon, the only
+glimpse of the celestial world that the frowning granite walls permitted
+to be seen. It was a thrilling pleasure, this majestic view of nature.
+At the same time, its rugged severity, the vastness of its proportions,
+the deathly silence only invaded by the ominous murmur from the depths
+beneath, all together filled me with an unconquerable depression. I had
+about eight miles in which to experience these sensations, at once sweet
+and painful. Then, turning to the right, our little caravan reached a
+small valley, almost surrounded by precipitous granite rocks, which
+mirrored themselves in the Indus. On the bank of the river stands the
+little fortress Khalsi, a celebrated fortification dating from the epoch
+of the Musselman invasion, by which runs the wild road from Kachmyr to
+Thibet.
+
+We crossed the Indus on an almost suspended bridge which led directly to
+the door of the fortress, thus impossible of evasion. Rapidly we
+traversed the valley, then the village of Khalsi, for I was anxious to
+spend the night in the hamlet of Snowely, which is placed upon terraces
+descending to the Indus. The two following days I travelled tranquilly
+and without any difficulties to overcome, along the shore of the Indus,
+in a picturesque country--which brought me to Leh, the capital of Ladak.
+
+While traversing the little valley of Saspoula, at a distance of several
+kilometres from the village of the same name, I found "_t'horthenes_"
+and two cloisters, above one of which floated the French flag. Later on,
+I learned that a French engineer had presented the flag to the monks,
+who displayed it simply as a decoration of their building.
+
+I passed the night at Saspoula and certainly did not forget to visit the
+cloisters, seeing there for the tenth time the omnipresent dust-covered
+images of Buddha; the flags and banners heaped in a corner; ugly masks
+on the floor; books and papyrus rolls heaped together without order or
+care, and the inevitable abundance of prayer-wheels. The lamas
+demonstrated a particular pleasure in exhibiting these things, doing it
+with the air of shopmen displaying their goods, with very little care
+for the degree of interest the traveller may take in them. "We must show
+everything, in the hope that the sight alone of these sacred objects
+will force the traveller to believe in the divine grandeur of the human
+soul."
+
+Respecting the prophet Issa, they gave me the same account I already
+had, and I learned, what I had known before, that the books which could
+instruct me about him were at Lhassa, and that only the great
+monasteries possessed some copies. I did not think any more of passing
+Kara-koroum, but only of finding the history of the prophet Issa, which
+would, perhaps, bring to light the entire life of the best of men, and
+complete the rather vague information which the Gospels afford us about
+him.
+
+Not far from Leh, and at the entrance of the valley of the same name,
+our road passed near an isolated rock, on the top of which were
+constructed a fort--with two towers and without garrison--and a little
+convent named Pitak. A mountain, 10,500 feet high, protects the entrance
+to Thibet. There the road makes a sudden turn toward the north, in the
+direction of Leh, six miles from Pitak and a thousand feet higher.
+Immense granite mountains tower above Leh, to a height of 18,000 or
+19,000 feet, their crests covered with eternal snow. The city itself,
+surrounded by a girdle of stunted aspen trees, rises upon successive
+terraces, which are dominated by an old fort and the palaces of the
+ancient sovereigns of Ladak. Toward evening I made my entrance into Leh,
+and stopped at a bengalow constructed especially for Europeans, whom the
+road from India brings here in the hunting season.
+
+
+
+
+Ladak
+
+
+Ladak formerly was part of Great Thibet. The powerful invading forces
+from the north which traversed the country to conquer Kachmyr, and the
+wars of which Ladak was the theatre, not only reduced it to misery, but
+eventually subtracted it from the political domination of Lhassa, and
+made it the prey of one conqueror after another. The Musselmen, who
+seized Kachmyr and Ladak at a remote epoch, converted by force the poor
+inhabitants of old Thibet to the faith of Islam. The political existence
+of Ladak ended with the annexation of this country to Kachmyr by the
+sëiks, which, however, permitted the Ladakians to return to their
+ancient beliefs. Two-thirds of the inhabitants took advantage of this
+opportunity to rebuild their gonpas and take up their past life anew.
+Only the Baltistans remained Musselman schüttes--a sect to which the
+conquerors of the country had belonged. They, however, have only
+conserved a vague shadow of Islamism, the character of which manifests
+itself in their ceremonials and in the polygamy which they practice.
+Some lamas affirmed to me that they did not despair of one day bringing
+them back to the faith of their ancestors.
+
+From the religious point of view Ladak is a dependency of Lhassa, the
+capital of Thibet and the place of residence of the Dalai-Lama. In
+Lhassa are located the principal Khoutoukhtes, or Supreme Lamas, and the
+Chogzots, or administrators. Politically, it is under the authority of
+the Maharadja of Kachmyr, who is represented there by a governor.
+
+The inhabitants of Ladak belong to the Chinese-Touranian race, and are
+divided into Ladakians and Tchampas. The former lead a sedentary
+existence, building villages of two-story houses along the narrow
+valleys, are cleanly in their habits, and cultivators of the soil. They
+are excessively ugly; thin, with stooping figures and small heads set
+deep between their shoulders; their cheek bones salient, foreheads
+narrow, eyes black and brilliant, as are those of all the Mongol race;
+noses flat, mouths large and thin-lipped; and from their small chins,
+very thinly garnished by a few hairs, deep wrinkles extend upward
+furrowing their hollow cheeks. To all this, add a close-shaven head with
+only a little bristling fringe of hair, and you will have the general
+type, not alone of Ladak, but of entire Thibet.
+
+The women are also of small stature, and have exceedingly prominent
+cheek bones, but seem to be of much more robust constitution. A healthy
+red tinges their cheeks and sympathetic smiles linger upon their lips.
+They have good dispositions, joyous inclinations, and are fond of
+laughing.
+
+The severity of the climate and rudeness of the country, do not permit
+to the Ladakians much latitude in quality and colors of costume. They
+wear gowns of simple gray linen and coarse dull-hued clothing of their
+own manufacture. The pantaloons of the men only descend to their knees.
+People in good circumstances wear, in addition to the ordinary dress,
+the "choga," a sort of overcoat which is draped on the back when not
+wrapped around the figure. In winter they wear fur caps, with big ear
+flaps, and in summer cover their heads with a sort of cloth hood, the
+top of which dangles on one side, like a Phrygian cap. Their shoes are
+made of felt and covered with leather. A whole arsenal of little things
+hangs down from their belts, among which you will find a needle case, a
+knife, a pen and inkstand, a tobacco pouch, a pipe, and a diminutive
+specimen of the omnipresent prayer-cylinder.
+
+The Thibetan men are generally so lazy, that if a braid of hair happens
+to become loose, it is not tressed up again for three months, and when
+once a shirt is put on the body, it is not again taken off until it
+falls to pieces. Their overcoats are always unclean, and, on the back,
+one may contemplate a long oily stripe imprinted by the braid of hair,
+which is carefully greased every day. They wash themselves once a year,
+but even then do not do so voluntarily, but because compelled by law.
+They emit such a terrible stench that one avoids, as much as possible,
+being near them.
+
+The Thibetan women, on the contrary, are very fond of cleanliness and
+order. They wash themselves daily and as often as may be needful. Short
+and clean chemises hide their dazzling white necks. The Thibetan woman
+throws on her round shoulders a red jacket, the flaps of which are
+covered by tight pantaloons of green or red cloth, made in such a manner
+as to puff up and so protect the legs against the cold. She wears
+embroidered red half boots, trimmed and lined with fur. A large cloth
+petticoat with numerous folds completes her home toilet. Her hair is
+arranged in thin braids, to which, by means of pins, a large piece of
+floating cloth is attached,--which reminds one of the headdress so
+common in Italy. Underneath this sort of veil are suspended a variety of
+various colored pebbles, coins and pieces of metal. The ears are covered
+by flaps made of cloth or fur. A furred sheepskin covers the back, poor
+women contenting themselves with a simple plain skin of the animal,
+while wealthy ladies wear veritable cloaks, lined with red cloth and
+adorned with gold fringes.
+
+The Ladak woman, whether walking in the streets or visiting her
+neighbors, always carries upon her back a conical basket, the smaller
+end of which is toward the ground. They fill it with the dung of horses
+or cows, which constitute the combustible of the country. Every woman
+has money of her own, and spends it for jewelry. Generally she
+purchases, at a small expense, large pieces of turquoise, which are
+added to the _bizarre_ ornaments of her headdress. I have seen pieces so
+worn which weighed nearly five pounds. The Ladak woman occupies a social
+position for which she is envied by all women of the Orient. She is free
+and respected. With the exception of some rural work, she passes the
+greatest part of her time in visiting. It must, however, be added that
+women's gossip is here a perfectly unknown thing.
+
+The settled population of Ladak is engaged in agriculture, but they own
+so little land (the share of each may amount to about eight acres) that
+the revenue drawn from it is insufficient to provide them with the
+barest necessities and does not permit them to pay taxes. Manual
+occupations are generally despised. Artisans and musicians form the
+lowest class of society. The name by which they are designated is Bem,
+and people are very careful not to contract any alliance with them. The
+hours of leisure left by rural work are spent in hunting the wild sheep
+of Thibet, the skins of which are highly valued in India. The poorest,
+_i.e._, those who have not the means to purchase arms for hunting, hire
+themselves as coolies. This is also an occupation of women, who are
+very capable of enduring arduous toil. They are healthier than their
+husbands, whose laziness goes so far that, careless of cold or heat,
+they are capable of spending a whole night in the open air on a bed of
+stones rather than take the trouble to go to bed.
+
+Polyandry (which I shall treat later more fully) causes the formation of
+very large families, who, in common, cultivate their jointly possessed
+lands, with the assistance of yaks, zos and zomos (oxen and cows). A
+member of a family cannot detach himself from it, and when he dies, his
+share reverts to the survivors in common.
+
+They sow but little wheat and the grain is very small, owing to the
+severity of the climate. They also harvest barley, which they pulverize
+before selling. When work in the field is ended, all male inhabitants go
+to gather on the mountain a wild herb called "enoriota," and large thorn
+bushes or "dama," which are used as fuel, since combustibles are scarce
+in Ladak. You see there neither trees nor gardens, and only
+exceptionally thin clumps of willows and poplars grow on the shores of
+the rivers. Near the villages are also found some aspen trees; but, on
+account of the unfertility of the ground, arboriculture is unknown and
+gardening is little successful.
+
+The absence of wood is especially noticeable in the buildings, which are
+made of sun-dried bricks, or, more frequently, of stones of medium size
+which are agglomerated with a kind of mortar composed of clay and
+chopped straw. The houses of the settled inhabitants are two stories
+high, their fronts whitewashed, and their window-sashes painted with
+lively colors. The flat roof forms a terrace which is decorated with
+wild flowers, and here, during good weather, the inhabitants spend much
+of their time contemplating nature, or turning their prayer-wheels.
+Every dwelling-house is composed of many rooms; among them always one
+of superior size, the walls of which are decorated with superb
+fur-skins, and which is reserved for visitors. In the other rooms are
+beds and other furniture. Rich people possess, moreover, a special room
+filled with all kinds of idols, and set apart as a place of worship.
+
+Life here is very regular. They eat anything attainable, without much
+choice; the principal nourishment of the Ladak people, however, being
+exceedingly simple. Their breakfast consists of a piece of rye bread. At
+dinner, they serve on the table a bowl with meal into which lukewarm
+water is stirred with little rods until the mixture assumes the
+consistency of thick paste. From this, small portions are scooped out
+and eaten with milk. In the evening, bread and tea are served. Meat is a
+superfluous luxury. Only the hunters introduce some variety in their
+alimentation, by eating the meat of wild sheep, eagles or pheasants,
+which are very common in this country.
+
+During the day, on every excuse and opportunity, they drink "tchang," a
+kind of pale, unfermented beer.
+
+If it happens that a Ladakian, mounted on a pony (such privileged people
+are very rare), goes to seek work in the surrounding country, he
+provides himself with a small stock of meal; when dinner time comes, he
+descends to a river or spring, mixes with water, in a wooden cup that he
+always has with him, some of the meal, swallows the simple refreshment
+and washes it down with water.
+
+The Tchampas, or nomads, who constitute the other part of Ladak's
+population, are rougher, and much poorer than the settled population.
+They are, for the most part, hunters, who completely neglect
+agriculture. Although they profess the Buddhistic religion, they never
+frequent the cloisters unless in want of meal, which they obtain in
+exchange for their venison. They mostly camp in tents on the summits of
+the mountains, where the cold is very great. While the properly called
+Ladakians are peaceable, very desirous of learning, of an incarnated
+laziness, and are never known to tell untruth; the Tchampas, on the
+contrary, are very irascible, extremely lively, great liars and profess
+a great disdain for the convents.
+
+Among them lives the small population of Khombas, wanderers from the
+vicinity of Lhassa, who lead the miserable existence of a troupe of
+begging gipsies on the highways. Incapable of any work whatever,
+speaking a language not spoken in the country where they beg for their
+subsistence, they are the objects of general contempt, and are only
+tolerated out of pity for their deplorable condition, when hunger drives
+their mendicant bands to seek alms in the villages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Polyandry, which is universally prevalent here, of course interested my
+curiosity. This institution is, by the way, not the outcome of Buddha's
+doctrines. Polyandry existed long before the advent of Buddha. It
+assumed considerable proportions in India, where it constituted one of
+the most effective means for checking the growth of a population which
+tends to constant increase, an economic danger which is even yet
+combatted by the abominable custom of killing newborn female children,
+which causes terrible ravages in the child-life of India. The efforts
+made by the English in their enactments against the suppression of the
+future mothers have proved futile and fruitless. Manu himself
+established polyandry as a law, and Buddhist preachers, who had
+renounced Brahminism and preached the use of opium, imported this custom
+into Ceylon, Thibet, Corea, and the country of the Moguls. For a long
+time suppressed in China, polyandry, which flourishes in Thibet and
+Ceylon, is also met with among the Kalmonks, between Todas in Southern
+India, and Nairs on the coast of Malabar. Traces of this strange
+constitution of the family are also to be found with the Tasmanians and
+the Irquois Indians in North America.
+
+Polyandry, by the way, has even flourished in Europe, if we may believe
+Cæsar, who, in his _De Bello Gallico_, book V., page 17, writes:
+"_Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes, et maxime fratres cum
+fratribus et parentes cum liberis._"
+
+In view of all this it is impossible to hold any religion responsible
+for the existence of the institution of polyandry. In Thibet it can be
+explained by motives of an economical nature; the small quantity of
+arable land falling to the share of each inhabitant. In order to support
+the 1,500,000 inhabitants distributed in Thibet, upon a surface of
+1,200,000 square kilometres, the Buddhists were forced to adopt
+polyandry. Moreover, each family is bound to enter one of its members in
+a religious order. The firstborn is consecrated to a gonpa, which is
+inevitably found upon an elevation, at the entrance of every village.
+As soon as the child attains the age of eighteen years, he is entrusted
+to the caravans which pass Lhassa, where he remains from eight to
+fifteen years as a novice, in one of the gonpas which are near the city.
+There he learns to read and write, is taught the religious rites and
+studies the sacred parchments written in the Pali language--which
+formerly used to be the language of the country of Maguada, where,
+according to tradition, Buddha was born.
+
+The oldest brother remaining in a family chooses a wife, who becomes
+common to his brothers. The choice of the bride and the nuptial
+ceremonies are most rudimentary. When a wife and her husband have
+decided upon the marriage of a son, the brother who possesses the right
+of choice, pays a visit to a neighboring family in which there is a
+marriageable daughter.
+
+The first and second visits are spent in more or less indifferent
+conversations, blended with frequent libations of tchang, and on the
+third visit only does the young man declare his intention to take a
+wife. Upon this the girl is formally introduced to him. She is generally
+not unknown to the wooer, as, in Ladak, women never veil their faces.
+
+A girl cannot be married without her consent. When the young man is
+accepted, he takes his bride to his house, and she becomes his wife and
+also the wife of all his brothers. A family which has an only son sends
+him to a woman who has no more than two or three husbands, and he offers
+himself to her as a fourth husband. Such an offer is seldom declined,
+and the young man settles in the new family.
+
+The newly married remain with the parents of the husbands, until the
+young wife bears her first child. The day after that event, the
+grandparents of the infant make over the bulk of their fortune to the
+new family, and, abandoning the old home to them, seek other shelter.
+
+Sometimes marriages are contracted between youth who have not reached a
+marriageable age, but in such event, the married couple are made to live
+apart, until they have attained and even passed the age required. An
+unmarried girl who becomes _enceinte_, far from being exposed to the
+scorn of every one, is shown the highest respect; for she is
+demonstrated fruitful, and men eagerly seek her in marriage. A wife has
+the unquestioned right of having an unlimited number of husbands and
+lovers. If she likes a young man, she takes him home, announces that he
+has been chosen by her as a "jingtuh" (a lover), and endows him with all
+the personal rights of a husband, which situation is accepted by her
+temporarily supplanted husbands with a certain philosophic pleasure,
+which is the more pronounced if their wife has proved sterile during the
+three first years of her marriage.
+
+They certainly have here not even a vague idea of jealousy. The
+Thibetan's blood is too cold to know love, which, for him, would be
+almost an anachronism; if indeed he were not conscious that the
+sentiment of the entire community would be against him, as a flagrant
+violator of popular usage and established rights, in restraining the
+freedom of the women. The selfish enjoyment of love would be, in their
+eyes, an unjustifiable luxury.
+
+In case of a husband's absence, his place may be offered to a bachelor
+or a widower. The latter are here in the minority, since the wife
+generally survives her feeble husbands. Sometimes a Buddhist traveller,
+whom his affairs bring to the village, is chosen for this office. A
+husband who travels, or seeks for work in the neighboring country, at
+every stop takes advantage of his co-religionists' hospitality, who
+offer him their own wives. The husbands of a sterile woman exert
+themselves to find opportunities for hospitality, which may happily
+eventuate in a change in her condition, that they may be made happy
+fathers.
+
+The wife enjoys the general esteem, is ever of a cheerful disposition,
+takes part in everything that is going on, goes and comes without any
+restriction, anywhere and everywhere she pleases, with the exception of
+the principal prayer-room of the monastery, entrance into which is
+formally prohibited to her.
+
+Children know only their mother, and do not feel the least affection for
+their fathers, for the simple reason that they have so many. Without
+approving polyandry, I could not well blame Thibet for this institution,
+since without it, the population would prodigiously increase. Famine and
+misery would fall upon the whole nation, with all the sinister
+_sequellæ_ of murder and theft, crimes so far absolutely unknown in the
+whole country.
+
+
+
+
+_A Festival in a Gonpa_
+
+
+Leh, the capital of Ladak, is a little town of 5,000 inhabitants, who
+live in white, two-story houses, upon two or three streets, principally.
+In its centre is the square of the bazaar, where the merchants of India,
+China, Turkestan, Kachmyr and Thibet, come to exchange their products
+for the Thibetan gold. Here the natives provide themselves with cloths
+for themselves and their monks, and various objects of real necessity.
+
+An old uninhabited palace rises upon a hill which dominates the town.
+Fronting the central square is a vast building, two stories in height,
+the residence of the governor of Ladak, the Vizier Souradjbal--a very
+amiable and universally popular Pendjaban, who has received in London
+the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
+
+To entertain me, during my sojourn in Leh, the governor arranged, on the
+bazaar square, a game of polo--the national sport of the Thibetans,
+which the English have adopted and introduced into Europe. In the
+evening, after the game, the people executed dances and played games
+before the governor's residence. Large bonfires illuminated the scene,
+lighting up the throng of inhabitants, who formed a great circle about
+the performers. The latter, in considerable numbers, disguised as
+animals, devils and sorcerers, jumped and contorted themselves in
+rhythmic dances timed to the measure of the monotonous and unpleasing
+music made by two long trumpets and a drum.
+
+The infernal racket and shouting of the crowd wearied me. The
+performance ended with some graceful dances by Thibetan women, who spun
+upon their heels, swaying to and fro, and, in passing before the
+spectators in the windows of the residence, greeted us by the clashing
+together of the copper and ivory bracelets on their crossed wrists.
+
+The next day, at an early hour, I repaired to the great Himis convent,
+which, a little distance from Leh, is elevated upon the top of a great
+rock, on a picturesque site, commanding the valley of the Indies. It is
+one of the principal monasteries of the country, and is maintained by
+the gifts of the people and the subsidies it receives from Lhassa. On
+the road leading to it, beyond the bridge crossing the Indus, and in the
+vicinity of the villages lining the way, one finds heaps of stones
+bearing engraved inscriptions, such as have already been described, and
+_t'horthenes_. At these places, our guides were very careful to turn to
+the right. I wished to turn my horse to the left, but the Ladakians made
+him go back and led him by his halter to the right, explaining to me
+that such was their established usage. I found it impossible to learn
+the origin or reason of this custom.
+
+Above the gonpa rises a battlemented tower, visible from a great
+distance. We climbed, on foot, to the level on which the edifice stands
+and found ourselves confronted by a large door, painted in brilliant
+colors, the portal of a vast two-story building enclosing a court paved
+with little pebbles. To the right, in one of the angles of the court, is
+another huge painted door, adorned with big copper rings. It is the
+entrance to the principal temple, which is decorated with paintings of
+the principal gods, and contains a great statue of Buddha and a
+multitude of sacred statuettes. To the left, upon a verandah, was placed
+an immense prayer-cylinder. All the lamas of the convent, with their
+chief, stood about it, when we entered the court. Below the verandah
+were musicians, holding long trumpets and drums.
+
+At the right of the court were a number of doors, leading to the rooms
+of the lamas; all decorated with sacred paintings and provided with
+little prayer-barrels fancifully surmounted by black and white tridents,
+from the points of which floated ribbons bearing inscriptions--doubtless
+prayers. In the centre of the court were raised two tall masts, from the
+tops of which dangled tails of yaks, and long paper streamers floated,
+covered with religious inscriptions. All along the walls were numerous
+prayer-barrels, adorned with ribbons.
+
+A profound silence reigned among the many spectators present. All
+awaited anxiously the commencement of a religious "mystery," which was
+about to be presented. We took up a position near the verandah. Almost
+immediately, the musicians drew from their long trumpets soft and
+monotonous tones, marking the time by measured beats upon an odd-looking
+drum, broad and shallow, upreared upon a stick planted in the ground. At
+the first sounds of the strange music, in which joined the voices of the
+lamas in a melancholy chant, the doors along the wall opened
+simultaneously, giving entrance to about twenty masked persons,
+disguised as animals, birds, devils and imaginary monsters. On their
+breasts they bore representations of fantastic dragons, demons and
+skulls, embroidered with Chinese silk of various colors. From the
+conical hats they wore, depended to their breasts long multicolored
+ribbons, covered with inscriptions. Their masks were white
+death's-heads. Slowly they marched about the masts, stretching out their
+arms from time to time and flourishing with their left hands
+spoon-shaped objects, the bowl portions of which were said to be
+fragments of human crania, with ribbons attached, having affixed to
+their ends human hair, which, I was assured, had been taken from scalped
+enemies. Their promenade, in gradually narrowing circles about the
+masts, soon became merely a confused jostling of each other; when the
+rolling of the drum grew more accentuated, the performers for an instant
+stopped, then started again, swinging above their heads yellow sticks,
+ribbon-decked, which with their right hands they brandished in menacing
+attitudes.
+
+After making a salute to the chief lama, they approached the door
+leading to the temple, which at this instant opened, and from it another
+band came forth, whose heads were covered by copper masks. Their dresses
+were of rich materials, embroidered in various bright colors. In one
+hand each of them carried a small tambourine and with the other he
+agitated a little bell. From the rim of each tambourine depended a
+metallic ball, so placed that the least movement of the hand brought it
+in contact with the resonant tympanum, which caused a strange,
+continuous undercurrent of pulsating sound. There new performers circled
+several times about the court, marking the time of their dancing steps
+by measured thumpings of the tambourines. At the completion of each
+turn, they made a deafening noise with their instruments. Finally, they
+ran to the temple door and ranged themselves upon the steps before it.
+
+For a moment, there was silence. Then we saw emerge from the temple a
+third band of performers. Their enormous masks represented different
+deities, and each bore upon its forehead "the third eye." At their head
+marched Thlogan-Poudma-Jungnas (literally "he who was born in the lotus
+flower"). Another richly dressed mask marched beside him, carrying a
+yellow parasol covered with symbolic designs. His suite was composed of
+gods, in magnificent costumes; Dorje-Trolong and Sangspa-Kourpo (_i.e._,
+Brahma himself), and others. These masks, as a lama sitting near me
+explained to us, represented six classes of beings subject to the
+metamorphoses; the gods, the demigods, men, animals, spirits and demons.
+
+On each side of these personages, who advanced gravely, marched other
+masks, costumed in silks of brilliant hues and wearing on their heads
+golden crowns, fashioned with six lotus-like flowers on each, surmounted
+by a tall dart in the centre. Each of these masks carried a drum.
+
+These disguises made three turns about the masts, to the sound of a
+noisy and incoherent music, and then seated themselves on the ground,
+around Thlogan-Pondma-Jungnas, a god with three eyes, who gravely
+introduced two fingers into his mouth and emitted a shrill whistle. At
+this signal, young men dressed in warrior costumes--with ribbon-decked
+bells dangling about their legs--came with measured steps from the
+temple. Their heads were covered by enormous green masks, from which
+floated triangular red flags, and they, too, carried tambourines. Making
+a diabolical din, they whirled and danced about the gods seated on the
+ground. Two big fellows accompanying them, who were dressed in tight
+clown costumes, executed all kinds of grotesque contortions and
+acrobatic feats, by which they won plaudits and shouts of laughter from
+the spectators.
+
+Another group of disguises--of which the principal features were red
+mitres and yellow pantaloons--came out of the temple, with bells and
+tambourines in their hands, and seated themselves opposite the gods, as
+representatives of the highest powers next to divinity. Lastly there
+entered upon the scene a lot of red and brown masks, with a "third eye"
+painted on their breasts. With those who had preceded them, they formed
+two long lines of dancers, who to the thrumming of their many
+tambourines, the measured music of the trumpets and drums, and the
+jingling of a myriad of bells, performed a dance, approaching and
+receding from each other, whirling in circles, forming by twos in a
+column and breaking from that formation to make new combinations,
+pausing occasionally to make reverent obeisance before the gods.
+
+After a time this spectacular excitement--the noisy monotony of which
+began to weary me--calmed down a little; gods, demigods, kings, men and
+spirits got up, and followed by all the other maskers, directed
+themselves toward the temple door, whence issued at once, meeting them,
+a lot of men admirably disguised as skeletons. All those sorties were
+calculated and prearranged, and every one of them had its particular
+significance. The _cortège_ of dancers gave way to the skeletons, who
+advanced with measured steps, in silence, to the masts, where they
+stopped and made a concerted clicking with pieces of wood hanging at
+their sides, simulating perfectly the rattling of dry bones and gnashing
+of teeth. Twice they went in a circle around the masts, marching in time
+to low taps on the drums, and then joined in a lugubrious religious
+chant. Having once more made the concerted rattling of their artificial
+bones and jaws, they executed some contortions painful to witness and
+together stopped.
+
+Then they seized upon an image of the Enemy of Man--made of some sort of
+brittle paste--which had been placed at the foot of one of the masts.
+This they broke in pieces and scattered, and the oldest men among the
+spectators, rising from their places, picked up the fragments which
+they handed to the skeletons--an action supposed to signify that they
+would soon be ready to join the bony crew in the cemetery.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The chief lama, approaching me, tendered an invitation to accompany him
+to the principal terrace and partake of the festal "tchang"; which I
+accepted with pleasure, for my head was dizzy from the long spectacle.
+
+We crossed the court and climbed a staircase--obstructed with
+prayer-wheels, as usual--passed two rooms where there were many images
+of gods, and came out upon the terrace, where I seated myself upon a
+bench opposite the venerable lama, whose eyes sparkled with spirit.
+
+Three lamas brought pitchers of tchang, which they poured into small
+copper cups, that were offered first to the chief lama, then to me and
+my servants.
+
+"Did you enjoy our little festival?" the lama asked me.
+
+"I found it very enjoyable and am still impressed by the spectacle I
+have witnessed. But, to tell the truth, I never suspected for a moment
+that Buddhism, in these religious ceremonies, could display such a
+visible, not to say noisy, exterior form."
+
+"There is no religion, the ceremonies of which are not surrounded with
+more theatrical forms," the lama answered. "This is a ritualistic phase
+which does not by any means violate the fundamental principles of
+Buddhism. It is a practical means for maintaining in the ignorant mass
+obedience to and love for the one Creator, just as a child is beguiled
+by toys to do the will of its parents. The ignorant mass is the child of
+The Father."
+
+"But what is the meaning," I said to him, "of all those masks, costumes,
+bells, dances, and, generally, of this entire performance, which seems
+to be executed after a prescribed programme?"
+
+"We have many similar festivals in the year," answered the lama, "and we
+arrange particular ones to represent 'mysteries,' susceptible of
+pantomimic presentation, in which each actor is allowed considerable
+latitude of action, in the movements and jests he likes, conforming,
+nevertheless, to the circumstances and to the leading idea. Our
+mysteries are simply pantomimes calculated to show the veneration
+offered to the gods, which veneration sustains and cheers the soul of
+man, who is prone to anxious contemplation of inevitable death and the
+life to come. The actors receive the dresses from the cloister and they
+play according to general indications, which leave them much liberty of
+individual action. The general effect produced is, no doubt, very
+beautiful, but it is a matter for the spectators themselves to divine
+the signification of one or another action. You, too, have recourse
+sometimes to similar devices, which, however, do not in the least
+violate the principle of monotheism."
+
+"Pardon me," I remarked, "but this multitude of idols with which your
+gonpas abound, is a flagrant violation of that principle."
+
+"As I have told you," replied the lama to my interruption, "man will
+always be in childhood. He sees and feels the grandeur of nature and
+understands everything presented to his senses, but he neither sees nor
+divines the Great Soul which created and animates all things. Man has
+always sought for tangible things. It was not possible for him to
+believe long in that which escaped his material senses. He has racked
+his brain for any means for contemplating the Creator; has endeavored to
+enter into direct relations with him who has done him so much good, and
+also, as he erroneously believes, so much evil. For this reason he began
+to adore every phase of nature from which he received benefits. We see a
+striking example of this in the ancient Egyptians, who adored animals,
+trees, stones, the winds and the rain. Other peoples, who were more
+sunk in ignorance, seeing that the results of the wind were not always
+beneficent, and that the rain did not inevitably bring good harvests,
+and that the animals were not willingly subservient to man, began to
+seek for direct intermediaries between themselves and the great
+mysterious and unfathomable power of the Creator. Therefore they made
+for themselves idols, which they regarded as indifferent to things
+concerning them, but to whose interposition in their behalf, they might
+always recur. From remotest antiquity to our own days, man was ever
+inclined only to tangible realities.
+
+"While seeking a route to lead their feet to the Creator, the Assyrians
+turned their eyes toward the stars, which they contemplated without the
+power of attaining them. The Guebers have conserved the same belief to
+our days. In their nullity and spiritual blindness, men are incapable of
+conceiving the invisible spiritual bond which unites them to the great
+Divinity, and this explains why they have always sought for palpable
+things, which were in the domain of the senses, and by doing which they
+minimized the divine principle. Nevertheless, they have dared to
+attribute to their visible and man-made images a divine and eternal
+existence. We can see the same fact in Brahminism, where man, given to
+his inclination for exterior forms, has created, little by little, and
+not all at once, an army of gods and demigods. The Israelites may be
+said to have demonstrated, in the most flagrant way, the love of man for
+everything which is concrete. In spite of a series of striking miracles
+accomplished by the great Creator, who is the same for all the peoples,
+the Jewish people could not help making a god of metal in the very
+minute when their prophet Mossa spoke to them of the Creator! Buddhism
+has passed through the same modifications. Our great reformer,
+Sakya-Muni, inspired by the Supreme Judge, understood truly the one and
+indivisible Brahma, and forbade his disciples attempting to manufacture
+images in imaginary semblance of him. He had openly broken from the
+polytheistic Brahmins, and appreciated the purity, oneness and
+immortality of Brahma. The success he achieved by his teachings in
+making disciples among the people, brought upon him persecution by the
+Brahmins, who, in the creation of new gods, had found a source of
+personal revenue, and who, contrary to the law of God, treated the
+people in a despotic manner. Our first sacred teachers, to whom we give
+the name of buddhas--which means, learned men or saints--because the
+great Creator has incarnated in them, settled in different countries of
+the globe. As their teachings attacked especially the tyranny of the
+Brahmins and the misuse they made of the idea of God--of which they
+indeed made a veritable business--almost all the Buddhistic converts,
+they who followed the doctrines of those great teachers, were among the
+common people of China and India. Among those teachers, particular
+reverence is felt for the Buddha, Sakya-Muni, known in China also under
+the name of Fô, who lived three thousand years ago, and whose teachings
+brought all China back into the path of the true God; and the Buddha,
+Gautama, who lived two thousand five hundred years ago, and converted
+almost half the Hindus to the knowledge of the impersonal, indivisible
+and only God, besides whom there is none.
+
+"Buddhism is divided into many sects which, by the way, differ only in
+certain religious ceremonies, the basis of the doctrine being everywhere
+the same. The Thibetan Buddhists, who are called 'lamaists,' separated
+themselves from the Fô-ists fifteen hundred years ago. Until that time
+we had formed part of the worshippers of the Buddha, Fô-Sakya-Muni, who
+was the first to collect all the laws compiled by the various buddhas
+preceding him, when the great schism took place in the bosom of
+Brahmanism. Later on, a Khoutoukhte-Mongol translated into Chinese the
+books of the great Buddha, for which the Emperor of China rewarded him
+by bestowing upon him the title of 'Go-Chi--'Preceptor of the King!'
+After his death, this title was given to the Dalai-Lama of Thibet. Since
+that epoch, all the titularies of this position have borne the title of
+Go-Chi. Our religion is called the Lamaic one--from the word 'lama,'
+superior. It admits of two classes of monks, the red and the yellow. The
+former may marry, and they recognize the authority of the Bantsine, who
+resides in Techow Loumba, and is chief of the civil administration in
+Thibet. We, the yellow lamas, have taken the vow of celibacy, and our
+direct chief is the Dalai-Lama. This is the difference which separates
+the two religious orders, the respective rituals of which are
+identical."
+
+"Do all perform mysteries similar to that which I have just witnessed?"
+
+"Yes; with a few exceptions. Formerly these festivals were celebrated
+with very solemn pomp, but since the conquest of Ladak our convents have
+been, more than once, pillaged and our wealth taken away. Now we content
+ourselves with simple garments and bronze utensils, while in Thibet you
+see but golden robes and gold utensils."
+
+"In a visit which I recently made to a gonpa, one of the lamas told me
+of a prophet, or, as you call him, a buddha, by the name of Issa. Could
+you not tell me anything about him?" I asked my interlocutor, seizing
+this favorable moment to start the subject which interested me so
+greatly.
+
+"The name Issa is very much respected among the Buddhists," he replied,
+"but he is only known by the chief lamas, who have read the scrolls
+relating to his life. There have existed an infinite number of buddhas
+like Issa, and the 84,000 scrolls existing are filled brim full of
+details concerning each one of them. But very few persons have read the
+one-hundredth part of those memoirs. In conformity with established
+custom, every disciple or lama who visits Lhassa makes a gift of one or
+several copies, from the scrolls there, to the convent to which he
+belongs. Our gonpa, among others, possesses already a great number,
+which I read in my leisure hours. Among them are the memoirs of the life
+and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the same doctrine in India and
+among the sons of Israel, and who was put to death by the Pagans, whose
+descendants, later on, adopted the beliefs he spread,--and those beliefs
+are yours.
+
+"The great Buddha, the soul of the Universe, is the incarnation of
+Brahma. He, almost always, remains immobile, containing in himself all
+things, being in himself the origin of all and his breath vivifying the
+world. He has left man to the control of his own forces, but, at certain
+epochs, lays aside his inaction and puts on a human form that he may, as
+their teacher and guide, rescue his creatures from impending
+destruction. In the course of his terrestrial existence in the
+similitude of man, Buddha creates a new world in the hearts of erring
+men; then he leaves the earth, to become once more an invisible being
+and resume his condition of perfect bliss. Three thousand years ago,
+Buddha incarnated in the celebrated Prince Sakya-Muni, reaffirming and
+propagating the doctrines taught by him in his twenty preceding
+incarnations. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Great Soul of the World
+incarnated anew in Gautama, laying the foundation of a new world in
+Burmah, Siam and different islands. Soon afterward, Buddhism began to
+penetrate China, through the persevering efforts of the sages, who
+devoted themselves to the propagation of the sacred doctrine, and under
+Ming-Ti, of the Honi dynasty, nearly 2,050 years ago, the teachings of
+Sakya-Muni were adopted by the people of that country. Simultaneously
+with the appearance of Buddhism in China, the same doctrines began to
+spread among the Israelites. It is about 2,000 years ago that the
+perfect Being, awaking once more for a short time from his inaction,
+incarnated in the newborn child of a poor family. It was his will that
+this little child should enlighten the unhappy upon the life of the
+world to come and bring erring men back into the path of truth; showing
+to them, by his own example, the way they could best return to the
+primitive morality and purity of our race. When this sacred child
+attained a certain age, he was brought to India, where, until he
+attained to manhood, he studied the laws of the great Buddha, who dwells
+eternally in heaven."
+
+"In what language are written the principal scrolls bearing upon the
+life of Issa?" I asked, rising from my seat, for I saw that my
+interesting interlocutor evidenced fatigue, and had just given a twirl
+to his prayer-wheel, as if to hint the closing of the conversation.
+
+"The original scrolls brought from India to Nepaul, and from Nepaul to
+Thibet, relating to the life of Issa, are written in the Pali language
+and are actually in Lhassa; but a copy in our language--I mean the
+Thibetan--is in this convent."
+
+"How is Issa looked upon in Thibet? Has he the repute of a saint?"
+
+"The people are not even aware that he ever existed. Only the principal
+lamas, who know of him through having studied the scrolls in which his
+life is related, are familiar with his name; but, as his doctrine does
+not constitute a canonical part of Buddhism, and the worshippers of Issa
+do not recognize the authority of the Dalai-Lama, the prophet Issa--with
+many others like him--is not recognized in Thibet as one of the
+principal saints."
+
+"Would you commit a sin in reciting your copy of the life of Issa to a
+stranger?" I asked him.
+
+"That which belongs to God," he answered me, "belongs also to man. Our
+duty requires us to cheerfully devote ourselves to the propagation of
+His doctrine. Only, I do not, at present, know where that manuscript is.
+If you ever visit our gonpa again, I shall take pleasure in showing it
+to you."
+
+At this moment two monks entered, and uttered to the chief lama a few
+words unintelligible to me.
+
+"I am called to the sacrifices. Will you kindly excuse me?" said he to
+me, and with a salute, turned to the door and disappeared.
+
+I could do no better than withdraw and lie down in the chamber which was
+assigned to me and where I spent the night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the evening of the next day I was again in Leh--thinking of how to
+get back to the convent. Two days later I sent, by a messenger, to the
+chief lama, as presents, a watch, an alarm clock, and a thermometer. At
+the same time I sent the message that before leaving Ladak I would
+probably return to the convent, in the hope that he would permit me to
+see the manuscript which had been the subject of our conversation. It
+was now my purpose to gain Kachmyr and return from there, some time
+later, to Himis. But fate made a different decision for me.
+
+In passing a mountain, on a height of which is perched the gonpa of
+Piatak, my horse made a false step, throwing me to the ground so
+violently that my right leg was broken below the knee.
+
+It was impossible to continue my journey, I was not inclined to return
+to Leh; and seeking the hospitality of the gonpa of Piatak was not, from
+the appearance of the cloister, an enticing prospect. My best recourse
+would be to return to Himis, then only about half a day's journey
+distant, and I ordered my servants to transport me there. They bandaged
+my broken leg--an operation which caused me great pain--and lifted me
+into the saddle. One carrier walked by my side, supporting the weight of
+the injured member, while another led my horse. At a late hour of the
+evening we reached the door of the convent of Himis.
+
+When informed of my accident, the kind monks came out to receive me and,
+with a wealth of extraordinary precautions of tenderness, I was carried
+inside, and, in one of their best rooms, installed upon an improvised
+bed, consisting of a mountain of soft fabrics, with the
+naturally-to-be-expected prayer-cylinder beside me. All this was done
+for me under the personal supervision of their chief lama, who, with
+affectionate sympathy, pressed the hand I gave him in expression of my
+thanks for his kindness.
+
+In the morning, I myself bound around the injured limb little oblong
+pieces of wood, held by cords, to serve as splints. Then I remained
+perfectly quiescent and nature was not slow in her reparative work.
+Within two days my condition was so far improved that I could, had it
+been necessary, have left the gonpa and directed myself slowly toward
+India in search of a surgeon to complete my cure.
+
+While a boy kept in motion the prayer-barrel near my bed, the venerable
+lama who ruled the convent entertained me with many interesting stories.
+Frequently he took from their box the alarm clock and the watch, that I
+might illustrate to him the process of winding them and explain to him
+their uses. At length, yielding to my ardent insistence, he brought me
+two big books, the large leaves of which were of paper yellow with age,
+and from them read to me the biography of Issa, which I carefully
+transcribed in my travelling notebook according to the translation made
+by the interpreter. This curious document is compiled under the form of
+isolated verses, which, as placed, very often had no apparent connection
+with, or relation to each other.
+
+On the third day, my condition was so far improved as to permit the
+prosecution of my journey. Having bound up my leg as well as possible, I
+returned, across Kachmyr, to India; a slow journey, of twenty days,
+filled with intolerable pain. Thanks, however, to a litter, which a
+French gentleman, M. Peicheau, had kindly sent to me (my gratitude for
+which I take this occasion to express), and to an ukase of the Grand
+Vizier of the Maharajah of Kachmyr, ordering the local authorities to
+provide me with carriers, I reached Srinagar, and left almost
+immediately, being anxious to gain India before the first snows fell.
+
+In Muré I encountered another Frenchman, Count André de Saint Phall, who
+was making a journey of recreation across Hindostan. During the whole
+course, which we made together, to Bombay, the young count demonstrated
+a touching solicitude for me, and sympathy for the excruciating pain I
+suffered from my broken leg and the fever induced by its torture. I
+cherish for him sincere gratitude, and shall never forget the friendly
+care which I received upon my arrival in Bombay from the Marquis de
+Morés, the Vicomte de Breteul, M. Monod, of the Comptoir d'Escompte, M.
+Moët, acting consul, and all the members of the very sympathetic French
+colony there.
+
+During a long time I revolved in my mind the purpose of publishing the
+memoirs of the life of Jesus Christ found by me in Himis, of which I
+have spoken, but other interests absorbed my attention and delayed it.
+Only now, after having passed long nights of wakefulness in the
+coordination of my notes and grouping the verses conformably to the
+march of the recital, imparting to the work, as a whole, a character of
+unity, I resolve to let this curious chronicle see the light.
+
+
+
+
+_The Life of Saint Issa_
+
+
+"Best of the Sons of Men."
+
+
+I.
+
+1. The earth trembled and the heavens wept, because of the great crime
+committed in the land of Israel.
+
+2. For there was tortured and murdered the great and just Issa, in whom
+was manifest the soul of the Universe;
+
+3. Which had incarnated in a simple mortal, to benefit men and destroy
+the evil spirit in them;
+
+4. To lead back to peace, love and happiness, man, degraded by his sins,
+and recall him to the one and indivisible Creator whose mercy is
+infinite.
+
+5. The merchants coming from Israel have given the following account of
+what has occurred:
+
+
+II.
+
+1. The people of Israel--who inhabit a fertile country producing two
+harvests a year and affording pasture for large herds of cattle--by
+their sins brought down upon themselves the anger of the Lord;
+
+2. Who inflicted upon them terrible chastisements, taking from them
+their land, their cattle and their wealth. They were carried away into
+slavery by the rich and mighty Pharaohs who then ruled the land of
+Egypt.
+
+3. The Israelites were, by the Pharaohs, treated worse than beasts,
+condemned to hard labor and put in irons; their bodies were covered with
+wounds and sores; they were not permitted to live under a roof, and were
+starved to death;
+
+4. That they might be maintained in a state of continual terror and
+deprived of all human resemblance;
+
+5. And in this great calamity, the Israelites, remembering their
+Celestial Protector, implored his forgiveness and mercy.
+
+6. At that period reigned in Egypt an illustrious Pharaoh, who was
+renowned for his many victories, immense riches, and the gigantic
+palaces he had erected by the labor of his slaves.
+
+7. This Pharaoh had two sons, the younger of whom, named Mossa, had
+acquired much knowledge from the sages of Israel.
+
+8. And Mossa was beloved by all in Egypt for his kindness of heart and
+the pity he showed to all sufferers.
+
+9. When Mossa saw that the Israelites, in spite of their many
+sufferings, had not forsaken their God, and refused to worship the gods
+of Egypt, created by the hands of man.
+
+10. He also put his faith in their invisible God, who did not suffer
+them to betray Him, despite their ever growing weakness.
+
+11. And the teachers among Israel animated Mossa in his zeal, and prayed
+of him that he would intercede with his father, Pharaoh, in favor of
+their co-religionists.
+
+12. Prince Mossa went before his father, begging him to lighten the
+burden of the unhappy people; Pharaoh, however, became incensed with
+rage, and ordered that they should be tormented more than before.
+
+13. And it came to pass that Egypt was visited by a great calamity. The
+plague decimated young and old, the healthy and the sick; and Pharaoh
+beheld in this the resentment of his own gods against him.
+
+14. But Prince Mossa said to his father that it was the God of his
+slaves who thus interposed on behalf of his wretched people, and avenged
+them upon the Egyptians.
+
+15. Thereupon, Pharaoh commanded Mossa, his son, to gather all the
+Israelite slaves, and lead them away, and found, at a great distance
+from the capital, another city where he should rule over them.
+
+16. Then Mossa made known to the Hebrew slaves that he had obtained
+their freedom in the name of his and their God, the God of Israel; and
+with them he left the city and departed from the land of Egypt.
+
+17. He led them back to the land which, because of their many sins, had
+been taken from them. There he gave them laws and admonished them to
+pray always to God, the indivisible Creator, whose kindness is infinite.
+
+18. After Prince Mossa's death, the Israelites observed rigorously his
+laws; and God rewarded them for the ills to which they had been
+subjected in Egypt.
+
+19. Their kingdom became one of the most powerful on earth; their kings
+made themselves renowned for their treasures, and peace reigned in
+Israel.
+
+
+III.
+
+1. The glory of Israel's wealth spread over the whole earth, and the
+surrounding nations became envious.
+
+2. But the Most High himself led the victorious arms of the Hebrews, and
+the Pagans did not dare to attack them.
+
+3. Unfortunately, man is prone to err, and the fidelity of the
+Israelites to their God was not of long duration.
+
+4. Little by little they forgot the favors he had bestowed upon them;
+rarely invoked his name, and sought rather protection by the magicians
+and sorcerers.
+
+5. The kings and the chiefs among the people substituted their own laws
+for those given by Mossa; the temple of God and the observances of their
+ancient faith were neglected; the people addicted themselves to sensual
+gratifications and lost their original purity.
+
+6. Many centuries had elapsed since their exodus from Egypt, when God
+bethought himself of again inflicting chastisement upon them.
+
+7. Strangers invaded Israel, devastated the land, destroyed the
+villages, and carried their inhabitants away into captivity.
+
+8. At last came the Pagans from over the sea, from the land of Romeles.
+These made themselves masters of the Hebrews, and placed over them their
+army chiefs, who governed in the name of Cæsar.
+
+9. They defiled the temples, forced the inhabitants to cease the worship
+of the indivisible God, and compelled them to sacrifice to the heathen
+gods.
+
+10. They made common soldiers of those who had been men of rank; the
+women became their prey, and the common people, reduced to slavery, were
+carried away by thousands over the sea.
+
+11. The children were slain, and soon, in the whole land, there was
+naught heard but weeping and lamentation.
+
+12. In this extreme distress, the Israelites once more remembered their
+great God, implored his mercy and prayed for his forgiveness. Our
+Father, in his inexhaustible clemency, heard their prayer.
+
+
+IV.
+
+1. At that time the moment had come for the compassionate Judge to
+reincarnate in a human form;
+
+2. And the eternal Spirit, resting in a state of complete inaction and
+supreme bliss, awakened and separated from the eternal Being, for an
+undetermined period,
+
+3. So that, in human form, He might teach man to identify himself with
+the Divinity and attain to eternal felicity;
+
+4. And to show, by His example, how man can attain moral purity and free
+his soul from the domination of the physical senses, so that it may
+achieve the perfection necessary for it to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
+which is immutable and where bliss eternal reigns.
+
+5. Soon after, a marvellous child was born in the land of Israel. God
+himself spoke, through the mouth of this child, of the miseries of the
+body and the grandeur of the soul.
+
+6. The parents of the infant were poor people, who belonged to a family
+noted for great piety; who forgot the greatness of their ancestors in
+celebrating the name of the Creator and giving thanks to Him for the
+trials which He had sent upon them.
+
+7. To reward them for adhering to the path of truth, God blessed the
+firstborn of this family; chose him for His elect, and sent him to
+sustain the fallen and comfort the afflicted.
+
+8. The divine child, to whom the name Issa was given, commenced in his
+tender years to talk of the only and indivisible God, exhorting the
+strayed souls to repent and purify themselves from the sins of which
+they had become guilty.
+
+9. People came from all parts to hear him, and marvelled at the
+discourses which came from his infantile mouth; and all Israel agreed
+that the Spirit of the Eternal dwelt in this child.
+
+10. When Issa was thirteen years old, the age at which an Israelite is
+expected to marry,
+
+11. The modest house of his industrious parents became a meeting place
+of the rich and illustrious, who were anxious to have as a son-in-law
+the young Issa, who was already celebrated for the edifying discourses
+he made in the name of the All-Powerful.
+
+12. Then Issa secretly absented himself from his father's house; left
+Jerusalem, and, in a train of merchants, journeyed toward the Sindh,
+
+13. With the object of perfecting himself in the knowledge of the word
+of God and the study of the laws of the great Buddhas.
+
+
+V.
+
+1. In his fourteenth year, young Issa, the Blessed One, came this side
+of the Sindh and settled among the Aryas, in the country beloved by God.
+
+2. Fame spread the name of the marvellous youth along the northern
+Sindh, and when he came through the country of the five streams and
+Radjipoutan, the devotees of the god Djaïne asked him to stay among
+them.
+
+3. But he left the deluded worshippers of Djaïne and went to
+Djagguernat, in the country of Orsis, where repose the mortal remains
+of Vyassa-Krishna, and where the white priests of Brahma welcomed him
+joyfully.
+
+4. They taught him to read and to understand the Vedas, to cure physical
+ills by means of prayers, to teach and to expound the sacred Scriptures,
+to drive out evil desires from man and make him again in the likeness of
+God.
+
+5. He spent six years in Djagguernat, in Radjagriha, in Benares, and in
+other holy cities. The common people loved Issa, for he lived in peace
+with the Vaisyas and the Sudras, to whom he taught the Holy Scriptures.
+
+6. But the Brahmins and the Kshatnyas told him that they were forbidden
+by the great Para-Brahma to come near to those who were created from his
+belly and his feet;[1]
+
+7. That the Vaisyas might only hear the recital of the Vedas, and this
+only on the festal days, and
+
+8. That the Sudras were not only forbidden to attend the reading of the
+Vedas, but even to look on them; for they were condemned to perpetual
+servitude, as slaves of the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and even the
+Vaisyas.
+
+9. "Death alone can enfranchise them from their servitude," has said
+Para-Brahma. "Leave them, therefore, and come to adore with us the gods,
+whom you will make angry if you disobey them."
+
+10. But Issa, disregarding their words, remained with the Sudras,
+preaching against the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas.
+
+11. He declaimed strongly against man's arrogating to himself the
+authority to deprive his fellow-beings of their human and spiritual
+rights. "Verily," he said, "God has made no difference between his
+children, who are all alike dear to Him."
+
+12. Issa denied the divine inspiration of the Vedas and the Puranas,
+for, as he taught his followers,--"One law has been given to man to
+guide him in his actions:
+
+13. "Fear the Lord, thy God; bend thy knees only before Him and bring to
+Him only the offerings which come from thy earnings."
+
+14. Issa denied the Trimurti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma in
+Vishnu, Siva, and other gods; "for," said he:
+
+15. "The eternal Judge, the eternal Spirit, constitutes the only and
+indivisible soul of the universe, and it is this soul alone which
+creates, contains and vivifies all.
+
+16. "He alone has willed and created. He alone has existed from
+eternity, and His existence will be without end; there is no one like
+unto Him either in the heavens or on the earth.
+
+17. "The great Creator has divided His power with no other being; far
+less with inanimate objects, as you have been taught to believe, for He
+alone is omnipotent and all-sufficient.
+
+18. "He willed, and the world was. By one divine thought, He reunited
+the waters and separated them from the dry land of the globe. He is the
+cause of the mysterious life of man, into whom He has breathed part of
+His divine Being.
+
+19. "And He has put under subjection to man, the lands, the waters, the
+beasts and everything which He created, and which He himself preserves
+in immutable order, allotting to each its proper duration.
+
+20. "The anger of God will soon break forth upon man; for he has
+forgotten his Creator; he has filled His temples with abominations; and
+he adores a multitude of creatures which God has subordinated to him;
+
+21. "And to gain favor with images of stone and metal, he sacrifices
+human beings in whom dwells part of the Spirit of the Most High;
+
+22. "And he humiliates those who work in the sweat of their brows, to
+gain favor in the eyes of the idler who sitteth at a sumptuous table.
+
+23. "Those who deprive their brothers of divine happiness will
+themselves be deprived of it; and the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas shall
+become the Sudras of the Sudras, with whom the Eternal will stay
+forever.
+
+24. "In the day of judgment the Sudras and the Vaisyas will be forgiven
+for that they knew not the light, while God will let loose his wrath
+upon those who arrogated his authority."
+
+25. The Vaisyas and the Sudras were filled with great admiration, and
+asked Issa how they should pray, in order not to lose their hold upon
+eternal life.
+
+26. "Pray not to idols, for they cannot hear you; hearken not to the
+Vedas where the truth is altered; be humble and humiliate not your
+fellow man.
+
+27. "Help the poor, support the weak, do evil to none; covet not that
+which ye have not and which belongs to others."
+
+
+VI.
+
+1. The white priests and the warriors,[2] who had learned of Issa's
+discourse to the Sudras, resolved upon his death, and sent their
+servants to find the young teacher and slay him.
+
+2. But Issa, warned by the Sudras of his danger, left by night
+Djagguernat, gained the mountain, and settled in the country of the
+Gautamides, where the great Buddha Sakya-Muni came to the world, among a
+people who worshipped the only and sublime Brahma.
+
+3. When the just Issa had acquired the Pali language, he applied himself
+to the study of the sacred scrolls of the Sutras.
+
+4. After six years of study, Issa, whom the Buddha had elected to spread
+his holy word, could perfectly expound the sacred scrolls.
+
+5. He then left Nepaul and the Himalaya mountains, descended into the
+valley of Radjipoutan and directed his steps toward the West,
+everywhere preaching to the people the supreme perfection attainable by
+man;
+
+6. And the good he must do to his fellow men, which is the sure means of
+speedy union with the eternal Spirit. "He who has recovered his
+primitive purity," said Issa, "shall die with his transgressions
+forgiven and have the right to contemplate the majesty of God."
+
+7. When the divine Issa traversed the territories of the Pagans, he
+taught that the adoration of visible gods was contrary to natural law.
+
+8. "For to man," said he, "it has not been given to see the image of
+God, and it behooves him not to make for himself a multitude of
+divinities in the imagined likeness of the Eternal.
+
+9. "Moreover, it is against human conscience to have less regard for the
+greatness of divine purity, than for animals or works of stone or metal
+made by the hands of man.
+
+10. "The eternal Lawgiver is One; there are no other Gods than He; He
+has parted the world with none, nor had He any counsellor.
+
+11. "Even as a father shows kindness toward his children, so will God
+judge men after death, in conformity with His merciful laws. He will
+never humiliate his child by casting his soul for chastisement into the
+body of a beast.
+
+12. "The heavenly laws," said the Creator, through the mouth of Issa,
+"are opposed to the immolation of human sacrifices to a statue or an
+animal; for I, the God, have sacrificed to man all the animals and all
+that the world contains.
+
+13. "Everything has been sacrificed to man, who is directly and
+intimately united to me, his Father; therefore, shall the man be
+severely judged and punished, by my law, who causes the sacrifice of my
+children.
+
+14. "Man is naught before the eternal Judge; as the animal is before
+man.
+
+15. "Therefore, I say unto you, leave your idols and perform not
+ceremonies which separate you from your Father and bind you to the
+priests, from whom heaven has turned away.
+
+16. "For it is they who have led you away from the true God, and by
+superstitions and cruelty perverted the spirit and made you blind to the
+knowledge of the truth."
+
+
+VII.
+
+1. The words of Issa spread among the Pagans, through whose country he
+passed, and the inhabitants abandoned their idols.
+
+2. Seeing which, the priests demanded of him who thus glorified the name
+of the true God, that he should, in the presence of the people, prove
+the charges he made against them, and demonstrate the vanity of their
+idols.
+
+3. And Issa answered them: "If your idols, or the animals you worship,
+really possess the supernatural powers you claim, let them strike me
+with a thunderbolt before you!"
+
+4. "Why dost not thou perform a miracle," replied the priests, "and let
+thy God confound ours, if He is greater than they?"
+
+5. But Issa said: "The miracles of our God have been wrought from the
+first day when the universe was created; and are performed every day and
+every moment; whoso sees them not is deprived of one of the most
+beautiful gifts of life.
+
+6. "And it is not on inanimate objects of stone, metal or wood that He
+will let His anger fall, but on the men who worship them, and who,
+therefore, for their salvation, must destroy the idols they have made.
+
+7. "Even as a stone and a grain of sand, which are naught before man,
+await patiently their use by Him.
+
+8. "In like manner, man, who is naught before God, must await in
+resignation His pleasure for a manifestation of His favor.
+
+9. "But woe to you! ye adversaries of men, if it is not the favor you
+await, but rather the wrath of the Most High; woe to you, if you demand
+that He attest His power by a miracle!
+
+10. "For it is not the idols which He will destroy in His wrath, but
+those by whom they were created; their hearts will be the prey of an
+eternal fire and their flesh shall be given to the beasts of prey.
+
+11. "God will drive away the contaminated animals from His flocks; but
+will take to Himself those who strayed because they knew not the
+heavenly part within them."
+
+12. When the Pagans saw that the power of their priests was naught, they
+put faith in the words of Issa. Fearing the anger of the true God, they
+broke their idols to pieces and caused their priests to flee from among
+them.
+
+13. Issa furthermore taught the Pagans that they should not endeavor to
+see the eternal Spirit with their eyes; but to perceive Him with their
+hearts, and make themselves worthy of His favors by the purity of their
+souls.
+
+14. "Not only," he said to them, "must ye refrain from offering human
+sacrifices, but ye may not lay on the altar any creature to which life
+has been given, for all things created are for man.
+
+15. "Withhold not from your neighbor his just due, for this would be
+like stealing from him what he had earned in the sweat of his brow.
+
+16. "Deceive none, that ye may not yourselves be deceived; seek to
+justify yourselves before the last judgment, for then it will be too
+late.
+
+17. "Be not given to debauchery, for it is a violation of the law of
+God.
+
+18. "That you may attain to supreme bliss ye must not only purify
+yourselves, but must also guide others into the path that will enable
+them to regain their primitive innocence."
+
+
+VIII.
+
+1. The countries round about were filled with the renown of Issa's
+preachings, and when he came unto Persia, the priests grew afraid and
+forbade the people hearing him;
+
+2. Nevertheless, the villages received him with joy, and the people
+hearkened intently to his words, which, being seen by the priests,
+caused them to order that he should be arrested and brought before their
+High Priest, who asked him:
+
+3. "Of what new God dost thou speak? Knowest thou not, unfortunate man
+that thou art! that Saint Zoroaster is the only Just One, to whom alone
+was vouchsafed the honor of receiving revelations from the Most High;
+
+4. "By whose command the angels compiled His Word in laws for the
+governance of His people, which were given to Zoroaster in Paradise?
+
+5. "Who, then, art thou, who darest to utter blasphemies against our God
+and sow doubt in the hearts of believers?"
+
+6. And Issa said to them: "I preach no new God, but our celestial
+Father, who has existed before the beginning and will exist until after
+the end.
+
+7. "Of Him I have spoken to the people, who--even as innocent
+children--are incapable of comprehending God by their own intelligence,
+or fathoming the sublimity of the divine Spirit;
+
+8. "But, as the newborn child in the night recognizes the mother's
+breast, so your people, held in the darkness of error by your pernicious
+doctrines and religious ceremonies, have recognized instinctively their
+Father, in the Father whose prophet I am.
+
+9. "The eternal Being says to your people, by my mouth, 'Ye shall not
+adore the sun, for it is but a part of the universe which I have created
+for man;
+
+10. "It rises to warm you during your work; it sets to accord to you the
+rest that I have ordained.
+
+11. "To me only ye owe all that ye possess, all that surrounds you and
+that is above and below you.'"
+
+12. "But," said the priests, "how could the people live according to
+your rules if they had no teachers?"
+
+13. Whereupon Issa answered: "So long as they had no priests, they were
+governed by the natural law and conserved the simplicity of their souls;
+
+14. "Their souls were in God and to commune with the Father they had not
+to have recourse to the intermediation of idols, or animals, or fire, as
+taught by you.
+
+15. "Ye pretend that man must adore the sun, and the Genii of Good and
+Evil. But I say unto you that your doctrine is pernicious. The sun does
+not act spontaneously, but by the will of the invisible Creator, who has
+given to it being."
+
+16. "Who, then, has caused that this star lights the day, warms man at
+his work and vivifies the seeds sown in the ground?"
+
+17. "The eternal Spirit is the soul of everything animate, and you
+commit a great sin in dividing Him into the Spirit of Evil and the
+Spirit of Good, for there is no God other than the God of Good.
+
+18. "And He, like to the father of a family, does only good to His
+children, to whom He forgives their transgressions if they repent of
+them.
+
+19. "And the Spirit of Evil dwells upon earth, in the hearts of those
+who turn the children of God away from the right path.
+
+20. "Therefore, I say unto you; Fear the day of judgment, for God will
+inflict a terrible chastisement upon all those who have led His
+children astray and beguiled them with superstitions and errors;
+
+21. "Upon those who have blinded them who saw; who have brought
+contagion to the well; who have taught the worship of those things which
+God made to be subject to man, or to aid him in his works.
+
+22. "Your doctrine is the fruit of your error in seeking to bring near
+to you the God of Truth, by creating for yourselves false gods."
+
+23. When the Magi heard these words, they feared to themselves do him
+harm, but at night, when the whole city slept, they brought him outside
+the walls and left him on the highway, in the hope that he would not
+fail to become the prey of wild beasts.
+
+24. But, protected by the Lord our God, Saint Issa continued on his way,
+without accident.
+
+
+IX.
+
+1. Issa--whom the Creator had selected to recall to the worship of the
+true God, men sunk in sin--was twenty-nine years old when he arrived in
+the land of Israel.
+
+2. Since the departure therefrom of Issa, the Pagans had caused the
+Israelites to endure more atrocious sufferings than before, and they
+were filled with despair.
+
+3. Many among them had begun to neglect the laws of their God and those
+of Mossa, in the hope of winning the favor of their brutal conquerors.
+
+4. But Issa, notwithstanding their unhappy condition, exhorted his
+countrymen not to despair, because the day of their redemption from the
+yoke of sin was near, and he himself, by his example, confirmed their
+faith in the God of their fathers.
+
+5. "Children, yield not yourselves to despair," said the celestial
+Father to them, through the mouth of Issa, "for I have heard your
+lamentations, and your cries have reached my ears.
+
+6. "Weep not, oh, my beloved sons! for your griefs have touched the
+heart of your Father and He has forgiven you, as He forgave your
+ancestors.
+
+7. "Forsake not your families to plunge into debauchery; stain not the
+nobility of your souls; adore not idols which cannot but remain deaf to
+your supplications.
+
+8. "Fill my temple with your hope and your patience, and do not adjure
+the religion of your forefathers, for I have guided them and bestowed
+upon them of my beneficence.
+
+9. "Lift up those who are fallen; feed the hungry and help the sick,
+that ye may be altogether pure and just in the day of the last judgment
+which I prepare for you."
+
+10. The Israelites came in multitudes to listen to Issa's words; and
+they asked him where they should thank their Heavenly Father, since
+their enemies had demolished their temples and robbed them of their
+sacred vessels.
+
+11. Issa told them that God cared not for temples erected by human
+hands, but that human hearts were the true temples of God.
+
+12. "Enter into your temple, into your heart; illuminate it with good
+thoughts, with patience and the unshakeable faith which you owe to your
+Father.
+
+13. "And your sacred vessels! they are your hands and your eyes. Look to
+do that which is agreeable to God, for in doing good to your fellow men,
+you perform a ceremony that embellishes the temple wherein abideth Him
+who has created you.
+
+14. "For God has created you in His own image, innocent, with pure
+souls, and hearts filled with kindness and not made for the planning of
+evil, but to be the sanctuaries of love and justice.
+
+15. "Therefore, I say unto you, soil not your hearts with evil, for in
+them the eternal Being abides.
+
+16. "When ye do works of devotion and love, let them be with full
+hearts, and see that the motives of your actions be not hopes of gain or
+self-interest;
+
+17. "For actions, so impelled, will not bring you nearer to salvation,
+but lead to a state of moral degradation wherein theft, lying and murder
+pass for generous deeds."
+
+
+X.
+
+1. Issa went from one city to another, strengthening by the word of God
+the courage of the Israelites, who were near to succumbing under their
+weight of woe, and thousands of the people followed him to hear his
+teachings.
+
+2. But the chiefs of the cities were afraid of him and they informed the
+principal governor, residing in Jerusalem, that a man called Issa had
+arrived in the country, who by his sermons had arrayed the people
+against the authorities, and that multitudes, listening assiduously to
+him, neglected their labor; and, they added, he said that in a short
+time they would be free of their invader rulers.
+
+3. Then Pilate, the Governor of Jerusalem, gave orders that they should
+lay hold of the preacher Issa and bring him before the judges. In order,
+however, not to excite the anger of the populace, Pilate directed that
+he should be judged by the priests and scribes, the Hebrew elders, in
+their temple.
+
+4. Meanwhile, Issa, continuing his preaching, arrived at Jerusalem, and
+the people, who already knew his fame, having learned of his coming,
+went out to meet him.
+
+5. They greeted him respectfully and opened to him the doors of their
+temple, to hear from his mouth what he had said in other cities of
+Israel.
+
+6. And Issa said to them: "The human race perishes, because of the lack
+of faith; for the darkness and the tempest have caused the flock to go
+astray and they have lost their shepherds.
+
+7. "But the tempests do not rage forever and the darkness will not hide
+the light eternally; soon the sky will become serene, the celestial
+light will again overspread the earth, and the strayed flock will
+reunite around their shepherd.
+
+8. "Wander not in the darkness, seeking the way, lest ye fall into the
+ditch; but gather together, sustain one another, put your faith in your
+God and wait for the first glimmer of light to reappear.
+
+9. "He who sustains his neighbor, sustains himself; and he who protects
+his family, protects all his people and his country.
+
+10. "For, be assured that the day is near when you will be delivered
+from the darkness; you will be reunited into one family and your enemy
+will tremble with fear, he who is ignorant of the favor of the great
+God."
+
+11. The priests and the elders who heard him, filled with admiration for
+his language, asked him if it was true that he had sought to raise the
+people against the authorities of the country, as had been reported to
+the governor Pilate.
+
+12. "Can one raise against estrayed men, to whom darkness has hidden
+their road and their door?" answered Issa. "I have but forewarned the
+unhappy, as I do here in this temple, that they should no longer advance
+on the dark road, for an abyss opens before their feet.
+
+13. "The power of this earth is not of long duration and is subject to
+numberless changes. It would be of no avail for a man to rise in
+revolution against it, for one phase of it always succeeds another, and
+it is thus that it will go on until the extinction of human life.
+
+14. "But do you not see that the powerful, and the rich, sow among the
+children of Israel a spirit of rebellion against the eternal power of
+Heaven?"
+
+15. Then the elders asked him: "Who art thou, and from what country hast
+thou come to us? We have not formerly heard thee spoken of and do not
+even know thy name!"
+
+16. "I am an Israelite," answered Issa; "and on the day of my birth have
+seen the walls of Jerusalem, and have heard the sobs of my brothers
+reduced to slavery, and the lamentations of my sisters carried away by
+the Pagans;
+
+17. "And my soul was afflicted when I saw that my brethren had forgotten
+the true God. When a child I left my father's house to go and settle
+among other people.
+
+18. "But, having heard it said that my brethren suffered even greater
+miseries now, I have come back to the land of my fathers, to recall my
+brethren to the faith of their ancestors, which teaches us patience upon
+earth in order to attain the perfect and supreme bliss above."
+
+19. Then the wise old men put to him again this question: "We are told
+that thou disownest the laws of Mossa, and that thou teachest the people
+to forsake the temple of God?"
+
+20. Whereupon Issa: "One does not demolish that which has been given by
+our Heavenly Father, and which has been destroyed by sinners. I have but
+enjoined the people to purify the heart of all stains, for it is the
+veritable temple of God.
+
+21. "As regards the laws of Mossa, I have endeavored to reestablish them
+in the hearts of men; and I say unto you that ye ignore their true
+meaning, for it is not vengeance but pardon which they teach. Their
+sense has been perverted."
+
+
+XI.
+
+1. When the priests and the elders heard Issa, they decided among
+themselves not to give judgment against him, for he had done no harm to
+any one, and, presenting themselves before Pilate--who was made Governor
+of Jerusalem by the Pagan king of the country of Romeles--they spake to
+him thus:
+
+2. "We have seen the man whom thou chargest with inciting our people to
+revolt; we have heard his discourses and know that he is our countryman;
+
+3. "But the chiefs of the cities have made to you false reports, for he
+is a just man, who teaches the people the word of God. After
+interrogating him, we have allowed him to go in peace."
+
+4. The governor thereupon became very angry, and sent his disguised
+spies to keep watch upon Issa and report to the authorities the least
+word he addressed to the people.
+
+5. In the meantime, the holy Issa continued to visit the neighboring
+cities and preach the true way of the Lord, enjoining the Hebrews'
+patience and promising them speedy deliverance.
+
+6. And all the time great numbers of the people followed him wherever he
+went, and many did not leave him at all, but attached themselves to him
+and served him.
+
+7. And Issa said: "Put not your faith in miracles performed by the hands
+of men, for He who rules nature is alone capable of doing supernatural
+things, while man is impotent to arrest the wrath of the winds or cause
+the rain to fall.
+
+8. "One miracle, however, is within the power of man to accomplish. It
+is, when his heart is filled with sincere faith, he resolves to root out
+from his mind all evil promptings and desires, and when, in order to
+attain this end, he ceases to walk the path of iniquity.
+
+9. "All the things done without God are only gross errors, illusions and
+seductions, serving but to show how much the heart of the doer is full
+of presumption, falsehood and impurity.
+
+10. "Put not your faith in oracles. God alone knows the future. He who
+has recourse to the diviners soils the temple of his heart and shows his
+lack of faith in his Creator.
+
+11. "Belief in the diviners and their miracles destroys the innate
+simplicity of man and his childlike purity. An infernal power takes hold
+of him who so errs, and forces him to commit various sins and give
+himself to the worship of idols.
+
+12. "But the Lord our God, to whom none can be equalled, is one
+omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; He alone possesses all wisdom
+and all light.
+
+13. "To Him ye must address yourselves, to be comforted in your
+afflictions, aided in your works, healed in your sickness and whoso asks
+of Him, shall not ask in vain.
+
+14. "The secrets of nature are in the hands of God, for the whole world,
+before it was made manifest, existed in the bosom of the divine thought,
+and has become material and visible by the will of the Most High.
+
+15. "When ye pray to him, become again like little children, for ye know
+neither the past, nor the present, nor the future, and God is the Lord
+of Time."
+
+
+XII.
+
+1. "Just man," said to him the disguised spies of the Governor of
+Jerusalem, "tell us if we must continue to do the will of Cæsar, or
+expect our near deliverance?"
+
+2. And Issa, who recognized the questioners as the apostate spies sent
+to follow him, replied to them: "I have not told you that you would be
+delivered from Cæsar; it is the soul sunk in error which will gain its
+deliverance.
+
+3. "There cannot be a family without a head, and there cannot be order
+in a people without a Cæsar, whom ye should implicitly obey, as he will
+be held to answer for his acts before the Supreme Tribunal."
+
+4. "Does Cæsar possess a divine right?" the spies asked him again; "and
+is he the best of mortals?"
+
+5. "There is no one 'the best' among human beings; but there are many
+bad, who--even as the sick need physicians--require the care of those
+chosen for that mission, in which must be used the means given by the
+sacred law of our Heavenly Father;
+
+6. "Mercy and justice are the high prerogatives of Cæsar, and his name
+will be illustrious if he exercises them.
+
+7. "But he who acts otherwise, who transcends the limits of power he has
+over those under his rule, and even goes so far as to put their lives in
+danger, offends the great Judge and derogates from his own dignity in
+the eyes of men."
+
+8. Upon this, an old woman who had approached the group, to better hear
+Issa, was pushed aside by one of the disguised men, who placed himself
+before her.
+
+9. Then said Issa: "It is not good for a son to push away his mother,
+that he may occupy the place which belongs to her. Whoso doth not
+respect his mother--the most sacred being after his God--is unworthy of
+the name of son.
+
+10. "Hearken to what I say to you: Respect woman; for in her we see the
+mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine creation is to come
+through her.
+
+11. "She is the fount of everything good and beautiful, as she is also
+the germ of life and death. Upon her man depends in all his existence,
+for she is his moral and natural support in his labors.
+
+12. "In pain and suffering she brings you forth; in the sweat of her
+brow she watches over your growth, and until her death you cause her
+greatest anxieties. Bless her and adore her, for she is your only friend
+and support on earth.
+
+13. "Respect her; defend her. In so doing you will gain for yourself her
+love; you will find favor before God, and for her sake many sins will be
+remitted to you.
+
+14. "Love your wives and respect them, for they will be the mothers of
+tomorrow and later the grandmothers of a whole nation.
+
+15. "Be submissive to the wife; her love ennobles man, softens his
+hardened heart, tames the wild beast in him and changes it to a lamb.
+
+16. "Wife and mother are the priceless treasures which God has given to
+you. They are the most beautiful ornaments of the universe, and from
+them will be born all who will inhabit the world.
+
+17. "Even as the Lord of Hosts separated the light from the darkness,
+and the dry land from the waters, so does woman possess the divine gift
+of calling forth out of man's evil nature all the good that is in him.
+
+18. "Therefore I say unto you, after God, to woman must belong your best
+thoughts, for she is the divine temple where you will most easily obtain
+perfect happiness.
+
+19. "Draw from this temple your moral force. There you will forget your
+sorrows and your failures, and recover the love necessary to aid your
+fellow men.
+
+20. "Suffer her not to be humiliated, for by humiliating her you
+humiliate yourselves, and lose the sentiment of love, without which
+nothing can exist here on earth.
+
+21. "Protect your wife, that she may protect you--you and all your
+household. All that you do for your mothers, your wives, for a widow,
+or for any other woman in distress, you will do for your God."
+
+
+XIII.
+
+1. Thus Saint Issa taught the people of Israel for three years, in every
+city and every village, on the highways and in the fields, and all he
+said came to pass.
+
+2. All this time the disguised spies of the governor Pilate observed him
+closely, but heard nothing to sustain the accusations formerly made
+against Issa by the chiefs of the cities.
+
+3. But Saint Issa's growing popularity did not allow Pilate to rest. He
+feared that Issa would be instrumental in bringing about a revolution
+culminating in his elevation to the sovereignty, and, therefore, ordered
+the spies to make charges against him.
+
+4. Then soldiers were sent to arrest him, and they cast him into a
+subterranean dungeon, where he was subjected to all kinds of tortures,
+to compel him to accuse himself, so that he might be put to death.
+
+5. The Saint, thinking only of the perfect bliss of his brethren,
+endured all those torments with resignation to the will of the Creator.
+
+6. The servants of Pilate continued to torture him, and he was reduced
+to a state of extreme weakness; but God was with him and did not permit
+him to die at their hands.
+
+7. When the principal priests and wise elders learned of the sufferings
+which their Saint endured, they went to Pilate, begging him to liberate
+Issa, so that he might attend the great festival which was near at hand.
+
+8. But this the governor refused. Then they asked him that Issa should
+be brought before the elders' council, so that he might be condemned,
+or acquitted, before the festival, and to this Pilate agreed.
+
+9. On the following day the governor assembled the principal chiefs,
+priests, elders and judges, for the purpose of judging Issa.
+
+10. The Saint was brought from his prison. They made him sit before the
+governor, between two robbers, who were to be judged at the same time
+with Issa, so as to show the people he was not the only one to be
+condemned.
+
+11. And Pilate, addressing himself to Issa, said, "Is it true, Oh! Man;
+that thou incitest the populace against the authorities, with the
+purpose of thyself becoming King of Israel?"
+
+12. Issa replied, "One does not become king by one's own purpose
+thereto. They have told you an untruth when you were informed that I was
+inciting the people to revolution. I have only preached of the King of
+Heaven, and it was Him whom I told the people to worship.
+
+13. "For the sons of Israel have lost their original innocence and
+unless they return to worship the true God they will be sacrificed and
+their temple will fall in ruins.
+
+14. "The worldly power upholds order in the land; I told them not to
+forget this. I said to them, 'Live in conformity with your situation and
+refrain from disturbing public order;' and, at the same time, I exhorted
+them to remember that disorder reigned in their own hearts and spirits.
+
+15. "Therefore, the King of Heaven has punished them, and has destroyed
+their nationality and taken from them their national kings, 'but,' I
+added, 'if you will be resigned to your fate, as a reward the Kingdom of
+Heaven will be yours.'"
+
+16. At this moment the witnesses were introduced; one of whom deposed
+thus: "Thou hast said to the people that in comparison with the power of
+the king who would soon liberate the Israelites from the yoke of the
+heathen, the worldly authorities amounted to nothing."
+
+17. "Blessings upon thee!" said Issa. "For thou hast spoken the truth!
+The King of Heaven is greater and more powerful than the laws of man and
+His kingdom surpasses the kingdoms of this earth.
+
+18. "And the time is not far off, when Israel, obedient to the will of
+God, will throw off its yoke of sin; for it has been written that a
+forerunner would appear to announce the deliverance of the people, and
+that he would reunite them in one family."
+
+19. Thereupon the governor said to the judges: "Have you heard this? The
+Israelite Issa acknowledges the crime of which he is accused. Judge him,
+then, according to your laws and pass upon him condemnation to death."
+
+20. "We cannot condemn him," replied the priests and the ancients. "As
+thou hast heard, he spoke of the King of Heaven, and he has preached
+nothing which constitutes insubordination against the law."
+
+21. Thereupon the governor called a witness who had been bribed by his
+master, Pilate, to betray Issa, and this man said to Issa: "Is it not
+true that thou hast represented thyself as a King of Israel, when thou
+didst say that He who reigns in Heaven sent thee to prepare His people?"
+
+22. But Issa blessed the man and answered: "Thou wilt find mercy, for
+what thou hast said did not come out from thine own heart." Then,
+turning to the governor he said: "Why dost thou lower thy dignity and
+teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when, without doing so, it is in
+thy power to condemn an innocent man?"
+
+23. When Pilate heard his words, he became greatly enraged and ordered
+that Issa be condemned to death, and that the two robbers should be
+declared guiltless.
+
+24. The judges, after consulting among themselves, said to Pilate: "We
+cannot consent to take this great sin upon us,--to condemn an innocent
+man and liberate malefactors. It would be against our laws.
+
+25. "Act thyself, then, as thou seest fit." Thereupon the priests and
+elders walked out, and washed their hands in a sacred vessel, and said:
+"We are innocent of the blood of this righteous man."
+
+
+XIV.
+
+1. By order of the governor, the soldiers seized Issa and the two
+robbers, and led them to the place of execution, where they were nailed
+upon the crosses erected for them.
+
+2. All day long the bodies of Issa and the two robbers hung upon the
+crosses, bleeding, guarded by the soldiers. The people stood all around
+and the relatives of the executed prayed and wept.
+
+3. When the sun went down, Issa's tortures ended. He lost consciousness
+and his soul disengaged itself from the body, to reunite with God.
+
+4. Thus ended the terrestrial existence of the reflection of the eternal
+Spirit under the form of a man who had saved hardened sinners and
+comforted the afflicted.
+
+5. Meanwhile, Pilate was afraid for what he had done, and ordered the
+body of the Saint to be given to his relatives, who put it in a tomb
+near to the place of execution. Great numbers of persons came to visit
+the tomb, and the air was filled with their wailings and lamentations.
+
+6. Three days later, the governor sent his soldiers to remove Issa's
+body and bury it in some other place, for he feared a rebellion among
+the people.
+
+7. The next day, when the people came to the tomb, they found it open
+and empty, the body of Issa being gone. Thereupon, the rumor spread that
+the Supreme Judge had sent His angels from Heaven, to remove the mortal
+remains of the saint in whom part of the divine Spirit had lived on
+earth.
+
+8. When Pilate learned of this rumor, he grew angry and prohibited,
+under penalty of death, the naming of Issa, or praying for him to the
+Lord.
+
+9. But the people, nevertheless, continued to weep over Issa's death and
+to glorify their master; wherefore, many were carried into captivity,
+subjected to torture and put to death.
+
+10. And the disciples of Saint Issa departed from the land of Israel and
+went in all directions, to the heathen, preaching that they should
+abandon their gross errors, think of the salvation of their souls and
+earn the perfect bliss which awaits human beings in the immaterial
+world, full of glory, where the great Creator abides in all his
+immaculate and perfect majesty.
+
+11. The heathen, their kings, and their warriors, listened to the
+preachers, abandoned their erroneous beliefs and forsook their priests
+and their idols, to celebrate the praises of the most wise Creator of
+the Universe, the King of Kings, whose heart is filled with infinite
+mercy.
+
+
+
+
+_Resumé_
+
+
+In reading the account of the life of Issa (Jesus Christ), one is
+struck, on the one hand by the resemblance of certain principal passages
+to accounts in the Old and New Testaments; and, on the other, by the not
+less remarkable contradictions which occasionally occur between the
+Buddhistic version and Hebraic and Christian records.
+
+To explain this, it is necessary to remember the epochs when the facts
+were consigned to writing.
+
+We have been taught, from our childhood, that the Pentateuch was written
+by Moses himself, but the careful researches of modern scholars have
+demonstrated conclusively, that at the time of Moses, and even much
+later, there existed in the country bathed by the Mediterranean, no
+other writing than the hieroglyphics in Egypt and the cuniform
+inscriptions, found nowadays in the excavations of Babylon. We know,
+however, that the alphabet and parchment were known in China and India
+long before Moses.
+
+Let me cite a few proofs of this statement. We learn from the sacred
+books of "the religion of the wise" that the alphabet was invented in
+China in 2800 by Fou-si, who was the first emperor of China to embrace
+this religion, the ritual and exterior forms of which he himself
+arranged. Yao, the fourth of the Chinese emperors, who is said to have
+belonged to this faith, published moral and civil laws, and, in 2228,
+compiled a penal code. The fifth emperor, Soune, proclaimed in the year
+of his accession to the throne that "the religion of the wise" should
+thenceforth be the recognized religion of the State, and, in 2282,
+compiled new penal laws. His laws, modified by the Emperor
+Vou-vange,--founder of the dynasty of the Tcheou in 1122,--are those in
+existence today, and known under the name of "Changements."
+
+We also know that the doctrine of the Buddha Fô, whose true name was
+Sakya-Muni was written upon parchment. Fôism began to spread in China
+about 260 years before Jesus Christ. In 206, an emperor of the Tsine
+dynasty, who was anxious to learn Buddhism, sent to India for a Buddhist
+by the name of Silifan, and the Emperor Ming-Ti, of the Hagne dynasty,
+sent, a year before Christ's birth, to India for the sacred books
+written by the Buddha Sakya-Muni--the founder of the Buddhistic
+doctrine, who lived about 1200 before Christ.
+
+The doctrine of the Buddha Gauthama or Gothama, who lived 600 years
+before Jesus Christ, was written in the Pali language upon parchment. At
+that epoch there existed already in India about 84,000 Buddhistic
+manuscripts, the compilation of which required a considerable number of
+years.
+
+At the time when the Chinese and the Hindus possessed already a very
+rich written literature, the less fortunate or more ignorant peoples who
+had no alphabet, transmitted their histories from mouth to mouth, and
+from generation to generation. Owing to the unreliability of human
+memory, historical facts, embellished by Oriental imagination, soon
+degenerated into fabulous legends, which, in the course of time, were
+collected, and by the unknown compilers entitled "The Five Books of
+Moses." As these legends ascribe to the Hebrew legislator extraordinary
+divine powers which enabled him to perform miracles in the presence of
+Pharaoh, the claim that he was an Israelite may as well have been
+legendary rather than historical.
+
+The Hindu chroniclers, on the contrary, owing to their knowledge of an
+alphabet, were enabled to commit carefully to writing, not mere legends,
+but the recitals of recently occurred facts within their own knowledge,
+or the accounts brought to them by merchants who came from foreign
+countries.
+
+It must be remembered, in this connection, that--in antiquity as in our
+own days--the whole public life of the Orient was concentrated in the
+bazaars. There the news of foreign events was brought by the
+merchant-caravans and sought by the dervishes, who found, in their
+recitals in the temples and public places, a means of subsistence. When
+the merchants returned home from a journey, they generally related fully
+during the first days after their arrival, all they had seen or heard
+abroad. Such have been the customs of the Orient, from time immemorial,
+and are today.
+
+The commerce of India with Egypt and, later, with Europe, was carried on
+by way of Jerusalem, where, as far back as the time of King Solomon, the
+Hindu caravans brought precious metals and other materials for the
+construction of the temple. From Europe, merchandise was brought to
+Jerusalem by sea, and there unloaded in a port, which is now occupied by
+the city of Jaffa. The chronicles in question were compiled before,
+during and after the time of Jesus Christ.
+
+During his sojourn in India, in the quality of a simple student come to
+learn the Brahminical and Buddhistic laws, no special attention whatever
+was paid to his life. When, however, a little later, the first accounts
+of the events in Israel reached India, the chroniclers, after committing
+to writing that which they were told about the prophet, Issa,--_viz._,
+that he had for his following a whole people, weary of the yoke of their
+masters, and that he was crucified by order of Pilate, remembered that
+this same Issa had only recently sojourned in their midst, and that, an
+Israelite by birth, he had come to study among them, after which he had
+returned to his country. They conceived a lively interest for the man
+who had grown so rapidly under their eyes, and began to investigate his
+birth, his past and all the details concerning his existence.
+
+The two manuscripts, from which the lama of the convent Himis read to me
+all that had a bearing upon Jesus, are compilations from divers copies
+written in the Thibetan language, translations of scrolls belonging to
+the library of Lhassa and brought, about two hundred years after Christ,
+from India, Nepaul and Maghada, to a convent on Mount Marbour, near the
+city of Lhassa, now the residence of the Dalai-Lama.
+
+These scrolls were written in Pali, which certain lamas study even now,
+so as to be able to translate it into the Thibetan.
+
+The chroniclers were Buddhists belonging to the sect of the Buddha
+Gothama.
+
+The details concerning Jesus, given in the chronicles, are disconnected
+and mingled with accounts of other contemporaneous events to which they
+bear no relation.
+
+The manuscripts relate to us, first of all,--according to the accounts
+given by merchants arriving from Judea in the same year when the death
+of Jesus occurred--that a just man by the name of Issa, an Israelite,
+in spite of his being acquitted twice by the judges as being a man of
+God, was nevertheless put to death by the order of the Pagan governor,
+Pilate, who feared that he might take advantage of his great popularity
+to reestablish the kingdom of Israel and expel from the country its
+conquerors.
+
+Then follow rather incoherent communications regarding the preachings of
+Jesus among the Guebers and other heathens. They seem to have been
+written during the first years following the death of Jesus, in whose
+career a lively and growing interest is shown.
+
+One of these accounts, communicated by a merchant, refers to the origin
+of Jesus and his family; another tells of the expulsion of his partisans
+and the persecutions they had to suffer.
+
+Only at the end of the second volume is found the first categorical
+affirmation of the chronicler. He says there that Issa was a man blessed
+by God and the best of all; that it was he in whom the great Brahma had
+elected to incarnate when, at a period fixed by destiny, his spirit was
+required to, for a time, separate from the Supreme Being.
+
+After telling that Issa descended from poor Israelite parents, the
+chronicler makes a little digression, for the purpose of explaining,
+according to ancient accounts, who were those sons of Israel.
+
+I have arranged all the fragments concerning the life of Issa in
+chronological order and have taken pains to impress upon them the
+character of unity, in which they were absolutely lacking.
+
+I leave it to the _savans_, the philosophers and the theologians to
+search into the causes for the contradictions which may be found between
+the "Life of Issa" which I lay before the public and the accounts of the
+Gospels. But I trust that everybody will agree with me in assuming that
+the version which I present to the public, one compiled three or four
+years after the death of Jesus, from the accounts of eyewitnesses and
+contemporaries, has much more probability of being in conformity with
+truth than the accounts of the Gospels, the composition of which was
+effected at different epochs and at periods much posterior to the
+occurrence of the events.
+
+Before speaking of the life of Jesus, I must say a few words on the
+history of Moses, who, according to the so-far most accredited legend,
+was an Israelite. In this respect the legend is contradicted by the
+Buddhists. We learn from the outset that Moses was an Egyptian prince,
+the son of a Pharaoh, and that he only was taught by learned Israelites.
+I believe that if this important point is carefully examined, it must be
+admitted that the Buddhist author may be right.
+
+It is not my intent to argue against the Biblical legend concerning the
+origin of Moses, but I think everyone reading it must share my
+conviction that Moses could not have been a simple Israelite. His
+education was rather that of a king's son, and it is difficult to
+believe that a child introduced by chance into the palace should have
+been made an equal with the son of the sovereign. The rigor with which
+the Egyptians treated their slaves by no means attests the mildness of
+their character. A foundling certainly would not have been made the
+companion of the sons of a Pharaoh, but would be placed among his
+servants. Add to this the caste spirit so strictly observed in ancient
+Egypt, a most salient point, which is certainly calculated to raise
+doubts as to the truth of the Scriptural story.
+
+And it is difficult to suppose that Moses had not received a complete
+education. How otherwise could his great legislative work, his broad
+views, his high administrative qualities be satisfactorily explained?
+
+And now comes another question: Why should he, a prince, have attached
+himself to the Israelites? The answer seems to me very simple. It is
+known that in ancient, as well as in modern times, discussions were
+often raised as to which of two brothers should succeed to the father's
+throne. Why not admit this hypothesis, _viz._, that Mossa, or Moses,
+having an elder brother whose existence forbade him to think of
+occupying the throne of Egypt, contemplated founding a distinct kingdom.
+
+It might very well be that, in view of this end, he tried to attach
+himself to the Israelites, whose firmness of faith as well as physical
+strength he had occasion to admire. We know, indeed, that the Israelites
+of Egypt had no resemblance whatever to their descendants as regards
+physical constitution. The granite blocks which were handled by them in
+building the palaces and pyramids are still in place to testify to this
+fact. In the same way I explain to myself the history of the miracles
+which he is said to have performed before Pharaoh.
+
+Although there are no definite arguments for denying the miracles which
+Moses might have performed in the name of God before Pharaoh, I think it
+is not difficult to realize that the Buddhistic statement sounds more
+probable than the Scriptural gloss. The pestilence, the smallpox or the
+cholera must, indeed, have caused enormous ravages among the dense
+population of Egypt, at an epoch when there existed yet but very
+rudimentary ideas about hygiene and where, consequently, such diseases
+must have rapidly assumed frightful virulence.
+
+In view of Pharaoh's fright at the disasters which befell Egypt, Moses'
+keen wit might well have suggested to him to explain the strange and
+terrifying occurrences, to his father, by the intervention of the God of
+Israel in behalf of his chosen people.
+
+Moses was here afforded an excellent opportunity to deliver the
+Israelites from their slavery and have them pass under his own
+domination.
+
+In obedience to Pharaoh's will--according to the Buddhistic
+version--Moses led the Israelites outside the walls of the city; but,
+instead of building a new city within reach of the capital, as he was
+ordered, he left with them the Egyptian territory. Pharaoh's indignation
+on learning of this infringement of his commands by Moses, can easily be
+imagined. And so he gave the order to his soldiers to pursue the
+fugitives. The geographical disposition of the region suggests at once
+that Moses during his flight must have moved by the side of the
+mountains and entered Arabia by the way over the Isthmus which is now
+cut by the Suez Canal.
+
+Pharaoh, on the contrary, pursued, with his troops, a straight line to
+the Red Sea; then, in order to overtake the Israelites, who had already
+gained the opposite shore, he sought to take advantage of the ebb of the
+sea in the Gulf, which is formed by the coast and the Isthmus, and
+caused his soldiers to wade through the ford. But the length of the
+passage proved much greater than he had expected; so that the flood tide
+set in when the Egyptian host was halfway across, and, of the army thus
+overwhelmed by the returning waves, none escaped death.
+
+This fact, so simple in itself, has in the course of the centuries been
+transformed by the Israelites into a religious legend, they seeing in it
+a divine intervention in their behalf and a punishment which their God
+inflicted on their persecutors. There is, moreover, reason to believe
+that Moses himself saw the occurrence in this light. This, however, is a
+thesis which I shall try to develop in a forthcoming work.
+
+The Buddhistic chronicle then describes the grandeur and the downfall of
+the kingdom of Israel, and its conquest by the foreign nations who
+reduced the inhabitants to slavery.
+
+The calamities which befell the Israelites, and the afflictions that
+thenceforth embittered their days were, according to the chronicler,
+more than sufficient reasons that God, pitying his people and desirous
+of coming to their aid, should descend on earth in the person of a
+prophet, in order to lead them back to the path of righteousness.
+
+Thus the state of things in that epoch justified the belief that the
+coming of Jesus was signalized, imminent, necessary.
+
+This explains why the Buddhistic traditions could maintain that the
+eternal Spirit separated from the eternal Being and incarnated in the
+child of a pious and once illustrious family.
+
+Doubtless the Buddhists, in common with the Evangelists, meant to convey
+by this that the child belonged to the royal house of David; but the
+text in the Gospels, according to which "the child was born from the
+Holy Spirit," admits of two interpretations, while according to Buddha's
+doctrine, which is more in conformity with the laws of nature, the
+spirit has but incarnated in a child already born, whom God blessed and
+chose for the accomplishment of His mission on earth.
+
+The birth of Jesus is followed by a long gap in the traditions of the
+Evangelists, who either from ignorance or neglect, fail to tell us
+anything definite about his childhood, youth or education. They commence
+the history of Jesus with his first sermon, _i.e._, at the epoch, when
+thirty years of age, he returns to his country.
+
+All the Evangelists tell us concerning the infancy of Jesus is marked by
+the lack of precision: "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit,
+filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him," says one of the
+sacred authors (Luke 2, 40), and another: "And the child grew, and waxed
+strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing
+unto Israel." (Luke 1, 80.)
+
+As the Evangelists compiled their writings a long time after the death
+of Jesus, it is presumable that they committed to writing only those
+accounts of the principal events in the life of Jesus which happened to
+come to their knowledge.
+
+The Buddhists, on the contrary, who compiled their chronicles soon after
+the Passion occurred, and were able to collect the surest information
+about everything that interested them, give us a complete and very
+detailed description of the life of Jesus.
+
+In those unhappy times, when the struggle for existence seems to have
+destroyed all thought of God, the people of Israel suffered the double
+oppression of the ambitious Herod and the despotic and avaricious
+Romans. Then, as now, the Hebrews put all their hopes in Providence,
+whom they expected, would send them an inspired man, who should deliver
+them from all their physical and moral afflictions. The time passed,
+however, and no one took the initiative in a revolt against the tyranny
+of the rulers.
+
+In that era of hope and despair, the people of Israel completely forgot
+that there lived among them a poor Israelite who was a direct descendant
+from their King David. This poor man married a young girl who gave birth
+to a miraculous child.
+
+The Hebrews, true to their traditions of devotion and respect for the
+race of their kings, upon learning of this event went in great numbers
+to congratulate the happy father and see the child. It is evident that
+Herod was informed of this occurrence. He feared that this infant, once
+grown to manhood, might avail himself of his prospective popularity to
+reconquer the throne of his ancestors. He sent out his men to seize the
+child, which the Israelites endeavored to hide from the wrath of the
+king, who then ordered the abominable massacre of the children, hoping
+that Jesus would perish in this vast human hecatomb. But Joseph's family
+had warning of the impending danger, and took refuge in Egypt.
+
+A short time afterward, they returned to their native country. The child
+had grown during those journeyings, in which his life was more than
+once exposed to danger. Formerly, as now, the Oriental Israelites
+commenced the instruction of their children at the age of five or six
+years. Compelled to constantly hide him from the murderous King Herod,
+the parents of Jesus could not allow their son to go out, and he, no
+doubt, spent all his time in studying the sacred Scriptures, so that his
+knowledge was sufficiently beyond what would naturally have been
+expected of a boy of his age to greatly astonish the elders of Israel.
+He had in his thirteenth year attained an age when, according to Jewish
+law, the boy becomes an adult, has the right to marry, and incurs
+obligations for the discharge of the religious duties of a man.
+
+There exists still, in our times, among the Israelites, an ancient
+religious custom that fixes the majority of a youth at the accomplished
+thirteenth year. From this epoch the youth becomes a member of the
+congregation and enjoys all the rights of an adult. Hence, his marriage
+at this age is regarded as having legal force, and is even required in
+the tropical countries. In Europe, however, owing to the influence of
+local laws and to nature, which does not contribute here so powerfully
+as in warm climates to the physical development, this custom is no more
+in force and has lost all its former importance.
+
+The royal lineage of Jesus, his rare intelligence and his learning,
+caused him to be looked upon as an excellent match, and the wealthiest
+and most respected Hebrews would fain have had him for a son-in-law,
+just as even nowadays the Israelites are very desirous of the honor of
+marrying their daughters to the sons of Rabbis or scholars. But the
+meditative youth, whose mind was far above anything corporeal, and
+possessed by the thirst for knowledge, stealthily left his home and
+joined the caravans going to India.
+
+It stands to reason that Jesus Christ should have thought, primarily, of
+going to India, first, because at that epoch Egypt formed part of the
+Roman possessions; secondly, and principally, because a very active
+commercial exchange with India had made common report in Judea of the
+majestic character and unsurpassed richness of the arts and sciences in
+this marvellous country, to which even now the aspirations of all
+civilized peoples are directed.
+
+Here the Evangelists once more lose the thread of the terrestrial life
+of Jesus. Luke says he "was in the deserts till the day of his shewing
+unto Israel" (Luke 1, 80), which clearly demonstrates that nobody knew
+where the holy youth was until his sudden reappearance sixteen years
+later.
+
+Arrived in India, this land of marvels, Jesus began to frequent the
+temples of the Djainites.
+
+There exists until today, on the peninsula of Hindustan, a sectarian
+cult under the name of Djainism. It forms a kind of connecting link
+between Buddhism and Brahminism, and preaches the destruction of all
+other beliefs, which, it declares, are corroded by falsehood. It dates
+from the seventh century before Jesus Christ and its name is derived
+from the word "djain" (conqueror), which was assumed by its founders as
+expressive of its destined triumph over its rivals.
+
+In sympathetic admiration for the spirit of the young man, the Djainites
+asked him to stay with them; but Jesus left them to settle in
+Djagguernat, where he devoted himself to the study of treatises on
+religion, philosophy, etc. Djagguernat is one of the chief sacred cities
+of Brahmins, and, at the time of Christ, was of great religious
+importance. According to tradition, the ashes of the illustrious
+Brahmin, Krishna, who lived in 1580 B.C., are preserved there, in the
+hollow of a tree, near a magnificent temple, to which thousands make
+pilgrimage every year. Krishna collected and put in order the Vedas,
+which he divided into four books--Richt, Jagour, Saman and Artafan;--in
+commemoration of which great work he received the name of Vyasa (he who
+collected and divided the Vedas), and he also compiled the Vedanta and
+eighteen Puranas, which contain 400,000 stanzas.
+
+In Djagguernat is also found a very precious library of Sanscrit books
+and religious manuscripts.
+
+Jesus spent there six years in studying the language of the country and
+the Sanscrit, which enabled him to absorb the religious doctrines,
+philosophy, medicine and mathematics. He found much to blame in
+Brahminical laws and usages, and publicly joined issue with the
+Brahmins, who in vain endeavored to convince him of the sacred character
+of their established customs. Jesus, among other things, deemed it
+extremely unjust that the laborer should be oppressed and despised, and
+that he should not only be robbed of hope of future happiness, but also
+be denied the right to hear the religious services. He, therefore, began
+preaching to the Sudras, the lowest caste of slaves, telling them that,
+according to their own laws, God is the Father of all men; that all
+which exists, exists only through Him; that, before Him, all men are
+equal, and that the Brahmins had obscured the great principle of
+monotheism by misinterpreting Brahma's own words, and laying excessive
+stress upon observance of the exterior ceremonials of the cult.
+
+Here are the words in which, according to the doctrine of the Brahmins,
+God Himself speaks to the angels: "I have been from eternity, and shall
+continue to be eternally. I am the first cause of everything that exists
+in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South, above and
+below, in heaven and in hell. I am older than all things. I am the
+Spirit and the Creation of the universe and also its Creator. I am
+all-powerful; I am the God of the Gods, the King of the Kings; I am
+Para-Brahma, the great soul of the universe."
+
+After the world appeared by the will of Para-Brahma, God created human
+beings, whom he divided into four classes, according to their colors:
+white (Brahmins), red (Kshatriyas), yellow (Vaisyas), and black
+(Sudras). Brahma drew the first from his own mouth, and gave them for
+their _appanage_ the government of the world, the care of teaching men
+the laws, of curing and judging them. Therefore do the Brahmins occupy
+only the offices of priests and preachers, are expounders of the Vedas,
+and must practice celibacy.
+
+The second caste of Kshatriyas issued from the hand of Brahma. He made
+of them warriors, entrusting them with the care of defending society.
+All the kings, princes, captains, governors and military men belong to
+this caste, which lives on the best terms with the Brahmins, since they
+cannot subsist without each other, and the peace of the country depends
+on the alliance of the lights and the sword, of Brahma's temple and the
+royal throne.
+
+The Vaisyas, who constitute the third caste, issued from Brahma's belly.
+They are destined to cultivate the ground, raise cattle, carry on
+commerce and practice all kinds of trades in order to feed the Brahmins
+and the Kshatriyas. Only on holidays are they authorized to enter the
+temple and listen to the recital of the Vedas; at all other times they
+must attend to their business.
+
+The lowest caste, that of the black ones, or Sudras, issued from the
+feet of Brahma to be the humble servants and slaves of the three
+preceding castes. They are interdicted from attending the reading of the
+Vedas at any time; their touch contaminates a Brahmin, Kshatriya, or
+even a Vaisya who comes in contact with them. They are wretched
+creatures, deprived of all human rights; they cannot even look at the
+members of the other castes, nor defend themselves, nor, when sick,
+receive the attendance of a physician. Death alone can deliver the
+Sudra from a life of servitude; and even then, freedom can only be
+attained under the condition that, during his whole life, he shall have
+served diligently and without complaint some member of the privileged
+classes. Then only it is promised that the soul of the Sudra shall,
+after death, be raised to a superior caste.
+
+If a Sudra has been lacking in obedience to a member of the privileged
+classes, or has in any way brought their disfavor upon himself, he sinks
+to the rank of a pariah, who is banished from all cities and villages
+and is the object of general contempt, as an abject being who can only
+perform the lowest kind of work.
+
+The same punishment may also fall upon members of another caste; these,
+however, may, through repentance, fasting and other trials, rehabilitate
+themselves in their former caste; while the unfortunate Sudra, once
+expelled from his, has lost it forever.
+
+From what has been said above, it is easy to explain why the Vaisyas and
+Sudras were animated with adoration for Jesus, who, in spite of the
+threats of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, never forsook those poor people.
+
+In his sermons Jesus not only censured the system by which man was
+robbed of his right to be considered as a human being, while an ape or a
+piece of marble or metal was paid divine worship, but he attacked the
+very life of Brahminism, its system of gods, its doctrine and its
+"trimurti" (trinity), the angular stone of this religion.
+
+Para-Brahma is represented with three faces on a single head. This is
+the "trimurti" (trinity), composed of Brahma (creator), Vishnu
+(conservator), and Siva (destroyer).
+
+Here is the origin of the trimurti:--
+
+In the beginning, Para-Brahma created the waters and threw into them the
+seed of procreation, which transformed itself into a brilliant egg,
+wherein Brahma's image was reflected. Millions of years had passed when
+Brahma split the egg in two halves, of which the upper one became the
+heaven, the lower one, the earth. Then Brahma descended to the earth
+under the shape of a child, established himself upon a lotus flower,
+absorbed himself in his own contemplation and put to himself the
+question: "Who will attend to the conservation of what I have created?"
+"I," came the answer from his mouth under the appearance of a flame. And
+Brahma gave to this word the name, "Vishnu," that is to say, "he who
+preserves." Then Brahma divided his being into two halves, the one male,
+the other female, the active and the passive principles, the union of
+which produced Siva, "the destroyer."
+
+These are the attributes of the trimurti; Brahma, creative principle;
+Vishnu, preservative wisdom; Siva, destructive wrath of justice. Brahma
+is the substance from which everything was made; Vishnu, space wherein
+everything lives; and Siva, time that annihilates all things.
+
+Brahma is the face which vivifies all; Vishnu, the water which sustains
+the forces of the creatures; Siva, the fire which breaks the bond that
+unites all objects. Brahma is the past; Vishnu, the present; Siva, the
+future. Each part of the trimurti possesses, moreover, a wife. The wife
+of Brahma is Sarasvati, goddess of wisdom; that of Vishnu, Lakshmi,
+goddess of virtue, and Siva's spouse is Kali, goddess of death, the
+universal destroyer.
+
+Of this last union were born, Ganesa, the elephant-headed god of wisdom,
+and Indra, the god of the firmament, both chiefs of inferior divinities,
+the number of which, if all the objects of adoration of the Hindus be
+included, amounts to three hundred millions.
+
+Vishnu has descended eight times upon the earth, incarnating in a fish
+in order to save the Vedas from the deluge, in a tortoise, a dwarf, a
+wild boar, a lion, in Rama, a king's son, in Krishna and in Buddha. He
+will come a ninth time under the form of a rider mounted on a white
+horse in order to destroy death and sin.
+
+Jesus denied the existence of all these hierarchic absurdities of gods,
+which darken the great principle of monotheism.
+
+When the Brahmins saw that Jesus, who, instead of becoming one of their
+party, as they had hoped, turned out to be their adversary, and that the
+people began to embrace his doctrine, they resolved to kill him; but his
+servants, who were greatly attached to him, forewarned him of the
+threatening danger, and he took refuge in the mountains of Nepaul. At
+this epoch, Buddhism had taken deep root in this country. It was a kind
+of schism, remarkable by its moral principles and ideas on the nature of
+the divinity--ideas which brought men closer to nature and to one
+another.
+
+Sakya-Muni, the founder of this sect, was born fifteen hundred years
+before Jesus Christ, at Kapila, the capital of his father's kingdom,
+near Nepaul, in the Himalayas. He belonged to the race of the Gotamides,
+and to the ancient family of the Sakyas. From his infancy he evinced a
+lively interest in religion, and, contrary to his father's wishes,
+leaving his palace with all its luxury, began at once to preach against
+the Brahmins, for the purification of their doctrines. He died at
+Kouçinagara, surrounded by many faithful disciples. His body was burned,
+and his ashes, divided into several parts, were distributed between the
+cities, which, on account of his new doctrine, had renounced Brahminism.
+
+According to the Buddhistic doctrine, the Creator reposes normally in a
+state of perfect inaction, which is disturbed by nothing and which he
+only leaves at certain destiny-determined epochs, in order to create
+terrestrial buddhas. To this end the Spirit disengages itself from the
+sovereign Creator, incarnates in a buddha and stays for some time on
+the earth, where he creates Bodhisattvas (masters),[3] whose mission it
+is to preach the divine word and to found new churches of believers to
+whom they will give laws, and for whom they will institute a new
+religious order according to the traditions of Buddhism.
+
+A terrestrial buddha is, in a certain way, a reflection of the sovereign
+creative Buddha, with whom he unites after the termination of his
+terrestrial existence. In like manner do the Bodhisattvas, as a reward
+for their labors and the privations they undergo, receive eternal bliss
+and enjoy a rest which nothing can disturb.
+
+Jesus sojourned six years among the Buddhists, where he found the
+principle of monotheism still pure. Arrived at the age of twenty-six
+years, he remembered his fatherland, which was then oppressed by a
+foreign yoke. On his way homeward, he preached against idol worship,
+human sacrifice, and other errors of faith, admonishing the people to
+recognize and adore God, the Father of all beings, to whom all are alike
+dear, the master as well as the slave; for they all are his children, to
+whom he has given this beautiful universe for a common heritage. The
+sermons of Jesus often made a profound impression upon the peoples among
+whom he came, and he was exposed to all sorts of dangers provoked by the
+clergy, but was saved by the very idolators who, only the preceding day,
+had offered their children as sacrifices to their idols.
+
+While passing through Persia, Jesus almost caused a revolution among the
+adorers of Zoroaster's doctrine. Nevertheless, the priests refrained
+from killing him, out of fear of the people's vengeance. They resorted
+to artifice, and led him out of town at night, with the hope that he
+might be devoured by wild beasts. Jesus escaped this peril and arrived
+safe and sound in the country of Israel.
+
+It must be remarked here that the Orientals, amidst their sometimes so
+picturesque misery, and in the ocean of depravation in which they
+slumber, always have, under the influence of their priests and teachers,
+a pronounced inclination for learning and understand easily good common
+sense explications. It happened to me more than once that, by using
+simple words of truth, I appealed to the conscience of a thief or some
+otherwise intractable person. These people, moved by a sentiment of
+innate honesty,--which the clergy for personal reasons of their own,
+tried by all means to stifle--soon became again very honest and had only
+contempt for those who had abused their confidence.
+
+By the virtue of a mere word of truth, the whole of India, with its
+300,000,000 of idols, could be made a vast Christian country; but ...
+this beautiful project would, no doubt, be antagonized by certain
+Christians who, similar to those priests of whom I have spoken before,
+speculate upon the ignorance of the people to make themselves rich.
+
+According to St. Luke, Jesus was about thirty years of age when he began
+preaching to the Israelites. According to the Buddhistic chroniclers,
+Jesus's teachings in Judea began in his twenty-ninth year. All his
+sermons which are not mentioned by the Evangelists, but have been
+preserved by the Buddhists, are remarkable for their character of divine
+grandeur. The fame of the new prophet spread rapidly in the country, and
+Jerusalem awaited with impatience his arrival. When he came near the
+holy city, its inhabitants went out to meet him, and led him in triumph
+to the temple; all of which is in agreement with Christian tradition.
+The chiefs and elders who heard him were filled with admiration for his
+sermons, and were happy to see the beneficent impression which his words
+exercised upon the populace. All these remarkable sermons of Jesus are
+full of sublime sentiments.
+
+Pilate, the governor of the country, however, did not look upon the
+matter in the same light. Eager agents notified him that Jesus announced
+the near coming of a new kingdom, the reestablishment of the throne of
+Israel, and that he suffered himself to be called the Son of God, sent
+to bring back courage in Israel, for he, the King of Judea, would soon
+ascend the throne of his ancestors.
+
+I do not purpose attributing to Jesus the _rôle_ of a revolutionary, but
+it seems to me very probable that Jesus wrought up the people with a
+view to reestablish the throne to which he had a just claim. Divinely
+inspired, and, at the same time, convinced of the legitimacy of his
+pretentions, Jesus preached the spiritual union of the people in order
+that a political union might result.
+
+Pilate, who felt alarmed over these rumors, called together the priests
+and the elders of the people and ordered them to interdict Jesus from
+preaching in public, and even to condemn him in the temple under the
+charge of apostasy. This was the best means for Pilate to rid himself of
+a dangerous man, whose royal origin he knew and whose popularity was
+constantly increasing.
+
+It must be said in this connection that the Israelites, far from
+persecuting Jesus, recognized in him the descendant of the illustrious
+dynasty of David, and made him the object of their secret hopes, a fact
+which is evident from the very Gospels which tell that Jesus preached
+freely in the temple, in the presence of the elders, who could have
+interdicted him not only the entrance to the temple, but also his
+preachings.
+
+Upon the order of Pilate the Sanhedrim met and cited Jesus to appear
+before its tribunal. As the result of the inquiry, the members of the
+Sanhedrim informed Pilate that his suspicions were without any
+foundation whatever; that Jesus preached a religious, and not a
+political, propaganda; that he was expounding the Divine word, and that
+he claimed to have come not to overthrow, but to reestablish the laws of
+Moses. The Buddhistic record does but confirm this sympathy, which
+unquestionably existed between the young preacher, Jesus, and the elders
+of the people of Israel; hence their answer: "We do not judge a just
+one."
+
+Pilate felt not at all assured, and continued seeking an occasion to
+hale Jesus before a new tribunal, as regular as the former. To this end
+he caused him to be followed by spies, and finally ordered his arrest.
+
+If we may believe the Evangelists, it was the Pharisees who sought the
+life of Jesus, while the Buddhistic record most positively declares that
+Pilate alone can be held responsible for his execution. This version is
+evidently much more probable than the account of the Evangelists. The
+conquerors of Judea could not long tolerate the presence of a man who
+announced to the people a speedy deliverance from their yoke. The
+popularity of Jesus having commenced to disturb Pilate's mind, it is to
+be supposed that he sent after the young preacher spies, with the order
+to take note of all his words and acts. Moreover, the servants of the
+Roman governor, as true "agents provocateurs," endeavored by means of
+artful questions put to Jesus, to draw from him some imprudent words
+under color of which Pilate might proceed against him. If the preachings
+of Jesus had been offensive to the Hebrew priests and scribes, all they
+needed to do was simply to command the people not to hear and follow
+him, and to forbid him entrance into the temple. But the Evangelists
+tell us that Jesus enjoyed great popularity among the Israelites and
+full liberty in the temples, where Pharisees and scribes discussed with
+him.
+
+In order to find a valid excuse for condemning him, Pilate had him
+tortured so as to extort from him a confession of high treason.
+
+But, contrary to the rule that the innocent, overcome by their pain,
+will confess anything to escape the unendurable agonies inflicted upon
+them, Jesus made no admission of guilt. Pilate, seeing that the usual
+tortures were powerless to accomplish the desired result, commanded the
+executioners to proceed to the last extreme of their diabolic cruelties,
+meaning to compass the death of Jesus by the complete exhaustion of his
+forces. Jesus, however, fortifying his endurance by the power of his
+will and zeal for his righteous cause--which was also that of his people
+and of God--was unconquerable by all the refinements of cruelty
+inflicted upon him by his executioners.
+
+The infliction of "the question" upon Jesus evoked much feeling among
+the elders, and they resolved to interfere in his behalf; formally
+demanding of Pilate that he should be liberated before the Passover.
+
+When their request was denied by Pilate they resolved to petition that
+Jesus should be brought to trial before the Sanhedrim, by whom they did
+not doubt his acquittal--which was ardently desired by the people--would
+be ordained.
+
+In the eyes of the priests, Jesus was a saint, belonging to the family
+of David; and his unjust detention, or--what was still more to be
+dreaded--his condemnation, would have saddened the celebration of the
+great national festival of the Israelites.
+
+They therefore prayed Pilate that the trial of Jesus should take place
+before the Passover, and to this he acceded. But he ordered that two
+thieves should be tried at the same time with Jesus, thinking to, in
+this way, minimize in the eyes of the people, the importance of the fact
+that the life of an innocent man was being put in jeopardy before the
+tribunal; and, by not allowing Jesus to be condemned alone, blind the
+populace to the unjust prearrangement of his condemnation.
+
+The accusation against Jesus was founded upon the depositions of the
+bribed witnesses.
+
+During the trial, Pilate availed himself of perversions of Jesus' words
+concerning the heavenly kingdom, to sustain the charges made against
+him. He counted, it seems, upon the effect produced by the answers of
+Jesus, as well as upon his own authority, to influence the members of
+the tribunal against examining too minutely the details of the case, and
+to procure from them the sentence of death for which he intimated his
+desire.
+
+Upon hearing the perfectly natural answer of the judges, that the
+meaning of the words of Jesus was diametrically opposed to the
+accusation, and that there was nothing in them to warrant his
+condemnation, Pilate employed his final resource for prejudicing the
+trial, viz., the deposition of a purchased traitorous informer. This
+miserable wretch--who was, no doubt, Judas--accused Jesus formally, of
+having incited the people to rebellion.
+
+Then followed a scene of unsurpassed sublimity. When Judas gave his
+testimony, Jesus, turning toward him, and giving him his blessing, says:
+"Thou wilt find mercy, for what thou has said did not come out from
+thine own heart!" Then, addressing himself to the governor: "Why dost
+thou lower thy dignity, and teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when
+without doing so it is in thy power to condemn an innocent man?"
+
+Words touching as sublime! Jesus Christ here manifests all the grandeur
+of his soul by pardoning his betrayer, and he reproaches Pilate with
+having resorted to such means, unworthy of his dignity, to attain his
+end.
+
+This keen reproach enraged the governor, and caused him to completely
+forget his position, and the prudent policy with which he had meant to
+evade personal responsibility for the crime he contemplated. He now
+imperiously demanded the conviction of Jesus, and, as though he
+intended to make a display of his power, to overawe the judges, ordered
+the acquittal of the two thieves.
+
+The judges, seeing the injustice of Pilate's demand, that they should
+acquit the malefactors and condemn the innocent Jesus, refused to commit
+this double crime against their consciences and their laws. But as they
+could not cope with one who possessed the authority of final judgment,
+and saw that he was firmly decided to rid himself, by whatever means, of
+a man who had fallen under the suspicions of the Roman authorities, they
+left him to himself pronounce the verdict for which he was so anxious.
+In order, however, that the people might not suspect them of sharing the
+responsibility for such unjust judgment, which would not readily have
+been forgiven, they, in leaving the court, performed the ceremony of
+washing their hands, symbolizing the affirmation that they were clean of
+the blood of the innocent Jesus, the beloved of the people.
+
+About ten years ago, I read in a German journal, the _Fremdenblatt_, an
+article on Judas, wherein the author endeavored to demonstrate that the
+informer had been the best friend of Jesus. According to him, it was out
+of love for his master that Judas betrayed him, for he put blind faith
+in the words of the Saviour, who said that his kingdom would arrive
+after his execution. But after seeing him on the cross, and having
+waited in vain for the resurrection of Jesus, which he expected to
+immediately take place, Judas, not able to bear the pain by which his
+heart was torn, committed suicide by hanging himself. It would be
+profitless to dwell upon this ingenious product of a fertile
+imagination.
+
+To take up again the accounts of the Gospels and the Buddhistic
+chronicle, it is very possible that the bribed informer was really
+Judas, although the Buddhistic version is silent on this point. As to
+the pangs of conscience which are said to have impelled the informer to
+suicide, I must say that I give no credence to them. A man capable of
+committing so vile and cowardly an action as that of making an
+infamously false accusation against his friend, and this, not out of a
+spirit of jealousy, or for revenge, but to gain a handful of shekels!
+such a man is, from the psychic point of view, of very little worth. He
+ignores honesty and conscience, and pangs of remorse are unknown to him.
+
+It is presumable that the governor treated him as is sometimes done in
+our days, when it is deemed desirable to effectually conceal state
+secrets known to men of his kind and presumably unsafe in their keeping.
+Judas probably was simply hanged, by Pilate's order, to prevent the
+possibility of his some day revealing that the plot of which Jesus was a
+victim had been inspired by the authorities.
+
+On the day of the execution, a numerous detachment of Roman soldiers was
+placed around the cross to guard against any attempt by the populace for
+the delivery of him who was the object of their veneration. In this
+occurrence Pilate gave proof of his extraordinary firmness and
+resolution.
+
+But though, owing to the precautions taken by the governor, the
+anticipated revolt did not occur, he could not prevent the people, after
+the execution, mourning the ruin of their hopes, which were destroyed,
+together with the last scion of the race of David. All the people went
+to worship at Jesus' grave. Although we have no precise information
+concerning the occurrences of the first few days following the Passion,
+we could, by some probable conjectures, reconstruct the scenes which
+must have taken place.
+
+It stands to reason that the Roman Cæsar's clever lieutenant, when he
+saw that Christ's grave became the centre of universal lamentations and
+the subject of national grief, and feared that the memory of the
+righteous victim might excite the discontent of the people and raise the
+whole country against the foreigners' rule, should have employed any
+effective means for the removal of this rallying-point, the mortal
+remains of Jesus. Pilate began by having the body buried. For three days
+the soldiers who were stationed on guard at the grave, were exposed to
+all kinds of insults and injuries on the part of the people who, defying
+the danger, came in multitudes to mourn the great martyr. Then Pilate
+ordered his soldiers to remove the body at night, and to bury it
+clandestinely in some other place, leaving the first grave open and the
+guard withdrawn from it, so that the people could see that Jesus had
+disappeared. But Pilate missed his end; for when, on the following
+morning, the Hebrews did not find the corpse of their master in the
+sepulchre, the superstitious and miracle-accepting among them thought
+that he had been resurrected.
+
+How did this legend take root? We cannot say. Possibly it existed for a
+long time in a latent state and, at the beginning, spread only among the
+common people; perhaps the ecclesiastic authorities of the Hebrews
+looked with indulgence upon this innocent belief, which gave to the
+oppressed a shadow of revenge on their oppressors. However it be, the
+day when the legend of the resurrection finally became known to all,
+there was no one to be found strong enough to demonstrate the
+impossibility of such an occurrence.
+
+Concerning this resurrection, it must be remarked that, according to the
+Buddhists, the soul of the just Issa was united with the eternal Being,
+while the Evangelists insist upon the ascension of the body. It seems to
+me, however, that the Evangelists and the Apostles have done very well
+to give the description of the resurrection which they have agreed upon,
+for if they had not done so, _i.e._, if the miracle had been given a
+less material character, their preaching would not have had, in the
+eyes of the nations to whom it was presented, that divine authority,
+that avowedly supernatural character, which has clothed Christianity,
+until our time, as the only religion capable of elevating the human race
+to a state of sublime enthusiasm, suppressing its savage instincts, and
+bringing it nearer to the grand and simple nature which God has
+bestowed, they say, upon that feeble dwarf called man.
+
+
+
+
+_Explanatory Notes_
+
+
+_Chapter III._
+
+_§§ 3, 4, 5, 7_
+
+The histories of all peoples show that when a nation has reached the
+apogee of its military glory and its wealth, it begins at once to sink
+more or less rapidly on the declivity of moral degeneration and decay.
+The Israelites having, among the first, experienced this law of the
+evolution of nations, the neighboring peoples profited by the decadence
+of the then effeminate and debauched descendants of Jacob, to despoil
+them.
+
+_§ 8_
+
+The country of Romeles, _i.e._, the fatherland of Romulus; in our days,
+Rome.
+
+_§§ 11, 12_
+
+It must be admitted that the Israelites, in spite of their incontestable
+wit and intelligence, seem to have only had regard for the present.
+Like all other Oriental peoples, they only in their misfortunes
+remembered the faults of their past, which they each time had to expiate
+by centuries of slavery.
+
+
+_Chapter IV_
+
+_§ 6_
+
+As it is easy to divine, this verse refers to Joseph, who was a lineal
+descendant from King David. Side by side with this somewhat vague
+indication may be placed the following passages from the Gospels:
+
+--"The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
+thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife" ... (Matt.
+i, 20.)
+
+--"And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried,
+saying, Hosanna to the son of David" (Matt. xxi, 9.)
+
+--"To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
+David;" ... (Luke i, 27.)
+
+--"And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David;"
+... (Luke i, 32.)
+
+--"And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as
+was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli ... which was
+the son of Nathan, which was the son of David" (Luke iii, 23-31.)
+
+_§ 7_
+
+Both the Old and the New Testaments teach that God promised David the
+rehabilitation of his throne and the elevation to it of one of his
+descendants.
+
+_§§ 8, 9_
+
+--"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom,
+and the grace of God was upon him."
+
+--"And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the
+temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and
+asking them questions."
+
+--"And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and
+answers."
+
+--"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that
+I must be about my Father's business?"
+
+--"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
+man" (Luke ii, 40, 46, 47, 49, 52.)
+
+
+_Chapter V_
+
+_§ 1_
+
+"Sind," a Sanscrit word, which has been modified by the Persians into
+Ind. "Arya," the name given in antiquity to the inhabitants of India;
+signified first "man who cultivates the ground" or "cultivator."
+Anciently it had a purely ethnographical signification; this appellation
+assumed later on a religious sense, notably that of "man who believes."
+
+_§ 2_
+
+Luke says (i, 80): "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and
+was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel." The
+Evangelists say that Jesus was in the desert, the Buddhists explain this
+version of the Gospels by indicating where Jesus was during his absence
+from Judea. According to them he crossed the Sind, a name which,
+properly spoken, signifies "the river" (Indus). In connection with this
+word it is not amiss to note that many Sanscrit words in passing into
+the Persian language underwent the same transformation by changing the
+"s" into "h"; per example:
+
+_Sapta_ (in Sanscrit), signifying seven--_hafta_ (in Persian);
+
+_Sam_ (Sanscrit), signifying equal--_ham_ (Persian);
+
+_Mas_ (Sanscrit), meaning mouth--_mah_ (Persian); _Sur_ (Sanscrit),
+meaning sun--_hur_ (Persian); _Das_ (Sanscrit), meaning ten--_Dah_
+(Persian); _Loco citato_--and those who believed in the god Djain.
+
+There exists, even yet, on the peninsula of Hindustan, a cult under the
+name of Djainism, which forms, as it were, a link of union between
+Buddhism and Brahminism, and its devotees teach the destruction of all
+other beliefs, which they declare contaminated with falsehood. It dates
+as far back as the seventh century, B.C. Its name is derived from Djain
+(conqueror), which it assumed as the symbol of its triumph over its
+rivals.
+
+_§ 4_
+
+Each of the eighteen Puranas is divided into five parts, which, besides
+the canonical laws, the rites and the commentaries upon the creation,
+destruction and resurrection of the universe, deal with theogony,
+medicine, and even the trades and professions.
+
+
+_Chapter VI_
+
+_§ 12_
+
+Owing to the intervention of the British, the human sacrifices, which
+were principally offered to Kali, the goddess of death, have now
+entirely ceased. The goddess Kali is represented erect, with one foot
+upon the dead body of a man, whose head she holds in one of her
+innumerable hands, while with the other hand she brandishes a bloody
+dagger. Her eyes and mouth, which are wide open, express passion and
+cruelty.
+
+
+_Chapter VIII_
+
+_§§ 3, 4_
+
+Zoroaster lived 550 years before Jesus. He founded the doctrine of the
+struggle between light and darkness, a doctrine which is fully expounded
+in the Zend-Avesta (Word of God), which is written in the Zend language,
+and, according to tradition, was given to him by an angel from Paradise.
+
+According to Zoroaster we must worship Mithra (the sun), from whom
+descend Ormuzd, the god of good, and Ahriman, the god of evil. The world
+will end when Ormuzd has triumphed over his rival, Ahriman, who will
+then return to his original source, Mithra.
+
+
+_Chapter X_
+
+_§ 16_
+
+According to the Evangelists, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which the
+Buddhistic version confirms, for only from Bethlehem, situated at a
+distance of about seven kilometres from Jerusalem, could the walls of
+this latter city be seen.
+
+
+_Chapter XI_
+
+_§ 15_
+
+The doctrine of the Redemptor is, almost in its entirety, contained in
+the Gospels. As to the transformation of men into children, it is
+especially known from the conversation that took place between Jesus and
+Nicodemus.
+
+
+_Chapter XII_
+
+_§ 1_
+
+--"Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
+unto Cæsar, or not?" (Matt. xxii, 17.)
+
+_§ 3_
+
+--"Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which
+are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. xxii, 21;
+_et al._)
+
+
+_Chapter XIV_
+
+_§ 3_
+
+According to the Buddhistic belief, the terrestrial buddhas after death,
+lose consciousness of their independent existence and unite with the
+eternal Spirit.
+
+_§§ 10, 11_
+
+Here, no doubt, reference is made to the activity of the Apostles among
+the neighboring peoples; an activity which could not have passed
+unnoticed at that epoch, because of the great results which followed the
+preaching of the new religious doctrine of love among nations whose
+religions were based upon the cruelty of their gods.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Without permitting myself indulgence in great dissertations, or too
+minute analysis upon each verse, I have thought it useful to accompany
+my work with these few little explanatory notes, leaving it to the
+reader to take like trouble with the rest.
+
+
+--_Finis_
+
+
+[1] The Vaisyas and Sudras castes.
+
+[2] Brahmins and Kshatriyas.
+
+[3] _Sanscrit_:--"He whose essence (sattva) has become intelligence
+(bhodi)," those who need but one more incarnation to become perfect
+buddhas, _i.e._, to be entitled to Nirvâna.
+
+
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, by Nicolas
+Notovitch, Translated by J. H. Connelly and L. Landsberg</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ</p>
+<p>       The Original Text of Nicolas Notovitch's 1887 Discovery</p>
+<p>Author: Nicolas Notovitch</p>
+<p>Release Date: July 1, 2009  [eBook #29288]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by David Edwards, Paul Motsuk,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="ppnote">
+<p style="font-weight: bold">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<p>Changes in the text are marked with a <span class="ins" title="like this">dashed blue line</span>; the original text is displayed when the mouse cursor hovers over it.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1 class='title'>
+  The<br />
+  Unknown<br />
+  Life of<br />
+  Jesus Christ
+</h1>
+
+<h2>The Original Text<br />
+    of Nicolas Notovitch's 1887 Discovery</h2>
+
+<h3> by Nicolas Notovitch<br />
+    Translated by J. H. Connelly and L. Landsberg</h3>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p style='margin-left: 20%;'><span class='italics'>Printed in the United States of America</span><br />
+New York: R.F. Fenno. 1890.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="Table_of_Contents" id="Table_of_Contents"></a>Table of Contents</h2>
+
+<p class='toc'>
+<a href="#Preface">Preface</a><br /><!-- Page vi -->
+<a href="#A_Journey_in_Thibet">A Journey in Thibet</a><br /><!-- Page 1 -->
+<a href="#Ladak">Ladak</a><br /><!-- Page 33 -->
+<a href="#A_Festival_in_a_Gonpa">A Festival in a Gonpa</a><br /><!-- Page 45 -->
+<a href="#The_Life_of_Saint_Issa">The Life of Saint Issa</a><br /><!-- Page 61 -->
+<a href="#Resume">Resum&eacute;</a><br /><!-- Page 89 -->
+<a href="#Explanatory_Notes">Explanatory Notes</a><br /><!-- Page 117 -->
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface</h2>
+
+
+<p>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 arch&aelig;ology, 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 Guerna&iuml;. Then, going up the Indus to
+Raval Pindi, I ran over the Pendjab&mdash;the land of the five rivers;
+visited the Golden Temple of Amritsa&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>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
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>
+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.</p>
+
+<p>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&mdash;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.</p>
+
+<p>During my sojourn at Leh, capital of Ladak, I visited the great convent
+Himis, situated near the city, the chief lama of which informed me that
+their monastic library contained copies of the manuscripts in question.
+In order that I might not awaken the suspicions of the authorities
+concerning the object of my visit to the cloister, and to evade
+obstacles which might be opposed to me as a Russian, prosecuting further
+my journey in Thibet, I gave out upon my return to Leh that I would
+depart for India, and so left the capital of Ladak. An unfortunate fall,
+causing the breaking of a leg, furnished me with an absolutely
+unexpected pretext for returning to the monastery, where I received
+surgical attention. I took advantage of my short sojourn among the lamas
+to obtain the consent of their chief that they should bring to me, from
+their library, the manuscripts relating to Jesus Christ, and, assisted
+by my interpreter, who translated for me the Thibetan language,
+transferred carefully to my notebook what the lama read to me.</p>
+
+<p>Not doubting at all the authenticity of this chronicle, edited with
+great exactitude by the Brahminic, and more especially the Buddhistic
+historians of India and Nepaul, I desired, upon my return to Europe, to
+publish a translation of it.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To this end, I addressed myself to several universally known
+ecclesiastics, asking them to revise my notes and tell me what they
+thought of them.</p>
+
+<p>Mgr. Platon, the celebrated metropolitan of Kiew, thought that my
+discovery was of great importance. Nevertheless, he sought to dissuade
+me from publishing the memoirs, believing that their publication could
+only hurt me. "Why?" This the venerable prelate refused to tell me more
+explicitly. Nevertheless, since our conversation took place in Russia,
+where the censor would have put his veto upon such a work, I made up my
+mind to wait.</p>
+
+<p>A year later, I found myself in Rome. I showed my manuscript to a
+cardinal very near to the Holy Father, who answered me literally in
+these words:&mdash;"What good will it do to print this? Nobody will attach to
+it any great importance and you will create a number of enemies. But,
+you are still very young! If it is a question of money which concerns
+you, I can ask for you a reward for your notes, a sum which will repay
+your expenditures and recompense you for your loss of time." Of course,
+I refused.</p>
+
+<p>In Paris I spoke of my project to Cardinal Rotelli, whose acquaintance I
+had made in Constantinople. He, too, was opposed to having my work
+printed, under the pretext that it would <span class="ins" title="he">be</span> premature. "The church," he
+added, "suffers already too much from the new current of atheistic
+ideas, and you will but give a new food to the calumniators and
+detractors of the evangelical doctrine. I tell you this in the interest
+of all the Christian churches."</p>
+
+<p>Then I went to see M. Jules Simon. He found my matter very interesting
+and advised me to ask the opinion of M. Renan, as to the best way of
+publishing these memoirs. The next day I was seated in the cabinet of
+the great philosopher. At the close of our conversation, M. Renan
+proposed that I should confide to him the memoirs in question, so that
+he might make to the Academy a report upon the discovery.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This proposition, as may be easily understood, was very alluring and
+flattering to my <span class='italics'>amour propre</span>. I, however, took away with me the
+manuscript, under the pretext of further revising it. I foresaw that if
+I accepted the proposed combination, I would only have the honor of
+having found the chronicles, while the illustrious author of the "Life
+of Jesus" would have the glory of the publication and the commenting
+upon it. I thought myself sufficiently prepared to publish the
+translation of the chronicles, accompanying them with my notes, and,
+therefore, did not accept the very gracious offer he made to me. But,
+that I might not wound the susceptibility of the great master, for whom
+I felt a profound respect, I made up my mind to delay publication until
+after his death, a fatality which could not be far off, if I might judge
+from the apparent general weakness of M. Renan. A short time after M.
+Renan's death, I wrote to M. Jules Simon again for his advice. He
+answered me, that it was my affair to judge of the opportunity for
+making the memoirs public.</p>
+
+<p>I therefore put my notes in order and now publish them, reserving the
+right to substantiate the authenticity of these chronicles. In my
+commentaries I proffer the arguments which must convince us of the
+sincerity and good faith of the Buddhist compilers. I wish to add that
+before criticising my communication, the societies of <span class='italics'>savans</span> can,
+without much expense, equip a scientific expedition having for its
+mission the study of those manuscripts in the place where I discovered
+them, and so may easily verify their historic value.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;<span class='italics'>Nicolas Notovitch</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h1><a name="The_Unknown_Life_of_Jesus_Christ" id="The_Unknown_Life_of_Jesus_Christ"></a>
+The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ</h1>
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="A_Journey_in_Thibet" id="A_Journey_in_Thibet"></a>
+    <span class='italics'>A Journey in Thibet</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>During my sojourn in India, I often had occasion to converse with the
+Buddhists, and the accounts they gave me of Thibet excited my curiosity
+to such an extent that I resolved to make a journey into that still
+almost unknown country. For this purpose I set out upon a route crossing
+Kachmyr (Cashmere), which I had long intended to visit.</p>
+
+<p>On the 14th of October, 1887, I entered a railway car crowded with
+soldiers, and went from Lahore to Raval-Pinidi, where I arrived the next
+day, near noon. After resting a little and inspecting the city, to which
+the permanent garrison gives the aspect of a military camp, I provided
+myself with the necessaries for a journey, where horses take the place
+of the railway cars. Assisted by my servant, a colored man of
+Pondichery, I packed all my baggage, hired a tonga (a two-wheeled
+vehicle which is drawn by two horses), stowed myself upon its back seat,
+and set out upon the picturesque road leading to Kachmyr, an excellent
+highway,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+upon which we travelled rapidly. We had to use no little skill
+in making our way through the ranks of a military caravan&mdash;its baggage
+carried upon camels&mdash;which was part of a detachment returning from a
+country camp to the city. Soon we arrived at the end of the valley of
+Pendjab, and climbing up a way with infinite windings, entered the
+passes of the Himalayas. The ascent became more and more steep. Behind
+us spread, like a beautiful panorama, the region we had just traversed,
+which seemed to sink farther and farther away from us. As the sun's last
+glances rested upon the tops of the mountains, our tonga came gaily out
+from the zigzags which the eye could still trace far down the
+forest-clad slope, and halted at the little city of Mur&eacute;; where the
+families of the English functionaries came to seek shade and
+refreshment.</p>
+
+<p>Ordinarily, one can go in a tonga from Mur&eacute; to Srinagar; but at the
+approach of the winter season, when all Europeans desert Kachmyr, the
+tonga service is suspended. I undertook my journey precisely at the time
+when the summer life begins to wane, and the Englishmen whom I met upon
+the road, returning to India, were much astonished to see me, and made
+vain efforts to divine the purpose of my travel to Kachmyr.</p>
+
+<p>Abandoning the tonga, I hired saddle horses&mdash;not without considerable
+difficulty&mdash;and evening had arrived when we started to descend from
+Mur&eacute;, which is at an altitude of 5,000 feet. This stage of our journey
+had nothing playful in it. The road was torn in deep ruts by the late
+rains, darkness came upon us and our horses rather guessed than saw
+their way. When night had completely set in, a tempestuous rain
+surprised us in the open country, and, owing to the thick foliage of the
+centenarian oaks which stood on the sides of our road, we were plunged
+in profound darkness. That we might not lose each other, we had to
+continue exchanging calls from time to time. In this impenetrable
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+obscurity we divined huge masses of rock almost above our heads, and
+were conscious of, on our left, a roaring torrent, the water of which
+formed a cascade we could not see. During two hours we waded in the mud
+and the icy rain had chilled my very marrow, when we perceived in the
+distance a little fire, the sight of which revived our energies. But how
+deceitful are lights in the mountains! You believe you see the fire
+burning quite near to you and at once it disappears, to reappear again,
+to the right, to the left, above, below you, as if it took pleasure in
+playing tricks upon the harassed traveller. All the time the road makes
+a thousand turns, and winds here and there, and the fire&mdash;which is
+immovable&mdash;seems to be in continual motion, the obscurity preventing you
+realizing that you yourself modify your direction every instant.</p>
+
+<p>I had quite given up all hope of approaching this much-wished-for fire,
+when it appeared again, and this time so near that our horses stopped
+before it.</p>
+
+<p>I have here to express my sincere thanks to the Englishmen for the
+foresight of which they gave proof in building by the roadsides the
+little bengalows&mdash;one-story houses for the shelter of travellers. It is
+true, one must not demand comfort in this kind of hotel; but this is a
+matter in which the traveller, broken down by fatigue, is not exacting,
+and he is at the summit of happiness when he finds at his disposal a
+clean and dry room.</p>
+
+<p>The Hindus, no doubt, did not expect to see a traveller arrive at so
+late an hour of the night and in this season, for they had taken away
+the keys of the bengalow, so we had to force an entrance. I threw myself
+upon a bed prepared for me, composed of a pillow and blanket saturated
+with water, and almost at once fell asleep. At daybreak, after taking
+tea and some conserves, we took up our march again, now bathed in the
+burning rays of the sun. From time to time, we passed villages; the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+first in a superb narrow pass, then along the road meandering in the
+bosom of the mountain. We descended eventually to the river Djeloum
+(Jhelum), the waters of which flow gracefully, amid the rocks by which
+its course is obstructed, between rocky walls whose tops in many places
+seem almost to reach the azure skies of the Himalayas, a heaven which
+here shows itself remarkably pure and serene.</p>
+
+<p>Toward noon we arrived at the hamlet called Tongue&mdash;situated on the bank
+of the river&mdash;which presents an unique array of huts that give the
+effect of boxes, the openings of which form a fa&ccedil;ade. Here are sold
+comestibles and all kinds of merchandise. The place swarms with Hindus,
+who bear on their foreheads the variously colored marks of their
+respective castes. Here, too, you see the beautiful people of Kachmyr,
+dressed in their long white shirts and snowy turbans. I hired here, at a
+good price, a Hindu cabriolet, from a Kachmyrian. This vehicle is so
+constructed that in order to keep one's seat in it, one must cross his
+legs in the Turkish fashion. The seat is so small that it will hold, at
+most, only two persons. The absence of any support for the back makes
+this mode of transportation very dangerous; nevertheless, I accepted
+this kind of circular table mounted on two wheels and drawn by a horse,
+as I was anxious to reach, as soon as possible, the end of my journey.
+Hardly, however, had I gone five hundred yards on it, when I seriously
+regretted the horse I had forsaken, so much fatigue had I to endure
+keeping my legs crossed and maintaining my equilibrium. Unfortunately,
+it was already too late.</p>
+
+<p>Evening was falling when I approached the village of Hori. Exhausted by
+fatigue; racked by the incessant jolting; my legs feeling as if invaded
+by millions of ants, I had been completely incapable of enjoying the
+picturesque landscape spread before us as we journeyed along the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
+Djeloum, the banks of which are bordered on one side by steep rocks and
+on the other by the heavily wooded slopes of the mountains. In Hori I
+encountered a caravan of pilgrims returning from Mecca.</p>
+
+<p>Thinking I was a physician and learning my haste to reach Ladak, they
+invited me to join them, which I promised I would at Srinagar.</p>
+
+<p>I spent an ill night, sitting up in my bed, with a lighted torch in my
+hand, without closing my eyes, in constant fear of the stings and bites
+of the scorpions and centipedes which swarm in the bengalows. I was
+sometimes ashamed of the fear with which those vermin inspired me;
+nevertheless, I could not fall asleep among them. Where, truly, in man,
+is the line that separates courage from cowardice? I will not boast of
+my bravery, but I am not a coward, yet the insurmountable fear with
+which those malevolent little creatures thrilled me, drove sleep from my
+eyelids, in spite of my extreme fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>Our horses carried us into a flat valley, encircled by high mountains.
+Bathed as I was in the rays of the sun, it did not take me long to fall
+asleep in the saddle. A sudden sense of freshness penetrated and awoke
+me. I saw that we had already begun climbing a mountain path, in the
+midst of a dense forest, rifts in which occasionally opened to our
+admiring gaze ravishing vistas, impetuous torrents; distant mountains;
+cloudless heavens; a landscape, far below, of wondrous beauty. All about
+us were the songs of numberless brilliantly plumaged birds. We came out
+of the forest toward noon, descended to a little hamlet on the bank of
+the river, and after refreshing ourselves with a light, cold collation,
+continued our journey. Before starting, I went to a bazaar and tried to
+buy there a glass of warm milk from a Hindu, who was sitting crouched
+before a large cauldron full of boiling milk. How great was my surprise
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+when he proposed to me that I should take away the whole cauldron, with
+its contents, assuring me that I had polluted the milk it contained! "I
+only want a glass of milk and not a kettle of it," I said to him.</p>
+
+<p>"According to our laws," the merchant answered me, "if any one not
+belonging to our caste has fixed his eyes for a long time upon one of
+our cooking utensils, we have to wash that article thoroughly, and throw
+away the food it contains. You have polluted my milk and no one will
+drink any more of it, for not only were you not contented with fixing
+your eyes upon it, but you have even pointed to it with your finger."</p>
+
+<p>I had indeed a long time examined his merchandise, to make sure that it
+was really milk, and had pointed with my finger, to the merchant, from
+which side I wished the milk poured out. Full of respect for the laws
+and customs of foreign peoples, I paid, without dispute, a rupee, the
+price of all the milk, which was poured in the street, though I had
+taken only one glass of it. This was a lesson which taught me, from now
+on, not to fix my eyes upon the food of the Hindus.</p>
+
+<p>There is no religious belief more muddled by the numbers of ceremonious
+laws and commentaries prescribing its observances than the Brahminic.</p>
+
+<p>While each of the other principal religions has but one inspired book,
+one Bible, one Gospel, or one Koran&mdash;books from which the Hebrew, the
+Christian and the Musselman draw their creeds&mdash;the Brahminical Hindus
+possess such a great number of tomes and commentaries in folio that the
+wisest Brahmin has hardly had the time to peruse one-tenth of them.
+Leaving aside the four books of the Vedas; the Puranas&mdash;which are
+written in Sanscrit and composed of eighteen volumes&mdash;containing 400,000
+strophes treating of law, rights, theogony, medicine, the creation and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+destruction of the world, etc.; the vast Shastras, which deal with
+mathematics, grammar, etc.; the Upa-Vedas, Upanishads,
+Upo-Puranas&mdash;which are explanatory of the Puranas;&mdash;and a number of
+other commentaries in several volumes; there still remain twelve vast
+books, containing the laws of Manu, the grandchild of Brahma&mdash;books
+dealing not only with civil and criminal law, but also the canonical
+rules&mdash;rules which impose upon the faithful such a considerable number
+of ceremonies that one is surprised into admiration of the illimitable
+patience the Hindus show in observance of the precepts inculcated by
+Saint Manu. Manu was incontestably a great legislator and a great
+thinker, but he has written so much that it has happened to him
+frequently to contradict himself in the course of a single page. The
+Brahmins do not take the trouble to notice that, and the poor Hindus,
+whose labor supports the Brahminic caste, obey servilely their clergy,
+whose prescriptions enjoin upon them never to touch a man who does not
+belong to their caste, and also absolutely prohibit a stranger from
+fixing his attention upon anything belonging to a Hindu. Keeping himself
+to the strict letter of this law, the Hindu imagines that his food is
+polluted when it receives a little protracted notice from the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, Brahminism has been, even at the beginning of its second birth,
+a purely monotheistic religion, recognizing only one infinite and
+indivisible God. As it came to pass in all times and in religions, the
+clergy took advantage of the privileged situation which places them
+above the ignorant multitude, and early manufactured various exterior
+forms of cult and certain laws, thinking they could better, in this way,
+influence and control the masses. Things changed soon, so far that the
+principle of monotheism, of which the Vedas have given such a clear
+conception, became confounded with, or, as it were, supplanted by an
+absurd and limitless series of gods and goddesses, half-gods, genii and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+devils, which were represented by idols, of infinite variety but all
+equally horrible looking. The people, once glorious as their religion
+was once great and pure, now slip by degrees into complete idiocy.
+Hardly does their day suffice for the accomplishment of all the
+prescriptions of their canons. It must be said positively that the
+Hindus only exist to support their principal caste, the Brahmins, who
+have taken into their hands the temporal power which once was possessed
+by independent sovereigns of the people. While governing India, the
+Englishman does not interfere with this phase of the public life, and so
+the Brahmins profit by maintaining the people's hope of a better future.</p>
+
+<p>The sun passed behind the summit of a mountain, and the darkness of
+night in one moment overspread the magnificent landscape we were
+traversing. Soon the narrow valley of the Djeloum fell asleep. Our road
+winding along ledges of steep rocks, was instantly hidden from our
+sight; mountains and trees were confounded together in one dark mass,
+and the stars glittered in the celestial vault. We had to dismount and
+feel our way along the mountain side, for fear of becoming the prey of
+the abyss which yawned at our feet. At a late hour of the night we
+traversed a bridge and ascended a steep elevation leading to the
+bengalow Ouri, which at this height seems to enjoy complete isolation.
+The next day we traversed a charming region, always going along the
+river&mdash;at a turn of which we saw the ruins of a Sikh fortress, that
+seemed to remember sadly its glorious past. In a little valley, nestled
+amid the mountains, we found a bengalow which seemed to welcome us. In
+its proximity were encamped a cavalry regiment of the Maharajah of
+Kachmyr.</p>
+
+<p>When the officers learned that I was a Russian, they invited me to share
+their repast. There I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+Col. Brown, who was the first to compile a dictionary of the
+Afghan-pouchton language.</p>
+
+<p>As I was anxious to reach, as soon as possible, the city of Srinagar, I,
+with little delay, continued my journey through the picturesque region
+lying at the foot of the mountains, after having, for a long time,
+followed the course of the river. Here, before our eyes, weary of the
+monotonous desolation of the preceding landscapes, was unfolded a
+charming view of a well-peopled valley, with many two-story houses
+surrounded by gardens and cultivated fields. A little farther on begins
+the celebrated valley of Kachmyr, situated behind a range of high rocks
+which I crossed toward evening. What a superb panorama revealed itself
+before my eyes, when I found myself at the last rock which separates the
+valley of Kachmyr from the mountainous country I had traversed. A
+ravishing tableau truly enchanted my sight. This valley, the limits of
+which are lost in the horizon, and is throughout well populated, is
+enshrined amid the high Himalayan mountains. At the rising and the
+setting of the sun, the zone of eternal snows seems a silver ring, which
+like a girdle surrounds this rich and delightful plateau, furrowed by
+numerous rivers and traversed by excellent roads, gardens, hills, a
+lake, the islands in which are occupied by constructions of pretentious
+style, all these cause the traveller to feel as if he had entered
+another world. It seems to him as though he had to go but a little
+farther on and there must find the Paradise of which his governess had
+told him so often in his childhood.</p>
+
+<p>The veil of night slowly covered the valley, merging mountains, gardens
+and lake in one dark amplitude, pierced here and there by distant fires,
+resembling stars. I descended into the valley, directing myself toward
+the Djeloum, which has broken its way through a narrow gorge in the
+mountains, to unite itself with  the waters of the river Ind. According
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+to the legend, the valley was once an inland sea; a passage opened
+through the rocks environing it, and drained the waters away, leaving
+nothing more of its former character than the lake, the Djeloum and
+minor water-courses. The banks of the river are now lined with
+boat-houses, long and narrow, which the proprietors, with their
+families, inhabit the whole year.</p>
+
+<p>From here Srinagar can be reached in one day's travel on horseback; but
+with a boat the journey requires a day and a half. I chose the latter
+mode of conveyance, and having selected a boat and bargained with its
+proprietor for its hire, took my seat in the bow, upon a carpet,
+sheltered by a sort of penthouse roof. The boat left the shore at
+midnight, bearing us rapidly toward Srinagar. At the stern of the bark,
+a Hindu prepared my tea. I went to sleep, happy in knowing my voyage was
+to be accomplished. The hot caress of the sun's rays penetrating my
+little roof awakened me, and what I experienced delighted me beyond all
+expression. Entirely green banks; the distant outlines of mountain tops
+covered with snow; pretty villages which from time to time showed
+themselves at the mountain's foot; the crystalline sheet of water; pure
+and peculiarly agreeable air, which I breathed with exhilaration; the
+musical carols of an infinity of birds; a sky of extraordinary purity;
+behind me the plash of water stirred by the round-ended paddle which was
+wielded with ease by a superb woman (with marvellous eyes and a
+complexion browned by the sun), who wore an air of stately indifference:
+all these things together seemed to plunge me into an ecstasy, and I
+forgot entirely the reason for my presence on the river. In that moment
+I had not even a desire to reach the end of my voyage&mdash;and yet, how many
+privations remained for me to undergo, and dangers to encounter! I felt
+myself here so well content!
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The boat glided rapidly and the landscape continued to unfold new
+beauties before my eyes, losing itself in ever new combinations with the
+horizon, which merged into the mountains we were passing, to become one
+with them. Then a new panorama would display itself, seeming to expand
+and flow out from the sides of the mountains, becoming more and more
+grand.... The day was almost spent and I was not yet weary of
+contemplating this magnificent nature, the view of which reawakened the
+souvenirs of childhood and youth. How beautiful were those days forever
+gone!</p>
+
+<p>The more nearly one approaches Srinagar, the more numerous become the
+villages embowered in the verdure. At the approach of our boat, some of
+their inhabitants came running to see us; the men in their turbans, the
+women in their small bonnets, both alike dressed in white gowns reaching
+to the ground, the children in a state of nudity which reminded one of
+the costumes of our first parents.</p>
+
+<p>When entering the city one sees a range of barks and floating houses in
+which entire families reside. The tops of the far-off, snow-covered
+mountains were caressed by the last rays of the setting sun, when we
+glided between the wooden houses of Srinagar, which closely line both
+banks of the river. Life seems to cease here at sunset; the thousands of
+many colored open boats (dunga) and palanquin-covered barks (bangla)
+were fastened along the beach; men and women gathered near the river, in
+the primitive costumes of Adam and Eve, going through their evening
+ablutions without feeling any embarrassment or prudery before each
+other, since they performed a religious rite, the importance of which is
+greater for them than all human prejudices.</p>
+
+<p>On the 20<span class="sup">th</span> of October I awoke in a neat room, from which I had a gay
+view upon the river that was now inundated with the rays of the sun of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+Kachmyr. As it is not my purpose to describe here my experiences in
+detail, I refrain from enumerating the lovely valleys, the paradise of
+lakes, the enchanting islands, those historic places, mysterious
+pagodas, and coquettish villages which seem lost in vast gardens; on all
+sides of which rise the majestic tops of the giants of the Himalaya,
+shrouded as far as the eye can see in eternal snow. I shall only note
+the preparations I made in view of my journey toward Thibet. I spent six
+days at Srinagar, making long excursions into the enchanting
+surroundings of the city, examining the numerous ruins which testify to
+the ancient prosperity of this region, and studying the strange customs
+of the country.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Kachmyr, as well as the other provinces attached to it, Baltistan,
+Ladak, etc., are vassals of England. They formerly formed part of the
+possessions of Randjid Sing, the Lion of the Pendjab. At his death, the
+English troops occupied Lahore, the capital of the Pendjab, separated
+Kachmyr from the rest of the empire and ceded it, under color of
+hereditary right, and for the sum of 160,000,000 francs, to Goulab-Sing,
+one of the familiars of the late sovereign, conferring on him besides
+the title of Maharadja. At the epoch of my journey, the actual Maharadja
+was Pertab-Sing, the grandchild of Goulab, whose residence is Jamoo, on
+the southern slope of the Himalaya.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated "happy valley" of Kachmyr (eighty-five miles long by
+twenty-five miles wide) enjoyed glory and prosperity only under the
+Grand Mogul, whose court loved to taste here the sweetness of country
+life, in the still existent pavilions on the little island of the lake.
+Most of the Maharadjas of Hindustan used formerly to spend here the
+summer months, and to take part in the magnificent festivals given by
+the Grand Mogul; but times have greatly changed since, and the happy
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+valley is today no more than a beggar retreat. Aquatic plants and scum
+have covered the clear waters of the lake; the wild juniper has
+smothered all the vegetation of the islands; the palaces and pavilions
+retain only the souvenir of their past grandeur; earth and grass cover
+the buildings which are now falling in ruins. The surrounding mountains
+and their eternally white tops seem to be absorbed in a sullen sadness,
+and to nourish the hope of a better time for the disclosure of their
+immortal beauties. The once spiritual, beautiful and cleanly inhabitants
+have grown animalistic and stupid; they have become dirty and lazy; and
+the whip now governs them, instead of the sword.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Kachmyr have so often been subject to invasions and
+pillages and have had so many masters, that they have now become
+indifferent to every thing. They pass their time near the banks of the
+rivers, gossiping about their neighbors; or are engaged in the
+painstaking work of making their celebrated shawls; or in the execution
+of filagree gold or silver work. The Kachmyr women are of a melancholy
+temperament, and an inconceivable sadness is spread upon their features.
+Everywhere reigns misery and uncleanness. The beautiful men and superb
+women of Kachmyr are dirty and in rags. The costume of the two sexes
+consists, winter and summer alike, of a long shirt, or gown, made of
+thick material and with puffed sleeves. They wear this shirt until it is
+completely worn out, and never is it washed, so that the white turban of
+the men looks like dazzling snow near their dirty shirts, which are
+covered all over with spittle and grease stains.</p>
+
+<p>The traveller feels himself permeated with sadness at seeing the
+contrast between the rich and opulent nature surrounding them, and this
+people dressed in rags.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The capital of the country, Srinagar (City of the Sun), or, to call it
+by the name which is given to it here after the country, Kachmyr, is
+situated on the shore of the Djeloum, along which it stretches out
+toward the south to a distance of five kilometres and is not more than
+two kilometres in breadth.</p>
+
+<p>Its two-story houses, inhabited by a population of 100,000 inhabitants,
+are built of wood and border both river banks. Everybody lives on the
+river, the shores of which are united by ten bridges. Terraces lead from
+the houses to the Djeloum, where all day long people perform their
+ceremonial ablutions, bathe and wash their culinary utensils, which
+consist of a few copper pots. Part of the inhabitants practice the
+Musselman religion; two-thirds are Brahminic; and there are but few
+Buddhists to be found among them.</p>
+
+<p>It was time to make other preparations for travel before plunging into
+the unknown. Having purchased different kinds of conserves, wine and
+other things indispensable on a journey through a country so little
+peopled as is Thibet, I packed all my baggage in boxes; hired six
+carriers and an interpreter, bought a horse for my own use, and fixed my
+departure for the 27<span class="sup">th</span> of October. To cheer up my journey, I took from
+a good Frenchman, M. Peicheau, the wine cultivator of the Maharadja, a
+big dog, Pamir, who had already traversed the road with my friends,
+Bonvallot, Capus and Pepin, the well-known explorers. As I wished to
+shorten my journey by two days, I ordered my carriers to leave at dawn
+from the other side of the lake, which I crossed in a boat, and joined
+them and my horse at the foot of the mountain chain which separates the
+valley of Srinagar from the Sind gorge.</p>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the tortures which we had to undergo in climbing
+almost on all fours to a mountain top, three thousand feet high. The
+carriers were out of breath; every moment I feared to see one tumble
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+down the declivity with his burden, and I felt pained at seeing my poor
+dog, Pamir, panting and with his tongue hanging out, make two or three
+steps and fall to the ground exhausted. Forgetting my own fatigue, I
+caressed and encouraged the poor animal, who, as if understanding me,
+got up to make another two or three steps and fall anew to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The night had come when we reached the crest; we threw ourselves
+greedily upon the snow to quench our thirst; and after a short rest,
+started to descend through a very thick pine forest, hastening to gain
+the village of Ha&iuml;ena, at the foot of the defile, fearing the attacks of
+beasts of prey in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>A level and good road leads from Srinagar to Ha&iuml;ena, going straight
+northward over Ganderbal, where I repaired by a more direct route across
+a pass three thousand feet high, which shortened for me both time and
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>My first step in the unknown was marked by an incident which made all of
+us pass an ugly quarter of an hour. The defile of the Sind, sixty miles
+long, is especially noteworthy for the inhospitable hosts it contains.
+Among others it abounds in panthers, tigers, leopards, black bears,
+wolves and jackals. As though by a special misfortune, the snow had
+covered with its white carpet the heights of the chain, compelling those
+formidable, carnivorous beasts to descend a little lower for shelter in
+their dens. We descended in silence, amid the darkness, a narrow path
+that wound through the centennary firs and birches, and the calm of the
+night was only broken by the crackling sound of our steps. Suddenly,
+quite near to us, a terrible howling awoke the echoes of the woods. Our
+small troop stopped. "A panther!" exclaimed, in a low and frightened
+voice, my servant. The small caravan of a dozen men stood motionless, as
+though riveted to the spot. Then it occurred to me that at the moment of
+starting on our ascent, when already feeling fatigued, I had entrusted
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+my revolver to one of the carriers, and my Winchester rifle to another.
+Now I felt bitter regret for having parted with my arms, and asked in a
+low voice where the man was to whom I had given the rifle. The howls
+became more and more violent, and filled the echoes of the woods, when
+suddenly a dull sound was heard, like the fall of some body. A minute
+later we heard the noise of a struggle and a cry of agony which mingled
+with the fierce roars of the starved animal.</p>
+
+<p>"Saa&iuml;b, take the gun," I heard some one near by. I seized feverishly the
+rifle, but, vain trouble, one could not see two steps before oneself. A
+new cry, followed by a smothered howling, indicated to me vaguely the
+place of the struggle, toward which I crawled, divided between the
+ardent desire to "kill a panther" and a horrible fear of being eaten
+alive. No one dared to move; only after five minutes it occurred to one
+of the carriers to light a match. I then remembered the fear which
+feline animals exhibit at the presence of fire, and ordered my men to
+gather two or three handfuls of brush, which I set on fire. We then saw,
+about ten steps from us, one of our carriers stretched out on the
+ground, with his limbs frightfully lacerated by the claws of a huge
+panther. The beast still lay upon him defiantly, holding a piece of
+flesh in its mouth. At its side, gaped a box of wine broken open by its
+fall when the carrier was torn down. Hardly did I make a movement to
+bring the rifle to my shoulder, when the panther raised itself, and
+turned toward us while dropping part of its horrible meal. One moment,
+it appeared about to spring upon me, then it suddenly wheeled, and
+rending the air with a howl, enough to freeze one's blood, jumped into
+the midst of the thicket and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>My coolies, whom an odious fear had all the time kept prostrated on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+ground, recovered little by little from their fright. Keeping in
+readiness a few packages of dry grass and matches, we hastened to reach
+the village Ha&iuml;ena, leaving behind the remains of the unfortunate Hindu,
+whose fate we feared sharing.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later we had left the forest and entered the plain. I ordered my
+tent erected under a very leafy plane tree, and had a great fire made
+before it, with a pile of wood, which was the only protection we could
+employ against the ferocious beasts whose howls continued to reach us
+from all directions. In the forest my dog had pressed himself against
+me, with his tail between his legs; but once under the tent, he suddenly
+recovered his watchfulness, and barked incessantly the whole night,
+being very careful, however, not to step outside. I spent a terrible
+night, rifle in hand, listening to the concert of those diabolical
+howlings, the echoes of which seemed to shake the defile. Some panthers
+approached our bivouac to answer the barking of Pamir, but dared not
+attack us.</p>
+
+<p>I had left Srinagar at the head of eleven carriers, four of whom had to
+carry so many boxes of wine, four others bore my travelling effects; one
+my weapons, another various utensils, and finally a last, who went
+errands or on reconnaissance. His name was "Chicari," which means "he
+who accompanies the hunter and gathers the prey." I discharged him in
+the morning on account of his cowardice and his profound ignorance of
+the country, and only retained four carriers. It was but slowly that I
+advanced toward the village of Gounde.</p>
+
+<p>How beautiful is nature in the Sind pass, and how much is it beloved by
+the hunters! Besides the great fallow deer, you meet there the hind, the
+stag, the mountain sheep and an immense variety of birds, among which I
+want to mention above all the golden pheasant, and others of red or
+snow-white plumage, very large partridges and immense eagles.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The villages situated along the Sind do not shine by their dimensions.
+They contain, for the greatest part, not more than ten to twenty huts of
+an extremely miserable appearance. Their inhabitants are clad in rags.
+Their cattle belongs to a very small race.</p>
+
+<p>I crossed the river at Sambal, and stopped near the village Gounde,
+where I procured relay horses. In some villages they refused to hire
+horses to me; I then threatened them with my whip, which at once
+inspired respect and obedience; my money accomplished the same end; it
+inspired a servile obedience&mdash;not willingness&mdash;to obey my least orders.</p>
+
+<p>Stick and gold are the true sovereigns in the Orient; without them the
+Very Grand Mogul would not have had any preponderance.</p>
+
+<p>Night began to descend, and I was in a hurry to cross the defile which
+separates the villages Gogangan and Sonamarg. The road is in very bad
+condition, and the mountains are infested by beasts of prey which in the
+night descend into the very villages to seek their prey. The country is
+delightful and very fertile; nevertheless, but few colonists venture to
+settle here, on account of the neighborhood of the panthers, which come
+to the dooryards to seize domestic animals.</p>
+
+<p>At the very exit of the defile, near the village of Tchokodar, or
+Thajwas, the half obscurity prevailing only permitted me to distinguish
+two dark masses crossing the road. They were two big bears followed by a
+young one. I was alone with my servant (the caravan having loitered
+behind), so I did not like to attack them with only one rifle; but the
+long excursions which I had made on the mountain had strongly developed
+in me the sense of the hunter. To jump from my horse, shoot, and,
+without even verifying the result, change quickly the cartridge, was the
+affair of a second. One bear was about to jump on me, a second shot
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+made it run away and disappear. Holding in my hand my loaded gun, I
+approached with circumspection, the one at which I had aimed, and found
+it laying on its flank, dead, with the little cub beside it. Another
+shot killed the little one, after which I went to work to take off the
+two superb jet-black skins.</p>
+
+<p>This incident made us lose two hours, and night had completely set in
+when I erected my tent near Tchokodar, which I left at sunrise to gain
+Baltal, by following the course of the Sind river. At this place the
+ravishing landscape of the "golden prairie" terminates abruptly with a
+village of the same name (Sona, gold, and Marg, prairie). The abrupt
+acclivity of Zodgi-La, which we next surmounted, attains an elevation of
+11,500 feet, on the other side of which the whole country assumes a
+severe and inhospitable character. My hunting adventures closed before
+reaching Baltal. From there I met on the road only wild goats. In order
+to hunt, I would have had to leave the grand route and to penetrate into
+the heart of the mountains full of mysteries. I had neither the
+inclination nor the time to do so, and, therefore, continued quietly my
+journey toward Ladak.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>How violent the contrast I felt when passing from the laughing nature
+and beautiful population of Kachmyr to the arid and forbidding rocks and
+the beardless and ugly inhabitants of Ladak!</p>
+
+<p>The country into which I penetrated is situated at an altitude of 11,000
+to 12,000 feet. Only at Karghil the level descends to 8,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>The acclivity of Zodgi-La is very rough; one must climb up an almost
+perpendicular rocky wall. In certain places the road winds along upon
+rock ledges of only a metre in width, below which the sight drops into
+unfathomable abysses. May the Lord preserve the traveller from a fall!
+At one place, the way is upon long beams introduced into holes made in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+the rock, like a bridge, and covered up with earth. Brr!&mdash;At the thought
+that a little stone might get loose and roll down the slope of the
+mountain, or that a too strong oscillation of the beams could
+precipitate the whole structure into the abyss, and with it him who had
+ventured upon the perilous path, one feels like fainting more than once
+during this hazardous passage.</p>
+
+<p>After crossing the glaciers we stopped in a valley and prepared to spend
+the night near a hut, a dismal place surrounded by eternal ice and snow.</p>
+
+<p>From Baltal the distances are determined by means of daks, <span class='italics'>i.e.</span>,
+postal stations for mail service. They are low huts, about seven
+kilometres distant from each other. A man is permanently established in
+each of these huts. The postal service between Kachmyr and Thibet is yet
+carried on in a very primitive form. The letters are enclosed in a
+leather bag, which is handed to the care of a carrier. The latter runs
+rapidly over the seven kilometres assigned to him, carrying on his back
+a basket which holds several of these bags, which he delivers to another
+carrier, who, in his turn, accomplishes his task in an identical manner.
+Neither rain nor snow can arrest these carriers. In this way the mail
+service is carried on between Kachmyr and Thibet, and <span class='italics'>vice versa</span> once
+a week. For each course the letter carrier is paid six annas (twenty
+cents); the same wages as is paid to the carriers of merchandise. This
+sum I also paid to every one of my servants for carrying a ten times
+heavier load.</p>
+
+<p>It makes one's heart ache to see the pale and tired-looking figures of
+these carriers; but what is to be done? It is the custom of the country.
+The tea is brought from China by a similar system of transportation,
+which is rapid and inexpensive.</p>
+
+<p>In the village of Montaiyan, I found again the Yarkandien caravan of
+pilgrims, whom I had promised to accompany on their journey. They
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+recognized me from a distance, and asked me to examine one of their men,
+who had fallen sick. I found him writhing in the agonies of an intense
+fever. Shaking my hands as a sign of despair, I pointed to the heavens
+and gave them to understand that human will and science were now
+useless, and that God alone could save him. These people journeyed by
+small stages only; I, therefore, left them and arrived in the evening at
+Drass, situated at the bottom of a valley near a river of the same name.
+Near Drass, a little fort of ancient construction, but freshly painted,
+stands aloof, under the guard of three Sikhs of the Maharadja's army.</p>
+
+<p>At Drass, my domicile was the post-house, which is a station&mdash;and the
+only one&mdash;of an unique telegraph line from Srinagar to the interior of
+the Himalayas. From that time on, I no more had my tent put up each
+evening, but stopped in the caravansarais; places which, though made
+repulsive by their dirt, are kept warm by the enormous piles of wood
+burned in their fireplaces.</p>
+
+<p>From Drass to Karghil the landscape is unpleasing and monotonous, if one
+excepts the marvellous effects of the rising and setting sun and the
+beautiful moonlight. Apart from these the road is wearisome and
+abounding with dangers. Karghil is the principal place of the district,
+where the governor of the country resides. Its site is quite
+picturesque. Two water courses, the Souron and the Wakkha, roll their
+noisy and turbulent waters among rocks and sunken snags of uprooted
+trees, escaping from their respective defiles in the rocks, to join in
+forming here the river Souron, upon the banks of which stands Karghil. A
+little fort, garrisoned by two or three Sikhs, shows its outlines at the
+junction of the streams. Provided with a horse, I continued my journey
+at break of day, entering now the province of Ladak, or Little Thibet. I
+traversed a ricketty bridge, composed&mdash;like all the bridges of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+Kachmyr&mdash;of two long beams, the ends of which were supported upon the
+banks and the floor made of a layer of fagots and sticks, which imparted
+to the traveller, at least the illusion of a suspension bridge. Soon
+afterward I climbed slowly up on a little plateau, which crosses the way
+at a distance of two kilometres, to descend into the narrow valley of
+Wakkha. Here there are several villages, among which, on the left shore,
+is the very picturesque one called Paskium.</p>
+
+<p>Here my feet trod Buddhist ground. The inhabitants are of a very simple
+and mild disposition, seemingly ignorant of "quarreling." Women are very
+rare among them. Those of them whom I encountered were distinguished
+from the women I had hitherto seen in India or Kachmyr, by the air of
+gaiety and prosperity apparent in their countenances. How could it be
+otherwise, since each woman in this country has, on an average, three to
+five husbands, and possesses them in the most legitimate way in the
+world. Polyandry flourishes here. However large a family may be, there
+is but one woman in it. If the family does not contain already more than
+two husbands, a bachelor may share its advantages, for a consideration.
+The days sacred to each one of those husbands are determined in advance,
+and all acquit themselves of their respective duties and respect each
+others' rights. The men generally seem feeble, with bent backs, and do
+not live to old age. During my travels in Ladak, I only encountered one
+man so old that his hair was white.</p>
+
+<p>From Karghil to the centre of Ladak, the road had a more cheerful aspect
+than that I had traversed before reaching Karghil, its prospect being
+brightened by a number of little hamlets, but trees and verdure were,
+unfortunately, rare.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty miles from Karghil, at the end of the defile formed by the rapid
+current of the Wakkha, is a little village called Chargol, in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+centre of which stand three chapels, decorated with lively colors
+(<span class='italics'>t'horthenes</span>, to give them the name they
+bear in Thibet). Below, near the river, are masses of rocks, in the form
+of long and large walls, upon which are thrown, in apparent disorder,
+flat stones of different colors and sizes. Upon these stones are engraved
+all sorts of prayers, in Ourd, Sanscrit and Thibetan, and one can even
+find among them inscriptions in Arabic characters. Without the knowledge
+of my carriers, I succeeded in taking away a few of these stones, which
+are now in the palace of the Trocadero.</p>
+
+<p>Along the way, from Chargol, one finds frequently oblong mounds,
+artificial constructions. After sunrise, with fresh horses, I resumed my
+journey and stopped near the <span class='italics'>gonpa</span> (monastery) of Moulbek, which seems
+glued on the flank of an isolated rock. Below is the hamlet of Wakkha,
+and not far from there is to be seen another rock, of very strange form,
+which seems to have been placed where it stands by human hands. In one
+side of it is cut a Buddha several metres in height. Upon it are several
+cylinders, the turning of which serves for prayers. They are a sort of
+wooden barrel, draped with yellow or white fabrics, and are attached to
+vertically planted stakes. It requires only the least wind to make them
+turn. The person who puts up one of these cylinders no longer feels it
+obligatory upon him to say his prayers, for all that devout believers
+can ask of God is written upon the cylinders. Seen from a distance this
+white painted monastery, standing sharply out from the gray background
+of the rocks, with all these whirling, petticoated wheels, produce a
+strange effect in this dead country. I left my horses in the hamlet of
+Wakkha, and, followed by my servant, walked toward the convent, which is
+reached by a narrow stairway cut in the rock. At the top, I was received
+by a very fat lama, with a scanty, straggling beard under his chin&mdash;a
+common characteristic of the Thibetan people&mdash;who was very ugly, but
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+very cordial. His costume consisted of a yellow robe and a sort of big
+nightcap, with projecting flaps above the ears, of the same color. He
+held in his hand a copper prayer-machine which, from time to time, he
+shook with his left hand, without at all permitting that exercise to
+interfere with his conversation. It was his eternal prayer, which he
+thus communicated to the wind, so that by this element it should be
+borne to Heaven. We traversed a suite of low chambers, upon the walls of
+which were images of Buddha, of all sizes and made of all kinds of
+materials, all alike covered by a thick layer of dust. Finally we
+reached an open terrace, from which the eyes, taking in the surrounding
+region, rested upon an inhospitable country, strewn with grayish rocks
+and traversed by only a single road, which on both sides lost itself in
+the horizon.</p>
+
+<p>When we were seated, they brought us beer, made with hops, called here
+<span class='italics'>Tchang</span> and brewed in the cloister. It has a
+tendency to rapidly produce <span class='italics'>embonpoint</span> upon
+the monks, which is regarded as a sign of the particular favor of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>They spoke here the Thibetan language. The origin of this language is
+full of obscurity. One thing is certain, that a king of Thibet, a
+contemporary of Mohammed, undertook the creation of an universal
+language for all the disciples of Buddha. To this end he had simplified
+the Sanscrit grammar, composed an alphabet containing an infinite number
+of signs, and thus laid the foundations of a language the pronunciation
+of which is one of the easiest and the writing the most complicated.
+Indeed, in order to represent a sound one must employ not less than
+eight characters. All the modern literature of Thibet is written in this
+language. The pure Thibetan is only spoken in Ladak and Oriental Thibet.
+In all other parts of the country are employed dialects formed by the
+mixture of this mother language with different idioms taken from the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+neighboring peoples of the various regions round about. In the ordinary
+life of the Thibetan, there exists always two languages, one of which is
+absolutely incomprehensible to the women, while the other is spoken by
+the entire nation; but only in the convents can be found the Thibetan
+language in all its purity and integrity.</p>
+
+<p>The lamas much prefer the visits of Europeans to those of Musselmen, and
+when I asked the one who received me why this was so, he answered me:
+"Musselmen have no point of contact at all with our religion. Only
+comparatively recently, in their victorious campaign, they have
+converted, by force, part of the Buddhists to Islam. It requires of us
+great efforts to bring back those Musselmen, descendants of Buddhists,
+into the path of the true God. As regards the Europeans, it is quite a
+different affair. Not only do they profess the essential principles of
+monotheism, but they are, in a sense, adorers of Buddha, with almost the
+same rites as the lamas who inhabit Thibet. The only fault of the
+Christians is that after having adopted the great doctrines of Buddha,
+they have completely separated themselves from him, and have created for
+themselves a different Dalai-Lama. Our Dalai-Lama is the only one who
+has received the divine gift of seeing, face to face, the majesty of
+Buddha, and is empowered to serve as an intermediary between earth and
+heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Which Dalai-Lama of the Christians do you refer to?" I asked him; "we
+have one, the Son of God, to whom we address directly our fervent
+prayers, and to him alone we recur to intercede with our One and
+Indivisible God."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not him of whom it is a question, Sahib," he replied. "We, too,
+respect him, whom we reverence as son of the One and Indivisible God,
+but we do not see in him the Only Son, but the excellent being who was
+chosen among all. Buddha, indeed, has
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+incarnated himself, with his
+divine nature, in the person of the sacred Issa, who, without employing
+fire or iron, has gone forth to propagate our true and great religion
+among all the world. Him whom I meant was your terrestrial Dalai-Lama;
+he to whom you have given the title of 'Father of the Church.' That is a
+great sin. May he be brought back, with the flock, who are now in a bad
+road," piously added the lama, giving another twirl to his
+prayer-machine.</p>
+
+<p>I understood now that he alluded to the Pope. "You have told me that a
+son of Buddha, Issa, the elect among all, had spread your religion on
+the Earth. Who is he?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>At this question the lama's eyes opened wide; he looked at me with
+astonishment and pronounced some words I could not catch, murmuring in
+an unintelligible way. "Issa," he finally replied, "is a great prophet,
+one of the first after the twenty-two Buddhas. He is greater than any
+one of all the Dalai-Lamas, for he constitutes part of the spirituality
+of our Lord. It is he who has instructed you; he who brought back into
+the bosom of God the frivolous and wicked souls; he who made you worthy
+of the beneficence of the Creator, who has ordained that each being
+should know good and evil. His name and his acts have been chronicled in
+our sacred writings, and when reading how his great life passed away in
+the midst of an erring people, we weep for the horrible sin of the
+heathen who murdered him, after subjecting him to torture."</p>
+
+<p>I was struck by this recital of the lama. The prophet Issa&mdash;his tortures
+and death&mdash;our Christian Dalai-Lama&mdash;the Buddhist recognizing
+Christianity&mdash;all these made me think more and more of Jesus Christ. I
+asked my interpreter not to lose a single word of what the lama told me.</p>
+
+<p>"Where can those writings be found, and who compiled them?" I asked the
+monk.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The principal scrolls&mdash;which were written in India and Nepaul, at
+different epochs, as the events happened&mdash;are in Lhassa; several
+thousands in number. In some great convents are to be found copies,
+which the lamas, during their sojourn in Lhassa, have made, at various
+times, and have then given to their cloisters as souvenirs of the period
+they spent with the Dalai-Lama."</p>
+
+<p>"But you, yourselves; do you not possess copies of the scrolls bearing
+upon the prophet Issa?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have not. Our convent is insignificant, and since its foundation our
+successive lamas have had only a few hundred manuscripts in their
+library. The great cloisters have several thousands of them; but they
+are sacred things which will not, anywhere, be shown
+to <span class="ins" title="Original missing close quotation mark">you."</span></p>
+
+<p>We spoke together a few minutes longer, after which I went home, all the
+while thinking of the lama's statements. Issa, a prophet of the
+Buddhists! But, how could this be? Of Jewish origin, he lived in
+Palestine and in Egypt; and the Gospels do not contain one word, not
+even the least allusion, to the part which Buddhism should have played
+in the education of Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>I made up my mind to visit all the convents of Thibet, in the hope of
+gathering fuller information upon the prophet Issa, and perhaps copies
+of the chronicles bearing upon this subject.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>We traversed the Namykala Pass, at 30,000 feet of altitude, whence we
+descended into the valley of the River Salinoumah. Turning southward, we
+gained Karbou, leaving behind us, on the opposite bank, numerous
+villages, among other, Chagdoom, which is at the top of a rock, an
+extremely imposing sight. Its houses are white and have a sort of
+festive look, with their two and three stories. This, by the way, is a
+common peculiarity of all the villages of Ladak. The eye of the
+European, travelling in
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+Kachmyr, would soon lose sight of all
+architecture to which he had been accustomed. In Ladak, on the contrary,
+he would be agreeably surprised at seeing the little two and three-story
+houses, reminders to him of those in European provinces. Near the city
+of Karbou, upon two perpendicular rocks, one sees the ruins of a little
+town or village. A tempest and an earthquake are said to have shaken
+down its walls, the solidity of which seems to have been exceptional.</p>
+
+<p>The next day I traversed the Fotu-La Pass, at an altitude of 13,500
+feet. At its summit stands a little <span class='italics'>t'horthene</span> (chapel). Thence,
+following the dry bed of a stream, I descended to the hamlet of
+Lamayure, the sudden appearance of which is a surprise to the traveller.
+A convent, which seems grafted on the side of the rock, or held there in
+some miraculous way, dominates the village. Stairs are unknown in this
+cloister. In order to pass from one story of it to another, ropes are
+used. Communication with the world outside is through a labyrinth of
+passages in the rock. Under the windows of the convent&mdash;which make one
+think of birds' nests on the face of a cliff&mdash;-is a little inn, the
+rooms of which are little inviting. Hardly had I stretched myself on the
+carpet in one of them, when the monks, dressed in their yellow robes,
+filled the apartment, bothered me with questions as to whence I came,
+the purpose of my coming, where I was going, and so on, finally inviting
+me to come and see them.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of my fatigue I accepted their invitation and set out with
+them, to climb up the excavated passages in the rock, which were
+encumbered with an infinity of prayer cylinders and wheels, which I
+could not but touch and set turning as I brushed past them. They are
+placed there that they may be so turned, saving to the passers-by the
+time they might otherwise lose in saying their prayers&mdash;as if their
+affairs were so absorbing, and their time so
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> precious, that they could
+not find leisure to pray. Many pious Buddhists use for this purpose an
+apparatus arranged to be turned by the current of a stream. I have seen
+a long row of cylinders, provided with their prayer formulas, placed
+along a river bank, in such a way that the water kept them constantly in
+motion, this ingenious device freeing the proprietors from any further
+obligation to say prayers themselves.</p>
+
+<p>I sat down on a bench in the hall, where semi-obscurity reigned. The
+walls were garnished with little statues of Buddha, books and
+prayer-wheels. The loquacious lamas began explaining to me the
+significance of each object.</p>
+
+<p>"And those books?" I asked them; "they, no doubt, have reference to
+religion."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. These are a few religious volumes which deal with the primary
+and principal rites of the life common to all. We possess several parts
+of the words of Buddha consecrated to the Great and Indivisible Divine
+Being, and to all that issue from his hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there not, among those books, some account of the prophet Issa?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," answered the monk. "We only possess a few principal treatises
+relating to the observance of the religious rites. As for the
+biographies of our saints, they are collected in Lhassa. There are even
+great cloisters which have not had the time to procure them. Before
+coming to this gonpa, I was for several years in a great convent on the
+other side of Ladak, and have seen there thousands of books, and scrolls
+copied out of various books by the lamas of the monastery."</p>
+
+<p>By some further interrogation I learned that the convent in question was
+near Leh, but my persistent inquiries had the effect of exciting the
+suspicions of the lamas. They showed me the way out with evident
+pleasure, and regaining my room, I fell asleep
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+&mdash;after a light
+lunch&mdash;leaving orders with my Hindu to inform himself in a skillful way,
+from some of the younger lamas of the convent, about the monastery in
+which their chief had lived before coming to Lamayure.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, when we set forth on our journey, the Hindu told me that
+he could get nothing from the lamas, who were very reticent. I will not
+stop to describe the life of the monks in those convents, for it is the
+same in all the cloisters of Ladak. I have seen the celebrated monastery
+of Leh&mdash;of which I shall have to speak later on&mdash;and learned there the
+strange existences the monks and religious people lead, which is
+everywhere the same. In Lamayure commences a declivity which, through a
+steep, narrow and sombre gorge, extends toward India.</p>
+
+<p>Without having the least idea of the dangers which the descent
+presented, I sent my carriers in advance and started on a route, rather
+pleasant at the outset, which passes between the brown clay hills, but
+soon it produced upon me the most depressing effect, as though I was
+traversing a gloomy subterranean passage. Then the road came out on the
+flank of the mountain, above a terrible abyss. If a rider had met me, we
+could not possibly have passed each other, the way was so narrow. All
+description would fail to convey a sense of the grandeur and wild beauty
+of this ca&ntilde;on, the summit of the walls of which seemed to reach the sky.
+At some points it became so narrow that from my saddle I could, with my
+cane, touch the opposite rock. At other places, death might be fancied
+looking up expectantly, from the abyss, at the traveller. It was too
+late to dismount. In entering alone this gorge, I had not the faintest
+idea that I would have occasion to regret my foolish imprudence. I had
+not realized its character. It was simply an enormous crevasse, rent by
+some Titanic throe of nature, some tremendous earthquake, which had
+split the granite mountain. In its bottom I could just distinguish a
+hardly perceptible
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+white thread, an impetuous torrent, the dull roar of
+which filled the defile with mysterious and impressive sounds.</p>
+
+<p>Far overhead extended, narrow and sinuously, a blue ribbon, the only
+glimpse of the celestial world that the frowning granite walls permitted
+to be seen. It was a thrilling pleasure, this majestic view of nature.
+At the same time, its rugged severity, the vastness of its proportions,
+the deathly silence only invaded by the ominous murmur from the depths
+beneath, all together filled me with an unconquerable depression. I had
+about eight miles in which to experience these sensations, at once sweet
+and painful. Then, turning to the right, our little caravan reached a
+small valley, almost surrounded by precipitous granite rocks, which
+mirrored themselves in the Indus. On the bank of the river stands the
+little fortress Khalsi, a celebrated fortification dating from the epoch
+of the Musselman invasion, by which runs the wild road from Kachmyr to
+Thibet.</p>
+
+<p>We crossed the Indus on an almost suspended bridge which led directly to
+the door of the fortress, thus impossible of evasion. Rapidly we
+traversed the valley, then the village of Khalsi, for I was anxious to
+spend the night in the hamlet of Snowely, which is placed upon terraces
+descending to the Indus. The two following days I travelled tranquilly
+and without any difficulties to overcome, along the shore of the Indus,
+in a picturesque country&mdash;which brought me to Leh, the capital of Ladak.</p>
+
+<p>While traversing the little valley of Saspoula, at a distance of several
+kilometres from the village of the same name, I found "<span class='italics'>t'horthenes</span>"
+and two cloisters, above one of which floated the French flag. Later on,
+I learned that a French engineer had presented the flag to the monks,
+who displayed it simply as a decoration of their building.</p>
+
+<p>I passed the night at Saspoula and certainly did not forget to visit the
+cloisters, seeing there for the tenth time the omnipresent
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> dust-covered
+images of Buddha; the flags and banners heaped in a corner; ugly masks
+on the floor; books and papyrus rolls heaped together without order or
+care, and the inevitable abundance of prayer-wheels. The lamas
+demonstrated a particular pleasure in exhibiting these things, doing it
+with the air of shopmen displaying their goods, with very little care
+for the degree of interest the traveller may take in them. "We must show
+everything, in the hope that the sight alone of these sacred objects
+will force the traveller to believe in the divine grandeur of the human
+soul."</p>
+
+<p>Respecting the prophet Issa, they gave me the same account I already
+had, and I learned, what I had known before, that the books which could
+instruct me about him were at Lhassa, and that only the great
+monasteries possessed some copies. I did not think any more of passing
+Kara-koroum, but only of finding the history of the prophet Issa, which
+would, perhaps, bring to light the entire life of the best of men, and
+complete the rather vague information which the Gospels afford us about
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Not far from Leh, and at the entrance of the valley of the same name,
+our road passed near an isolated rock, on the top of which were
+constructed a fort&mdash;with two towers and without garrison&mdash;and a little
+convent named Pitak. A mountain, 10,500 feet high, protects the entrance
+to Thibet. There the road makes a sudden turn toward the north, in the
+direction of Leh, six miles from Pitak and a thousand feet higher.
+Immense granite mountains tower above Leh, to a height of 18,000 or
+19,000 feet, their crests covered with eternal snow. The city itself,
+surrounded by a girdle of stunted aspen trees, rises upon successive
+terraces, which are dominated by an old fort and the palaces of the
+ancient sovereigns of Ladak. Toward evening I made my entrance into Leh,
+and stopped at a bengalow constructed especially for Europeans, whom the
+road from India brings here in the hunting season.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Ladak" id="Ladak"></a>Ladak</h2>
+
+
+<p>Ladak formerly was part of Great Thibet. The powerful invading forces
+from the north which traversed the country to conquer Kachmyr, and the
+wars of which Ladak was the theatre, not only reduced it to misery, but
+eventually subtracted it from the political domination of Lhassa, and
+made it the prey of one conqueror after another. The Musselmen, who
+seized Kachmyr and Ladak at a remote epoch, converted by force the poor
+inhabitants of old Thibet to the faith of Islam. The political existence
+of Ladak ended with the annexation of this country to Kachmyr by the
+s&euml;iks, which, however, permitted the Ladakians to return to their
+ancient beliefs. Two-thirds of the inhabitants took advantage of this
+opportunity to rebuild their gonpas and take up their past life anew.
+Only the Baltistans remained Musselman sch&uuml;ttes&mdash;a sect to which the
+conquerors of the country had belonged. They, however, have only
+conserved a vague shadow of Islamism, the character of which manifests
+itself in their ceremonials and in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+polygamy which they practice. Some lamas affirmed to me that they did not
+despair of one day bringing them back to the faith of their ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>From the religious point of view Ladak is a dependency of Lhassa, the
+capital of Thibet and the place of residence of the Dalai-Lama. In
+Lhassa are located the principal Khoutoukhtes, or Supreme Lamas, and the
+Chogzots, or administrators. Politically, it is under the authority of
+the Maharadja of Kachmyr, who is represented there by a governor.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of Ladak belong to the Chinese-Touranian race, and are
+divided into Ladakians and Tchampas. The former lead a sedentary
+existence, building villages of two-story houses along the narrow
+valleys, are cleanly in their habits, and cultivators of the soil. They
+are excessively ugly; thin, with stooping figures and small heads set
+deep between their shoulders; their cheek bones salient, foreheads
+narrow, eyes black and brilliant, as are those of all the Mongol race;
+noses flat, mouths large and thin-lipped; and from their small chins,
+very thinly garnished by a few hairs, deep wrinkles extend upward
+furrowing their hollow cheeks. To all this, add a close-shaven head with
+only a little bristling fringe of hair, and you will have the general
+type, not alone of Ladak, but of entire Thibet.</p>
+
+<p>The women are also of small stature, and have exceedingly prominent
+cheek bones, but seem to be of much more robust constitution. A healthy
+red tinges their cheeks and sympathetic smiles linger upon their lips.
+They have good dispositions, joyous inclinations, and are fond of
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>The severity of the climate and rudeness of the country, do not permit
+to the Ladakians much latitude in quality and colors of costume. They
+wear gowns of simple gray linen and coarse dull-hued clothing of their
+own manufacture. The pantaloons of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+the men only descend to their knees. People in good circumstances wear,
+in addition to the ordinary dress,
+the "choga," a sort of overcoat which is draped on the back when not
+wrapped around the figure. In winter they wear fur caps, with big ear
+flaps, and in summer cover their heads with a sort of cloth hood, the
+top of which dangles on one side, like a Phrygian cap. Their shoes are
+made of felt and covered with leather. A whole arsenal of little things
+hangs down from their belts, among which you will find a needle case, a
+knife, a pen and inkstand, a tobacco pouch, a pipe, and a diminutive
+specimen of the omnipresent prayer-cylinder.</p>
+
+<p>The Thibetan men are generally so lazy, that if a braid of hair happens
+to become loose, it is not tressed up again for three months, and when
+once a shirt is put on the body, it is not again taken off until it
+falls to pieces. Their overcoats are always unclean, and, on the back,
+one may contemplate a long oily stripe imprinted by the braid of hair,
+which is carefully greased every day. They wash themselves once a year,
+but even then do not do so voluntarily, but because compelled by law.
+They emit such a terrible stench that one avoids, as much as possible,
+being near them.</p>
+
+<p>The Thibetan women, on the contrary, are very fond of cleanliness and
+order. They wash themselves daily and as often as may be needful. Short
+and clean chemises hide their dazzling white necks. The Thibetan woman
+throws on her round shoulders a red jacket, the flaps of which are
+covered by tight pantaloons of green or red cloth, made in such a manner
+as to puff up and so protect the legs against the cold. She wears
+embroidered red half boots, trimmed and lined with fur. A large cloth
+petticoat with numerous folds completes her home toilet. Her hair is
+arranged in thin braids, to which, by means of pins, a large piece of
+floating cloth is attached,&mdash;which reminds one of the headdress so
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+common in Italy. Underneath this sort of veil are suspended a variety of
+various colored pebbles, coins and pieces of metal. The ears are covered
+by flaps made of cloth or fur. A furred sheepskin covers the back, poor
+women contenting themselves with a simple plain skin of the animal,
+while wealthy ladies wear veritable cloaks, lined with red cloth and
+adorned with gold fringes.</p>
+
+<p>The Ladak woman, whether walking in the streets or visiting her
+neighbors, always carries upon her back a conical basket, the smaller
+end of which is toward the ground. They fill it with the dung of horses
+or cows, which constitute the combustible of the country. Every woman
+has money of her own, and spends it for jewelry. Generally she
+purchases, at a small expense, large pieces of turquoise, which are
+added to the <span class='italics'>bizarre</span> ornaments of her headdress. I have seen pieces so
+worn which weighed nearly five pounds. The Ladak woman occupies a social
+position for which she is envied by all women of the Orient. She is free
+and respected. With the exception of some rural work, she passes the
+greatest part of her time in visiting. It must, however, be added that
+women's gossip is here a perfectly unknown thing.</p>
+
+<p>The settled population of Ladak is engaged in agriculture, but they own
+so little land (the share of each may amount to about eight acres) that
+the revenue drawn from it is insufficient to provide them with the
+barest necessities and does not permit them to pay taxes. Manual
+occupations are generally despised. Artisans and musicians form the
+lowest class of society. The name by which they are designated is Bem,
+and people are very careful not to contract any alliance with them. The
+hours of leisure left by rural work are spent in hunting the wild sheep
+of Thibet, the skins of which are highly valued in India. The poorest,
+<span class='italics'>i.e.</span>, those who have not the means to purchase arms for hunting, hire
+themselves as coolies. This is also an occupation of women, who are
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+very capable of enduring arduous toil. They are healthier than their
+husbands, whose laziness goes so far that, careless of cold or heat,
+they are capable of spending a whole night in the open air on a bed of
+stones rather than take the trouble to go to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Polyandry (which I shall treat later more fully) causes the formation of
+very large families, who, in common, cultivate their jointly possessed
+lands, with the assistance of yaks, zos and zomos (oxen and cows). A
+member of a family cannot detach himself from it, and when he dies, his
+share reverts to the survivors in common.</p>
+
+<p>They sow but little wheat and the grain is very small, owing to the
+severity of the climate. They also harvest barley, which they pulverize
+before selling. When work in the field is ended, all male inhabitants go
+to gather on the mountain a wild herb called "enoriota," and large thorn
+bushes or "dama," which are used as fuel, since combustibles are scarce
+in Ladak. You see there neither trees nor gardens, and only
+exceptionally thin clumps of willows and poplars grow on the shores of
+the rivers. Near the villages are also found some aspen trees; but, on
+account of the unfertility of the ground, arboriculture is unknown and
+gardening is little successful.</p>
+
+<p>The absence of wood is especially noticeable in the buildings, which are
+made of sun-dried bricks, or, more frequently, of stones of medium size
+which are agglomerated with a kind of mortar composed of clay and
+chopped straw. The houses of the settled inhabitants are two stories
+high, their fronts whitewashed, and their window-sashes painted with
+lively colors. The flat roof forms a terrace <span class="ins" title="with">which</span> is decorated with
+wild flowers, and here, during good weather, the inhabitants spend much
+of their time contemplating nature, or turning their prayer-wheels.
+Every dwelling-house is composed of many rooms; among them always
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> one
+of superior size, the walls of which are decorated with superb
+fur-skins, and which is reserved for visitors. In the other rooms are
+beds and other furniture. Rich people possess, moreover, a special room
+filled with all kinds of idols, and set apart as a place of worship.</p>
+
+<p>Life here is very regular. They eat anything attainable, without much
+choice; the principal nourishment of the Ladak people, however, being
+exceedingly simple. Their breakfast consists of a piece of rye bread. At
+dinner, they serve on the table a bowl with meal into which lukewarm
+water is stirred with little rods until the mixture assumes the
+consistency of thick paste. From this, small portions are scooped out
+and eaten with milk. In the evening, bread and tea are served. Meat is a
+superfluous luxury. Only the hunters introduce some variety in their
+alimentation, by eating the meat of wild sheep, eagles or pheasants,
+which are very common in this country.</p>
+
+<p>During the day, on every excuse and opportunity, they drink "tchang," a
+kind of pale, unfermented beer.</p>
+
+<p>If it happens that a Ladakian, mounted on a pony (such privileged people
+are very rare), goes to seek work in the surrounding country, he
+provides himself with a small stock of meal; when dinner time comes, he
+descends to a river or spring, mixes with water, in a wooden cup that he
+always has with him, some of the meal, swallows the simple refreshment
+and washes it down with water.</p>
+
+<p>The Tchampas, or nomads, who constitute the other part of Ladak's
+population, are rougher, and much poorer than the settled population.
+They are, for the most part, hunters, who completely neglect
+agriculture. Although they profess the Buddhistic religion, they never
+frequent the cloisters unless in want of meal, which they obtain in
+exchange for their venison. They mostly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+camp in tents on the summits of
+the mountains, where the cold is very great. While the properly called
+Ladakians are peaceable, very desirous of learning, of an incarnated
+laziness, and are never known to tell untruth; the Tchampas, on the
+contrary, are very irascible, extremely lively, great liars and profess
+a great disdain for the convents.</p>
+
+<p>Among them lives the small population of Khombas, wanderers from the
+vicinity of Lhassa, who lead the miserable existence of a troupe of
+begging gipsies on the highways. Incapable of any work whatever,
+speaking a language not spoken in the country where they beg for their
+subsistence, they are the objects of general contempt, and are only
+tolerated out of pity for their deplorable condition, when hunger drives
+their mendicant bands to seek alms in the villages.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Polyandry, which is universally prevalent here, of course interested my
+curiosity. This institution is, by the way, not the outcome of Buddha's
+doctrines. Polyandry existed long before the advent of Buddha. It
+assumed considerable proportions in India, where it constituted one of
+the most effective means for checking the growth of a population which
+tends to constant increase, an economic danger which is even yet
+combatted by the abominable custom of killing newborn female children,
+which causes terrible ravages in the child-life of India. The efforts
+made by the English in their enactments against the suppression of the
+future mothers have proved futile and fruitless. Manu himself
+established polyandry as a law, and Buddhist preachers, who had
+renounced Brahminism and preached the use of opium, imported this custom
+into Ceylon, Thibet, Corea, and the country of the Moguls. For a long
+time suppressed in China, polyandry, which flourishes in Thibet and
+Ceylon, is also met with among the Kalmonks,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+between Todas in Southern
+India, and Nairs on the coast of Malabar. Traces of this strange
+constitution of the family are also to be found with the Tasmanians and
+the Irquois Indians in North America.</p>
+
+<p>Polyandry, by the way, has even flourished in Europe, if we may believe
+C&aelig;sar, who, in his <span class='italics'>De Bello Gallico</span>, book V., page 17, writes:
+"<span class='italics'>Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes, et maxime fratres cum
+fratribus et parentes cum liberis.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>In view of all this it is impossible to hold any religion responsible
+for the existence of the institution of polyandry. In Thibet it can be
+explained by motives of an economical nature; the small quantity of
+arable land falling to the share of each inhabitant. In order to support
+the 1,500,000 inhabitants distributed in Thibet, upon a surface of
+1,200,000 square kilometres, the Buddhists were forced to adopt
+polyandry. Moreover, each family is bound to enter one of its members in
+a religious order. The firstborn is consecrated to a gonpa, which is
+<span class='ins' title='inevitablys'>inevitably</span> found upon an elevation, at the entrance of every village.
+As soon as the child attains the age of eighteen years, he is entrusted
+to the caravans which pass Lhassa, where he remains from eight to
+fifteen years as a novice, in one of the gonpas which are near the city.
+There he learns to read and write, is taught the religious rites and
+studies the sacred parchments written in the Pali language&mdash;which
+formerly used to be the language of the country of Maguada, where,
+according to tradition, Buddha was born.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest brother remaining in a family chooses a wife, who becomes
+common to his brothers. The choice of the bride and the nuptial
+ceremonies are most rudimentary. When a wife and her husband have
+decided upon the marriage of a son, the brother who possesses the right
+of choice, pays a visit to a neighboring family in which there is a
+marriageable daughter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The first and second visits are spent in more or less indifferent
+conversations, blended with frequent libations of tchang, and on the
+third visit only does the young man declare his intention to take a
+wife. Upon this the girl is formally introduced to him. She is generally
+not unknown to the wooer, as, in Ladak, women never veil their faces.</p>
+
+<p>A girl cannot be married without her consent. When the young man is
+accepted, he takes his bride to his house, and she becomes his wife and
+also the wife of all his brothers. A family which has an only son sends
+him to a woman who has no more than two or three husbands, and he offers
+himself to her as a fourth husband. Such an offer is seldom declined,
+and the young man settles in the new family.</p>
+
+<p>The newly married remain with the parents of the husbands, until the
+young wife bears her first child. The day after that event, the
+grandparents of the infant make over the bulk of their fortune to the
+new family, and, abandoning the old home to them, seek other shelter.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes marriages are contracted between youth who have not reached a
+marriageable age, but in such event, the married couple are made to live
+apart, until they have attained and even passed the age required. An
+unmarried girl who becomes <span class='italics'>enceinte</span>, far from being exposed to the
+scorn of every one, is shown the highest respect; for she is
+demonstrated fruitful, and men eagerly seek her in marriage. A wife has
+the unquestioned right of having an unlimited number of husbands and
+lovers. If she likes a young man, she takes him home, announces that he
+has been chosen by her as a "jingtuh" (a lover), and endows him with all
+the personal rights of a husband, which situation is accepted by her
+temporarily supplanted husbands with a certain philosophic pleasure,
+which is the more pronounced if their wife has proved sterile during the
+three first years of her marriage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They certainly have here not even a vague idea of jealousy. The
+Thibetan's blood is too cold to know love, which, for him, would be
+almost an anachronism; if indeed he were not conscious that the
+sentiment of the entire community would be against him, as a flagrant
+violator of popular usage and established rights, in restraining the
+freedom of the women. The selfish enjoyment of love would be, in their
+eyes, an unjustifiable luxury.</p>
+
+<p>In case of a husband's absence, his place may be offered to a bachelor
+or a widower. The latter are here in the minority, since the wife
+generally survives her feeble husbands. Sometimes a Buddhist traveller,
+whom his affairs bring to the village, is chosen for this office. A
+husband who travels, or seeks for work in the neighboring country, at
+every stop takes advantage of his co-religionists' hospitality, who
+offer him their own wives. The husbands of a sterile woman exert
+themselves to find opportunities for hospitality, which may happily
+eventuate in a change in her condition, that they may be made happy
+fathers.</p>
+
+<p>The wife enjoys the general esteem, is ever of a cheerful disposition,
+takes part in everything that is going on, goes and comes without any
+restriction, anywhere and everywhere she pleases, with the exception of
+the principal prayer-room of the monastery, entrance into which is
+formally prohibited to her.</p>
+
+<p>Children know only their mother, and do not feel the least affection for
+their fathers, for the simple reason that they have so many. Without
+approving polyandry, I could not well blame Thibet for this institution,
+since without it, the population would prodigiously increase. Famine and
+misery would fall upon the whole nation, with all the sinister
+<span class='italics'>sequell&aelig;</span> of murder and theft, crimes so far absolutely unknown in the
+whole country.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_Festival_in_a_Gonpa" id="A_Festival_in_a_Gonpa"></a><span class='italics'>A Festival in a Gonpa</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>Leh, the capital of Ladak, is a little town of 5,000 inhabitants, who
+live in white, two-story houses, upon two or three streets, principally.
+In its centre is the square of the bazaar, where the merchants of India,
+China, Turkestan, Kachmyr and Thibet, come to exchange their products
+for the Thibetan gold. Here the natives provide themselves with cloths
+for themselves and their monks, and various objects of real necessity.</p>
+
+<p>An old uninhabited palace rises upon a hill which dominates the town.
+Fronting the central square is a vast building, two stories in height,
+the residence of the governor of Ladak, the Vizier Souradjbal&mdash;a very
+amiable and universally popular Pendjaban, who has received in London
+the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>To entertain me, during my sojourn in Leh, the governor arranged, on the
+bazaar square, a game of polo&mdash;the national sport of the Thibetans,
+which the English have adopted and introduced into Europe. In the
+evening, after the game, the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> executed dances and played games
+before the governor's residence. Large bonfires illuminated the scene,
+lighting up the throng of inhabitants, who formed a great circle about
+the performers. The latter, in considerable numbers, disguised as
+animals, devils and sorcerers, jumped and contorted themselves in
+rhythmic dances timed to the measure of the monotonous and unpleasing
+music made by two long trumpets and a drum.</p>
+
+<p>The infernal racket and shouting of the crowd wearied me. The
+performance ended with some graceful dances by Thibetan women, who spun
+upon their heels, swaying to and fro, and, in passing before the
+spectators in the windows of the residence, greeted us by the clashing
+together of the copper and ivory bracelets on their crossed wrists.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, at an early hour, I repaired to the great Himis convent,
+which, a little distance from Leh, is elevated upon the top of a great
+rock, on a picturesque site, commanding the valley of the Indies. It is
+one of the principal monasteries of the country, and is maintained by
+the gifts of the people and the subsidies it receives from Lhassa. On
+the road leading to it, beyond the bridge crossing the Indus, and in the
+vicinity of the villages lining the way, one finds heaps of stones
+bearing engraved inscriptions, such as have already been described, and
+<span class='italics'>t'horthenes</span>. At these places, our guides were very careful to turn to
+the right. I wished to turn my horse to the left, but the Ladakians made
+him go back and led him by his halter to the right, explaining to me
+that such was their established usage. I found it impossible to learn
+the origin or reason of this custom.</p>
+
+<p>Above the gonpa rises a battlemented tower, visible from a great
+distance. We climbed, on foot, to the level on which the edifice stands
+and found ourselves confronted by a large door, painted in brilliant
+colors, the portal of a vast two-story building<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> enclosing a court paved
+with little pebbles. To the right, in one of the angles of the court, is
+another huge painted door, adorned with big copper rings. It is the
+entrance to the principal temple, which is decorated with paintings of
+the principal gods, and contains a great statue of Buddha and a
+multitude of sacred statuettes. To the left, upon a verandah, was placed
+an immense prayer-cylinder. All the lamas of the convent, with their
+chief, stood about it, when we entered the court. Below the verandah
+were musicians, holding long trumpets and drums.</p>
+
+<p>At the right of the court were a number of doors, leading to the rooms
+of the lamas; all decorated with sacred paintings and provided with
+little prayer-barrels fancifully surmounted by black and white tridents,
+from the points of which floated ribbons bearing inscriptions&mdash;doubtless
+prayers. In the centre of the court were raised two tall masts, from the
+tops of which dangled tails of yaks, and long paper streamers floated,
+covered with religious inscriptions. All along the walls were numerous
+prayer-barrels, adorned with ribbons.</p>
+
+<p>A profound silence reigned among the many spectators present. All
+awaited anxiously the commencement of a religious "mystery," which was
+about to be presented. We took up a position near the verandah. Almost
+immediately, the musicians drew from their long trumpets soft and
+monotonous tones, marking the time by measured beats upon an odd-looking
+drum, broad and shallow, upreared upon a stick planted in the ground. At
+the first sounds of the strange music, in which joined the voices of the
+lamas in a melancholy chant, the doors along the wall opened
+simultaneously, giving entrance to about twenty masked persons,
+disguised as animals, birds, devils and imaginary monsters. On their
+breasts they bore representations of fantastic dragons, demons and
+skulls, embroidered with Chinese silk of various col<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>ors. From the
+conical hats they wore, depended to their breasts long multicolored
+ribbons, covered with inscriptions. Their masks were white
+death's-heads. Slowly they marched about the masts, stretching out their
+arms from time to time and flourishing with their left hands
+spoon-shaped objects, the bowl portions of which were said to be
+fragments of human crania, with ribbons attached, having affixed to
+their ends human hair, which, I was assured, had been taken from scalped
+enemies. Their promenade, in gradually narrowing circles about the
+masts, soon became merely a confused jostling of each other; when the
+rolling of the drum grew more accentuated, the performers for an instant
+stopped, then started again, swinging above their heads yellow sticks,
+ribbon-decked, which with their right hands they brandished in menacing
+attitudes.</p>
+
+<p>After making a salute to the chief lama, they approached the door
+leading to the temple, which at this instant opened, and from it another
+band came forth, whose heads were covered by copper masks. Their dresses
+were of rich materials, embroidered in various bright colors. In one
+hand each of them carried a small tambourine and with the other he
+agitated a little bell. From the rim of each tambourine depended a
+metallic ball, so placed that the least movement of the hand brought it
+in contact with the resonant tympanum, which caused a strange,
+continuous undercurrent of pulsating sound. There new performers circled
+several times about the court, marking the time of their dancing steps
+by measured thumpings of the tambourines. At the completion of each
+turn, they made a deafening noise with their instruments. Finally, they
+ran to the temple door and ranged themselves upon the steps before it.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, there was silence. Then we saw emerge from the temple a
+third band of performers. Their enormous masks
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+represented different
+deities, and each bore upon its forehead "the third eye." At their head
+marched Thlogan-Poudma-Jungnas (literally "he who was born in the lotus
+flower"). Another richly dressed mask marched beside him, carrying a
+yellow parasol covered with symbolic designs. His suite was composed of
+gods, in magnificent costumes; Dorje-Trolong and Sangspa-Kourpo (<span class='italics'>i.e.</span>,
+Brahma himself), and others. These masks, as a lama sitting near me
+explained to us, represented six classes of beings subject to the
+metamorphoses; the gods, the demigods, men, animals, spirits and demons.</p>
+
+<p>On each side of these personages, who advanced gravely, marched other
+masks, costumed in silks of brilliant hues and wearing on their heads
+golden crowns, fashioned with six lotus-like flowers on each, surmounted
+by a tall dart in the centre. Each of these masks carried a drum.</p>
+
+<p>These disguises made three turns about the masts, to the sound of a
+noisy and incoherent music, and then seated themselves on the ground,
+around Thlogan-Pondma-Jungnas, a god with three eyes, who gravely
+introduced two fingers into his mouth and emitted a shrill whistle. At
+this signal, young men dressed in warrior costumes&mdash;with ribbon-decked
+bells dangling about their legs&mdash;came with measured steps from the
+temple. Their heads were covered by enormous green masks, from which
+floated triangular red flags, and they, too, carried tambourines. Making
+a diabolical din, they whirled and danced about the gods seated on the
+ground. Two big fellows accompanying them, who were dressed in tight
+clown costumes, executed all kinds of grotesque contortions and
+acrobatic feats, by which they won plaudits and shouts of laughter from
+the spectators.</p>
+
+<p>Another group of disguises&mdash;of which the principal features were red
+mitres and yellow pantaloons&mdash;came out of the temple,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> with bells and
+tambourines in their hands, and seated themselves opposite the gods, as
+representatives of the highest powers next to divinity. Lastly there
+entered upon the scene a lot of red and brown masks, with a "third eye"
+painted on their breasts. With those who had preceded them, they formed
+two long lines of dancers, who to the thrumming of their many
+tambourines, the measured music of the trumpets and drums, and the
+jingling of a myriad of bells, performed a dance, approaching and
+receding from each other, whirling in circles, forming by twos in a
+column and breaking from that formation to make new combinations,
+pausing occasionally to make reverent obeisance before the gods.</p>
+
+<p>After a time this spectacular excitement&mdash;the noisy monotony of which
+began to weary me&mdash;calmed down a little; gods, demigods, kings, men and
+spirits got up, and followed by all the other maskers, directed
+themselves toward the temple door, whence issued at once, meeting them,
+a lot of men admirably disguised as skeletons. All those sorties were
+calculated and prearranged, and every one of them had its particular
+significance. The <span class="ins" title="cort&ecirc;ge"><span class='italics'>cort&egrave;ge</span></span> of dancers gave way to the skeletons, who
+advanced with measured steps, in silence, to the masts, where they
+stopped and made a concerted clicking with pieces of wood hanging at
+their sides, simulating perfectly the rattling of dry bones and gnashing
+of teeth. Twice they went in a circle around the masts, marching in time
+to low taps on the drums, and then joined in a lugubrious religious
+chant. Having once more made the concerted rattling of their artificial
+bones and jaws, they executed some contortions painful to witness and
+together stopped.</p>
+
+<p>Then they seized upon an image of the Enemy of Man&mdash;made of some sort of
+brittle paste&mdash;which had been placed at the foot of one of the masts.
+This they broke in pieces and scattered, and the oldest men among the
+spectators, rising from their places,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> picked up the fragments which
+they handed to the skeletons&mdash;an action supposed to signify that they
+would soon be ready to join the bony crew in the cemetery.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The chief lama, approaching me, tendered an invitation to accompany him
+to the principal terrace and partake of the festal "tchang"; which I
+accepted with pleasure, for my head was dizzy from the long spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>We crossed the court and climbed a staircase&mdash;obstructed with
+prayer-wheels, as usual&mdash;passed two rooms where there were many images
+of gods, and came out upon the terrace, where I seated myself upon a
+bench opposite the venerable lama, whose eyes sparkled with spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Three lamas brought pitchers of tchang, which they poured into small
+copper cups, that were offered first to the chief lama, then to me and
+my servants.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you enjoy our little festival?" the lama asked me.</p>
+
+<p>"I found it very enjoyable and am still impressed by the spectacle I
+have witnessed. But, to tell the truth, I never suspected for a moment
+that Buddhism, in these religious ceremonies, could display such a
+visible, not to say noisy, exterior form."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no religion, the ceremonies of which are not surrounded with
+more theatrical forms," the lama answered. "This is a ritualistic phase
+which does not by any means violate the fundamental principles of
+Buddhism. It is a practical means for maintaining in the ignorant mass
+obedience to and love for the one Creator, just as a child is beguiled
+by toys to do the will of its parents. The ignorant mass is the child of
+The Father."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the meaning," I said to him, "of all those masks, costumes,
+bells, dances, and, generally, of this entire performance, which seems
+to be executed after a prescribed programme?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We have many similar festivals in the year," answered the lama, "and we
+arrange particular ones to represent 'mysteries,' susceptible of
+pantomimic presentation, in which each actor is allowed considerable
+latitude of action, in the movements and jests he likes, conforming,
+nevertheless, to the circumstances and to the leading idea. Our
+mysteries are simply pantomimes calculated to show the veneration
+offered to the gods, which veneration sustains and cheers the soul of
+man, who is prone to anxious contemplation of inevitable death and the
+life to come. The actors receive the dresses from the cloister and they
+play according to general indications, which leave them much liberty of
+individual action. The general effect produced is, no doubt, very
+beautiful, but it is a matter for the spectators themselves to divine
+the signification of one or another action. You, too, have recourse
+sometimes to similar devices, which, however, do not in the least
+violate the principle of monotheism."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," I remarked, "but this multitude of idols with which your
+gonpas abound, is a flagrant violation of that principle."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have told you," replied the lama to my interruption, "man will
+always be in childhood. He sees and feels the grandeur of nature and
+understands everything presented to his senses, but he neither sees nor
+divines the Great Soul which created and animates all things. Man has
+always sought for tangible things. It was not possible for him to
+believe long in that which escaped his material senses. He has racked
+his brain for any means for contemplating the Creator; has endeavored to
+enter into direct relations with him who has done him so much good, and
+also, as he erroneously believes, so much evil. For this reason he began
+to adore every phase of nature from which he received benefits. We see a
+striking example of this in the ancient Egyptians, who adored animals,
+trees, stones, the winds and the rain. Other peoples, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> were more
+sunk in ignorance, seeing that the results of the wind were not always
+beneficent, and that the rain did not inevitably bring good harvests,
+and that the animals were not willingly subservient to man, began to
+seek for direct intermediaries between themselves and the great
+mysterious and unfathomable power of the Creator. Therefore they made
+for themselves idols, which they regarded as indifferent to things
+concerning them, but to whose interposition in their behalf, they might
+always recur. From remotest antiquity to our own days, man was ever
+inclined only to tangible realities.</p>
+
+<p>"While seeking a route to lead their feet to the Creator, the Assyrians
+turned their eyes toward the stars, which they contemplated without the
+power of attaining them. The Guebers have conserved the same belief to
+our days. In their nullity and spiritual blindness, men are incapable of
+conceiving the invisible spiritual bond which unites them to the great
+Divinity, and this explains why they have always sought for palpable
+things, which were in the domain of the senses, and by doing which they
+minimized the divine principle. Nevertheless, they have dared to
+attribute to their visible and man-made images a divine and eternal
+existence. We can see the same fact in Brahminism, where man, given to
+his inclination for exterior forms, has created, little by little, and
+not all at once, an army of gods and demigods. The Israelites may be
+said to have demonstrated, in the most flagrant way, the love of man for
+everything which is concrete. In spite of a series of striking miracles
+accomplished by the great Creator, who is the same for all the peoples,
+the Jewish people could not help making a god of metal in the very
+minute when their prophet Mossa spoke to them of the Creator! Buddhism
+has passed through the same modifications. Our great reformer,
+Sakya-Muni, inspired by the Supreme Judge, understood truly the one and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+indivisible Brahma, and forbade his disciples attempting to manufacture
+images in imaginary semblance of him. He had openly broken from the
+polytheistic Brahmins, and appreciated the purity, oneness and
+immortality of Brahma. The success he achieved by his teachings in
+making disciples among the people, brought upon him persecution by the
+Brahmins, who, in the creation of new gods, had found a source of
+personal revenue, and who, contrary to the law of God, treated the
+people in a despotic manner. Our first sacred teachers, to whom we give
+the name of buddhas&mdash;which means, learned men or saints&mdash;because the
+great Creator has incarnated in them, settled in different countries of
+the globe. As their teachings attacked especially the tyranny of the
+Brahmins and the misuse they made of the idea of God&mdash;of which they
+indeed made a veritable business&mdash;almost all the Buddhistic converts,
+they who followed the doctrines of those great teachers, were among the
+common people of China and India. Among those teachers, particular
+reverence is felt for the Buddha, Sakya-Muni, known in China also under
+the name of F&ocirc;, who lived three thousand years ago, and whose teachings
+brought all China back into the path of the true God; and the Buddha,
+Gautama, who lived two thousand five hundred years ago, and converted
+almost half the Hindus to the knowledge of the impersonal, indivisible
+and only God, besides whom there is none.</p>
+
+<p>"Buddhism is divided into many sects which, by the way, differ only in
+certain religious ceremonies, the basis of the doctrine being everywhere
+the same. The Thibetan Buddhists, who are called 'lamaists,' separated
+themselves from the F&ocirc;-ists fifteen hundred years ago. Until that time
+we had formed part of the worshippers of the Buddha, F&ocirc;-Sakya-Muni, who
+was the first to collect all the laws compiled by the various buddhas
+preceding him, when the great schism took place in the bosom of
+Brah<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>manism. Later on, a Khoutoukhte-Mongol translated into Chinese the
+books of the great Buddha, for which the Emperor of China rewarded him
+by bestowing upon him the title of 'Go-Chi&mdash;'Preceptor of the King!'
+After his death, this title was given to the Dalai-Lama of Thibet. Since
+that epoch, all the titularies of this position have borne the title of
+Go-Chi. Our religion is called the Lamaic one&mdash;from the word 'lama,'
+superior. It admits of two classes of monks, the red and the yellow. The
+former may marry, and they recognize the authority of the Bantsine, who
+resides in Techow Loumba, and is chief of the civil administration in
+Thibet. We, the yellow lamas, have taken the vow of celibacy, and our
+direct chief is the Dalai-Lama. This is the difference which separates
+the two religious orders, the respective rituals of which are
+identical."</p>
+
+<p>"Do all perform mysteries similar to that which I have just witnessed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; with a few exceptions. Formerly these festivals were celebrated
+with very solemn pomp, but since the conquest of Ladak our convents have
+been, more than once, pillaged and our wealth taken away. Now we content
+ourselves with simple garments and bronze utensils, while in Thibet you
+see but golden robes and gold utensils."</p>
+
+<p>"In a visit which I recently made to a gonpa, one of the lamas told me
+of a prophet, or, as you call him, a buddha, by the name of Issa. Could
+you not tell me anything about him?" I asked my interlocutor, seizing
+this favorable moment to start the subject which interested me so
+greatly.</p>
+
+<p>"The name Issa is very much respected among the Buddhists," he replied,
+"but he is only known by the chief lamas, who have read the scrolls
+relating to his life. There have existed an infinite number of buddhas
+like Issa, and the 84,000 scrolls exist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>ing are filled brim full of
+details concerning each one of them. But very few persons have read the
+one-hundredth part of those memoirs. In conformity with established
+custom, every disciple or lama who visits Lhassa makes a gift of one or
+several copies, from the scrolls there, to the convent to which he
+belongs. Our gonpa, among others, possesses already a great number,
+which I read in my leisure hours. Among them are the memoirs of the life
+and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the same doctrine in India and
+among the sons of Israel, and who was put to death by the Pagans, whose
+descendants, later on, adopted the beliefs he spread,&mdash;and those beliefs
+are yours.</p>
+
+<p>"The great Buddha, the soul of the Universe, is the incarnation of
+Brahma. He, almost always, remains immobile, containing in himself all
+things, being in himself the origin of all and his breath vivifying the
+world. He has left man to the control of his own forces, but, at certain
+epochs, lays aside his inaction and puts on a human form that he may, as
+their teacher and guide, rescue his creatures from impending
+destruction. In the course of his terrestrial existence in the
+similitude of man, Buddha creates a new world in the hearts of erring
+men; then he leaves the earth, to become once more an invisible being
+and resume his condition of perfect bliss. Three thousand years ago,
+Buddha incarnated in the celebrated Prince Sakya-Muni, reaffirming and
+propagating the doctrines taught by him in his twenty preceding
+incarnations. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Great Soul of the World
+incarnated anew in Gautama, laying the foundation of a new world in
+Burmah, Siam and different islands. Soon afterward, Buddhism began to
+penetrate China, through the persevering efforts of the sages, who
+devoted themselves to the propagation of the sacred doctrine, and under
+Ming-Ti, of the Honi dynasty, nearly 2,050 years ago, the teachings of
+Sakya-Muni were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> adopted by the people of that country. Simultaneously
+with the appearance of Buddhism in China, the same doctrines began to
+spread among the Israelites. It is about 2,000 years ago that the
+perfect Being, awaking once more for a short time from his inaction,
+incarnated in the newborn child of a poor family. It was his will that
+this little child should enlighten the unhappy upon the life of the
+world to come and bring erring men back into the path of truth; showing
+to them, by his own example, the way they could best return to the
+primitive morality and purity of our race. When this sacred child
+attained a certain age, he was brought to India, where, until he
+attained to manhood, he studied the laws of the great Buddha, who dwells
+eternally in heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"In what language are written the principal scrolls bearing upon the
+life of Issa?" I asked, rising from my seat, for I saw that my
+interesting interlocutor evidenced fatigue, and had just given a twirl
+to his prayer-wheel, as if to hint the closing of the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"The original scrolls brought from India to Nepaul, and from Nepaul to
+Thibet, relating to the life of Issa, are written in the Pali language
+and are actually in Lhassa; but a copy in our language&mdash;I mean the
+Thibetan&mdash;is in this convent."</p>
+
+<p>"How is Issa looked upon in Thibet? Has he the repute of a saint?"</p>
+
+<p>"The people are not even aware that he ever existed. Only the principal
+lamas, who know of him through having studied the scrolls in which his
+life is related, are familiar with his name; but, as his doctrine does
+not constitute a canonical part of Buddhism, and the worshippers of Issa
+do not recognize the authority of the Dalai-Lama, the prophet Issa&mdash;with
+many others like him&mdash;is not recognized in Thibet as one of the
+principal saints."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Would you commit a sin in reciting your copy of the life of Issa to a
+stranger?" I asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"That which belongs to God," he answered me, "belongs also to man. Our
+duty requires us to cheerfully devote ourselves to the propagation of
+His doctrine. Only, I do not, at present, know where that manuscript is.
+If you ever visit our gonpa again, I shall take pleasure in showing it
+to you."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment two monks entered, and uttered to the chief lama a few
+words unintelligible to me.</p>
+
+<p>"I am called to the sacrifices. Will you kindly excuse me?" said he to
+me, and with a salute, turned to the door and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>I could do no better than withdraw and lie down in the chamber which was
+assigned to me and where I spent the night.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In the evening of the next day I was again in Leh&mdash;thinking of how to
+get back to the convent. Two days later I sent, by a messenger, to the
+chief lama, as presents, a watch, an alarm clock, and a thermometer. At
+the same time I sent the message that before leaving Ladak I would
+probably return to the convent, in the hope that he would permit me to
+see the manuscript which had been the subject of our conversation. It
+was now my purpose to gain Kachmyr and return from there, some time
+later, to Himis. But fate made a different decision for me.</p>
+
+<p>In passing a mountain, on a height of which is perched the gonpa of
+Piatak, my horse made a false step, throwing me to the ground so
+violently that my right leg was broken below the knee.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to continue my journey, I was not inclined to return
+to Leh; and seeking the hospitality of the gonpa of Piatak was not, from
+the appearance of the cloister, an enticing prospect. My best recourse
+would be to return to Himis, then only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> about half a day's journey
+distant, and I ordered my servants to transport me there. They bandaged
+my broken leg&mdash;an operation which caused me great pain&mdash;and lifted me
+into the saddle. One carrier walked by my side, supporting the weight of
+the injured member, while another led my horse. At a late hour of the
+evening we reached the door of the convent of Himis.</p>
+
+<p>When informed of my accident, the kind monks came out to receive me and,
+with a wealth of extraordinary precautions of tenderness, I was carried
+inside, and, in one of their best rooms, installed upon an improvised
+bed, consisting of a mountain of soft fabrics, with the
+naturally-to-be-expected prayer-cylinder beside me. All this was done
+for me under the personal supervision of their chief lama, who, with
+affectionate sympathy, pressed the hand I gave him in expression of my
+thanks for his kindness.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, I myself bound around the injured limb little oblong
+pieces of wood, held by cords, to serve as splints. Then I remained
+perfectly quiescent and nature was not slow in her reparative work.
+Within two days my condition was so far improved that I could, had it
+been necessary, have left the gonpa and directed myself slowly toward
+India in search of a surgeon to complete my cure.</p>
+
+<p>While a boy kept in motion the prayer-barrel near my bed, the venerable
+lama who ruled the convent entertained me with many interesting stories.
+Frequently he took from their box the alarm clock and the watch, that I
+might illustrate to him the process of winding them and explain to him
+their uses. At length, yielding to my ardent insistence, he brought me
+two big books, the large leaves of which were of paper yellow with age,
+and from them read to me the biography of Issa, which I carefully
+transcribed in my travelling notebook according to the translation made
+by the interpreter. This curious document is compiled un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>der the form of
+isolated verses, which, as placed, very often had no apparent connection
+with, or relation to each other.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day, my condition was so far improved as to permit the
+prosecution of my journey. Having bound up my leg as well as possible, I
+returned, across Kachmyr, to India; a slow journey, of twenty days,
+filled with intolerable pain. Thanks, however, to a litter, which a
+French gentleman, M. Peicheau, had kindly sent to me (my gratitude for
+which I take this occasion to express), and to an ukase of the Grand
+Vizier of the Maharajah of Kachmyr, ordering the local authorities to
+provide me with carriers, I reached Srinagar, and left almost
+immediately, being anxious to gain India before the first snows fell.</p>
+
+<p>In Mur&eacute; I encountered another Frenchman, Count Andr&eacute; de Saint Phall, who
+was making a journey of recreation across Hindostan. During the whole
+course, which we made together, to Bombay, the young count demonstrated
+a touching solicitude for me, and sympathy for the excruciating pain I
+suffered from my broken leg and the fever induced by its torture. I
+cherish for him sincere gratitude, and shall never forget the friendly
+care which I received upon my arrival in Bombay from the Marquis de
+Mor&eacute;s, the Vicomte de Breteul, M. Monod, of the Comptoir d'Escompte, M.
+Mo&euml;t, acting consul, and all the members of the very sympathetic French
+colony there.</p>
+
+<p>During a long time I revolved in my mind the purpose of publishing the
+memoirs of the life of Jesus Christ found by me in Himis, of which I
+have spoken, but other interests absorbed my attention and delayed it.
+Only now, after having passed long nights of wakefulness in the
+coordination of my notes and grouping the verses conformably to the
+march of the recital, imparting to the work, as a whole, a character of
+unity, I resolve to let this curious chronicle see the light.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="The_Life_of_Saint_Issa" id="The_Life_of_Saint_Issa"></a>
+    <span class='italics'>The Life of Saint Issa</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>"Best of the Sons of Men."</p>
+
+
+<p>I.</p>
+
+<p>1. The earth trembled and the heavens wept, because of the great crime
+committed in the land of Israel.</p>
+
+<p>2. For there was tortured and murdered the great and just Issa, in whom
+was manifest the soul of the Universe;</p>
+
+<p>3. Which had incarnated in a simple mortal, to benefit men and destroy
+the evil spirit in them;</p>
+
+<p>4. To lead back to peace, love and happiness, man, degraded by his sins,
+and recall him to the one and indivisible Creator whose mercy is
+infinite.</p>
+
+<p>5. The merchants coming from Israel have given the following account of
+what has occurred:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>II.</p>
+
+<p>1. The people of Israel&mdash;who inhabit a fertile country producing two
+harvests a year and affording pasture for large herds of cattle&mdash;by
+their sins brought down upon themselves the anger of the Lord;</p>
+
+<p>2. Who inflicted upon them terrible chastisements, taking from them
+their land, their cattle and their wealth. They were carried away into
+slavery by the rich and mighty Pharaohs who then ruled the land of
+Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>3. The Israelites were, by the Pharaohs, treated worse than beasts,
+condemned to hard labor and put in irons; their bodies were covered with
+wounds and sores; they were not permitted to live under a roof, and were
+starved to death;</p>
+
+<p>4. That they might be maintained in a state of continual terror and
+deprived of all human resemblance;</p>
+
+<p>5. And in this great calamity, the Israelites, remembering their
+Celestial Protector, implored his forgiveness and mercy.</p>
+
+<p>6. At that period reigned in Egypt an illustrious Pharaoh, who was
+renowned for his many victories, immense riches, and the gigantic
+palaces he had erected by the labor of his slaves.</p>
+
+<p>7. This Pharaoh had two sons, the younger of whom, named Mossa, had
+acquired much knowledge from the sages of Israel.</p>
+
+<p>8. And Mossa was beloved by all in Egypt for his kindness of heart and
+the pity he showed to all sufferers.</p>
+
+<p>9. When Mossa saw that the Israelites, in spite of their many
+sufferings, had not forsaken their God, and refused to worship the gods
+of Egypt, created by the hands of man.</p>
+
+<p>10. He also put his faith in their invisible God, who did not suffer
+them to betray Him, despite their ever growing weakness.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>11. And the teachers among Israel animated Mossa in his zeal, and prayed
+of him that he would intercede with his father, Pharaoh, in favor of
+their co-religionists.</p>
+
+<p>12. Prince Mossa went before his father, begging him to lighten the
+burden of the unhappy people; Pharaoh, however, became incensed with
+rage, and ordered that they should be tormented more than before.</p>
+
+<p>13. And it came to pass that Egypt was visited by a great calamity. The
+plague decimated young and old, the healthy and the sick; and Pharaoh
+beheld in this the resentment of his own gods against him.</p>
+
+<p>14. But Prince Mossa said to his father that it was the God of his
+slaves who thus interposed on behalf of his wretched people, and avenged
+them upon the Egyptians.</p>
+
+<p>15. Thereupon, Pharaoh commanded Mossa, his son, to gather all the
+Israelite slaves, and lead them away, and found, at a great distance
+from the capital, another city where he should rule over them.</p>
+
+<p>16. Then Mossa made known to the Hebrew slaves that he had obtained
+their freedom in the name of his and their God, the God of Israel; and
+with them he left the city and departed from the land of Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>17. He led them back to the land which, because of their many sins, had
+been taken from them. There he gave them laws and admonished them to
+pray always to God, the indivisible Creator, whose kindness is infinite.</p>
+
+<p>18. After Prince Mossa's death, the Israelites observed rigorously his
+laws; and God rewarded them for the ills to which they had been
+subjected in Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>19. Their kingdom became one of the most powerful on earth; their kings
+made themselves renowned for their treasures, and peace reigned in
+Israel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>III.</p>
+
+<p>1. The glory of Israel's wealth spread over the whole earth, and the
+surrounding nations became envious.</p>
+
+<p>2. But the Most High himself led the victorious arms of the Hebrews, and
+the Pagans did not dare to attack them.</p>
+
+<p>3. Unfortunately, man is prone to err, and the fidelity of the
+Israelites to their God was not of long duration.</p>
+
+<p>4. Little by little they forgot the favors he had bestowed upon them;
+rarely invoked his name, and sought rather protection by the magicians
+and sorcerers.</p>
+
+<p>5. The kings and the chiefs among the people substituted their own laws
+for those given by Mossa; the temple of God and the observances of their
+ancient faith were neglected; the people addicted themselves to sensual
+gratifications and lost their original purity.</p>
+
+<p>6. Many centuries had elapsed since their exodus from Egypt, when God
+bethought himself of again inflicting chastisement upon them.</p>
+
+<p>7. Strangers invaded Israel, devastated the land, destroyed the
+villages, and carried their inhabitants away into captivity.</p>
+
+<p>8. At last came the Pagans from over the sea, from the land of Romeles.
+These made themselves masters of the Hebrews, and placed over them their
+army chiefs, who governed in the name of C&aelig;sar.</p>
+
+<p>9. They defiled the temples, forced the inhabitants to cease the worship
+of the indivisible God, and compelled them to sacrifice to the heathen
+gods.</p>
+
+<p>10. They made common soldiers of those who had been men of rank; the
+women became their prey, and the common people, reduced to slavery, were
+carried away by thousands over the sea.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>11. The children were slain, and soon, in the whole land, there was naught
+heard but weeping and lamentation.</p>
+
+<p>12. In this extreme distress, the Israelites once more remembered their
+great God, implored his mercy and prayed for his forgiveness. Our
+Father, in his inexhaustible clemency, heard their prayer.</p>
+
+
+<p>IV.</p>
+
+<p>1. At that time the moment had come for the compassionate Judge to
+reincarnate in a human form;</p>
+
+<p>2. And the eternal Spirit, resting in a state of complete inaction and
+supreme bliss, awakened and separated from the eternal Being, for an
+undetermined period,</p>
+
+<p>3. So that, in human form, He might teach man to identify himself with
+the Divinity and attain to eternal felicity;</p>
+
+<p>4. And to show, by His example, how man can attain moral purity and free
+his soul from the domination of the physical senses, so that it may
+achieve the perfection necessary for it to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
+which is immutable and where bliss eternal reigns.</p>
+
+<p>5. Soon after, a marvellous child was born in the land of Israel. God
+himself spoke, through the mouth of this child, of the miseries of the
+body and the grandeur of the soul.</p>
+
+<p>6. The parents of the infant were poor people, who belonged to a family
+noted for great piety; who forgot the greatness of their ancestors in
+celebrating the name of the Creator and giving thanks to Him for the
+trials which He had sent upon them.</p>
+
+<p>7. To reward them for adhering to the path of truth, God blessed the
+firstborn of this family; chose him for His elect, and sent him to
+sustain the fallen and comfort the afflicted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>8. The divine child, to whom the name Issa was given, commenced in his
+tender years to talk of the only and indivisible God, exhorting the
+strayed souls to repent and purify themselves from the sins of which
+they had become guilty.</p>
+
+<p>9. People came from all parts to hear him, and marvelled at the
+discourses which came from his infantile mouth; and all Israel agreed
+that the Spirit of the Eternal dwelt in this child.</p>
+
+<p>10. When Issa was thirteen years old, the age at which an Israelite is
+expected to marry,</p>
+
+<p>11. The modest house of his industrious parents became a meeting place
+of the rich and illustrious, who were anxious to have as a son-in-law
+the young Issa, who was already celebrated for the edifying discourses
+he made in the name of the All-Powerful.</p>
+
+<p>12. Then Issa secretly absented himself from his father's house; left
+Jerusalem, and, in a train of merchants, journeyed toward the Sindh,</p>
+
+<p>13. With the object of perfecting himself in the knowledge of the word
+of God and the study of the laws of the great Buddhas.</p>
+
+
+<p>V.</p>
+
+<p>1. In his fourteenth year, young Issa, the Blessed One, came this side
+of the Sindh and settled among the Aryas, in the country beloved by God.</p>
+
+<p>2. Fame spread the name of the marvellous youth along the northern
+Sindh, and when he came through the country of the five streams and
+Radjipoutan, the devotees of the god Dja&iuml;ne asked him to stay among
+them.</p>
+
+<p>3. But he left the deluded worshippers of Dja&iuml;ne and went to
+Djagguernat, in the country of Orsis, where repose the mortal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> remains
+of Vyassa-Krishna, and where the white priests of Brahma welcomed him
+joyfully.</p>
+
+<p>4. They taught him to read and to understand the Vedas, to cure physical
+ills by means of prayers, to teach and to expound the sacred Scriptures,
+to drive out evil desires from man and make him again in the likeness of
+God.</p>
+
+<p>5. He spent six years in Djagguernat, in Radjagriha, in Benares, and in
+other holy cities. The common people loved Issa, for he lived in peace
+with the Vaisyas and the Sudras, to whom he taught the Holy Scriptures.</p>
+
+<p>6. But the Brahmins and the Kshatnyas told him that they were forbidden
+by the great Para-Brahma to come near to those who were created from his
+belly and his feet;<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1" /><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p>
+
+<p>7. That the Vaisyas might only hear the recital of the Vedas, and this
+only on the festal days, and</p>
+
+<p>8. That the Sudras were not only forbidden to attend the reading of the
+Vedas, but even to look on them; for they were condemned to perpetual
+servitude, as slaves of the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and even the
+Vaisyas.</p>
+
+<p>9. "Death alone can enfranchise them from their servitude," has said
+Para-Brahma. "Leave them, therefore, and come to adore with us the gods,
+whom you will make angry if you disobey them."</p>
+
+<p>10. But Issa, disregarding their words, remained with the Sudras,
+preaching against the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas.</p>
+
+<p>11. He declaimed strongly against man's arrogating to himself the
+authority to deprive his fellow-beings of their human and spiritual
+rights. "Verily," he said, "God has made no difference between his
+children, who are all alike dear to Him."</p>
+
+<p>12. Issa denied the divine inspiration of the Vedas and the Puranas,
+for, as he taught his followers,&mdash;"One law has been given to man to
+guide him in his actions:
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>13. "Fear the Lord, thy God; bend thy knees only before Him and bring to
+Him only the offerings which come from thy earnings."</p>
+
+<p>14. Issa denied the Trimurti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma in
+Vishnu, Siva, and other gods; "for," said he:</p>
+
+<p>15. "The eternal Judge, the eternal Spirit, constitutes the only and
+indivisible soul of the universe, and it is this soul alone which
+creates, contains and vivifies all.</p>
+
+<p>16. "He alone has willed and created. He alone has existed from
+eternity, and His existence will be without end; there is no one like
+unto Him either in the heavens or on the earth.</p>
+
+<p>17. "The great Creator has divided His power with no other being; far
+less with inanimate objects, as you have been taught to believe, for He
+alone is omnipotent and all-sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>18. "He willed, and the world was. By one divine thought, He reunited
+the waters and separated them from the dry land of the globe. He is the
+cause of the mysterious life of man, into whom He has breathed part of
+His divine Being.</p>
+
+<p>19. "And He has put under subjection to man, the lands, the waters, the
+beasts and everything which He created, and which He himself preserves
+in immutable order, allotting to each its proper duration.</p>
+
+<p>20. "The anger of God will soon break forth upon man; for he has
+forgotten his Creator; he has filled His temples with abominations; and
+he adores a multitude of creatures which God has subordinated to him;</p>
+
+<p>21. "And to gain favor with images of stone and metal, he sacrifices
+human beings in whom dwells part of the Spirit of the Most High;</p>
+
+<p>22. "And he humiliates those who work in the sweat of their brows, to
+gain favor in the eyes of the idler who sitteth at a sumptuous table.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>23. "Those who deprive their brothers of divine happiness will
+themselves be deprived of it; and the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas shall
+become the Sudras of the Sudras, with whom the Eternal will stay
+forever.</p>
+
+<p>24. "In the day of judgment the Sudras and the Vaisyas will be forgiven
+for that they knew not the light, while God will let loose his wrath
+upon those who arrogated his authority."</p>
+
+<p>25. The Vaisyas and the Sudras were filled with great admiration, and
+asked Issa how they should pray, in order not to lose their hold upon
+eternal life.</p>
+
+<p>26. "Pray not to idols, for they cannot hear you; hearken not to the
+Vedas where the truth is altered; be humble and humiliate not your
+fellow man.</p>
+
+<p>27. "Help the poor, support the weak, do evil to none; covet not that
+which ye have not and which belongs to others."</p>
+
+
+<p>VI.</p>
+
+<p>1. The white priests and the warriors,<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2" />
+<a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> who had learned of Issa's
+discourse to the Sudras, resolved upon his death, and sent their
+servants to find the young teacher and slay him.</p>
+
+<p>2. But Issa, warned by the Sudras of his danger, left by night
+Djagguernat, gained the mountain, and settled in the country of the
+Gautamides, where the great Buddha Sakya-Muni came to the world, among a
+people who worshipped the only and sublime Brahma.</p>
+
+<p>3. When the just Issa had acquired the Pali language, he applied himself
+to the study of the sacred scrolls of the Sutras.</p>
+
+<p>4. After six years of study, Issa, whom the Buddha had elected to spread
+his holy word, could perfectly expound the sacred scrolls.</p>
+
+<p>5. He then left Nepaul and the Himalaya mountains, descended into the
+valley of Radjipoutan and directed his steps toward
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+the West, everywhere preaching to the people the supreme perfection attainable by
+man;</p>
+
+<p>6. And the good he must do to his fellow men, which is the sure means of
+speedy union with the eternal Spirit. "He who has recovered his
+primitive purity," said Issa, "shall die with his transgressions
+forgiven and have the right to contemplate the majesty of God."</p>
+
+<p>7. When the divine Issa traversed the territories of the Pagans, he
+taught that the adoration of visible gods was contrary to natural law.</p>
+
+<p>8. "For to man," said he, "it has not been given to see the image of
+God, and it behooves him not to make for himself a multitude of
+divinities in the imagined likeness of the Eternal.</p>
+
+<p>9. "Moreover, it is against human conscience to have less regard for the
+greatness of divine purity, than for animals or works of stone or metal
+made by the hands of man.</p>
+
+<p>10. "The eternal Lawgiver is One; there are no other Gods than He; He
+has parted the world with none, nor had He any counsellor.</p>
+
+<p>11. "Even as a father shows kindness toward his children, so will God
+judge men after death, in conformity with His merciful laws. He will
+never humiliate his child by casting his soul for chastisement into the
+body of a beast.</p>
+
+<p>12. "The heavenly laws," said the Creator, through the mouth of Issa,
+"are opposed to the immolation of human sacrifices to a statue or an
+animal; for I, the God, have sacrificed to man all the animals and all
+that the world contains.</p>
+
+<p>13. "Everything has been sacrificed to man, who is directly and
+intimately united to me, his Father; therefore, shall the man be
+severely judged and punished, by my law, who causes the sacrifice of my
+children.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>14. "Man is naught before the eternal Judge; as the animal is before
+man.</p>
+
+<p>15. "Therefore, I say unto you, leave your idols and perform not
+ceremonies which separate you from your Father and bind you to the
+priests, from whom heaven has turned away.</p>
+
+<p>16. "For it is they who have led you away from the true God, and by
+superstitions and cruelty perverted the spirit and made you blind to the
+knowledge of the truth."</p>
+
+
+<p>VII.</p>
+
+<p>1. The words of Issa spread among the Pagans, through whose country he
+passed, and the inhabitants abandoned their idols.</p>
+
+<p>2. Seeing which, the priests demanded of him who thus glorified the name
+of the true God, that he should, in the presence of the people, prove
+the charges he made against them, and demonstrate the vanity of their
+idols.</p>
+
+<p>3. And Issa answered them: "If your idols, or the animals you worship,
+really possess the supernatural powers you claim, let them strike me
+with a thunderbolt before you!"</p>
+
+<p>4. "Why dost not thou perform a miracle," replied the priests, "and let
+thy God confound ours, if He is greater than they?"</p>
+
+<p>5. But Issa said: "The miracles of our God have been wrought from the
+first day when the universe was created; and are performed every day and
+every moment; whoso sees them not is deprived of one of the most
+beautiful gifts of life.</p>
+
+<p>6. "And it is not on inanimate objects of stone, metal or wood that He
+will let His anger fall, but on the men who worship them, and who,
+therefore, for their salvation, must destroy the idols they have made.</p>
+
+<p>7. "Even as a stone and a grain of sand, which are naught before man,
+await patiently their use by Him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>8. "In like manner, man, who is naught before God, must await in
+resignation His pleasure for a manifestation of His favor.</p>
+
+<p>9. "But woe to you! ye adversaries of men, if it is not the favor you
+await, but rather the wrath of the Most High; woe to you, if you demand
+that He attest His power by a miracle!</p>
+
+<p>10. "For it is not the idols which He will destroy in His wrath, but
+those by whom they were created; their hearts will be the prey of an
+eternal fire and their flesh shall be given to the beasts of prey.</p>
+
+<p>11. "God will drive away the contaminated animals from His flocks; but
+will take to Himself those who strayed because they knew not the
+heavenly part within them."</p>
+
+<p>12. When the Pagans saw that the power of their priests was naught, they
+put faith in the words of Issa. Fearing the anger of the true God, they
+broke their idols to pieces and caused their priests to flee from among
+them.</p>
+
+<p>13. Issa furthermore taught the Pagans that they should not endeavor to
+see the eternal Spirit with their eyes; but to perceive Him with their
+hearts, and make themselves worthy of His favors by the purity of their
+souls.</p>
+
+<p>14. "Not only," he said to them, "must ye refrain from offering human
+sacrifices, but ye may not lay on the altar any creature to which life
+has been given, for all things created are for man.</p>
+
+<p>15. "Withhold not from your neighbor his just due, for this would be
+like stealing from him what he had earned in the sweat of his brow.</p>
+
+<p>16. "Deceive none, that ye may not yourselves be deceived; seek to
+justify yourselves before the last judgment, for then it will be too
+late.</p>
+
+<p>17. "Be not given to debauchery, for it is a violation of the law of
+God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>18. "That you may attain to supreme bliss ye must not only purify
+yourselves, but must also guide others into the path that will enable
+them to regain their primitive innocence."</p>
+
+
+<p>VIII.</p>
+
+<p>1. The countries round about were filled with the renown of Issa's
+preachings, and when he came unto Persia, the priests grew afraid and
+forbade the people hearing him;</p>
+
+<p>2. Nevertheless, the villages received him with joy, and the people
+hearkened intently to his words, which, being seen by the priests,
+caused them to order that he should be arrested and brought before their
+High Priest, who asked him:</p>
+
+<p>3. "Of what new God dost thou speak? Knowest thou not, unfortunate man
+that thou art! that Saint Zoroaster is the only Just One, to whom alone
+was vouchsafed the honor of receiving revelations from the Most High;</p>
+
+<p>4. "By whose command the angels compiled His Word in laws for the
+governance of His people, which were given to Zoroaster in Paradise?</p>
+
+<p>5. "Who, then, art thou, who darest to utter blasphemies against our God
+and sow doubt in the hearts of believers?"</p>
+
+<p>6. And Issa said to them: "I preach no new God, but our celestial
+Father, who has existed before the beginning and will exist until after
+the end.</p>
+
+<p>7. "Of Him I have spoken to the people, who&mdash;even as innocent
+children&mdash;are incapable of comprehending God by their own intelligence,
+or fathoming the sublimity of the divine Spirit;</p>
+
+<p>8. "But, as the newborn child in the night recognizes the mother's
+breast, so your people, held in the darkness of error by your pernicious
+doctrines and religious ceremonies, have recognized instinctively their
+Father, in the Father whose prophet I am.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>9. "The eternal Being says to your people, by my mouth, 'Ye shall not
+adore the sun, for it is but a part of the universe which I have created
+for man;</p>
+
+<p>10. "It rises to warm you during your work; it sets to accord to you the
+rest that I have ordained.</p>
+
+<p>11. "To me only ye owe all that ye possess, all that surrounds you and
+that is above and below you.'"</p>
+
+<p>12. "But," said the priests, "how could the people live according to
+your rules if they had no teachers?"</p>
+
+<p>13. Whereupon Issa answered: "So long as they had no priests, they were
+governed by the natural law and conserved the simplicity of their souls;</p>
+
+<p>14. "Their souls were in God and to commune with the Father they had not
+to have recourse to the intermediation of idols, or animals, or fire, as
+taught by you.</p>
+
+<p>15. "Ye pretend that man must adore the sun, and the Genii of Good and
+Evil. But I say unto you that your doctrine is pernicious. The sun does
+not act spontaneously, but by the will of the invisible Creator, who has
+given to it being."</p>
+
+<p>16. "Who, then, has caused that this star lights the day, warms man at
+his work and vivifies the seeds sown in the ground?"</p>
+
+<p>17. "The eternal Spirit is the soul of everything animate, and you
+commit a great sin in dividing Him into the Spirit of Evil and the
+Spirit of Good, for there is no God other than the God of Good.</p>
+
+<p>18. "And He, like to the father of a family, does only good to His
+children, to whom He forgives their transgressions if they repent of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>19. "And the Spirit of Evil dwells upon earth, in the hearts of those
+who turn the children of God away from the right path.</p>
+
+<p>20. "Therefore, I say unto you; Fear the day of judgment, for God will
+inflict a terrible chastisement upon all those who have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> led His
+children astray and beguiled them with superstitions and errors;</p>
+
+<p>21. "Upon those who have blinded them who saw; who have brought
+contagion to the well; who have taught the worship of those things which
+God made to be subject to man, or to aid him in his works.</p>
+
+<p>22. "Your doctrine is the fruit of your error in seeking to bring near
+to you the God of Truth, by creating for yourselves false gods."</p>
+
+<p>23. When the Magi heard these words, they feared to themselves do him
+harm, but at night, when the whole city slept, they brought him outside
+the walls and left him on the highway, in the hope that he would not
+fail to become the prey of wild beasts.</p>
+
+<p>24. But, protected by the Lord our God, Saint Issa continued on his way,
+without accident.</p>
+
+
+<p>IX.</p>
+
+<p>1. Issa&mdash;whom the Creator had selected to recall to the worship of the
+true God, men sunk in sin&mdash;was twenty-nine years old when he arrived in
+the land of Israel.</p>
+
+<p>2. Since the departure therefrom of Issa, the Pagans had caused the
+Israelites to endure more atrocious sufferings than before, and they
+were filled with despair.</p>
+
+<p>3. Many among them had begun to neglect the laws of their God and those
+of Mossa, in the hope of winning the favor of their brutal conquerors.</p>
+
+<p>4. But Issa, notwithstanding their unhappy condition, exhorted his
+countrymen not to despair, because the day of their redemption from the
+yoke of sin was near, and he himself, by his example, confirmed their
+faith in the God of their fathers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>5. "Children, yield not yourselves to despair," said the celestial
+Father to them, through the mouth of Issa, "for I have heard your
+lamentations, and your cries have reached my ears.</p>
+
+<p>6. "Weep not, oh, my beloved sons! for your griefs have touched the
+heart of your Father and He has forgiven you, as He forgave your
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>7. "Forsake not your families to plunge into debauchery; stain not the
+nobility of your souls; adore not idols which cannot but remain deaf to
+your supplications.</p>
+
+<p>8. "Fill my temple with your hope and your patience, and do not adjure
+the religion of your forefathers, for I have guided them and bestowed
+upon them of my beneficence.</p>
+
+<p>9. "Lift up those who are fallen; feed the hungry and help the sick,
+that ye may be altogether pure and just in the day of the last judgment
+which I prepare for you."</p>
+
+<p>10. The Israelites came in multitudes to listen to Issa's words; and
+they asked him where they should thank their Heavenly Father, since
+their enemies had demolished their temples and robbed them of their
+sacred vessels.</p>
+
+<p>11. Issa told them that God cared not for temples erected by human
+hands, but that human hearts were the true temples of God.</p>
+
+<p>12. "Enter into your temple, into your heart; illuminate it with good
+thoughts, with patience and the unshakeable faith which you owe to your
+Father.</p>
+
+<p>13. "And your sacred vessels! they are your hands and your eyes. Look to
+do that which is agreeable to God, for in doing good to your fellow men,
+you perform a ceremony that embellishes the temple wherein abideth Him
+who has created you.</p>
+
+<p>14. "For God has created you in His own image, innocent, with pure
+souls, and hearts filled with kindness and not made for the planning of
+evil, but to be the sanctuaries of love and justice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>15. "Therefore, I say unto you, soil not your hearts with evil, for in
+them the <span class="ins" title="Eternal">eternal</span> Being abides.</p>
+
+<p>16. "When ye do works of devotion and love, let them be with full
+hearts, and see that the motives of your actions be not hopes of gain or
+self-interest;</p>
+
+<p>17. "For actions, so impelled, will not bring you nearer to salvation,
+but lead to a state of moral degradation wherein theft, lying and murder
+pass for generous deeds."</p>
+
+
+<p>X.</p>
+
+<p>1. Issa went from one city to another, strengthening by the word of God
+the courage of the Israelites, who were near to succumbing under their
+weight of woe, and thousands of the people followed him to hear his
+teachings.</p>
+
+<p>2. But the chiefs of the cities were afraid of him and they informed the
+principal governor, residing in Jerusalem, that a man called Issa had
+arrived in the country, who by his sermons had arrayed the people
+against the authorities, and that multitudes, listening assiduously to
+him, neglected their labor; and, they added, he said that in a short
+time they would be free of their invader rulers.</p>
+
+<p>3. Then Pilate, the Governor of Jerusalem, gave orders that they should
+lay hold of the preacher Issa and bring him before the judges. In order,
+however, not to excite the anger of the populace, Pilate directed that
+he should be judged by the priests and scribes, the Hebrew elders, in
+their temple.</p>
+
+<p>4. Meanwhile, Issa, continuing his preaching, arrived at Jerusalem, and
+the people, who already knew his fame, having learned of his coming,
+went out to meet him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>5. They greeted him respectfully and opened to him the doors of their
+temple, to hear from his mouth what he had said in other cities of
+Israel.</p>
+
+<p>6. And Issa said to them: "The human race perishes, because of the lack
+of faith; for the darkness and the tempest have caused the flock to go
+astray and they have lost their shepherds.</p>
+
+<p>7. "But the tempests do not rage forever and the darkness will not hide
+the light eternally; soon the sky will become serene, the celestial
+light will again overspread the earth, and the strayed flock will
+reunite around their shepherd.</p>
+
+<p>8. "Wander not in the darkness, seeking the way, lest ye fall into the
+ditch; but gather together, sustain one another, put your faith in your
+God and wait for the first glimmer of light to reappear.</p>
+
+<p>9. "He who sustains his neighbor, sustains himself; and he who protects
+his family, protects all his people and his country.</p>
+
+<p>10. "For, be assured that the day is near when you will be delivered
+from the darkness; you will be reunited into one family and your enemy
+will tremble with fear, he who is ignorant of the favor of the great
+God."</p>
+
+<p>11. The priests and the elders who heard him, filled with admiration for
+his language, asked him if it was true that he had sought to raise the
+people against the authorities of the country, as had been reported to
+the governor Pilate.</p>
+
+<p>12. "Can one raise against estrayed men, to whom darkness has hidden
+their road and their door?" answered Issa. "I have but forewarned the
+unhappy, as I do here in this temple, that they should no longer advance
+on the dark road, for an abyss opens before their feet.</p>
+
+<p>13. "The power of this earth is not of long duration and is subject to
+numberless changes. It would be of no avail for a man to rise in
+revolution against it, for one phase of it always succeeds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> another, and
+it is thus that it will go on until the extinction of human life.</p>
+
+<p>14. "But do you not see that the powerful, and the rich, sow among the
+children of Israel a spirit of rebellion against the eternal power of
+Heaven?"</p>
+
+<p>15. Then the elders asked him: "Who art thou, and from what country hast
+thou come to us? We have not formerly heard thee spoken of and do not
+even know thy name!"</p>
+
+<p>16. "I am an Israelite," answered Issa; "and on the day of my birth have
+seen the walls of Jerusalem, and have heard the sobs of my brothers
+reduced to slavery, and the lamentations of my sisters carried away by
+the Pagans;</p>
+
+<p>17. "And my soul was afflicted when I saw that my brethren had forgotten
+the true God. When a child I left my father's house to go and settle
+among other people.</p>
+
+<p>18. "But, having heard it said that my brethren suffered even greater
+miseries now, I have come back to the land of my fathers, to recall my
+brethren to the faith of their ancestors, which teaches us patience upon
+earth in order to attain the perfect and supreme bliss above."</p>
+
+<p>19. Then the wise old men put to him again this question: "We are told
+that thou disownest the laws of Mossa, and that thou teachest the people
+to forsake the temple of God?"</p>
+
+<p>20. Whereupon Issa: "One does not demolish that which has been given by
+our Heavenly Father, and which has been destroyed by sinners. I have but
+enjoined the people to purify the heart of all stains, for it is the
+veritable temple of God.</p>
+
+<p>21. "As regards the laws of Mossa, I have endeavored to reestablish them
+in the hearts of men; and I say unto you that ye ignore their true
+meaning, for it is not vengeance but pardon which they teach. Their
+sense has been perverted."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>XI.</p>
+
+<p>1. When the priests and the elders heard Issa, they decided among
+themselves not to give judgment against him, for he had done no harm to
+any one, and, presenting themselves before Pilate&mdash;who was made Governor
+of Jerusalem by the Pagan king of the country of Romeles&mdash;they spake to
+him thus:</p>
+
+<p>2. "We have seen the man whom thou chargest with inciting our people to
+revolt; we have heard his discourses and know that he is our countryman;</p>
+
+<p>3. "But the chiefs of the cities have made to you false reports, for he
+is a just man, who teaches the people the word of God. After
+interrogating him, we have allowed him to go in peace."</p>
+
+<p>4. The governor thereupon became very angry, and sent his disguised
+spies to keep watch upon Issa and report to the authorities the least
+word he addressed to the people.</p>
+
+<p>5. In the meantime, the holy Issa continued to visit the neighboring
+cities and preach the true way of the Lord, enjoining the Hebrews'
+patience and promising them speedy deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>6. And all the time great numbers of the people followed him wherever he
+went, and many did not leave him at all, but attached themselves to him
+and served him.</p>
+
+<p>7. And Issa said: "Put not your faith in miracles performed by the hands
+of men, for He who rules nature is <span class='ins' title='along'>alone</span> capable
+of doing supernatural things, while man is impotent to arrest the wrath
+of the winds or cause the rain to fall.</p>
+
+<p>8. "One miracle, however, is within the power of man to accomplish. It
+is, when his heart is filled with sincere faith, he resolves to root out
+from his mind all evil promptings and desires, and when, in order to
+attain this end, he ceases to walk the path of iniquity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>9. "All the things done without God are only gross errors, illusions and
+seductions, serving but to show how much the heart of the doer is full
+of presumption, falsehood and impurity.</p>
+
+<p>10. "Put not your faith in oracles. God alone knows the future. He who
+has recourse to the diviners soils the temple of his heart and shows his
+lack of faith in his Creator.</p>
+
+<p>11. "Belief in the diviners and their miracles destroys the innate
+simplicity of man and his childlike purity. An infernal power takes hold
+of him who so errs, and forces him to commit various sins and give
+himself to the worship of idols.</p>
+
+<p>12. "But the Lord our God, to whom none can be equalled, is one
+omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; He alone possesses all wisdom
+and all light.</p>
+
+<p>13. "To Him ye must address yourselves, to be comforted in your
+afflictions, aided in your works, healed in your sickness and whoso asks
+of Him, shall not ask in vain.</p>
+
+<p>14. "The secrets of nature are in the hands of God, for the whole world,
+before it was made manifest, existed in the bosom of the divine thought,
+and has become material and visible by the will of the Most High.</p>
+
+<p>15. "When ye pray to him, become again like little children, for ye know
+neither the past, nor the present, nor the future, and God is the Lord
+of Time."</p>
+
+
+<p>XII.</p>
+
+<p>1. "Just man," said to him the disguised spies of the Governor of
+Jerusalem, "tell us if we must continue to do the will of C&aelig;sar, or
+expect our near deliverance?"</p>
+
+<p>2. And Issa, who recognized the questioners as the apostate spies sent
+to follow him, replied to them: "I have not told you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> that you would be
+delivered from C&aelig;sar; it is the soul sunk in error which will gain its
+deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>3. "There cannot be a family without a head, and there cannot be order
+in a people without a C&aelig;sar, whom ye should implicitly obey, as he will
+be held to answer for his acts before the Supreme Tribunal."</p>
+
+<p>4. "Does C&aelig;sar possess a divine right?" the spies asked him again; "and
+is he the best of mortals?"</p>
+
+<p>5. "There is no one 'the best' among human beings; but there are many
+bad, who&mdash;even as the sick need physicians&mdash;require the care of those
+chosen for that mission, in which must be used the means given by the
+sacred law of our Heavenly Father;</p>
+
+<p>6. "Mercy and justice are the high prerogatives of C&aelig;sar, and his name
+will be illustrious if he exercises them.</p>
+
+<p>7. "But he who acts otherwise, who transcends the limits of power he has
+over those under his rule, and even goes so far as to put their lives in
+danger, offends the great Judge and derogates from his own dignity in
+the eyes of men."</p>
+
+<p>8. Upon this, an old woman who had approached the group, to better hear
+Issa, was pushed aside by one of the disguised men, who placed himself
+before her.</p>
+
+<p>9. Then said Issa: "It is not good for a son to push away his mother,
+that he may occupy the place which belongs to her. Whoso doth not
+respect his mother&mdash;the most sacred being after his God&mdash;is unworthy of
+the name of son.</p>
+
+<p>10. "Hearken to what I say to you: Respect woman; for in her we see the
+mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine creation is to come
+through her.</p>
+
+<p>11. "She is the fount of everything good and beautiful, as she is also
+the germ of life and death. Upon her man depends in all his existence,
+for she is his moral and natural support in his labors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>.</p>
+
+<p>12. "In pain and suffering she brings you forth; in the sweat of her
+brow she watches over your growth, and until her death you cause her
+greatest anxieties. Bless her and adore her, for she is your only friend
+and support on earth.</p>
+
+<p>13. "Respect her; defend her. In so doing you will gain for yourself her
+love; you will find favor before God, and for her sake many sins will be
+remitted to you.</p>
+
+<p>14. "Love your wives and respect them, for they will be the mothers of
+tomorrow and later the grandmothers of a whole nation.</p>
+
+<p>15. "Be submissive to the wife; her love ennobles man, softens his
+hardened heart, tames the wild beast in him and changes it to a lamb.</p>
+
+<p>16. "Wife and mother are the priceless treasures which God has given to
+you. They are the most beautiful ornaments of the universe, and from
+them will be born all who will inhabit the world.</p>
+
+<p>17. "Even as the Lord of Hosts separated the light from the darkness,
+and the dry land from the waters, so does woman possess the divine gift
+of calling forth out of man's evil nature all the good that is in him.</p>
+
+<p>18. "Therefore I say unto you, after God, to woman must belong your best
+thoughts, for she is the divine temple where you will most easily obtain
+perfect happiness.</p>
+
+<p>19. "Draw from this temple your moral force. There you will forget your
+sorrows and your failures, and recover the love necessary to aid your
+fellow men.</p>
+
+<p>20. "Suffer her not to be humiliated, for by humiliating her you
+humiliate yourselves, and lose the sentiment of love, without which
+nothing can exist here on earth.</p>
+
+<p>21. "Protect your wife, that she may protect you&mdash;you and all your
+household. All that you do for your mothers, your wives,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> for a widow,
+or for any other woman in distress, you will do for your God."</p>
+
+
+<p>XIII.</p>
+
+<p>1. Thus Saint Issa taught the people of Israel for three years, in every
+city and every village, on the highways and in the fields, and all he
+said came to pass.</p>
+
+<p>2. All this time the disguised spies of the governor Pilate observed him
+closely, but heard nothing to sustain the accusations formerly made
+against Issa by the chiefs of the cities.</p>
+
+<p>3. But Saint Issa's growing popularity did not allow Pilate to rest. He
+feared that Issa would be instrumental in bringing about a revolution
+culminating in his elevation to the sovereignty, and, therefore, ordered
+the spies to make charges against him.</p>
+
+<p>4. <span class='ins' title='Than'>Then</span> soldiers were sent to arrest him, and they cast him into a
+subterranean dungeon, where he was subjected to all kinds of tortures,
+to compel him to accuse himself, so that he might be put to death.</p>
+
+<p>5. The Saint, thinking only of the perfect bliss of his brethren,
+endured all those torments with resignation to the will of the Creator.</p>
+
+<p>6. The servants of Pilate continued to torture him, and he was reduced
+to a state of extreme weakness; but God was with him and did not permit
+him to die at their hands.</p>
+
+<p>7. When the principal priests and wise elders learned of the sufferings
+which their Saint endured, they went to Pilate, begging him to liberate
+Issa, so that he might attend the great festival which was near at hand.</p>
+
+<p>8. But this the governor refused. Then they asked him that Issa should
+be brought before the elders' council, so that he might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> be condemned,
+or acquitted, before the festival, and to this Pilate agreed.</p>
+
+<p>9. On the following day the governor assembled the principal chiefs,
+priests, elders and judges, for the purpose of judging Issa.</p>
+
+<p>10. The Saint was brought from his prison. They made him sit before the
+governor, between two robbers, who were to be judged at the same time
+with Issa, so as to show the people he was not the only one to be
+condemned.</p>
+
+<p>11. And Pilate, addressing himself to Issa, said, "Is it true, Oh! Man;
+that thou incitest the populace against the authorities, with the
+purpose of thyself becoming King of Israel?"</p>
+
+<p>12. Issa replied, "One does not become king by one's own purpose
+thereto. They have told you an untruth when you were informed that I was
+inciting the people to revolution. I have only preached of the King of
+Heaven, and it was Him whom I told the people to worship.</p>
+
+<p>13. "For the sons of Israel have lost their original innocence and
+unless they return to worship the true God they will be sacrificed and
+their temple will fall in ruins.</p>
+
+<p>14. "The worldly power upholds order in the land; I told them not to
+forget this. I said to them, 'Live in conformity with your situation and
+refrain from disturbing public order;' and, at the same time, I exhorted
+them to remember that disorder reigned in their own hearts and spirits.</p>
+
+<p>15. "Therefore, the King of Heaven has punished them, and has destroyed
+their nationality and taken from them their national kings, 'but,' I
+added, 'if you will be resigned to your fate, as a reward the Kingdom of
+Heaven will be yours.'"</p>
+
+<p>16. At this moment the witnesses were introduced; one of whom deposed
+thus: "Thou hast said to the people that in comparison with the power of
+the king who would soon liberate the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> Israelites from the yoke of the
+heathen, the worldly authorities amounted to nothing."</p>
+
+<p>17. "Blessings upon thee!" said Issa. "For thou hast spoken the truth!
+The King of Heaven is greater and more powerful than the laws of man and
+His kingdom surpasses the kingdoms of this earth.</p>
+
+<p>18. "And the time is not far off, when Israel, obedient to the will of
+God, will throw off its yoke of sin; for it has been written that a
+forerunner would appear to announce the deliverance of the people, and
+that he would reunite them in one family."</p>
+
+<p>19. Thereupon the governor said to the judges: "Have you heard this? The
+Israelite Issa acknowledges the crime of which he is accused. Judge him,
+then, according to your laws and pass upon him condemnation to death."</p>
+
+<p>20. "We cannot condemn him," replied the priests and the ancients. "As
+thou hast heard, he spoke of the King of Heaven, and he has preached
+nothing which constitutes insubordination against the law."</p>
+
+<p>21. Thereupon the governor called a witness who had been bribed by his
+master, Pilate, to betray Issa, and this man said to Issa: "Is it not
+true that thou hast represented thyself as a King of Israel, when thou
+didst say that He who reigns in Heaven sent thee to prepare His people?"</p>
+
+<p>22. But Issa blessed the man and answered: "Thou wilt find mercy, for
+what thou hast said did not come out from thine own heart." Then,
+turning to the governor he said: "Why dost thou lower thy dignity and
+teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when, without doing so, it is in
+thy power to condemn an innocent man?"</p>
+
+<p>23. When Pilate heard his words, he became greatly enraged and ordered
+that Issa be condemned to death, and that the two robbers should be
+declared guiltless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>24. The judges, after consulting among themselves, said to Pilate: "We
+cannot consent to take this great sin upon us,&mdash;to condemn an innocent
+man and liberate malefactors. It would be against our laws.</p>
+
+<p>25. "Act thyself, then, as thou seest fit." Thereupon the priests and
+elders walked out, and washed their hands in a sacred vessel, and said:
+"We are innocent of the blood of this righteous man."</p>
+
+
+<p>XIV.</p>
+
+<p>1. By order of the governor, the soldiers seized Issa and the two
+robbers, and led them to the place of execution, where they were nailed
+upon the crosses erected for them.</p>
+
+<p>2. All day long the bodies of Issa and the two robbers hung upon the
+crosses, bleeding, guarded by the soldiers. The people stood all around
+and the relatives of the executed prayed and wept.</p>
+
+<p>3. When the sun went down, Issa's tortures ended. He lost consciousness
+and his soul disengaged itself from the body, to reunite with God.</p>
+
+<p>4. Thus ended the terrestrial existence of the reflection of the eternal
+Spirit under the form of a man who had saved hardened sinners and
+comforted the afflicted.</p>
+
+<p>5. Meanwhile, Pilate was afraid for what he had done, and ordered the
+body of the Saint to be given to his relatives, who put it in a tomb
+near to the place of execution. Great numbers of persons came to visit
+the tomb, and the air was filled with their wailings and lamentations.</p>
+
+<p>6. Three days later, the governor sent his soldiers to remove Issa's
+body and bury it in some other place, for he feared a rebellion among
+the people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>7. The next day, when the people came to the tomb, they found it open
+and empty, the body of Issa being gone. Thereupon, the rumor spread that
+the Supreme Judge had sent His angels from Heaven, to remove the mortal
+remains of the saint in whom part of the divine Spirit had lived on
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>8. When Pilate learned of this rumor, he grew angry and prohibited,
+under penalty of death, the naming of Issa, or praying for him to the
+Lord.</p>
+
+<p>9. But the people, nevertheless, continued to weep over Issa's death and
+to glorify their master; wherefore, many were carried into captivity,
+subjected to torture and put to death.</p>
+
+<p>10. And the disciples of Saint Issa departed from the land of Israel and
+went in all directions, to the heathen, preaching that they should
+abandon their gross errors, think of the salvation of their souls and
+earn the perfect bliss which awaits human beings in the immaterial
+world, full of glory, where the great Creator abides in all his
+immaculate and perfect majesty.</p>
+
+<p>11. The heathen, their kings, and their warriors, listened to the
+preachers, abandoned their erroneous beliefs and forsook their priests
+and their idols, to celebrate the praises of the most wise Creator of
+the Universe, the King of Kings, whose heart is filled with infinite
+mercy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Resume" id="Resume"></a><span class='italics'>Resum&eacute;</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>In reading the account of the life of Issa (Jesus Christ), one is
+struck, on the one hand by the resemblance of certain principal passages
+to accounts in the Old and New Testaments; and, on the other, by the not
+less remarkable contradictions which occasionally occur between the
+Buddhistic version and Hebraic and Christian records.</p>
+
+<p>To explain this, it is necessary to remember the epochs when the facts
+were consigned to writing.</p>
+
+<p>We have been taught, from our childhood, that the Pentateuch was written
+by Moses himself, but the careful researches of modern scholars have
+demonstrated conclusively, that at the time of Moses, and even much
+later, there existed in the country bathed by the Mediterranean, no
+other writing than the hieroglyphics in Egypt and the cuniform
+inscriptions, found nowadays in the excavations of Babylon. We know,
+however, that the alphabet and parchment were known in China and India
+long before Moses.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Let me cite a few proofs of this statement. We learn from the sacred
+books of "the religion of the wise" that the alphabet was invented in
+China in 2800 by Fou-si, who was the first emperor of China to embrace
+this religion, the ritual and exterior forms of which he himself
+arranged. Yao, the fourth of the Chinese emperors, who is said to have
+belonged to this faith, published moral and civil laws, and, in 2228,
+compiled a penal code. The fifth emperor, Soune, proclaimed in the year
+of his accession to the throne that "the religion of the wise" should
+thenceforth be the recognized religion of the State, and, in 2282,
+compiled new penal laws. His laws, modified by the Emperor
+Vou-vange,&mdash;founder of the dynasty of the Tcheou in 1122,&mdash;are those in
+existence today, and known under the name of "Changements."</p>
+
+<p>We also know that the doctrine of the Buddha F&ocirc;, whose true name was
+Sakya-Muni was written upon parchment. F&ocirc;ism began to spread in China
+about 260 years before Jesus Christ. In 206, an emperor of the Tsine
+dynasty, who was anxious to learn Buddhism, sent to India for a Buddhist
+by the name of Silifan, and the Emperor Ming-Ti, of the Hagne dynasty,
+sent, a year before Christ's birth, to India for the sacred books
+written by the Buddha Sakya-Muni&mdash;the founder of the Buddhistic
+doctrine, who lived about 1200 before Christ.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of the Buddha Gauthama or Gothama, who lived 600 years
+before Jesus Christ, was written in the Pali language upon parchment. At
+that epoch there existed already in India about 84,000 Buddhistic
+manuscripts, the compilation of which required a considerable number of
+years.</p>
+
+<p>At the time when the Chinese and the Hindus possessed already a very
+rich written literature, the less fortunate or more ignorant peoples who
+had no alphabet, transmitted their histories from mouth to mouth, and
+from generation to generation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> Owing to the unreliability of human
+memory, historical facts, embellished by Oriental imagination, soon
+degenerated into fabulous legends, which, in the course of time, were
+collected, and by the unknown compilers entitled "The Five Books of
+Moses." As these legends ascribe to the Hebrew legislator extraordinary
+divine powers which enabled him to perform miracles in the presence of
+Pharaoh, the claim that he was an Israelite may as well have been
+legendary rather than historical.</p>
+
+<p>The Hindu chroniclers, on the contrary, owing to their knowledge of an
+alphabet, were enabled to commit carefully to writing, not mere legends,
+but the recitals of recently occurred facts within their own knowledge,
+or the accounts brought to them by merchants who came from foreign
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>It must be remembered, in this connection, that&mdash;in antiquity as in our
+own days&mdash;the whole public life of the Orient was concentrated in the
+bazaars. There the news of foreign events was brought by the
+merchant-caravans and sought by the dervishes, who found, in their
+recitals in the temples and public places, a means of subsistence. When
+the merchants returned home from a journey, they generally related fully
+during the first days after their arrival, all they had seen or heard
+abroad. Such have been the customs of the Orient, from time immemorial,
+and are today.</p>
+
+<p>The commerce of India with Egypt and, later, with Europe, was carried on
+by way of Jerusalem, where, as far back as the time of King Solomon, the
+Hindu caravans brought precious metals and other materials for the
+construction of the temple. From Europe, merchandise was brought to
+Jerusalem by sea, and there unloaded in a port, which is now occupied by
+the city of Jaffa. The chronicles in question were compiled before,
+during and after the time of Jesus Christ.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During his sojourn in India, in the quality of a simple student come to
+learn the Brahminical and Buddhistic laws, no special attention whatever
+was paid to his life. When, however, a little later, the first accounts
+of the events in Israel reached India, the chroniclers, after committing
+to writing that which they were told about the prophet, Issa,&mdash;<span class='italics'>viz.</span>,
+that he had for his following a whole people, weary of the yoke of their
+masters, and that he was crucified by order of Pilate, remembered that
+this same Issa had only recently sojourned in their midst, and that, an
+Israelite by birth, he had come to study among them, after which he had
+returned to his country. They conceived a lively interest for the man
+who had grown so rapidly under their eyes, and began to investigate his
+birth, his past and all the details concerning his existence.</p>
+
+<p>The two manuscripts, from which the lama of the convent Himis read to me
+all that had a bearing upon Jesus, are compilations from divers copies
+written in the Thibetan language, translations of scrolls belonging to
+the library of Lhassa and brought, about two hundred years after Christ,
+from India, Nepaul and Maghada, to a convent on Mount Marbour, near the
+city of Lhassa, now the residence of the Dalai-Lama.</p>
+
+<p>These scrolls were written in Pali, which certain lamas study even now,
+so as to be able to translate it into the Thibetan.</p>
+
+<p>The chroniclers were Buddhists belonging to the sect of the Buddha
+Gothama.</p>
+
+<p>The details concerning Jesus, given in the chronicles, are disconnected
+and mingled with accounts of other contemporaneous events to which they
+bear no relation.</p>
+
+<p>The manuscripts relate to us, first of all,&mdash;according to the accounts
+given by merchants arriving from Judea in the same year when the death
+of Jesus occurred&mdash;that a just man by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> name of Issa, an Israelite,
+in spite of his being acquitted twice by the judges as being a man of
+God, was nevertheless put to death by the order of the Pagan governor,
+Pilate, who feared that he might take advantage of his great popularity
+to reestablish the kingdom of Israel and expel from the country its
+conquerors.</p>
+
+<p>Then follow rather incoherent communications regarding the preachings of
+Jesus among the Guebers and other heathens. They seem to have been
+written during the first years following the death of Jesus, in whose
+career a lively and growing interest is shown.</p>
+
+<p>One of these accounts, communicated by a merchant, refers to the origin
+of Jesus and his family; another tells of the expulsion of his partisans
+and the persecutions they had to suffer.</p>
+
+<p>Only at the end of the second volume is found the first categorical
+affirmation of the chronicler. He says there that Issa was a man blessed
+by God and the best of all; that it was he in whom the great Brahma had
+elected to incarnate when, at a period fixed by destiny, his spirit was
+required to, for a time, separate from the Supreme Being.</p>
+
+<p>After telling that Issa descended from poor Israelite parents, the
+chronicler makes a little digression, for the purpose of explaining,
+according to ancient accounts, who were those sons of Israel.</p>
+
+<p>I have arranged all the fragments concerning the life of Issa in
+chronological order and have taken pains to impress upon them the
+character of unity, in which they were absolutely lacking.</p>
+
+<p>I leave it to the <span class='italics'>savans</span>, the philosophers and the theologians to
+search into the causes for the contradictions which may be found between
+the "Life of Issa" which I lay before the public and the accounts of the
+Gospels. But I trust that everybody will agree with me in assuming that
+the version which I present to the pub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>lic, one compiled three or four
+years after the death of Jesus, from the accounts of eyewitnesses and
+contemporaries, has much more probability of being in conformity with
+truth than the accounts of the Gospels, the composition of which was
+effected at different epochs and at periods much posterior to the
+occurrence of the events.</p>
+
+<p>Before speaking of the life of Jesus, I must say a few words on the
+history of Moses, who, according to the so-far most accredited legend,
+was an Israelite. In this respect the legend is contradicted by the
+Buddhists. We learn from the outset that Moses was an Egyptian prince,
+the son of a Pharaoh, and that he only was taught by learned Israelites.
+I believe that if this important point is carefully examined, it must be
+admitted that the Buddhist author may be right.</p>
+
+<p>It is not my intent to argue against the Biblical legend concerning the
+origin of Moses, but I think everyone reading it must share my
+conviction that Moses could not have been a simple Israelite. His
+education was rather that of a king's son, and it is difficult to
+believe that a child introduced by chance into the palace should have
+been made an equal with the son of the sovereign. The rigor with which
+the Egyptians treated their slaves by no means attests the mildness of
+their character. A foundling certainly would not have been made the
+companion of the sons of a Pharaoh, but would be placed among his
+servants. Add to this the caste spirit so strictly observed in ancient
+Egypt, a most salient point, which is certainly calculated to raise
+doubts as to the truth of the Scriptural story.</p>
+
+<p>And it is difficult to suppose that Moses had not received a complete
+education. How otherwise could his great legislative work, his broad
+views, his high administrative qualities be satisfactorily explained?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And now comes another question: Why should he, a prince, have attached
+himself to the Israelites? The answer seems to me very simple. It is
+known that in ancient, as well as in modern times, discussions were
+often raised as to which of two brothers should succeed to the father's
+throne. Why not admit this hypothesis, <span class='italics'>viz.</span>, that Mossa, or Moses,
+having an elder brother whose existence forbade him to think of
+occupying the throne of Egypt, contemplated founding a distinct kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>It might very well be that, in view of this end, he tried to attach
+himself to the Israelites, whose firmness of faith as well as physical
+strength he had occasion to admire. We know, indeed, that the Israelites
+of Egypt had no resemblance whatever to their descendants as regards
+physical constitution. The granite blocks which were handled by them in
+building the palaces and pyramids are still in place to testify to this
+fact. In the same way I explain to myself the history of the miracles
+which he is said to have performed before Pharaoh.</p>
+
+<p>Although there are no definite arguments for denying the miracles which
+Moses might have performed in the name of God before Pharaoh, I think it
+is not difficult to realize that the Buddhistic statement sounds more
+probable than the Scriptural gloss. The pestilence, the smallpox or the
+cholera must, indeed, have caused enormous ravages among the dense
+population of Egypt, at an epoch when there existed yet but very
+rudimentary ideas about hygiene and where, consequently, such diseases
+must have rapidly assumed frightful virulence.</p>
+
+<p>In view of Pharaoh's fright at the disasters which befell Egypt, Moses'
+keen wit might well have suggested to him to explain the strange and
+terrifying occurrences, to his father, by the intervention of the God of
+Israel in behalf of his chosen people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Moses was here afforded an excellent opportunity to deliver the
+Israelites from their slavery and have them pass under his own
+domination.</p>
+
+<p>In obedience to Pharaoh's will&mdash;according to the Buddhistic
+version&mdash;Moses led the Israelites outside the walls of the city; but,
+instead of building a new city within reach of the capital, as he was
+ordered, he left with them the Egyptian territory. Pharaoh's indignation
+on learning of this infringement of his commands by Moses, can easily be
+imagined. And so he gave the order to his soldiers to pursue the
+fugitives. The geographical disposition of the region suggests at once
+that Moses during his flight must have moved by the side of the
+mountains and entered Arabia by the way over the Isthmus which is now
+cut by the Suez Canal.</p>
+
+<p>Pharaoh, on the contrary, pursued, with his troops, a straight line to
+the Red Sea; then, in order to overtake the Israelites, who had already
+gained the opposite shore, he sought to take advantage of the ebb of the
+sea in the Gulf, which is formed by the coast and the Isthmus, and
+caused his soldiers to wade through the ford. But the length of the
+passage proved much greater than he had expected; so that the flood tide
+set in when the Egyptian host was halfway across, and, of the army thus
+overwhelmed by the returning waves, none escaped death.</p>
+
+<p>This fact, so simple in itself, has in the course of the centuries been
+transformed by the Israelites into a religious legend, they seeing in it
+a divine intervention in their behalf and a punishment which their God
+inflicted on their persecutors. There is, moreover, reason to believe
+that Moses himself saw the occurrence in this light. This, however, is a
+thesis which I shall try to develop in a forthcoming work.</p>
+
+<p>The Buddhistic chronicle then describes the grandeur and the downfall of
+the kingdom of Israel, and its conquest by the foreign nations who
+reduced the inhabitants to slavery.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The calamities which befell the Israelites, and the afflictions that
+thenceforth embittered their days were, according to the chronicler,
+more than sufficient reasons that God, pitying his people and desirous
+of coming to their aid, should descend on earth in the person of a
+prophet, in order to lead them back to the path of righteousness.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the state of things in that epoch justified the belief that the
+coming of Jesus was signalized, imminent, necessary.</p>
+
+<p>This explains why the Buddhistic traditions could maintain that the
+eternal Spirit separated from the eternal Being and incarnated in the
+child of a pious and once illustrious family.</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless the Buddhists, in common with the Evangelists, meant to convey
+by this that the child belonged to the royal house of David; but the
+text in the Gospels, according to which "the child was born from the
+Holy Spirit," admits of two interpretations, while according to Buddha's
+doctrine, which is more in conformity with the laws of nature, the
+spirit has but incarnated in a child already born, whom God blessed and
+chose for the accomplishment of His mission on earth.</p>
+
+<p>The birth of Jesus is followed by a long gap in the traditions of the
+Evangelists, who either from ignorance or neglect, fail to tell us
+anything definite about his childhood, youth or education. They commence
+the history of Jesus with his first sermon, <span class='italics'>i.e.</span>, at the epoch, when
+thirty years of age, he returns to his country.</p>
+
+<p>All the Evangelists tell us concerning the infancy of Jesus is marked by
+the lack of precision: "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit,
+filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him," says one of the
+sacred authors (Luke 2, 40), and another: "And the child grew, and waxed
+strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing
+unto Israel." (Luke 1, 80.)</p>
+
+<p>As the Evangelists compiled their writings a long time after the death
+of Jesus, it is presumable that they committed to writ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>ing only those
+accounts of the principal events in the life of Jesus which happened to
+come to their knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>The Buddhists, on the contrary, who compiled their chronicles soon after
+the Passion occurred, and were able to collect the surest information
+about everything that interested them, give us a complete and very
+detailed description of the life of Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>In those unhappy times, when the struggle for existence seems to have
+destroyed all thought of God, the people of Israel suffered the double
+oppression of the ambitious Herod and the despotic and avaricious
+Romans. Then, as now, the Hebrews put all their hopes in Providence,
+whom they expected, would send them an inspired man, who should deliver
+them from all their physical and moral afflictions. The time passed,
+however, and no one took the initiative in a revolt against the tyranny
+of the rulers.</p>
+
+<p>In that era of hope and despair, the people of Israel completely forgot
+that there lived among them a poor Israelite who was a direct descendant
+from their King David. This poor man married a young girl who gave birth
+to a miraculous child.</p>
+
+<p>The Hebrews, true to their traditions of devotion and respect for the
+race of their kings, upon learning of this event went in great numbers
+to congratulate the happy father and see the child. It is evident that
+Herod was informed of this occurrence. He feared that this infant, once
+grown to manhood, might avail himself of his prospective popularity to
+reconquer the throne of his ancestors. He sent out his men to seize the
+child, which the Israelites endeavored to hide from the wrath of the
+king, who then ordered the abominable massacre of the children, hoping
+that Jesus would perish in this vast human hecatomb. But Joseph's family
+had warning of the impending danger, and took refuge in Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>A short time afterward, they returned to their native country. The child
+had grown during those journeyings, in which his life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> was more than
+once exposed to danger. Formerly, as now, the Oriental Israelites
+commenced the instruction of their children at the age of five or six
+years. Compelled to constantly hide him from the murderous King Herod,
+the parents of Jesus could not allow their son to go out, and he, no
+doubt, spent all his time in studying the sacred Scriptures, so that his
+knowledge was sufficiently beyond what would naturally have been
+expected of a boy of his age to greatly astonish the elders of Israel.
+He had in his thirteenth year attained an age when, according to Jewish
+law, the boy becomes an adult, has the right to marry, and incurs
+obligations for the discharge of the religious duties of a man.</p>
+
+<p>There exists still, in our times, among the Israelites, an ancient
+religious custom that fixes the majority of a youth at the accomplished
+thirteenth year. From this epoch the youth becomes a member of the
+congregation and enjoys all the rights of an adult. Hence, his marriage
+at this age is regarded as having legal force, and is even required in
+the tropical countries. In Europe, however, owing to the influence of
+local laws and to nature, which does not contribute here so powerfully
+as in warm climates to the physical development, this custom is no more
+in force and has lost all its former importance.</p>
+
+<p>The royal lineage of Jesus, his rare intelligence and his learning,
+caused him to be looked upon as an excellent match, and the wealthiest
+and most respected Hebrews would fain have had him for a son-in-law,
+just as even nowadays the Israelites are very desirous of the honor of
+marrying their daughters to the sons of Rabbis or scholars. But the
+meditative youth, whose mind was far above anything corporeal, and
+possessed by the thirst for knowledge, stealthily left his home and
+joined the caravans going to India.</p>
+
+<p>It stands to reason that Jesus Christ should have thought, primarily, of
+going to India, first, because at that epoch Egypt formed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> part of the
+Roman possessions; secondly, and principally, because a very active
+commercial exchange with India had made common report in Judea of the
+majestic character and unsurpassed richness of the arts and sciences in
+this marvellous country, to which even now the aspirations of all
+civilized peoples are directed.</p>
+
+<p>Here the Evangelists once more lose the thread of the terrestrial life
+of Jesus. Luke says he "was in the deserts till the day of his shewing
+unto Israel" (Luke 1, 80), which clearly demonstrates that nobody knew
+where the holy youth was until his sudden reappearance sixteen years
+later.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived in India, this land of marvels, Jesus began to frequent the
+temples of the Djainites.</p>
+
+<p>There exists until today, on the peninsula of Hindustan, a sectarian
+cult under the name of Djainism. It forms a kind of connecting link
+between Buddhism and Brahminism, and preaches the destruction of all
+other beliefs, which, it declares, are corroded by falsehood. It dates
+from the seventh century before Jesus Christ and its name is derived
+from the word "djain" (conqueror), which was assumed by its founders as
+expressive of its destined triumph over its rivals.</p>
+
+<p>In sympathetic admiration for the spirit of the young man, the Djainites
+asked him to stay with them; but Jesus left them to settle in
+Djagguernat, where he devoted himself to the study of treatises on
+religion, philosophy, etc. Djagguernat is one of the chief sacred cities
+of Brahmins, and, at the time of Christ, was of great religious
+importance. According to tradition, the ashes of the illustrious
+Brahmin, Krishna, who lived in 1580 B.C., are preserved there, in the
+hollow of a tree, near a magnificent temple, to which thousands make
+pilgrimage every year. Krishna collected and put in order the Vedas,
+which he divided into four books&mdash;Richt, Jagour, Saman and Artafan;&mdash;in
+commemoration of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> great work he received the name of Vyasa (he who
+collected and divided the Vedas), and he also compiled the Vedanta and
+eighteen Puranas, which contain 400,000 stanzas.</p>
+
+<p>In Djagguernat is also found a very precious library of Sanscrit books
+and religious manuscripts.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus spent there six years in studying the language of the country and
+the Sanscrit, which enabled him to absorb the religious doctrines,
+philosophy, medicine and mathematics. He found much to blame in
+Brahminical laws and usages, and publicly joined issue with the
+Brahmins, who in vain endeavored to convince him of the sacred character
+of their established customs. Jesus, among other things, deemed it
+extremely unjust that the laborer should be oppressed and despised, and
+that he should not only be robbed of hope of future happiness, but also
+be denied the right to hear the religious services. He, therefore, began
+preaching to the Sudras, the lowest caste of slaves, telling them that,
+according to their own laws, God is the Father of all men; that all
+which exists, exists only through Him; that, before Him, all men are
+equal, and that the Brahmins had obscured the great principle of
+monotheism by misinterpreting Brahma's own words, and laying excessive
+stress upon observance of the exterior ceremonials of the cult.</p>
+
+<p>Here are the words in which, according to the doctrine of the Brahmins,
+God Himself speaks to the angels: "I have been from eternity, and shall
+continue to be eternally. I am the first cause of everything that exists
+in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South, above and
+below, in heaven and in hell. I am older than all things. I am the
+Spirit and the Creation of the universe and also its Creator. I am
+all-powerful; I am the God of the Gods, the King of the Kings; I am
+Para-Brahma, the great soul of the universe."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After the world appeared by the will of Para-Brahma, God created human
+beings, whom he divided into four classes, according to their colors:
+white (Brahmins), red (Kshatriyas), yellow (Vaisyas), and black
+(Sudras). Brahma drew the first from his own mouth, and gave them for
+their <span class='italics'>appanage</span> the government of the world, the care of teaching men
+the laws, of curing and judging them. Therefore do the Brahmins occupy
+only the offices of priests and preachers, are expounders of the Vedas,
+and must practice celibacy.</p>
+
+<p>The second caste of Kshatriyas issued from the hand of Brahma. He made
+of them warriors, entrusting them with the care of defending society.
+All the kings, princes, captains, governors and military men belong to
+this caste, which lives on the best terms with the Brahmins, since they
+cannot subsist without each other, and the peace of the country depends
+on the alliance of the lights and the sword, of Brahma's temple and the
+royal throne.</p>
+
+<p>The Vaisyas, who constitute the third caste, issued from Brahma's belly.
+They are destined to cultivate the ground, raise cattle, carry on
+commerce and practice all kinds of trades in order to feed the Brahmins
+and the Kshatriyas. Only on holidays are they authorized to enter the
+temple and listen to the recital of the Vedas; at all other times they
+must attend to their business.</p>
+
+<p>The lowest caste, that of the black ones, or Sudras, issued from the
+feet of Brahma to be the humble servants and slaves of the three
+preceding castes. They are interdicted from attending the reading of the
+Vedas at any time; their touch contaminates a Brahmin, Kshatriya, or
+even a Vaisya who comes in contact with them. They are wretched
+creatures, deprived of all human rights; they cannot even look at the
+members of the other castes, nor defend themselves, nor, when sick,
+receive the attendance of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> physician. Death alone can deliver the
+Sudra from a life of servitude; and even then, freedom can only be
+attained under the condition that, during his whole life, he shall have
+served diligently and without complaint some member of the privileged
+classes. Then only it is promised that the soul of the Sudra shall,
+after death, be raised to a superior caste.</p>
+
+<p>If a Sudra has been lacking in obedience to a member of the privileged
+classes, or has in any way brought their disfavor upon himself, he sinks
+to the rank of a pariah, who is banished from all cities and villages
+and is the object of general contempt, as an abject being who can only
+perform the lowest kind of work.</p>
+
+<p>The same punishment may also fall upon members of another caste; these,
+however, may, through repentance, fasting and other trials, rehabilitate
+themselves in their former caste; while the unfortunate Sudra, once
+expelled from his, has lost it forever.</p>
+
+<p>From what has been said above, it is easy to explain why the Vaisyas and
+Sudras were animated with adoration for Jesus, who, in spite of the
+threats of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, never forsook those poor people.</p>
+
+<p>In his sermons Jesus not only censured the system by which man was
+robbed of his right to be considered as a human being, while an ape or a
+piece of marble or metal was paid divine worship, but he attacked the
+very life of Brahminism, its system of gods, its doctrine and its
+"trimurti" (trinity), the angular stone of this religion.</p>
+
+<p>Para-Brahma is represented with three faces on a single head. This is
+the "trimurti" (trinity), composed of Brahma (creator), Vishnu
+(conservator), and Siva (destroyer).</p>
+
+<p>Here is the origin of the trimurti:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning, Para-Brahma created the waters and threw into them the
+seed of procreation, which transformed itself into a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> brilliant egg,
+wherein Brahma's image was reflected. Millions of years had passed when
+Brahma split the egg in two halves, of which the upper one became the
+heaven, the lower one, the earth. Then Brahma descended to the earth
+under the shape of a child, established himself upon a lotus flower,
+absorbed himself in his own contemplation and put to himself the
+question: "Who will attend to the conservation of what I have created?"
+"I," came the answer from his mouth under the appearance of a flame. And
+Brahma gave to this word the name, "Vishnu," that is to say, "he who
+preserves." Then Brahma divided his being into two halves, the one male,
+the other female, the active and the passive principles, the union of
+which produced Siva, "the destroyer."</p>
+
+<p>These are the attributes of the trimurti; Brahma, creative principle;
+Vishnu, preservative wisdom; Siva, destructive wrath of justice. Brahma
+is the substance from which everything was made; Vishnu, space wherein
+everything lives; and Siva, time that annihilates all things.</p>
+
+<p>Brahma is the face which vivifies all; Vishnu, the water which sustains
+the forces of the creatures; Siva, the fire which breaks the bond that
+unites all objects. Brahma is the past; Vishnu, the present; Siva, the
+future. Each part of the trimurti possesses, moreover, a wife. The wife
+of Brahma is Sarasvati, goddess of wisdom; that of Vishnu, Lakshmi,
+goddess of virtue, and Siva's spouse is Kali, goddess of death, the
+universal destroyer.</p>
+
+<p>Of this last union were born, Ganesa, the elephant-headed god of wisdom,
+and Indra, the god of the firmament, both chiefs of inferior divinities,
+the number of which, if all the objects of adoration of the Hindus be
+included, amounts to three hundred millions.</p>
+
+<p>Vishnu has descended eight times upon the earth, incarnating in a fish
+in order to save the Vedas from the deluge, in a tor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>toise, a dwarf, a
+wild boar, a lion, in Rama, a king's son, in Krishna and in Buddha. He
+will come a ninth time under the form of a rider mounted on a white
+horse in order to destroy death and sin.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus denied the existence of all these hierarchic absurdities of gods,
+which darken the great principle of monotheism.</p>
+
+<p>When the Brahmins saw that Jesus, who, instead of becoming one of their
+party, as they had hoped, turned out to be their adversary, and that the
+people began to embrace his doctrine, they resolved to kill him; but his
+servants, who were greatly attached to him, forewarned him of the
+threatening danger, and he took refuge in the mountains of Nepaul. At
+this epoch, Buddhism had taken deep root in this country. It was a kind
+of schism, remarkable by its moral principles and ideas on the nature of
+the divinity&mdash;ideas which brought men closer to nature and to one
+another.</p>
+
+<p>Sakya-Muni, the founder of this sect, was born fifteen hundred years
+before Jesus Christ, at Kapila, the capital of his father's kingdom,
+near Nepaul, in the Himalayas. He belonged to the race of the Gotamides,
+and to the ancient family of the Sakyas. From his infancy he evinced a
+lively interest in religion, and, contrary to his father's wishes,
+leaving his palace with all its luxury, began at once to preach against
+the Brahmins, for the purification of their doctrines. He died at
+Kou&ccedil;inagara, surrounded by many faithful disciples. His body was burned,
+and his ashes, divided into several parts, were distributed between the
+cities, which, on account of his new doctrine, had renounced Brahminism.</p>
+
+<p>According to the Buddhistic doctrine, the Creator reposes normally in a
+state of perfect inaction, which is disturbed by nothing and which he
+only leaves at certain destiny-determined epochs, in order to create
+terrestrial buddhas. To this end the Spirit disengages itself from the
+sovereign Creator, incarnates in a buddha and stays for some time on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+the earth, where he creates Bodhisattvas (masters),
+<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a>
+whose mission it is to preach the divine word and to found new churches of
+believers to whom they will give laws, and for whom they will institute
+a new religious order according to the traditions of Buddhism.
+A terrestrial buddha is, in a certain way, a reflection of the sovereign
+creative Buddha, with whom he unites after the termination of his
+terrestrial existence. In like manner do the Bodhisattvas, as a reward
+for their labors and the privations they undergo, receive eternal bliss
+and enjoy a rest which nothing can disturb.</p>
+
+<p>Jesus sojourned six years among the Buddhists, where he found the
+principle of monotheism still pure. Arrived at the age of twenty-six
+years, he remembered his fatherland, which was then oppressed by a
+foreign yoke. On his way homeward, he preached against idol worship,
+human sacrifice, and other errors of faith, admonishing the people to
+recognize and adore God, the Father of all beings, to whom all are alike
+dear, the master as well as the slave; for they all are his children, to
+whom he has given this beautiful universe for a common heritage. The
+sermons of Jesus often made a profound impression upon the peoples among
+whom he came, and he was exposed to all sorts of dangers provoked by the
+clergy, but was saved by the very idolators who, only the preceding day,
+had offered their children as sacrifices to their idols.</p>
+
+<p>While passing through Persia, Jesus almost caused a revolution among the
+adorers of Zoroaster's doctrine. Nevertheless, the priests refrained
+from killing him, out of fear of the people's vengeance. They resorted
+to artifice, and led him out of town at night, with the hope that he
+might be devoured by wild beasts. Jesus escaped this peril and arrived
+safe and sound in the country of Israel.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+It must be remarked here that the Orientals, amidst their sometimes so
+picturesque misery, and in the ocean of depravation in which they
+slumber, always have, under the influence of their priests and teachers,
+a pronounced inclination for learning and understand easily good common
+sense explications. It happened to me more than once that, by using
+simple words of truth, I appealed to the conscience of a thief or some
+otherwise intractable person. These people, moved by a sentiment of
+innate honesty,&mdash;which the clergy for personal reasons of their own,
+tried by all means to stifle&mdash;soon became again very honest and had only
+contempt for those who had abused their confidence.</p>
+
+<p>By the virtue of a mere word of truth, the whole of India, with its
+300,000,000 of idols, could be made a vast Christian country; but ...
+this beautiful project would, no doubt, be antagonized by certain
+Christians who, similar to those priests of whom I have spoken before,
+speculate upon the ignorance of the people to make themselves rich.</p>
+
+<p>According to St. Luke, Jesus was about thirty years of age when he began
+preaching to the Israelites. According to the Buddhistic chroniclers,
+Jesus's teachings in Judea began in his twenty-ninth year. All his
+sermons which are not mentioned by the Evangelists, but have been
+preserved by the Buddhists, are remarkable for their character of divine
+grandeur. The fame of the new prophet spread rapidly in the country, and
+Jerusalem awaited with impatience his arrival. When he came near the
+holy city, its inhabitants went out to meet him, and led him in triumph
+to the temple; all of which is in agreement with Christian tradition.
+The chiefs and elders who heard him were filled with admiration for his
+sermons, and were happy to see the beneficent impression which his words
+exercised upon the populace. All these remarkable sermons of Jesus are
+full of sublime sentiments.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Pilate, the governor of the country, however, did not look upon the
+matter in the same light. Eager agents notified him that Jesus announced
+the near coming of a new kingdom, the reestablishment of the throne of
+Israel, and that he suffered himself to be called the Son of God, sent
+to bring back courage in Israel, for he, the King of Judea, would soon
+ascend the throne of his ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>I do not <span class='ins' title='purpose'>propose</span> attributing to Jesus the <span class='italics'>r&ocirc;le</span> of a revolutionary, but
+it seems to me very probable that Jesus wrought up the people with a
+view to reestablish the throne to which he had a just claim. Divinely
+inspired, and, at the same time, convinced of the legitimacy of his
+pretentions, Jesus preached the spiritual union of the people in order
+that a political union might result.</p>
+
+<p>Pilate, who felt alarmed over these rumors, called together the priests
+and the elders of the people and ordered them to interdict Jesus from
+preaching in public, and even to condemn him in the temple under the
+charge of apostasy. This was the best means for Pilate to rid himself of
+a dangerous man, whose royal origin he knew and whose popularity was
+constantly increasing.</p>
+
+<p>It must be said in this connection that the Israelites, far from
+persecuting Jesus, recognized in him the descendant of the illustrious
+dynasty of David, and made him the object of their secret hopes, a fact
+which is evident from the very Gospels which tell that Jesus preached
+freely in the temple, in the presence of the elders, who could have
+interdicted him not only the entrance to the temple, but also his
+preachings.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the order of Pilate the Sanhedrim met and cited Jesus to appear
+before its tribunal. As the result of the inquiry, the members of the
+Sanhedrim informed Pilate that his suspicions were without any
+foundation whatever; that Jesus preached a religious, and not a
+political, propaganda; that he was expounding the Di<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>vine word, and that
+he claimed to have come not to overthrow, but to reestablish the laws of
+Moses. The Buddhistic record does but confirm this sympathy, which
+unquestionably existed between the young preacher, Jesus, and the elders
+of the people of Israel; hence their answer: "We do not judge a just
+one."</p>
+
+<p>Pilate felt not at all assured, and continued seeking an occasion to
+hale Jesus before a new tribunal, as regular as the former. To this end
+he caused him to be followed by spies, and finally ordered his arrest.</p>
+
+<p>If we may believe the Evangelists, it was the Pharisees who sought the
+life of Jesus, while the Buddhistic record most positively declares that
+Pilate alone can be held responsible for his execution. This version is
+evidently much more probable than the account of the Evangelists. The
+conquerors of Judea could not long tolerate the presence of a man who
+announced to the people a speedy deliverance from their yoke. The
+popularity of Jesus having commenced to disturb Pilate's mind, it is to
+be supposed that he sent after the young preacher spies, with the order
+to take note of all his words and acts. Moreover, the servants of the
+Roman governor, as true "agents provocateurs," endeavored by means of
+artful questions put to Jesus, to draw from him some imprudent words
+under color of which Pilate might proceed against him. If the preachings
+of Jesus had been offensive to the Hebrew priests and scribes, all they
+needed to do was simply to command the people not to hear and follow
+him, and to forbid him entrance into the temple. But the Evangelists
+tell us that Jesus enjoyed great popularity among the Israelites and
+full liberty in the temples, where Pharisees and scribes discussed with
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In order to find a valid excuse for condemning him, Pilate had him
+tortured so as to extort from him a confession of high treason.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But, contrary to the rule that the innocent, overcome by their pain,
+will confess anything to escape the unendurable agonies inflicted upon
+them, Jesus made no admission of guilt. Pilate, seeing that the usual
+tortures were powerless to accomplish the desired result, commanded the
+executioners to proceed to the last extreme of their diabolic cruelties,
+meaning to compass the death of Jesus by the complete exhaustion of his
+forces. Jesus, however, fortifying his endurance by the power of his
+will and zeal for his righteous cause&mdash;which was also that of his people
+and of God&mdash;was unconquerable by all the refinements of cruelty
+inflicted upon him by his executioners.</p>
+
+<p>The infliction of "the question" upon Jesus evoked much feeling among
+the elders, and they resolved to interfere in his behalf; formally
+demanding of Pilate that he should be liberated before the Passover.</p>
+
+<p>When their request was denied by Pilate they resolved to petition that
+Jesus should be brought to trial before the Sanhedrim, by whom they did
+not doubt his acquittal&mdash;which was ardently desired by the people&mdash;would
+be ordained.</p>
+
+<p>In the eyes of the priests, Jesus was a saint, belonging to the family
+of David; and his unjust detention, or&mdash;what was still more to be
+dreaded&mdash;his condemnation, would have saddened the celebration of the
+great national festival of the Israelites.</p>
+
+<p>They therefore prayed Pilate that the trial of Jesus should take place
+before the Passover, and to this he acceded. But he ordered that two
+thieves should be tried at the same time with Jesus, thinking to, in
+this way, minimize in the eyes of the people, the importance of the fact
+that the life of an innocent man was being put in jeopardy before the
+tribunal; and, by not allowing Jesus to be condemned alone, blind the
+populace to the unjust prearrangement of his condemnation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The accusation against Jesus was founded upon the depositions of the
+bribed witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>During the trial, Pilate availed himself of perversions of Jesus' words
+concerning the heavenly kingdom, to sustain the charges made against
+him. He counted, it seems, upon the effect produced by the answers of
+Jesus, as well as upon his own authority, to influence the members of
+the tribunal against examining too minutely the details of the case, and
+to procure from them the sentence of death for which he intimated his
+desire.</p>
+
+<p>Upon hearing the perfectly natural answer of the judges, that the
+meaning of the words of Jesus was diametrically opposed to the
+accusation, and that there was nothing in them to warrant his
+condemnation, Pilate employed his final resource for prejudicing the
+trial, viz., the deposition of a purchased traitorous informer. This
+miserable wretch&mdash;who was, no doubt, Judas&mdash;accused Jesus formally, of
+having incited the people to rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a scene of unsurpassed sublimity. When Judas gave his
+testimony, Jesus, turning toward him, and giving him his blessing, says:
+"Thou wilt find mercy, for what thou has said did not come out from
+thine own heart!" Then, addressing himself to the governor: "Why dost
+thou lower thy dignity, and teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when
+without doing so it is in thy power to condemn an innocent man?"</p>
+
+<p>Words touching as sublime! Jesus Christ here manifests all the grandeur
+of his soul by pardoning his betrayer, and he reproaches Pilate with
+having resorted to such means, unworthy of his dignity, to attain his
+end.</p>
+
+<p>This keen reproach enraged the governor, and caused him to completely
+forget his position, and the prudent policy with which he had meant to
+evade personal responsibility for the crime he contemplated. He now
+imperiously demanded the conviction of Jesus, and, as though he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+intended to make a display of his power, to overawe the judges, ordered
+the acquittal of the two thieves.</p>
+
+<p>The judges, seeing the injustice of Pilate's demand, that they should
+acquit the malefactors and condemn the innocent Jesus, refused to commit
+this double crime against their consciences and their laws. But as they
+could not cope with one who possessed the authority of final judgment,
+and saw that he was firmly decided to rid himself, by whatever means, of
+a man who had fallen under the suspicions of the Roman authorities, they
+left him to himself pronounce the verdict for which he was so anxious.
+In order, however, that the people might not suspect them of sharing the
+responsibility for such unjust judgment, which would not readily have
+been forgiven, they, in leaving the court, performed the ceremony of
+washing their hands, symbolizing the affirmation that they were clean of
+the blood of the innocent Jesus, the beloved of the people.</p>
+
+<p>About ten years ago, I read in a German journal, the <span class='italics'>Fremdenblatt</span>, an
+article on Judas, wherein the author endeavored to demonstrate that the
+informer had been the best friend of Jesus. According to him, it was out
+of love for his master that Judas betrayed him, for he put blind faith
+in the words of the Saviour, who said that his kingdom would arrive
+after his execution. But after seeing him on the cross, and having
+waited in vain for the resurrection of Jesus, which he expected to
+immediately take place, Judas, not able to bear the pain by which his
+heart was torn, committed suicide by hanging himself. It would be
+profitless to dwell upon this ingenious product of a fertile
+imagination.</p>
+
+<p>To take up again the accounts of the Gospels and the Buddhistic
+chronicle, it is very possible that the bribed informer was really
+Judas, although the Buddhistic version is silent on this point. As to
+the pangs of conscience which are said to have impelled the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> informer to
+suicide, I must say that I give no credence to them. A man capable of
+committing so vile and cowardly an action as that of making an
+infamously false accusation against his friend, and this, not out of a
+spirit of jealousy, or for revenge, but to gain a handful of shekels!
+such a man is, from the psychic point of view, of very little worth. He
+ignores honesty and conscience, and pangs of remorse are unknown to him.</p>
+
+<p>It is presumable that the governor treated him as is sometimes done in
+our days, when it is deemed desirable to effectually conceal state
+secrets known to men of his kind and presumably unsafe in their keeping.
+Judas probably was simply hanged, by Pilate's order, to prevent the
+possibility of his some day revealing that the plot of which Jesus was a
+victim had been inspired by the authorities.</p>
+
+<p>On the day of the execution, a numerous detachment of Roman soldiers was
+placed around the cross to guard against any attempt by the populace for
+the delivery of him who was the object of their veneration. In this
+occurrence Pilate gave proof of his extraordinary firmness and
+resolution.</p>
+
+<p>But though, owing to the precautions taken by the governor, the
+anticipated revolt did not occur, he could not prevent the people, after
+the execution, mourning the ruin of their hopes, which were destroyed,
+together with the last scion of the race of David. All the people went
+to worship at Jesus' grave. Although we have no precise information
+concerning the occurrences of the first few days following the Passion,
+we could, by some probable conjectures, reconstruct the scenes which
+must have taken place.</p>
+
+<p>It stands to reason that the Roman C&aelig;sar's clever lieutenant, when he
+saw that Christ's grave became the centre of universal lamentations and
+the subject of national grief, and feared that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> memory of the
+righteous victim might excite the discontent of the people and raise the
+whole country against the foreigners' rule, should have employed any
+effective means for the removal of this rallying-point, the mortal
+remains of Jesus. Pilate began by having the body buried. For three days
+the soldiers who were stationed on guard at the grave, were exposed to
+all kinds of insults and injuries on the part of the people who, defying
+the danger, came in multitudes to mourn the great martyr. Then Pilate
+ordered his soldiers to remove the body at night, and to bury it
+clandestinely in some other place, leaving the first grave open and the
+guard withdrawn from it, so that the people could see that Jesus had
+disappeared. But Pilate missed his end; for when, on the following
+morning, the Hebrews did not find the corpse of their master in the
+sepulchre, the superstitious and miracle-accepting among them thought
+that he had been resurrected.</p>
+
+<p>How did this legend take root? We cannot say. Possibly it existed for a
+long time in a latent state and, at the beginning, spread only among the
+common people; perhaps the ecclesiastic authorities of the Hebrews
+looked with indulgence upon this innocent belief, which gave to the
+oppressed a shadow of revenge on their oppressors. However it be, the
+day when the legend of the resurrection finally became known to all,
+there was no one to be found strong enough to demonstrate the
+impossibility of such an occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>Concerning this resurrection, it must be remarked that, according to the
+Buddhists, the soul of the just Issa was united with the eternal Being,
+while the Evangelists insist upon the ascension of the body. It seems to
+me, however, that the Evangelists and the Apostles have done very well
+to give the description of the resurrection which they have agreed upon,
+for if they had not done so, <span class='italics'>i.e.</span>, if the miracle had been given a
+less material character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>their preaching would not have had, in the
+eyes of the nations to whom it was presented, that divine authority,
+that avowedly supernatural character, which has clothed Christianity,
+until our time, as the only religion capable of elevating the human race
+to a state of sublime enthusiasm, suppressing its savage instincts, and
+bringing it nearer to the grand and simple nature which God has
+bestowed, they say, upon that feeble dwarf called man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Explanatory_Notes" id="Explanatory_Notes"></a><span class='italics'>Explanatory Notes</span></h2>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter III.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect;&sect; 3, 4, 5, 7</span></p>
+
+<p>The histories of all peoples show that when a nation has reached the
+apogee of its military glory and its wealth, it begins at once to sink
+more or less rapidly on the declivity of moral degeneration and decay.
+The Israelites having, among the first, experienced this law of the
+evolution of nations, the neighboring peoples profited by the decadence
+of the then effeminate and debauched descendants of Jacob, to despoil
+them.</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 8</span></p>
+
+<p>The country of Romeles, <span class='italics'>i.e.</span>, the fatherland of Romulus; in our days,
+Rome.</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect;&sect; 11, 12</span></p>
+
+<p>It must be admitted that the Israelites, in spite of their incontestable
+wit and intelligence, seem to have only had regard for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> present.
+Like all other Oriental peoples, they only in their misfortunes
+remembered the faults of their past, which they each time had to expiate
+by centuries of slavery.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter IV</span></p>
+
+<p><span>&sect; 6</span></p>
+
+
+<p>As it is easy to divine, this verse refers to Joseph, who was a lineal
+descendant from King David. Side by side with this somewhat vague
+indication may be placed the following passages from the Gospels:</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
+thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife" ... (Matt.
+i, 20.)</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried,
+saying, Hosanna to the son of David" (Matt. xxi, 9.)</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
+David;" ... (Luke i, 27.)</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David;"
+... (Luke i, 32.)</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as
+was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli ... which was
+the son of Nathan, which was the son of David" (Luke iii, 23-31.)</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 7</span></p>
+
+<p>Both the Old and the New Testaments teach that God promised David the
+rehabilitation of his throne and the elevation to it of one of his
+descendants.</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect;&sect; 8, 9</span></p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom,
+and the grace of God was upon him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the
+temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and
+asking them questions."</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and
+answers."</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that
+I must be about my Father's business?"</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
+man" (Luke ii, 40, 46, 47, 49, 52.)</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter V</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 1</span></p>
+
+<p>"Sind," a Sanscrit word, which has been modified by the Persians into
+Ind. "Arya," the name given in antiquity to the inhabitants of India;
+signified first "man who cultivates the ground" or "cultivator."
+Anciently it had a purely ethnographical signification; this appellation
+assumed later on a religious sense, notably that of "man who believes."</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 2</span></p>
+
+<p>Luke <span class='ins' title='say'>says</span> (i, 80): "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and
+was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel." The
+Evangelists say that Jesus was in the desert, the Buddhists explain this
+version of the Gospels by indicating where Jesus was during his absence
+from Judea. According to them he crossed the Sind, a name which,
+properly spoken, signifies "the river" (Indus). In connection with this
+word it is not amiss to note that many Sanscrit words in passing into
+the Persian language underwent the same transformation by changing the
+"s" into "h"; per example:
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Sapta</span> (in Sanscrit), signifying seven&mdash;<span class='italics'>hafta</span> (in Persian);</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Sam</span> (Sanscrit), signifying equal&mdash;<span class='italics'>ham</span> (Persian);</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Mas</span> (Sanscrit), meaning mouth&mdash;<span class='italics'>mah</span> (Persian); <span class='italics'>Sur</span> (Sanscrit),
+meaning sun&mdash;<span class='italics'>hur</span> (Persian); <span class='italics'>Das</span> (Sanscrit), meaning ten&mdash;<span class='italics'>Dah</span>
+(Persian); <span class='italics'>Loco citato</span>&mdash;and those who believed in the god Djain.</p>
+
+<p>There exists, even yet, on the peninsula of Hindustan, a cult under the
+name of Djainism, which forms, as it were, a link of union between
+Buddhism and Brahminism, and its devotees teach the destruction of all
+other beliefs, which they declare contaminated with falsehood. It dates
+as far back as the seventh century, B.C. Its name is derived from Djain
+(conqueror), which it assumed as the symbol of its triumph over its
+rivals.</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 4</span></p>
+
+<p>Each of the eighteen Puranas is divided into five parts, which, besides
+the canonical laws, the rites and the commentaries upon the creation,
+destruction and resurrection of the universe, deal with theogony,
+medicine, and even the trades and professions.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter VI</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 12</span></p>
+
+<p>Owing to the intervention of the British, the human sacrifices, which
+were principally offered to Kali, the goddess of death, have now
+entirely ceased. The goddess Kali is represented erect, with one foot
+upon the dead body of a man, whose head she holds in one of her
+innumerable hands, while with the other hand she brandishes a bloody
+dagger. Her eyes and mouth, which are wide open, express passion and
+cruelty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter VIII</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect;&sect; 3, 4</span></p>
+
+<p>Zoroaster lived 550 years before Jesus. He founded the doctrine of the
+struggle between light and darkness, a doctrine which is fully expounded
+in the Zend-Avesta (Word of God), which is written in the Zend language,
+and, according to tradition, was given to him by an angel from Paradise.</p>
+
+<p>According to Zoroaster we must worship Mithra (the sun), from whom
+descend Ormuzd, the god of good, and Ahriman, the god of evil. The world
+will end when Ormuzd has triumphed over his rival, Ahriman, who will
+then return to his original source, Mithra.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter X</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 16</span></p>
+
+<p>According to the Evangelists, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which the
+Buddhistic version confirms, for only from Bethlehem, situated at a
+distance of about seven kilometres from Jerusalem, could the walls of
+this latter city be seen.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter XI</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 15</span></p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of the Redemptor is, almost in its entirety, contained in
+the Gospels. As to the transformation of men into children, it is
+especially known from the conversation that took place between Jesus and
+Nicodemus.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter XII</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 1</span></p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
+unto C&aelig;sar, or not?" (Matt. xxii, 17.)
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 3</span></p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto C&aelig;sar the things which
+are C&aelig;sar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. xxii, 21;
+<span class='italics'>et al.</span>)</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='italics'>Chapter XIV</span></p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect; 3</span></p>
+
+<p>According to the Buddhistic belief, the terrestrial buddhas after death,
+lose consciousness of their independent existence and unite with the
+eternal Spirit.</p>
+
+<p><span class='italics'>&sect;&sect; 10, 11</span></p>
+
+<p>Here, no doubt, reference is made to the activity of the Apostles among
+the neighboring peoples; an activity which could not have passed
+unnoticed at that epoch, because of the great results which followed the
+preaching of the new religious doctrine of love among nations whose
+religions were based upon the cruelty of their gods.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Without permitting myself indulgence in great dissertations, or too
+minute analysis upon each verse, I have thought it useful to accompany
+my work with these few little explanatory notes, leaving it to the
+reader to take like trouble with the rest.</p>
+
+
+<p>&mdash;<span class='italics'>Finis</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><span class='italics'>Endnotes</span></h2>
+
+<div class='footnotes'>
+
+<p class='footnote'>
+<a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1" />
+<a href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a>
+The Vaisyas and Sudras castes.</p>
+
+
+<p class='footnote'>
+<a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2" />
+<a href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a>
+Brahmins and <span class='ins' title='Original missing period'>Kshatriyas.</span></p>
+
+<p class='footnote'>
+<a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3" />
+<a href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a>
+<span class='italics'>Sanscrit</span>:&mdash;"He whose essence (sattva) has become intelligence
+(bhodi)," those who need but one more incarnation to become perfect
+buddhas, <span class='italics'>i.e.</span>, to be entitled to Nirv&acirc;na.</p>
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST***</p>
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+</pre>
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+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, by Nicolas
+Notovitch, Translated by J. H. Connelly and L. Landsberg
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
+       The Original Text of Nicolas Notovitch's 1887 Discovery
+
+
+Author: Nicolas Notovitch
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 1, 2009  [eBook #29288]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Edwards, Paul Motsuk, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+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.
+
+During my sojourn at Leh, capital of Ladak, I visited the great convent
+Himis, situated near the city, the chief lama of which informed me that
+their monastic library contained copies of the manuscripts in question.
+In order that I might not awaken the suspicions of the authorities
+concerning the object of my visit to the cloister, and to evade
+obstacles which might be opposed to me as a Russian, prosecuting further
+my journey in Thibet, I gave out upon my return to Leh that I would
+depart for India, and so left the capital of Ladak. An unfortunate fall,
+causing the breaking of a leg, furnished me with an absolutely
+unexpected pretext for returning to the monastery, where I received
+surgical attention. I took advantage of my short sojourn among the lamas
+to obtain the consent of their chief that they should bring to me, from
+their library, the manuscripts relating to Jesus Christ, and, assisted
+by my interpreter, who translated for me the Thibetan language,
+transferred carefully to my notebook what the lama read to me.
+
+Not doubting at all the authenticity of this chronicle, edited with
+great exactitude by the Brahminic, and more especially the Buddhistic
+historians of India and Nepaul, I desired, upon my return to Europe, to
+publish a translation of it.
+
+To this end, I addressed myself to several universally known
+ecclesiastics, asking them to revise my notes and tell me what they
+thought of them.
+
+Mgr. Platon, the celebrated metropolitan of Kiew, thought that my
+discovery was of great importance. Nevertheless, he sought to dissuade
+me from publishing the memoirs, believing that their publication could
+only hurt me. "Why?" This the venerable prelate refused to tell me more
+explicitly. Nevertheless, since our conversation took place in Russia,
+where the censor would have put his veto upon such a work, I made up my
+mind to wait.
+
+A year later, I found myself in Rome. I showed my manuscript to a
+cardinal very near to the Holy Father, who answered me literally in
+these words:--"What good will it do to print this? Nobody will attach to
+it any great importance and you will create a number of enemies. But,
+you are still very young! If it is a question of money which concerns
+you, I can ask for you a reward for your notes, a sum which will repay
+your expenditures and recompense you for your loss of time." Of course,
+I refused.
+
+In Paris I spoke of my project to Cardinal Rotelli, whose acquaintance I
+had made in Constantinople. He, too, was opposed to having my work
+printed, under the pretext that it would be premature. "The church," he
+added, "suffers already too much from the new current of atheistic
+ideas, and you will but give a new food to the calumniators and
+detractors of the evangelical doctrine. I tell you this in the interest
+of all the Christian churches."
+
+Then I went to see M. Jules Simon. He found my matter very interesting
+and advised me to ask the opinion of M. Renan, as to the best way of
+publishing these memoirs. The next day I was seated in the cabinet of
+the great philosopher. At the close of our conversation, M. Renan
+proposed that I should confide to him the memoirs in question, so that
+he might make to the Academy a report upon the discovery.
+
+This proposition, as may be easily understood, was very alluring and
+flattering to my _amour propre_. I, however, took away with me the
+manuscript, under the pretext of further revising it. I foresaw that if
+I accepted the proposed combination, I would only have the honor of
+having found the chronicles, while the illustrious author of the "Life
+of Jesus" would have the glory of the publication and the commenting
+upon it. I thought myself sufficiently prepared to publish the
+translation of the chronicles, accompanying them with my notes, and,
+therefore, did not accept the very gracious offer he made to me. But,
+that I might not wound the susceptibility of the great master, for whom
+I felt a profound respect, I made up my mind to delay publication until
+after his death, a fatality which could not be far off, if I might judge
+from the apparent general weakness of M. Renan. A short time after M.
+Renan's death, I wrote to M. Jules Simon again for his advice. He
+answered me, that it was my affair to judge of the opportunity for
+making the memoirs public.
+
+I therefore put my notes in order and now publish them, reserving the
+right to substantiate the authenticity of these chronicles. In my
+commentaries I proffer the arguments which must convince us of the
+sincerity and good faith of the Buddhist compilers. I wish to add that
+before criticising my communication, the societies of _savans_ can,
+without much expense, equip a scientific expedition having for its
+mission the study of those manuscripts in the place where I discovered
+them, and so may easily verify their historic value.
+
+--_Nicolas Notovitch_
+
+
+
+
+The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ
+
+
+
+
+_A Journey in Thibet_
+
+
+During my sojourn in India, I often had occasion to converse with the
+Buddhists, and the accounts they gave me of Thibet excited my curiosity
+to such an extent that I resolved to make a journey into that still
+almost unknown country. For this purpose I set out upon a route crossing
+Kachmyr (Cashmere), which I had long intended to visit.
+
+On the 14th of October, 1887, I entered a railway car crowded with
+soldiers, and went from Lahore to Raval-Pinidi, where I arrived the next
+day, near noon. After resting a little and inspecting the city, to which
+the permanent garrison gives the aspect of a military camp, I provided
+myself with the necessaries for a journey, where horses take the place
+of the railway cars. Assisted by my servant, a colored man of
+Pondichery, I packed all my baggage, hired a tonga (a two-wheeled
+vehicle which is drawn by two horses), stowed myself upon its back seat,
+and set out upon the picturesque road leading to Kachmyr, an excellent
+highway, upon which we travelled rapidly. We had to use no little skill
+in making our way through the ranks of a military caravan--its baggage
+carried upon camels--which was part of a detachment returning from a
+country camp to the city. Soon we arrived at the end of the valley of
+Pendjab, and climbing up a way with infinite windings, entered the
+passes of the Himalayas. The ascent became more and more steep. Behind
+us spread, like a beautiful panorama, the region we had just traversed,
+which seemed to sink farther and farther away from us. As the sun's last
+glances rested upon the tops of the mountains, our tonga came gaily out
+from the zigzags which the eye could still trace far down the
+forest-clad slope, and halted at the little city of Mure; where the
+families of the English functionaries came to seek shade and
+refreshment.
+
+Ordinarily, one can go in a tonga from Mure to Srinagar; but at the
+approach of the winter season, when all Europeans desert Kachmyr, the
+tonga service is suspended. I undertook my journey precisely at the time
+when the summer life begins to wane, and the Englishmen whom I met upon
+the road, returning to India, were much astonished to see me, and made
+vain efforts to divine the purpose of my travel to Kachmyr.
+
+Abandoning the tonga, I hired saddle horses--not without considerable
+difficulty--and evening had arrived when we started to descend from
+Mure, which is at an altitude of 5,000 feet. This stage of our journey
+had nothing playful in it. The road was torn in deep ruts by the late
+rains, darkness came upon us and our horses rather guessed than saw
+their way. When night had completely set in, a tempestuous rain
+surprised us in the open country, and, owing to the thick foliage of the
+centenarian oaks which stood on the sides of our road, we were plunged
+in profound darkness. That we might not lose each other, we had to
+continue exchanging calls from time to time. In this impenetrable
+obscurity we divined huge masses of rock almost above our heads, and
+were conscious of, on our left, a roaring torrent, the water of which
+formed a cascade we could not see. During two hours we waded in the mud
+and the icy rain had chilled my very marrow, when we perceived in the
+distance a little fire, the sight of which revived our energies. But how
+deceitful are lights in the mountains! You believe you see the fire
+burning quite near to you and at once it disappears, to reappear again,
+to the right, to the left, above, below you, as if it took pleasure in
+playing tricks upon the harassed traveller. All the time the road makes
+a thousand turns, and winds here and there, and the fire--which is
+immovable--seems to be in continual motion, the obscurity preventing you
+realizing that you yourself modify your direction every instant.
+
+I had quite given up all hope of approaching this much-wished-for fire,
+when it appeared again, and this time so near that our horses stopped
+before it.
+
+I have here to express my sincere thanks to the Englishmen for the
+foresight of which they gave proof in building by the roadsides the
+little bengalows--one-story houses for the shelter of travellers. It is
+true, one must not demand comfort in this kind of hotel; but this is a
+matter in which the traveller, broken down by fatigue, is not exacting,
+and he is at the summit of happiness when he finds at his disposal a
+clean and dry room.
+
+The Hindus, no doubt, did not expect to see a traveller arrive at so
+late an hour of the night and in this season, for they had taken away
+the keys of the bengalow, so we had to force an entrance. I threw myself
+upon a bed prepared for me, composed of a pillow and blanket saturated
+with water, and almost at once fell asleep. At daybreak, after taking
+tea and some conserves, we took up our march again, now bathed in the
+burning rays of the sun. From time to time, we passed villages; the
+first in a superb narrow pass, then along the road meandering in the
+bosom of the mountain. We descended eventually to the river Djeloum
+(Jhelum), the waters of which flow gracefully, amid the rocks by which
+its course is obstructed, between rocky walls whose tops in many places
+seem almost to reach the azure skies of the Himalayas, a heaven which
+here shows itself remarkably pure and serene.
+
+Toward noon we arrived at the hamlet called Tongue--situated on the bank
+of the river--which presents an unique array of huts that give the
+effect of boxes, the openings of which form a facade. Here are sold
+comestibles and all kinds of merchandise. The place swarms with Hindus,
+who bear on their foreheads the variously colored marks of their
+respective castes. Here, too, you see the beautiful people of Kachmyr,
+dressed in their long white shirts and snowy turbans. I hired here, at a
+good price, a Hindu cabriolet, from a Kachmyrian. This vehicle is so
+constructed that in order to keep one's seat in it, one must cross his
+legs in the Turkish fashion. The seat is so small that it will hold, at
+most, only two persons. The absence of any support for the back makes
+this mode of transportation very dangerous; nevertheless, I accepted
+this kind of circular table mounted on two wheels and drawn by a horse,
+as I was anxious to reach, as soon as possible, the end of my journey.
+Hardly, however, had I gone five hundred yards on it, when I seriously
+regretted the horse I had forsaken, so much fatigue had I to endure
+keeping my legs crossed and maintaining my equilibrium. Unfortunately,
+it was already too late.
+
+Evening was falling when I approached the village of Hori. Exhausted by
+fatigue; racked by the incessant jolting; my legs feeling as if invaded
+by millions of ants, I had been completely incapable of enjoying the
+picturesque landscape spread before us as we journeyed along the
+Djeloum, the banks of which are bordered on one side by steep rocks and
+on the other by the heavily wooded slopes of the mountains. In Hori I
+encountered a caravan of pilgrims returning from Mecca.
+
+Thinking I was a physician and learning my haste to reach Ladak, they
+invited me to join them, which I promised I would at Srinagar.
+
+I spent an ill night, sitting up in my bed, with a lighted torch in my
+hand, without closing my eyes, in constant fear of the stings and bites
+of the scorpions and centipedes which swarm in the bengalows. I was
+sometimes ashamed of the fear with which those vermin inspired me;
+nevertheless, I could not fall asleep among them. Where, truly, in man,
+is the line that separates courage from cowardice? I will not boast of
+my bravery, but I am not a coward, yet the insurmountable fear with
+which those malevolent little creatures thrilled me, drove sleep from my
+eyelids, in spite of my extreme fatigue.
+
+Our horses carried us into a flat valley, encircled by high mountains.
+Bathed as I was in the rays of the sun, it did not take me long to fall
+asleep in the saddle. A sudden sense of freshness penetrated and awoke
+me. I saw that we had already begun climbing a mountain path, in the
+midst of a dense forest, rifts in which occasionally opened to our
+admiring gaze ravishing vistas, impetuous torrents; distant mountains;
+cloudless heavens; a landscape, far below, of wondrous beauty. All about
+us were the songs of numberless brilliantly plumaged birds. We came out
+of the forest toward noon, descended to a little hamlet on the bank of
+the river, and after refreshing ourselves with a light, cold collation,
+continued our journey. Before starting, I went to a bazaar and tried to
+buy there a glass of warm milk from a Hindu, who was sitting crouched
+before a large cauldron full of boiling milk. How great was my surprise
+when he proposed to me that I should take away the whole cauldron, with
+its contents, assuring me that I had polluted the milk it contained! "I
+only want a glass of milk and not a kettle of it," I said to him.
+
+"According to our laws," the merchant answered me, "if any one not
+belonging to our caste has fixed his eyes for a long time upon one of
+our cooking utensils, we have to wash that article thoroughly, and throw
+away the food it contains. You have polluted my milk and no one will
+drink any more of it, for not only were you not contented with fixing
+your eyes upon it, but you have even pointed to it with your finger."
+
+I had indeed a long time examined his merchandise, to make sure that it
+was really milk, and had pointed with my finger, to the merchant, from
+which side I wished the milk poured out. Full of respect for the laws
+and customs of foreign peoples, I paid, without dispute, a rupee, the
+price of all the milk, which was poured in the street, though I had
+taken only one glass of it. This was a lesson which taught me, from now
+on, not to fix my eyes upon the food of the Hindus.
+
+There is no religious belief more muddled by the numbers of ceremonious
+laws and commentaries prescribing its observances than the Brahminic.
+
+While each of the other principal religions has but one inspired book,
+one Bible, one Gospel, or one Koran--books from which the Hebrew, the
+Christian and the Musselman draw their creeds--the Brahminical Hindus
+possess such a great number of tomes and commentaries in folio that the
+wisest Brahmin has hardly had the time to peruse one-tenth of them.
+Leaving aside the four books of the Vedas; the Puranas--which are
+written in Sanscrit and composed of eighteen volumes--containing 400,000
+strophes treating of law, rights, theogony, medicine, the creation and
+destruction of the world, etc.; the vast Shastras, which deal with
+mathematics, grammar, etc.; the Upa-Vedas, Upanishads, Upo-Puranas--which
+are explanatory of the Puranas;--and a number of other commentaries in
+several volumes; there still remain twelve vast books, containing the
+laws of Manu, the grandchild of Brahma--books dealing not only with
+civil and criminal law, but also the canonical rules--rules which
+impose upon the faithful such a considerable number of ceremonies that
+one is surprised into admiration of the illimitable patience the
+Hindus show in observance of the precepts inculcated by Saint Manu.
+Manu was incontestably a great legislator and a great thinker, but
+he has written so much that it has happened to him frequently to
+contradict himself in the course of a single page. The Brahmins do
+not take the trouble to notice that, and the poor Hindus, whose
+labor supports the Brahminic caste, obey servilely their clergy,
+whose prescriptions enjoin upon them never to touch a man who does not
+belong to their caste, and also absolutely prohibit a stranger from
+fixing his attention upon anything belonging to a Hindu. Keeping himself
+to the strict letter of this law, the Hindu imagines that his food is
+polluted when it receives a little protracted notice from the stranger.
+
+And yet, Brahminism has been, even at the beginning of its second birth,
+a purely monotheistic religion, recognizing only one infinite and
+indivisible God. As it came to pass in all times and in religions, the
+clergy took advantage of the privileged situation which places them
+above the ignorant multitude, and early manufactured various exterior
+forms of cult and certain laws, thinking they could better, in this way,
+influence and control the masses. Things changed soon, so far that the
+principle of monotheism, of which the Vedas have given such a clear
+conception, became confounded with, or, as it were, supplanted by an
+absurd and limitless series of gods and goddesses, half-gods, genii and
+devils, which were represented by idols, of infinite variety but all
+equally horrible looking. The people, once glorious as their religion
+was once great and pure, now slip by degrees into complete idiocy.
+Hardly does their day suffice for the accomplishment of all the
+prescriptions of their canons. It must be said positively that the
+Hindus only exist to support their principal caste, the Brahmins, who
+have taken into their hands the temporal power which once was possessed
+by independent sovereigns of the people. While governing India, the
+Englishman does not interfere with this phase of the public life, and so
+the Brahmins profit by maintaining the people's hope of a better future.
+
+The sun passed behind the summit of a mountain, and the darkness of
+night in one moment overspread the magnificent landscape we were
+traversing. Soon the narrow valley of the Djeloum fell asleep. Our road
+winding along ledges of steep rocks, was instantly hidden from our
+sight; mountains and trees were confounded together in one dark mass,
+and the stars glittered in the celestial vault. We had to dismount and
+feel our way along the mountain side, for fear of becoming the prey of
+the abyss which yawned at our feet. At a late hour of the night we
+traversed a bridge and ascended a steep elevation leading to the
+bengalow Ouri, which at this height seems to enjoy complete isolation.
+The next day we traversed a charming region, always going along the
+river--at a turn of which we saw the ruins of a Sikh fortress, that
+seemed to remember sadly its glorious past. In a little valley, nestled
+amid the mountains, we found a bengalow which seemed to welcome us. In
+its proximity were encamped a cavalry regiment of the Maharajah of
+Kachmyr.
+
+When the officers learned that I was a Russian, they invited me to share
+their repast. There I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of
+Col. Brown, who was the first to compile a dictionary of the
+Afghan-pouchton language.
+
+As I was anxious to reach, as soon as possible, the city of Srinagar, I,
+with little delay, continued my journey through the picturesque region
+lying at the foot of the mountains, after having, for a long time,
+followed the course of the river. Here, before our eyes, weary of the
+monotonous desolation of the preceding landscapes, was unfolded a
+charming view of a well-peopled valley, with many two-story houses
+surrounded by gardens and cultivated fields. A little farther on begins
+the celebrated valley of Kachmyr, situated behind a range of high rocks
+which I crossed toward evening. What a superb panorama revealed itself
+before my eyes, when I found myself at the last rock which separates the
+valley of Kachmyr from the mountainous country I had traversed. A
+ravishing tableau truly enchanted my sight. This valley, the limits of
+which are lost in the horizon, and is throughout well populated, is
+enshrined amid the high Himalayan mountains. At the rising and the
+setting of the sun, the zone of eternal snows seems a silver ring, which
+like a girdle surrounds this rich and delightful plateau, furrowed by
+numerous rivers and traversed by excellent roads, gardens, hills, a
+lake, the islands in which are occupied by constructions of pretentious
+style, all these cause the traveller to feel as if he had entered
+another world. It seems to him as though he had to go but a little
+farther on and there must find the Paradise of which his governess had
+told him so often in his childhood.
+
+The veil of night slowly covered the valley, merging mountains, gardens
+and lake in one dark amplitude, pierced here and there by distant fires,
+resembling stars. I descended into the valley, directing myself toward
+the Djeloum, which has broken its way through a narrow gorge in the
+mountains, to unite itself with the waters of the river Ind. According
+to the legend, the valley was once an inland sea; a passage opened
+through the rocks environing it, and drained the waters away, leaving
+nothing more of its former character than the lake, the Djeloum and
+minor water-courses. The banks of the river are now lined with
+boat-houses, long and narrow, which the proprietors, with their
+families, inhabit the whole year.
+
+From here Srinagar can be reached in one day's travel on horseback; but
+with a boat the journey requires a day and a half. I chose the latter
+mode of conveyance, and having selected a boat and bargained with its
+proprietor for its hire, took my seat in the bow, upon a carpet,
+sheltered by a sort of penthouse roof. The boat left the shore at
+midnight, bearing us rapidly toward Srinagar. At the stern of the bark,
+a Hindu prepared my tea. I went to sleep, happy in knowing my voyage was
+to be accomplished. The hot caress of the sun's rays penetrating my
+little roof awakened me, and what I experienced delighted me beyond all
+expression. Entirely green banks; the distant outlines of mountain tops
+covered with snow; pretty villages which from time to time showed
+themselves at the mountain's foot; the crystalline sheet of water; pure
+and peculiarly agreeable air, which I breathed with exhilaration; the
+musical carols of an infinity of birds; a sky of extraordinary purity;
+behind me the plash of water stirred by the round-ended paddle which was
+wielded with ease by a superb woman (with marvellous eyes and a
+complexion browned by the sun), who wore an air of stately indifference:
+all these things together seemed to plunge me into an ecstasy, and I
+forgot entirely the reason for my presence on the river. In that moment
+I had not even a desire to reach the end of my voyage--and yet, how many
+privations remained for me to undergo, and dangers to encounter! I felt
+myself here so well content!
+
+The boat glided rapidly and the landscape continued to unfold new
+beauties before my eyes, losing itself in ever new combinations with the
+horizon, which merged into the mountains we were passing, to become one
+with them. Then a new panorama would display itself, seeming to expand
+and flow out from the sides of the mountains, becoming more and more
+grand.... The day was almost spent and I was not yet weary of
+contemplating this magnificent nature, the view of which reawakened the
+souvenirs of childhood and youth. How beautiful were those days forever
+gone!
+
+The more nearly one approaches Srinagar, the more numerous become the
+villages embowered in the verdure. At the approach of our boat, some of
+their inhabitants came running to see us; the men in their turbans, the
+women in their small bonnets, both alike dressed in white gowns reaching
+to the ground, the children in a state of nudity which reminded one of
+the costumes of our first parents.
+
+When entering the city one sees a range of barks and floating houses in
+which entire families reside. The tops of the far-off, snow-covered
+mountains were caressed by the last rays of the setting sun, when we
+glided between the wooden houses of Srinagar, which closely line both
+banks of the river. Life seems to cease here at sunset; the thousands of
+many colored open boats (dunga) and palanquin-covered barks (bangla)
+were fastened along the beach; men and women gathered near the river, in
+the primitive costumes of Adam and Eve, going through their evening
+ablutions without feeling any embarrassment or prudery before each
+other, since they performed a religious rite, the importance of which is
+greater for them than all human prejudices.
+
+On the 20^th of October I awoke in a neat room, from which I had a gay
+view upon the river that was now inundated with the rays of the sun of
+Kachmyr. As it is not my purpose to describe here my experiences in
+detail, I refrain from enumerating the lovely valleys, the paradise of
+lakes, the enchanting islands, those historic places, mysterious
+pagodas, and coquettish villages which seem lost in vast gardens; on all
+sides of which rise the majestic tops of the giants of the Himalaya,
+shrouded as far as the eye can see in eternal snow. I shall only note
+the preparations I made in view of my journey toward Thibet. I spent six
+days at Srinagar, making long excursions into the enchanting
+surroundings of the city, examining the numerous ruins which testify to
+the ancient prosperity of this region, and studying the strange customs
+of the country.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kachmyr, as well as the other provinces attached to it, Baltistan,
+Ladak, etc., are vassals of England. They formerly formed part of the
+possessions of Randjid Sing, the Lion of the Pendjab. At his death, the
+English troops occupied Lahore, the capital of the Pendjab, separated
+Kachmyr from the rest of the empire and ceded it, under color of
+hereditary right, and for the sum of 160,000,000 francs, to Goulab-Sing,
+one of the familiars of the late sovereign, conferring on him besides
+the title of Maharadja. At the epoch of my journey, the actual Maharadja
+was Pertab-Sing, the grandchild of Goulab, whose residence is Jamoo, on
+the southern slope of the Himalaya.
+
+The celebrated "happy valley" of Kachmyr (eighty-five miles long by
+twenty-five miles wide) enjoyed glory and prosperity only under the
+Grand Mogul, whose court loved to taste here the sweetness of country
+life, in the still existent pavilions on the little island of the lake.
+Most of the Maharadjas of Hindustan used formerly to spend here the
+summer months, and to take part in the magnificent festivals given by
+the Grand Mogul; but times have greatly changed since, and the happy
+valley is today no more than a beggar retreat. Aquatic plants and scum
+have covered the clear waters of the lake; the wild juniper has
+smothered all the vegetation of the islands; the palaces and pavilions
+retain only the souvenir of their past grandeur; earth and grass cover
+the buildings which are now falling in ruins. The surrounding mountains
+and their eternally white tops seem to be absorbed in a sullen sadness,
+and to nourish the hope of a better time for the disclosure of their
+immortal beauties. The once spiritual, beautiful and cleanly inhabitants
+have grown animalistic and stupid; they have become dirty and lazy; and
+the whip now governs them, instead of the sword.
+
+The people of Kachmyr have so often been subject to invasions and
+pillages and have had so many masters, that they have now become
+indifferent to every thing. They pass their time near the banks of the
+rivers, gossiping about their neighbors; or are engaged in the
+painstaking work of making their celebrated shawls; or in the execution
+of filagree gold or silver work. The Kachmyr women are of a melancholy
+temperament, and an inconceivable sadness is spread upon their features.
+Everywhere reigns misery and uncleanness. The beautiful men and superb
+women of Kachmyr are dirty and in rags. The costume of the two sexes
+consists, winter and summer alike, of a long shirt, or gown, made of
+thick material and with puffed sleeves. They wear this shirt until it is
+completely worn out, and never is it washed, so that the white turban of
+the men looks like dazzling snow near their dirty shirts, which are
+covered all over with spittle and grease stains.
+
+The traveller feels himself permeated with sadness at seeing the
+contrast between the rich and opulent nature surrounding them, and this
+people dressed in rags.
+
+The capital of the country, Srinagar (City of the Sun), or, to call it
+by the name which is given to it here after the country, Kachmyr, is
+situated on the shore of the Djeloum, along which it stretches out
+toward the south to a distance of five kilometres and is not more than
+two kilometres in breadth.
+
+Its two-story houses, inhabited by a population of 100,000 inhabitants,
+are built of wood and border both river banks. Everybody lives on the
+river, the shores of which are united by ten bridges. Terraces lead from
+the houses to the Djeloum, where all day long people perform their
+ceremonial ablutions, bathe and wash their culinary utensils, which
+consist of a few copper pots. Part of the inhabitants practice the
+Musselman religion; two-thirds are Brahminic; and there are but few
+Buddhists to be found among them.
+
+It was time to make other preparations for travel before plunging into
+the unknown. Having purchased different kinds of conserves, wine and
+other things indispensable on a journey through a country so little
+peopled as is Thibet, I packed all my baggage in boxes; hired six
+carriers and an interpreter, bought a horse for my own use, and fixed my
+departure for the 27^th of October. To cheer up my journey, I took from
+a good Frenchman, M. Peicheau, the wine cultivator of the Maharadja, a
+big dog, Pamir, who had already traversed the road with my friends,
+Bonvallot, Capus and Pepin, the well-known explorers. As I wished to
+shorten my journey by two days, I ordered my carriers to leave at dawn
+from the other side of the lake, which I crossed in a boat, and joined
+them and my horse at the foot of the mountain chain which separates the
+valley of Srinagar from the Sind gorge.
+
+I shall never forget the tortures which we had to undergo in climbing
+almost on all fours to a mountain top, three thousand feet high. The
+carriers were out of breath; every moment I feared to see one tumble
+down the declivity with his burden, and I felt pained at seeing my poor
+dog, Pamir, panting and with his tongue hanging out, make two or three
+steps and fall to the ground exhausted. Forgetting my own fatigue, I
+caressed and encouraged the poor animal, who, as if understanding me,
+got up to make another two or three steps and fall anew to the ground.
+
+The night had come when we reached the crest; we threw ourselves
+greedily upon the snow to quench our thirst; and after a short rest,
+started to descend through a very thick pine forest, hastening to gain
+the village of Haiena, at the foot of the defile, fearing the attacks of
+beasts of prey in the darkness.
+
+A level and good road leads from Srinagar to Haiena, going straight
+northward over Ganderbal, where I repaired by a more direct route across
+a pass three thousand feet high, which shortened for me both time and
+distance.
+
+My first step in the unknown was marked by an incident which made all of
+us pass an ugly quarter of an hour. The defile of the Sind, sixty miles
+long, is especially noteworthy for the inhospitable hosts it contains.
+Among others it abounds in panthers, tigers, leopards, black bears,
+wolves and jackals. As though by a special misfortune, the snow had
+covered with its white carpet the heights of the chain, compelling those
+formidable, carnivorous beasts to descend a little lower for shelter in
+their dens. We descended in silence, amid the darkness, a narrow path
+that wound through the centennary firs and birches, and the calm of the
+night was only broken by the crackling sound of our steps. Suddenly,
+quite near to us, a terrible howling awoke the echoes of the woods. Our
+small troop stopped. "A panther!" exclaimed, in a low and frightened
+voice, my servant. The small caravan of a dozen men stood motionless, as
+though riveted to the spot. Then it occurred to me that at the moment of
+starting on our ascent, when already feeling fatigued, I had entrusted
+my revolver to one of the carriers, and my Winchester rifle to another.
+Now I felt bitter regret for having parted with my arms, and asked in a
+low voice where the man was to whom I had given the rifle. The howls
+became more and more violent, and filled the echoes of the woods, when
+suddenly a dull sound was heard, like the fall of some body. A minute
+later we heard the noise of a struggle and a cry of agony which mingled
+with the fierce roars of the starved animal.
+
+"Saaib, take the gun," I heard some one near by. I seized feverishly the
+rifle, but, vain trouble, one could not see two steps before oneself. A
+new cry, followed by a smothered howling, indicated to me vaguely the
+place of the struggle, toward which I crawled, divided between the
+ardent desire to "kill a panther" and a horrible fear of being eaten
+alive. No one dared to move; only after five minutes it occurred to one
+of the carriers to light a match. I then remembered the fear which
+feline animals exhibit at the presence of fire, and ordered my men to
+gather two or three handfuls of brush, which I set on fire. We then saw,
+about ten steps from us, one of our carriers stretched out on the
+ground, with his limbs frightfully lacerated by the claws of a huge
+panther. The beast still lay upon him defiantly, holding a piece of
+flesh in its mouth. At its side, gaped a box of wine broken open by its
+fall when the carrier was torn down. Hardly did I make a movement to
+bring the rifle to my shoulder, when the panther raised itself, and
+turned toward us while dropping part of its horrible meal. One moment,
+it appeared about to spring upon me, then it suddenly wheeled, and
+rending the air with a howl, enough to freeze one's blood, jumped into
+the midst of the thicket and disappeared.
+
+My coolies, whom an odious fear had all the time kept prostrated on the
+ground, recovered little by little from their fright. Keeping in
+readiness a few packages of dry grass and matches, we hastened to reach
+the village Haiena, leaving behind the remains of the unfortunate Hindu,
+whose fate we feared sharing.
+
+An hour later we had left the forest and entered the plain. I ordered my
+tent erected under a very leafy plane tree, and had a great fire made
+before it, with a pile of wood, which was the only protection we could
+employ against the ferocious beasts whose howls continued to reach us
+from all directions. In the forest my dog had pressed himself against
+me, with his tail between his legs; but once under the tent, he suddenly
+recovered his watchfulness, and barked incessantly the whole night,
+being very careful, however, not to step outside. I spent a terrible
+night, rifle in hand, listening to the concert of those diabolical
+howlings, the echoes of which seemed to shake the defile. Some panthers
+approached our bivouac to answer the barking of Pamir, but dared not
+attack us.
+
+I had left Srinagar at the head of eleven carriers, four of whom had to
+carry so many boxes of wine, four others bore my travelling effects; one
+my weapons, another various utensils, and finally a last, who went
+errands or on reconnaissance. His name was "Chicari," which means "he
+who accompanies the hunter and gathers the prey." I discharged him in
+the morning on account of his cowardice and his profound ignorance of
+the country, and only retained four carriers. It was but slowly that I
+advanced toward the village of Gounde.
+
+How beautiful is nature in the Sind pass, and how much is it beloved by
+the hunters! Besides the great fallow deer, you meet there the hind, the
+stag, the mountain sheep and an immense variety of birds, among which I
+want to mention above all the golden pheasant, and others of red or
+snow-white plumage, very large partridges and immense eagles.
+
+The villages situated along the Sind do not shine by their dimensions.
+They contain, for the greatest part, not more than ten to twenty huts of
+an extremely miserable appearance. Their inhabitants are clad in rags.
+Their cattle belongs to a very small race.
+
+I crossed the river at Sambal, and stopped near the village Gounde,
+where I procured relay horses. In some villages they refused to hire
+horses to me; I then threatened them with my whip, which at once
+inspired respect and obedience; my money accomplished the same end; it
+inspired a servile obedience--not willingness--to obey my least orders.
+
+Stick and gold are the true sovereigns in the Orient; without them the
+Very Grand Mogul would not have had any preponderance.
+
+Night began to descend, and I was in a hurry to cross the defile which
+separates the villages Gogangan and Sonamarg. The road is in very bad
+condition, and the mountains are infested by beasts of prey which in the
+night descend into the very villages to seek their prey. The country is
+delightful and very fertile; nevertheless, but few colonists venture to
+settle here, on account of the neighborhood of the panthers, which come
+to the dooryards to seize domestic animals.
+
+At the very exit of the defile, near the village of Tchokodar, or
+Thajwas, the half obscurity prevailing only permitted me to distinguish
+two dark masses crossing the road. They were two big bears followed by a
+young one. I was alone with my servant (the caravan having loitered
+behind), so I did not like to attack them with only one rifle; but the
+long excursions which I had made on the mountain had strongly developed
+in me the sense of the hunter. To jump from my horse, shoot, and,
+without even verifying the result, change quickly the cartridge, was the
+affair of a second. One bear was about to jump on me, a second shot
+made it run away and disappear. Holding in my hand my loaded gun, I
+approached with circumspection, the one at which I had aimed, and found
+it laying on its flank, dead, with the little cub beside it. Another
+shot killed the little one, after which I went to work to take off the
+two superb jet-black skins.
+
+This incident made us lose two hours, and night had completely set in
+when I erected my tent near Tchokodar, which I left at sunrise to gain
+Baltal, by following the course of the Sind river. At this place the
+ravishing landscape of the "golden prairie" terminates abruptly with a
+village of the same name (Sona, gold, and Marg, prairie). The abrupt
+acclivity of Zodgi-La, which we next surmounted, attains an elevation of
+11,500 feet, on the other side of which the whole country assumes a
+severe and inhospitable character. My hunting adventures closed before
+reaching Baltal. From there I met on the road only wild goats. In order
+to hunt, I would have had to leave the grand route and to penetrate into
+the heart of the mountains full of mysteries. I had neither the
+inclination nor the time to do so, and, therefore, continued quietly my
+journey toward Ladak.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+How violent the contrast I felt when passing from the laughing nature
+and beautiful population of Kachmyr to the arid and forbidding rocks and
+the beardless and ugly inhabitants of Ladak!
+
+The country into which I penetrated is situated at an altitude of 11,000
+to 12,000 feet. Only at Karghil the level descends to 8,000 feet.
+
+The acclivity of Zodgi-La is very rough; one must climb up an almost
+perpendicular rocky wall. In certain places the road winds along upon
+rock ledges of only a metre in width, below which the sight drops into
+unfathomable abysses. May the Lord preserve the traveller from a fall!
+At one place, the way is upon long beams introduced into holes made in
+the rock, like a bridge, and covered up with earth. Brr!--At the thought
+that a little stone might get loose and roll down the slope of the
+mountain, or that a too strong oscillation of the beams could
+precipitate the whole structure into the abyss, and with it him who had
+ventured upon the perilous path, one feels like fainting more than once
+during this hazardous passage.
+
+After crossing the glaciers we stopped in a valley and prepared to spend
+the night near a hut, a dismal place surrounded by eternal ice and snow.
+
+From Baltal the distances are determined by means of daks, _i.e._,
+postal stations for mail service. They are low huts, about seven
+kilometres distant from each other. A man is permanently established in
+each of these huts. The postal service between Kachmyr and Thibet is yet
+carried on in a very primitive form. The letters are enclosed in a
+leather bag, which is handed to the care of a carrier. The latter runs
+rapidly over the seven kilometres assigned to him, carrying on his back
+a basket which holds several of these bags, which he delivers to another
+carrier, who, in his turn, accomplishes his task in an identical manner.
+Neither rain nor snow can arrest these carriers. In this way the mail
+service is carried on between Kachmyr and Thibet, and _vice versa_ once
+a week. For each course the letter carrier is paid six annas (twenty
+cents); the same wages as is paid to the carriers of merchandise. This
+sum I also paid to every one of my servants for carrying a ten times
+heavier load.
+
+It makes one's heart ache to see the pale and tired-looking figures of
+these carriers; but what is to be done? It is the custom of the country.
+The tea is brought from China by a similar system of transportation,
+which is rapid and inexpensive.
+
+In the village of Montaiyan, I found again the Yarkandien caravan of
+pilgrims, whom I had promised to accompany on their journey. They
+recognized me from a distance, and asked me to examine one of their men,
+who had fallen sick. I found him writhing in the agonies of an intense
+fever. Shaking my hands as a sign of despair, I pointed to the heavens
+and gave them to understand that human will and science were now
+useless, and that God alone could save him. These people journeyed by
+small stages only; I, therefore, left them and arrived in the evening at
+Drass, situated at the bottom of a valley near a river of the same name.
+Near Drass, a little fort of ancient construction, but freshly painted,
+stands aloof, under the guard of three Sikhs of the Maharadja's army.
+
+At Drass, my domicile was the post-house, which is a station--and the
+only one--of an unique telegraph line from Srinagar to the interior of
+the Himalayas. From that time on, I no more had my tent put up each
+evening, but stopped in the caravansarais; places which, though made
+repulsive by their dirt, are kept warm by the enormous piles of wood
+burned in their fireplaces.
+
+From Drass to Karghil the landscape is unpleasing and monotonous, if one
+excepts the marvellous effects of the rising and setting sun and the
+beautiful moonlight. Apart from these the road is wearisome and
+abounding with dangers. Karghil is the principal place of the district,
+where the governor of the country resides. Its site is quite
+picturesque. Two water courses, the Souron and the Wakkha, roll their
+noisy and turbulent waters among rocks and sunken snags of uprooted
+trees, escaping from their respective defiles in the rocks, to join in
+forming here the river Souron, upon the banks of which stands Karghil. A
+little fort, garrisoned by two or three Sikhs, shows its outlines at the
+junction of the streams. Provided with a horse, I continued my journey
+at break of day, entering now the province of Ladak, or Little Thibet. I
+traversed a ricketty bridge, composed--like all the bridges of
+Kachmyr--of two long beams, the ends of which were supported upon the
+banks and the floor made of a layer of fagots and sticks, which imparted
+to the traveller, at least the illusion of a suspension bridge. Soon
+afterward I climbed slowly up on a little plateau, which crosses the way
+at a distance of two kilometres, to descend into the narrow valley of
+Wakkha. Here there are several villages, among which, on the left shore,
+is the very picturesque one called Paskium.
+
+Here my feet trod Buddhist ground. The inhabitants are of a very simple
+and mild disposition, seemingly ignorant of "quarreling." Women are very
+rare among them. Those of them whom I encountered were distinguished
+from the women I had hitherto seen in India or Kachmyr, by the air of
+gaiety and prosperity apparent in their countenances. How could it be
+otherwise, since each woman in this country has, on an average, three to
+five husbands, and possesses them in the most legitimate way in the
+world. Polyandry flourishes here. However large a family may be, there
+is but one woman in it. If the family does not contain already more than
+two husbands, a bachelor may share its advantages, for a consideration.
+The days sacred to each one of those husbands are determined in advance,
+and all acquit themselves of their respective duties and respect each
+others' rights. The men generally seem feeble, with bent backs, and do
+not live to old age. During my travels in Ladak, I only encountered one
+man so old that his hair was white.
+
+From Karghil to the centre of Ladak, the road had a more cheerful aspect
+than that I had traversed before reaching Karghil, its prospect being
+brightened by a number of little hamlets, but trees and verdure were,
+unfortunately, rare.
+
+Twenty miles from Karghil, at the end of the defile formed by the rapid
+current of the Wakkha, is a little village called Chargol, in the
+centre of which stand three chapels, decorated with lively colors
+(_t'horthenes_, to give them the name they bear in Thibet). Below, near
+the river, are masses of rocks, in the form of long and large walls,
+upon which are thrown, in apparent disorder, flat stones of different
+colors and sizes. Upon these stones are engraved all sorts of prayers,
+in Ourd, Sanscrit and Thibetan, and one can even find among them
+inscriptions in Arabic characters. Without the knowledge of my carriers,
+I succeeded in taking away a few of these stones, which are now in the
+palace of the Trocadero.
+
+Along the way, from Chargol, one finds frequently oblong mounds,
+artificial constructions. After sunrise, with fresh horses, I resumed my
+journey and stopped near the _gonpa_ (monastery) of Moulbek, which seems
+glued on the flank of an isolated rock. Below is the hamlet of Wakkha,
+and not far from there is to be seen another rock, of very strange form,
+which seems to have been placed where it stands by human hands. In one
+side of it is cut a Buddha several metres in height. Upon it are several
+cylinders, the turning of which serves for prayers. They are a sort of
+wooden barrel, draped with yellow or white fabrics, and are attached to
+vertically planted stakes. It requires only the least wind to make them
+turn. The person who puts up one of these cylinders no longer feels it
+obligatory upon him to say his prayers, for all that devout believers
+can ask of God is written upon the cylinders. Seen from a distance this
+white painted monastery, standing sharply out from the gray background
+of the rocks, with all these whirling, petticoated wheels, produce a
+strange effect in this dead country. I left my horses in the hamlet of
+Wakkha, and, followed by my servant, walked toward the convent, which is
+reached by a narrow stairway cut in the rock. At the top, I was received
+by a very fat lama, with a scanty, straggling beard under his chin--a
+common characteristic of the Thibetan people--who was very ugly, but
+very cordial. His costume consisted of a yellow robe and a sort of big
+nightcap, with projecting flaps above the ears, of the same color. He
+held in his hand a copper prayer-machine which, from time to time, he
+shook with his left hand, without at all permitting that exercise to
+interfere with his conversation. It was his eternal prayer, which he
+thus communicated to the wind, so that by this element it should be
+borne to Heaven. We traversed a suite of low chambers, upon the walls of
+which were images of Buddha, of all sizes and made of all kinds of
+materials, all alike covered by a thick layer of dust. Finally we
+reached an open terrace, from which the eyes, taking in the surrounding
+region, rested upon an inhospitable country, strewn with grayish rocks
+and traversed by only a single road, which on both sides lost itself in
+the horizon.
+
+When we were seated, they brought us beer, made with hops, called here
+_Tchang_ and brewed in the cloister. It has a tendency to rapidly
+produce _embonpoint_ upon the monks, which is regarded as a sign of the
+particular favor of Heaven.
+
+They spoke here the Thibetan language. The origin of this language is
+full of obscurity. One thing is certain, that a king of Thibet, a
+contemporary of Mohammed, undertook the creation of an universal
+language for all the disciples of Buddha. To this end he had simplified
+the Sanscrit grammar, composed an alphabet containing an infinite number
+of signs, and thus laid the foundations of a language the pronunciation
+of which is one of the easiest and the writing the most complicated.
+Indeed, in order to represent a sound one must employ not less than
+eight characters. All the modern literature of Thibet is written in this
+language. The pure Thibetan is only spoken in Ladak and Oriental Thibet.
+In all other parts of the country are employed dialects formed by the
+mixture of this mother language with different idioms taken from the
+neighboring peoples of the various regions round about. In the ordinary
+life of the Thibetan, there exists always two languages, one of which is
+absolutely incomprehensible to the women, while the other is spoken by
+the entire nation; but only in the convents can be found the Thibetan
+language in all its purity and integrity.
+
+The lamas much prefer the visits of Europeans to those of Musselmen, and
+when I asked the one who received me why this was so, he answered me:
+"Musselmen have no point of contact at all with our religion. Only
+comparatively recently, in their victorious campaign, they have
+converted, by force, part of the Buddhists to Islam. It requires of us
+great efforts to bring back those Musselmen, descendants of Buddhists,
+into the path of the true God. As regards the Europeans, it is quite a
+different affair. Not only do they profess the essential principles of
+monotheism, but they are, in a sense, adorers of Buddha, with almost the
+same rites as the lamas who inhabit Thibet. The only fault of the
+Christians is that after having adopted the great doctrines of Buddha,
+they have completely separated themselves from him, and have created for
+themselves a different Dalai-Lama. Our Dalai-Lama is the only one who
+has received the divine gift of seeing, face to face, the majesty of
+Buddha, and is empowered to serve as an intermediary between earth and
+heaven."
+
+"Which Dalai-Lama of the Christians do you refer to?" I asked him; "we
+have one, the Son of God, to whom we address directly our fervent
+prayers, and to him alone we recur to intercede with our One and
+Indivisible God."
+
+"It is not him of whom it is a question, Sahib," he replied. "We, too,
+respect him, whom we reverence as son of the One and Indivisible God,
+but we do not see in him the Only Son, but the excellent being who was
+chosen among all. Buddha, indeed, has incarnated himself, with his
+divine nature, in the person of the sacred Issa, who, without employing
+fire or iron, has gone forth to propagate our true and great religion
+among all the world. Him whom I meant was your terrestrial Dalai-Lama;
+he to whom you have given the title of 'Father of the Church.' That is a
+great sin. May he be brought back, with the flock, who are now in a bad
+road," piously added the lama, giving another twirl to his
+prayer-machine.
+
+I understood now that he alluded to the Pope. "You have told me that a
+son of Buddha, Issa, the elect among all, had spread your religion on
+the Earth. Who is he?" I asked.
+
+At this question the lama's eyes opened wide; he looked at me with
+astonishment and pronounced some words I could not catch, murmuring in
+an unintelligible way. "Issa," he finally replied, "is a great prophet,
+one of the first after the twenty-two Buddhas. He is greater than any
+one of all the Dalai-Lamas, for he constitutes part of the spirituality
+of our Lord. It is he who has instructed you; he who brought back into
+the bosom of God the frivolous and wicked souls; he who made you worthy
+of the beneficence of the Creator, who has ordained that each being
+should know good and evil. His name and his acts have been chronicled in
+our sacred writings, and when reading how his great life passed away in
+the midst of an erring people, we weep for the horrible sin of the
+heathen who murdered him, after subjecting him to torture."
+
+I was struck by this recital of the lama. The prophet Issa--his tortures
+and death--our Christian Dalai-Lama--the Buddhist recognizing
+Christianity--all these made me think more and more of Jesus Christ. I
+asked my interpreter not to lose a single word of what the lama told me.
+
+"Where can those writings be found, and who compiled them?" I asked the
+monk.
+
+"The principal scrolls--which were written in India and Nepaul, at
+different epochs, as the events happened--are in Lhassa; several
+thousands in number. In some great convents are to be found copies,
+which the lamas, during their sojourn in Lhassa, have made, at various
+times, and have then given to their cloisters as souvenirs of the period
+they spent with the Dalai-Lama."
+
+"But you, yourselves; do you not possess copies of the scrolls bearing
+upon the prophet Issa?"
+
+"We have not. Our convent is insignificant, and since its foundation our
+successive lamas have had only a few hundred manuscripts in their
+library. The great cloisters have several thousands of them; but they
+are sacred things which will not, anywhere, be shown to you."
+
+We spoke together a few minutes longer, after which I went home, all the
+while thinking of the lama's statements. Issa, a prophet of the
+Buddhists! But, how could this be? Of Jewish origin, he lived in
+Palestine and in Egypt; and the Gospels do not contain one word, not
+even the least allusion, to the part which Buddhism should have played
+in the education of Jesus.
+
+I made up my mind to visit all the convents of Thibet, in the hope of
+gathering fuller information upon the prophet Issa, and perhaps copies
+of the chronicles bearing upon this subject.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We traversed the Namykala Pass, at 30,000 feet of altitude, whence we
+descended into the valley of the River Salinoumah. Turning southward, we
+gained Karbou, leaving behind us, on the opposite bank, numerous
+villages, among other, Chagdoom, which is at the top of a rock, an
+extremely imposing sight. Its houses are white and have a sort of
+festive look, with their two and three stories. This, by the way, is a
+common peculiarity of all the villages of Ladak. The eye of the
+European, travelling in Kachmyr, would soon lose sight of all
+architecture to which he had been accustomed. In Ladak, on the contrary,
+he would be agreeably surprised at seeing the little two and three-story
+houses, reminders to him of those in European provinces. Near the city
+of Karbou, upon two perpendicular rocks, one sees the ruins of a little
+town or village. A tempest and an earthquake are said to have shaken
+down its walls, the solidity of which seems to have been exceptional.
+
+The next day I traversed the Fotu-La Pass, at an altitude of 13,500
+feet. At its summit stands a little _t'horthene_ (chapel). Thence,
+following the dry bed of a stream, I descended to the hamlet of
+Lamayure, the sudden appearance of which is a surprise to the traveller.
+A convent, which seems grafted on the side of the rock, or held there in
+some miraculous way, dominates the village. Stairs are unknown in this
+cloister. In order to pass from one story of it to another, ropes are
+used. Communication with the world outside is through a labyrinth of
+passages in the rock. Under the windows of the convent--which make one
+think of birds' nests on the face of a cliff---is a little inn, the
+rooms of which are little inviting. Hardly had I stretched myself on the
+carpet in one of them, when the monks, dressed in their yellow robes,
+filled the apartment, bothered me with questions as to whence I came,
+the purpose of my coming, where I was going, and so on, finally inviting
+me to come and see them.
+
+In spite of my fatigue I accepted their invitation and set out with
+them, to climb up the excavated passages in the rock, which were
+encumbered with an infinity of prayer cylinders and wheels, which I
+could not but touch and set turning as I brushed past them. They are
+placed there that they may be so turned, saving to the passers-by the
+time they might otherwise lose in saying their prayers--as if their
+affairs were so absorbing, and their time so precious, that they could
+not find leisure to pray. Many pious Buddhists use for this purpose an
+apparatus arranged to be turned by the current of a stream. I have seen
+a long row of cylinders, provided with their prayer formulas, placed
+along a river bank, in such a way that the water kept them constantly in
+motion, this ingenious device freeing the proprietors from any further
+obligation to say prayers themselves.
+
+I sat down on a bench in the hall, where semi-obscurity reigned. The
+walls were garnished with little statues of Buddha, books and
+prayer-wheels. The loquacious lamas began explaining to me the
+significance of each object.
+
+"And those books?" I asked them; "they, no doubt, have reference to
+religion."
+
+"Yes, sir. These are a few religious volumes which deal with the primary
+and principal rites of the life common to all. We possess several parts
+of the words of Buddha consecrated to the Great and Indivisible Divine
+Being, and to all that issue from his hands."
+
+"Is there not, among those books, some account of the prophet Issa?"
+
+"No, sir," answered the monk. "We only possess a few principal treatises
+relating to the observance of the religious rites. As for the
+biographies of our saints, they are collected in Lhassa. There are even
+great cloisters which have not had the time to procure them. Before
+coming to this gonpa, I was for several years in a great convent on the
+other side of Ladak, and have seen there thousands of books, and scrolls
+copied out of various books by the lamas of the monastery."
+
+By some further interrogation I learned that the convent in question was
+near Leh, but my persistent inquiries had the effect of exciting the
+suspicions of the lamas. They showed me the way out with evident
+pleasure, and regaining my room, I fell asleep--after a light
+lunch--leaving orders with my Hindu to inform himself in a skillful way,
+from some of the younger lamas of the convent, about the monastery in
+which their chief had lived before coming to Lamayure.
+
+In the morning, when we set forth on our journey, the Hindu told me that
+he could get nothing from the lamas, who were very reticent. I will not
+stop to describe the life of the monks in those convents, for it is the
+same in all the cloisters of Ladak. I have seen the celebrated monastery
+of Leh--of which I shall have to speak later on--and learned there the
+strange existences the monks and religious people lead, which is
+everywhere the same. In Lamayure commences a declivity which, through a
+steep, narrow and sombre gorge, extends toward India.
+
+Without having the least idea of the dangers which the descent
+presented, I sent my carriers in advance and started on a route, rather
+pleasant at the outset, which passes between the brown clay hills, but
+soon it produced upon me the most depressing effect, as though I was
+traversing a gloomy subterranean passage. Then the road came out on the
+flank of the mountain, above a terrible abyss. If a rider had met me, we
+could not possibly have passed each other, the way was so narrow. All
+description would fail to convey a sense of the grandeur and wild beauty
+of this canyon, the summit of the walls of which seemed to reach the sky.
+At some points it became so narrow that from my saddle I could, with my
+cane, touch the opposite rock. At other places, death might be fancied
+looking up expectantly, from the abyss, at the traveller. It was too
+late to dismount. In entering alone this gorge, I had not the faintest
+idea that I would have occasion to regret my foolish imprudence. I had
+not realized its character. It was simply an enormous crevasse, rent by
+some Titanic throe of nature, some tremendous earthquake, which had
+split the granite mountain. In its bottom I could just distinguish a
+hardly perceptible white thread, an impetuous torrent, the dull roar of
+which filled the defile with mysterious and impressive sounds.
+
+Far overhead extended, narrow and sinuously, a blue ribbon, the only
+glimpse of the celestial world that the frowning granite walls permitted
+to be seen. It was a thrilling pleasure, this majestic view of nature.
+At the same time, its rugged severity, the vastness of its proportions,
+the deathly silence only invaded by the ominous murmur from the depths
+beneath, all together filled me with an unconquerable depression. I had
+about eight miles in which to experience these sensations, at once sweet
+and painful. Then, turning to the right, our little caravan reached a
+small valley, almost surrounded by precipitous granite rocks, which
+mirrored themselves in the Indus. On the bank of the river stands the
+little fortress Khalsi, a celebrated fortification dating from the epoch
+of the Musselman invasion, by which runs the wild road from Kachmyr to
+Thibet.
+
+We crossed the Indus on an almost suspended bridge which led directly to
+the door of the fortress, thus impossible of evasion. Rapidly we
+traversed the valley, then the village of Khalsi, for I was anxious to
+spend the night in the hamlet of Snowely, which is placed upon terraces
+descending to the Indus. The two following days I travelled tranquilly
+and without any difficulties to overcome, along the shore of the Indus,
+in a picturesque country--which brought me to Leh, the capital of Ladak.
+
+While traversing the little valley of Saspoula, at a distance of several
+kilometres from the village of the same name, I found "_t'horthenes_"
+and two cloisters, above one of which floated the French flag. Later on,
+I learned that a French engineer had presented the flag to the monks,
+who displayed it simply as a decoration of their building.
+
+I passed the night at Saspoula and certainly did not forget to visit the
+cloisters, seeing there for the tenth time the omnipresent dust-covered
+images of Buddha; the flags and banners heaped in a corner; ugly masks
+on the floor; books and papyrus rolls heaped together without order or
+care, and the inevitable abundance of prayer-wheels. The lamas
+demonstrated a particular pleasure in exhibiting these things, doing it
+with the air of shopmen displaying their goods, with very little care
+for the degree of interest the traveller may take in them. "We must show
+everything, in the hope that the sight alone of these sacred objects
+will force the traveller to believe in the divine grandeur of the human
+soul."
+
+Respecting the prophet Issa, they gave me the same account I already
+had, and I learned, what I had known before, that the books which could
+instruct me about him were at Lhassa, and that only the great
+monasteries possessed some copies. I did not think any more of passing
+Kara-koroum, but only of finding the history of the prophet Issa, which
+would, perhaps, bring to light the entire life of the best of men, and
+complete the rather vague information which the Gospels afford us about
+him.
+
+Not far from Leh, and at the entrance of the valley of the same name,
+our road passed near an isolated rock, on the top of which were
+constructed a fort--with two towers and without garrison--and a little
+convent named Pitak. A mountain, 10,500 feet high, protects the entrance
+to Thibet. There the road makes a sudden turn toward the north, in the
+direction of Leh, six miles from Pitak and a thousand feet higher.
+Immense granite mountains tower above Leh, to a height of 18,000 or
+19,000 feet, their crests covered with eternal snow. The city itself,
+surrounded by a girdle of stunted aspen trees, rises upon successive
+terraces, which are dominated by an old fort and the palaces of the
+ancient sovereigns of Ladak. Toward evening I made my entrance into Leh,
+and stopped at a bengalow constructed especially for Europeans, whom the
+road from India brings here in the hunting season.
+
+
+
+
+Ladak
+
+
+Ladak formerly was part of Great Thibet. The powerful invading forces
+from the north which traversed the country to conquer Kachmyr, and the
+wars of which Ladak was the theatre, not only reduced it to misery, but
+eventually subtracted it from the political domination of Lhassa, and
+made it the prey of one conqueror after another. The Musselmen, who
+seized Kachmyr and Ladak at a remote epoch, converted by force the poor
+inhabitants of old Thibet to the faith of Islam. The political existence
+of Ladak ended with the annexation of this country to Kachmyr by the
+seiks, which, however, permitted the Ladakians to return to their
+ancient beliefs. Two-thirds of the inhabitants took advantage of this
+opportunity to rebuild their gonpas and take up their past life anew.
+Only the Baltistans remained Musselman schuettes--a sect to which the
+conquerors of the country had belonged. They, however, have only
+conserved a vague shadow of Islamism, the character of which manifests
+itself in their ceremonials and in the polygamy which they practice.
+Some lamas affirmed to me that they did not despair of one day bringing
+them back to the faith of their ancestors.
+
+From the religious point of view Ladak is a dependency of Lhassa, the
+capital of Thibet and the place of residence of the Dalai-Lama. In
+Lhassa are located the principal Khoutoukhtes, or Supreme Lamas, and the
+Chogzots, or administrators. Politically, it is under the authority of
+the Maharadja of Kachmyr, who is represented there by a governor.
+
+The inhabitants of Ladak belong to the Chinese-Touranian race, and are
+divided into Ladakians and Tchampas. The former lead a sedentary
+existence, building villages of two-story houses along the narrow
+valleys, are cleanly in their habits, and cultivators of the soil. They
+are excessively ugly; thin, with stooping figures and small heads set
+deep between their shoulders; their cheek bones salient, foreheads
+narrow, eyes black and brilliant, as are those of all the Mongol race;
+noses flat, mouths large and thin-lipped; and from their small chins,
+very thinly garnished by a few hairs, deep wrinkles extend upward
+furrowing their hollow cheeks. To all this, add a close-shaven head with
+only a little bristling fringe of hair, and you will have the general
+type, not alone of Ladak, but of entire Thibet.
+
+The women are also of small stature, and have exceedingly prominent
+cheek bones, but seem to be of much more robust constitution. A healthy
+red tinges their cheeks and sympathetic smiles linger upon their lips.
+They have good dispositions, joyous inclinations, and are fond of
+laughing.
+
+The severity of the climate and rudeness of the country, do not permit
+to the Ladakians much latitude in quality and colors of costume. They
+wear gowns of simple gray linen and coarse dull-hued clothing of their
+own manufacture. The pantaloons of the men only descend to their knees.
+People in good circumstances wear, in addition to the ordinary dress,
+the "choga," a sort of overcoat which is draped on the back when not
+wrapped around the figure. In winter they wear fur caps, with big ear
+flaps, and in summer cover their heads with a sort of cloth hood, the
+top of which dangles on one side, like a Phrygian cap. Their shoes are
+made of felt and covered with leather. A whole arsenal of little things
+hangs down from their belts, among which you will find a needle case, a
+knife, a pen and inkstand, a tobacco pouch, a pipe, and a diminutive
+specimen of the omnipresent prayer-cylinder.
+
+The Thibetan men are generally so lazy, that if a braid of hair happens
+to become loose, it is not tressed up again for three months, and when
+once a shirt is put on the body, it is not again taken off until it
+falls to pieces. Their overcoats are always unclean, and, on the back,
+one may contemplate a long oily stripe imprinted by the braid of hair,
+which is carefully greased every day. They wash themselves once a year,
+but even then do not do so voluntarily, but because compelled by law.
+They emit such a terrible stench that one avoids, as much as possible,
+being near them.
+
+The Thibetan women, on the contrary, are very fond of cleanliness and
+order. They wash themselves daily and as often as may be needful. Short
+and clean chemises hide their dazzling white necks. The Thibetan woman
+throws on her round shoulders a red jacket, the flaps of which are
+covered by tight pantaloons of green or red cloth, made in such a manner
+as to puff up and so protect the legs against the cold. She wears
+embroidered red half boots, trimmed and lined with fur. A large cloth
+petticoat with numerous folds completes her home toilet. Her hair is
+arranged in thin braids, to which, by means of pins, a large piece of
+floating cloth is attached,--which reminds one of the headdress so
+common in Italy. Underneath this sort of veil are suspended a variety of
+various colored pebbles, coins and pieces of metal. The ears are covered
+by flaps made of cloth or fur. A furred sheepskin covers the back, poor
+women contenting themselves with a simple plain skin of the animal,
+while wealthy ladies wear veritable cloaks, lined with red cloth and
+adorned with gold fringes.
+
+The Ladak woman, whether walking in the streets or visiting her
+neighbors, always carries upon her back a conical basket, the smaller
+end of which is toward the ground. They fill it with the dung of horses
+or cows, which constitute the combustible of the country. Every woman
+has money of her own, and spends it for jewelry. Generally she
+purchases, at a small expense, large pieces of turquoise, which are
+added to the _bizarre_ ornaments of her headdress. I have seen pieces so
+worn which weighed nearly five pounds. The Ladak woman occupies a social
+position for which she is envied by all women of the Orient. She is free
+and respected. With the exception of some rural work, she passes the
+greatest part of her time in visiting. It must, however, be added that
+women's gossip is here a perfectly unknown thing.
+
+The settled population of Ladak is engaged in agriculture, but they own
+so little land (the share of each may amount to about eight acres) that
+the revenue drawn from it is insufficient to provide them with the
+barest necessities and does not permit them to pay taxes. Manual
+occupations are generally despised. Artisans and musicians form the
+lowest class of society. The name by which they are designated is Bem,
+and people are very careful not to contract any alliance with them. The
+hours of leisure left by rural work are spent in hunting the wild sheep
+of Thibet, the skins of which are highly valued in India. The poorest,
+_i.e._, those who have not the means to purchase arms for hunting, hire
+themselves as coolies. This is also an occupation of women, who are
+very capable of enduring arduous toil. They are healthier than their
+husbands, whose laziness goes so far that, careless of cold or heat,
+they are capable of spending a whole night in the open air on a bed of
+stones rather than take the trouble to go to bed.
+
+Polyandry (which I shall treat later more fully) causes the formation of
+very large families, who, in common, cultivate their jointly possessed
+lands, with the assistance of yaks, zos and zomos (oxen and cows). A
+member of a family cannot detach himself from it, and when he dies, his
+share reverts to the survivors in common.
+
+They sow but little wheat and the grain is very small, owing to the
+severity of the climate. They also harvest barley, which they pulverize
+before selling. When work in the field is ended, all male inhabitants go
+to gather on the mountain a wild herb called "enoriota," and large thorn
+bushes or "dama," which are used as fuel, since combustibles are scarce
+in Ladak. You see there neither trees nor gardens, and only
+exceptionally thin clumps of willows and poplars grow on the shores of
+the rivers. Near the villages are also found some aspen trees; but, on
+account of the unfertility of the ground, arboriculture is unknown and
+gardening is little successful.
+
+The absence of wood is especially noticeable in the buildings, which are
+made of sun-dried bricks, or, more frequently, of stones of medium size
+which are agglomerated with a kind of mortar composed of clay and
+chopped straw. The houses of the settled inhabitants are two stories
+high, their fronts whitewashed, and their window-sashes painted with
+lively colors. The flat roof forms a terrace which is decorated with
+wild flowers, and here, during good weather, the inhabitants spend much
+of their time contemplating nature, or turning their prayer-wheels.
+Every dwelling-house is composed of many rooms; among them always one
+of superior size, the walls of which are decorated with superb
+fur-skins, and which is reserved for visitors. In the other rooms are
+beds and other furniture. Rich people possess, moreover, a special room
+filled with all kinds of idols, and set apart as a place of worship.
+
+Life here is very regular. They eat anything attainable, without much
+choice; the principal nourishment of the Ladak people, however, being
+exceedingly simple. Their breakfast consists of a piece of rye bread. At
+dinner, they serve on the table a bowl with meal into which lukewarm
+water is stirred with little rods until the mixture assumes the
+consistency of thick paste. From this, small portions are scooped out
+and eaten with milk. In the evening, bread and tea are served. Meat is a
+superfluous luxury. Only the hunters introduce some variety in their
+alimentation, by eating the meat of wild sheep, eagles or pheasants,
+which are very common in this country.
+
+During the day, on every excuse and opportunity, they drink "tchang," a
+kind of pale, unfermented beer.
+
+If it happens that a Ladakian, mounted on a pony (such privileged people
+are very rare), goes to seek work in the surrounding country, he
+provides himself with a small stock of meal; when dinner time comes, he
+descends to a river or spring, mixes with water, in a wooden cup that he
+always has with him, some of the meal, swallows the simple refreshment
+and washes it down with water.
+
+The Tchampas, or nomads, who constitute the other part of Ladak's
+population, are rougher, and much poorer than the settled population.
+They are, for the most part, hunters, who completely neglect
+agriculture. Although they profess the Buddhistic religion, they never
+frequent the cloisters unless in want of meal, which they obtain in
+exchange for their venison. They mostly camp in tents on the summits of
+the mountains, where the cold is very great. While the properly called
+Ladakians are peaceable, very desirous of learning, of an incarnated
+laziness, and are never known to tell untruth; the Tchampas, on the
+contrary, are very irascible, extremely lively, great liars and profess
+a great disdain for the convents.
+
+Among them lives the small population of Khombas, wanderers from the
+vicinity of Lhassa, who lead the miserable existence of a troupe of
+begging gipsies on the highways. Incapable of any work whatever,
+speaking a language not spoken in the country where they beg for their
+subsistence, they are the objects of general contempt, and are only
+tolerated out of pity for their deplorable condition, when hunger drives
+their mendicant bands to seek alms in the villages.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Polyandry, which is universally prevalent here, of course interested my
+curiosity. This institution is, by the way, not the outcome of Buddha's
+doctrines. Polyandry existed long before the advent of Buddha. It
+assumed considerable proportions in India, where it constituted one of
+the most effective means for checking the growth of a population which
+tends to constant increase, an economic danger which is even yet
+combatted by the abominable custom of killing newborn female children,
+which causes terrible ravages in the child-life of India. The efforts
+made by the English in their enactments against the suppression of the
+future mothers have proved futile and fruitless. Manu himself
+established polyandry as a law, and Buddhist preachers, who had
+renounced Brahminism and preached the use of opium, imported this custom
+into Ceylon, Thibet, Corea, and the country of the Moguls. For a long
+time suppressed in China, polyandry, which flourishes in Thibet and
+Ceylon, is also met with among the Kalmonks, between Todas in Southern
+India, and Nairs on the coast of Malabar. Traces of this strange
+constitution of the family are also to be found with the Tasmanians and
+the Irquois Indians in North America.
+
+Polyandry, by the way, has even flourished in Europe, if we may believe
+Caesar, who, in his _De Bello Gallico_, book V., page 17, writes:
+"_Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes, et maxime fratres cum
+fratribus et parentes cum liberis._"
+
+In view of all this it is impossible to hold any religion responsible
+for the existence of the institution of polyandry. In Thibet it can be
+explained by motives of an economical nature; the small quantity of
+arable land falling to the share of each inhabitant. In order to support
+the 1,500,000 inhabitants distributed in Thibet, upon a surface of
+1,200,000 square kilometres, the Buddhists were forced to adopt
+polyandry. Moreover, each family is bound to enter one of its members in
+a religious order. The firstborn is consecrated to a gonpa, which is
+inevitably found upon an elevation, at the entrance of every village.
+As soon as the child attains the age of eighteen years, he is entrusted
+to the caravans which pass Lhassa, where he remains from eight to
+fifteen years as a novice, in one of the gonpas which are near the city.
+There he learns to read and write, is taught the religious rites and
+studies the sacred parchments written in the Pali language--which
+formerly used to be the language of the country of Maguada, where,
+according to tradition, Buddha was born.
+
+The oldest brother remaining in a family chooses a wife, who becomes
+common to his brothers. The choice of the bride and the nuptial
+ceremonies are most rudimentary. When a wife and her husband have
+decided upon the marriage of a son, the brother who possesses the right
+of choice, pays a visit to a neighboring family in which there is a
+marriageable daughter.
+
+The first and second visits are spent in more or less indifferent
+conversations, blended with frequent libations of tchang, and on the
+third visit only does the young man declare his intention to take a
+wife. Upon this the girl is formally introduced to him. She is generally
+not unknown to the wooer, as, in Ladak, women never veil their faces.
+
+A girl cannot be married without her consent. When the young man is
+accepted, he takes his bride to his house, and she becomes his wife and
+also the wife of all his brothers. A family which has an only son sends
+him to a woman who has no more than two or three husbands, and he offers
+himself to her as a fourth husband. Such an offer is seldom declined,
+and the young man settles in the new family.
+
+The newly married remain with the parents of the husbands, until the
+young wife bears her first child. The day after that event, the
+grandparents of the infant make over the bulk of their fortune to the
+new family, and, abandoning the old home to them, seek other shelter.
+
+Sometimes marriages are contracted between youth who have not reached a
+marriageable age, but in such event, the married couple are made to live
+apart, until they have attained and even passed the age required. An
+unmarried girl who becomes _enceinte_, far from being exposed to the
+scorn of every one, is shown the highest respect; for she is
+demonstrated fruitful, and men eagerly seek her in marriage. A wife has
+the unquestioned right of having an unlimited number of husbands and
+lovers. If she likes a young man, she takes him home, announces that he
+has been chosen by her as a "jingtuh" (a lover), and endows him with all
+the personal rights of a husband, which situation is accepted by her
+temporarily supplanted husbands with a certain philosophic pleasure,
+which is the more pronounced if their wife has proved sterile during the
+three first years of her marriage.
+
+They certainly have here not even a vague idea of jealousy. The
+Thibetan's blood is too cold to know love, which, for him, would be
+almost an anachronism; if indeed he were not conscious that the
+sentiment of the entire community would be against him, as a flagrant
+violator of popular usage and established rights, in restraining the
+freedom of the women. The selfish enjoyment of love would be, in their
+eyes, an unjustifiable luxury.
+
+In case of a husband's absence, his place may be offered to a bachelor
+or a widower. The latter are here in the minority, since the wife
+generally survives her feeble husbands. Sometimes a Buddhist traveller,
+whom his affairs bring to the village, is chosen for this office. A
+husband who travels, or seeks for work in the neighboring country, at
+every stop takes advantage of his co-religionists' hospitality, who
+offer him their own wives. The husbands of a sterile woman exert
+themselves to find opportunities for hospitality, which may happily
+eventuate in a change in her condition, that they may be made happy
+fathers.
+
+The wife enjoys the general esteem, is ever of a cheerful disposition,
+takes part in everything that is going on, goes and comes without any
+restriction, anywhere and everywhere she pleases, with the exception of
+the principal prayer-room of the monastery, entrance into which is
+formally prohibited to her.
+
+Children know only their mother, and do not feel the least affection for
+their fathers, for the simple reason that they have so many. Without
+approving polyandry, I could not well blame Thibet for this institution,
+since without it, the population would prodigiously increase. Famine and
+misery would fall upon the whole nation, with all the sinister
+_sequellae_ of murder and theft, crimes so far absolutely unknown in the
+whole country.
+
+
+
+
+_A Festival in a Gonpa_
+
+
+Leh, the capital of Ladak, is a little town of 5,000 inhabitants, who
+live in white, two-story houses, upon two or three streets, principally.
+In its centre is the square of the bazaar, where the merchants of India,
+China, Turkestan, Kachmyr and Thibet, come to exchange their products
+for the Thibetan gold. Here the natives provide themselves with cloths
+for themselves and their monks, and various objects of real necessity.
+
+An old uninhabited palace rises upon a hill which dominates the town.
+Fronting the central square is a vast building, two stories in height,
+the residence of the governor of Ladak, the Vizier Souradjbal--a very
+amiable and universally popular Pendjaban, who has received in London
+the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
+
+To entertain me, during my sojourn in Leh, the governor arranged, on the
+bazaar square, a game of polo--the national sport of the Thibetans,
+which the English have adopted and introduced into Europe. In the
+evening, after the game, the people executed dances and played games
+before the governor's residence. Large bonfires illuminated the scene,
+lighting up the throng of inhabitants, who formed a great circle about
+the performers. The latter, in considerable numbers, disguised as
+animals, devils and sorcerers, jumped and contorted themselves in
+rhythmic dances timed to the measure of the monotonous and unpleasing
+music made by two long trumpets and a drum.
+
+The infernal racket and shouting of the crowd wearied me. The
+performance ended with some graceful dances by Thibetan women, who spun
+upon their heels, swaying to and fro, and, in passing before the
+spectators in the windows of the residence, greeted us by the clashing
+together of the copper and ivory bracelets on their crossed wrists.
+
+The next day, at an early hour, I repaired to the great Himis convent,
+which, a little distance from Leh, is elevated upon the top of a great
+rock, on a picturesque site, commanding the valley of the Indies. It is
+one of the principal monasteries of the country, and is maintained by
+the gifts of the people and the subsidies it receives from Lhassa. On
+the road leading to it, beyond the bridge crossing the Indus, and in the
+vicinity of the villages lining the way, one finds heaps of stones
+bearing engraved inscriptions, such as have already been described, and
+_t'horthenes_. At these places, our guides were very careful to turn to
+the right. I wished to turn my horse to the left, but the Ladakians made
+him go back and led him by his halter to the right, explaining to me
+that such was their established usage. I found it impossible to learn
+the origin or reason of this custom.
+
+Above the gonpa rises a battlemented tower, visible from a great
+distance. We climbed, on foot, to the level on which the edifice stands
+and found ourselves confronted by a large door, painted in brilliant
+colors, the portal of a vast two-story building enclosing a court paved
+with little pebbles. To the right, in one of the angles of the court, is
+another huge painted door, adorned with big copper rings. It is the
+entrance to the principal temple, which is decorated with paintings of
+the principal gods, and contains a great statue of Buddha and a
+multitude of sacred statuettes. To the left, upon a verandah, was placed
+an immense prayer-cylinder. All the lamas of the convent, with their
+chief, stood about it, when we entered the court. Below the verandah
+were musicians, holding long trumpets and drums.
+
+At the right of the court were a number of doors, leading to the rooms
+of the lamas; all decorated with sacred paintings and provided with
+little prayer-barrels fancifully surmounted by black and white tridents,
+from the points of which floated ribbons bearing inscriptions--doubtless
+prayers. In the centre of the court were raised two tall masts, from the
+tops of which dangled tails of yaks, and long paper streamers floated,
+covered with religious inscriptions. All along the walls were numerous
+prayer-barrels, adorned with ribbons.
+
+A profound silence reigned among the many spectators present. All
+awaited anxiously the commencement of a religious "mystery," which was
+about to be presented. We took up a position near the verandah. Almost
+immediately, the musicians drew from their long trumpets soft and
+monotonous tones, marking the time by measured beats upon an odd-looking
+drum, broad and shallow, upreared upon a stick planted in the ground. At
+the first sounds of the strange music, in which joined the voices of the
+lamas in a melancholy chant, the doors along the wall opened
+simultaneously, giving entrance to about twenty masked persons,
+disguised as animals, birds, devils and imaginary monsters. On their
+breasts they bore representations of fantastic dragons, demons and
+skulls, embroidered with Chinese silk of various colors. From the
+conical hats they wore, depended to their breasts long multicolored
+ribbons, covered with inscriptions. Their masks were white
+death's-heads. Slowly they marched about the masts, stretching out their
+arms from time to time and flourishing with their left hands
+spoon-shaped objects, the bowl portions of which were said to be
+fragments of human crania, with ribbons attached, having affixed to
+their ends human hair, which, I was assured, had been taken from scalped
+enemies. Their promenade, in gradually narrowing circles about the
+masts, soon became merely a confused jostling of each other; when the
+rolling of the drum grew more accentuated, the performers for an instant
+stopped, then started again, swinging above their heads yellow sticks,
+ribbon-decked, which with their right hands they brandished in menacing
+attitudes.
+
+After making a salute to the chief lama, they approached the door
+leading to the temple, which at this instant opened, and from it another
+band came forth, whose heads were covered by copper masks. Their dresses
+were of rich materials, embroidered in various bright colors. In one
+hand each of them carried a small tambourine and with the other he
+agitated a little bell. From the rim of each tambourine depended a
+metallic ball, so placed that the least movement of the hand brought it
+in contact with the resonant tympanum, which caused a strange,
+continuous undercurrent of pulsating sound. There new performers circled
+several times about the court, marking the time of their dancing steps
+by measured thumpings of the tambourines. At the completion of each
+turn, they made a deafening noise with their instruments. Finally, they
+ran to the temple door and ranged themselves upon the steps before it.
+
+For a moment, there was silence. Then we saw emerge from the temple a
+third band of performers. Their enormous masks represented different
+deities, and each bore upon its forehead "the third eye." At their head
+marched Thlogan-Poudma-Jungnas (literally "he who was born in the lotus
+flower"). Another richly dressed mask marched beside him, carrying a
+yellow parasol covered with symbolic designs. His suite was composed of
+gods, in magnificent costumes; Dorje-Trolong and Sangspa-Kourpo (_i.e._,
+Brahma himself), and others. These masks, as a lama sitting near me
+explained to us, represented six classes of beings subject to the
+metamorphoses; the gods, the demigods, men, animals, spirits and demons.
+
+On each side of these personages, who advanced gravely, marched other
+masks, costumed in silks of brilliant hues and wearing on their heads
+golden crowns, fashioned with six lotus-like flowers on each, surmounted
+by a tall dart in the centre. Each of these masks carried a drum.
+
+These disguises made three turns about the masts, to the sound of a
+noisy and incoherent music, and then seated themselves on the ground,
+around Thlogan-Pondma-Jungnas, a god with three eyes, who gravely
+introduced two fingers into his mouth and emitted a shrill whistle. At
+this signal, young men dressed in warrior costumes--with ribbon-decked
+bells dangling about their legs--came with measured steps from the
+temple. Their heads were covered by enormous green masks, from which
+floated triangular red flags, and they, too, carried tambourines. Making
+a diabolical din, they whirled and danced about the gods seated on the
+ground. Two big fellows accompanying them, who were dressed in tight
+clown costumes, executed all kinds of grotesque contortions and
+acrobatic feats, by which they won plaudits and shouts of laughter from
+the spectators.
+
+Another group of disguises--of which the principal features were red
+mitres and yellow pantaloons--came out of the temple, with bells and
+tambourines in their hands, and seated themselves opposite the gods, as
+representatives of the highest powers next to divinity. Lastly there
+entered upon the scene a lot of red and brown masks, with a "third eye"
+painted on their breasts. With those who had preceded them, they formed
+two long lines of dancers, who to the thrumming of their many
+tambourines, the measured music of the trumpets and drums, and the
+jingling of a myriad of bells, performed a dance, approaching and
+receding from each other, whirling in circles, forming by twos in a
+column and breaking from that formation to make new combinations,
+pausing occasionally to make reverent obeisance before the gods.
+
+After a time this spectacular excitement--the noisy monotony of which
+began to weary me--calmed down a little; gods, demigods, kings, men and
+spirits got up, and followed by all the other maskers, directed
+themselves toward the temple door, whence issued at once, meeting them,
+a lot of men admirably disguised as skeletons. All those sorties were
+calculated and prearranged, and every one of them had its particular
+significance. The _cortege_ of dancers gave way to the skeletons, who
+advanced with measured steps, in silence, to the masts, where they
+stopped and made a concerted clicking with pieces of wood hanging at
+their sides, simulating perfectly the rattling of dry bones and gnashing
+of teeth. Twice they went in a circle around the masts, marching in time
+to low taps on the drums, and then joined in a lugubrious religious
+chant. Having once more made the concerted rattling of their artificial
+bones and jaws, they executed some contortions painful to witness and
+together stopped.
+
+Then they seized upon an image of the Enemy of Man--made of some sort of
+brittle paste--which had been placed at the foot of one of the masts.
+This they broke in pieces and scattered, and the oldest men among the
+spectators, rising from their places, picked up the fragments which
+they handed to the skeletons--an action supposed to signify that they
+would soon be ready to join the bony crew in the cemetery.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The chief lama, approaching me, tendered an invitation to accompany him
+to the principal terrace and partake of the festal "tchang"; which I
+accepted with pleasure, for my head was dizzy from the long spectacle.
+
+We crossed the court and climbed a staircase--obstructed with
+prayer-wheels, as usual--passed two rooms where there were many images
+of gods, and came out upon the terrace, where I seated myself upon a
+bench opposite the venerable lama, whose eyes sparkled with spirit.
+
+Three lamas brought pitchers of tchang, which they poured into small
+copper cups, that were offered first to the chief lama, then to me and
+my servants.
+
+"Did you enjoy our little festival?" the lama asked me.
+
+"I found it very enjoyable and am still impressed by the spectacle I
+have witnessed. But, to tell the truth, I never suspected for a moment
+that Buddhism, in these religious ceremonies, could display such a
+visible, not to say noisy, exterior form."
+
+"There is no religion, the ceremonies of which are not surrounded with
+more theatrical forms," the lama answered. "This is a ritualistic phase
+which does not by any means violate the fundamental principles of
+Buddhism. It is a practical means for maintaining in the ignorant mass
+obedience to and love for the one Creator, just as a child is beguiled
+by toys to do the will of its parents. The ignorant mass is the child of
+The Father."
+
+"But what is the meaning," I said to him, "of all those masks, costumes,
+bells, dances, and, generally, of this entire performance, which seems
+to be executed after a prescribed programme?"
+
+"We have many similar festivals in the year," answered the lama, "and we
+arrange particular ones to represent 'mysteries,' susceptible of
+pantomimic presentation, in which each actor is allowed considerable
+latitude of action, in the movements and jests he likes, conforming,
+nevertheless, to the circumstances and to the leading idea. Our
+mysteries are simply pantomimes calculated to show the veneration
+offered to the gods, which veneration sustains and cheers the soul of
+man, who is prone to anxious contemplation of inevitable death and the
+life to come. The actors receive the dresses from the cloister and they
+play according to general indications, which leave them much liberty of
+individual action. The general effect produced is, no doubt, very
+beautiful, but it is a matter for the spectators themselves to divine
+the signification of one or another action. You, too, have recourse
+sometimes to similar devices, which, however, do not in the least
+violate the principle of monotheism."
+
+"Pardon me," I remarked, "but this multitude of idols with which your
+gonpas abound, is a flagrant violation of that principle."
+
+"As I have told you," replied the lama to my interruption, "man will
+always be in childhood. He sees and feels the grandeur of nature and
+understands everything presented to his senses, but he neither sees nor
+divines the Great Soul which created and animates all things. Man has
+always sought for tangible things. It was not possible for him to
+believe long in that which escaped his material senses. He has racked
+his brain for any means for contemplating the Creator; has endeavored to
+enter into direct relations with him who has done him so much good, and
+also, as he erroneously believes, so much evil. For this reason he began
+to adore every phase of nature from which he received benefits. We see a
+striking example of this in the ancient Egyptians, who adored animals,
+trees, stones, the winds and the rain. Other peoples, who were more
+sunk in ignorance, seeing that the results of the wind were not always
+beneficent, and that the rain did not inevitably bring good harvests,
+and that the animals were not willingly subservient to man, began to
+seek for direct intermediaries between themselves and the great
+mysterious and unfathomable power of the Creator. Therefore they made
+for themselves idols, which they regarded as indifferent to things
+concerning them, but to whose interposition in their behalf, they might
+always recur. From remotest antiquity to our own days, man was ever
+inclined only to tangible realities.
+
+"While seeking a route to lead their feet to the Creator, the Assyrians
+turned their eyes toward the stars, which they contemplated without the
+power of attaining them. The Guebers have conserved the same belief to
+our days. In their nullity and spiritual blindness, men are incapable of
+conceiving the invisible spiritual bond which unites them to the great
+Divinity, and this explains why they have always sought for palpable
+things, which were in the domain of the senses, and by doing which they
+minimized the divine principle. Nevertheless, they have dared to
+attribute to their visible and man-made images a divine and eternal
+existence. We can see the same fact in Brahminism, where man, given to
+his inclination for exterior forms, has created, little by little, and
+not all at once, an army of gods and demigods. The Israelites may be
+said to have demonstrated, in the most flagrant way, the love of man for
+everything which is concrete. In spite of a series of striking miracles
+accomplished by the great Creator, who is the same for all the peoples,
+the Jewish people could not help making a god of metal in the very
+minute when their prophet Mossa spoke to them of the Creator! Buddhism
+has passed through the same modifications. Our great reformer,
+Sakya-Muni, inspired by the Supreme Judge, understood truly the one and
+indivisible Brahma, and forbade his disciples attempting to manufacture
+images in imaginary semblance of him. He had openly broken from the
+polytheistic Brahmins, and appreciated the purity, oneness and
+immortality of Brahma. The success he achieved by his teachings in
+making disciples among the people, brought upon him persecution by the
+Brahmins, who, in the creation of new gods, had found a source of
+personal revenue, and who, contrary to the law of God, treated the
+people in a despotic manner. Our first sacred teachers, to whom we give
+the name of buddhas--which means, learned men or saints--because the
+great Creator has incarnated in them, settled in different countries of
+the globe. As their teachings attacked especially the tyranny of the
+Brahmins and the misuse they made of the idea of God--of which they
+indeed made a veritable business--almost all the Buddhistic converts,
+they who followed the doctrines of those great teachers, were among the
+common people of China and India. Among those teachers, particular
+reverence is felt for the Buddha, Sakya-Muni, known in China also under
+the name of Fo, who lived three thousand years ago, and whose teachings
+brought all China back into the path of the true God; and the Buddha,
+Gautama, who lived two thousand five hundred years ago, and converted
+almost half the Hindus to the knowledge of the impersonal, indivisible
+and only God, besides whom there is none.
+
+"Buddhism is divided into many sects which, by the way, differ only in
+certain religious ceremonies, the basis of the doctrine being everywhere
+the same. The Thibetan Buddhists, who are called 'lamaists,' separated
+themselves from the Fo-ists fifteen hundred years ago. Until that time
+we had formed part of the worshippers of the Buddha, Fo-Sakya-Muni, who
+was the first to collect all the laws compiled by the various buddhas
+preceding him, when the great schism took place in the bosom of
+Brahmanism. Later on, a Khoutoukhte-Mongol translated into Chinese the
+books of the great Buddha, for which the Emperor of China rewarded him
+by bestowing upon him the title of 'Go-Chi--'Preceptor of the King!'
+After his death, this title was given to the Dalai-Lama of Thibet. Since
+that epoch, all the titularies of this position have borne the title of
+Go-Chi. Our religion is called the Lamaic one--from the word 'lama,'
+superior. It admits of two classes of monks, the red and the yellow. The
+former may marry, and they recognize the authority of the Bantsine, who
+resides in Techow Loumba, and is chief of the civil administration in
+Thibet. We, the yellow lamas, have taken the vow of celibacy, and our
+direct chief is the Dalai-Lama. This is the difference which separates
+the two religious orders, the respective rituals of which are
+identical."
+
+"Do all perform mysteries similar to that which I have just witnessed?"
+
+"Yes; with a few exceptions. Formerly these festivals were celebrated
+with very solemn pomp, but since the conquest of Ladak our convents have
+been, more than once, pillaged and our wealth taken away. Now we content
+ourselves with simple garments and bronze utensils, while in Thibet you
+see but golden robes and gold utensils."
+
+"In a visit which I recently made to a gonpa, one of the lamas told me
+of a prophet, or, as you call him, a buddha, by the name of Issa. Could
+you not tell me anything about him?" I asked my interlocutor, seizing
+this favorable moment to start the subject which interested me so
+greatly.
+
+"The name Issa is very much respected among the Buddhists," he replied,
+"but he is only known by the chief lamas, who have read the scrolls
+relating to his life. There have existed an infinite number of buddhas
+like Issa, and the 84,000 scrolls existing are filled brim full of
+details concerning each one of them. But very few persons have read the
+one-hundredth part of those memoirs. In conformity with established
+custom, every disciple or lama who visits Lhassa makes a gift of one or
+several copies, from the scrolls there, to the convent to which he
+belongs. Our gonpa, among others, possesses already a great number,
+which I read in my leisure hours. Among them are the memoirs of the life
+and acts of the Buddha Issa, who preached the same doctrine in India and
+among the sons of Israel, and who was put to death by the Pagans, whose
+descendants, later on, adopted the beliefs he spread,--and those beliefs
+are yours.
+
+"The great Buddha, the soul of the Universe, is the incarnation of
+Brahma. He, almost always, remains immobile, containing in himself all
+things, being in himself the origin of all and his breath vivifying the
+world. He has left man to the control of his own forces, but, at certain
+epochs, lays aside his inaction and puts on a human form that he may, as
+their teacher and guide, rescue his creatures from impending
+destruction. In the course of his terrestrial existence in the
+similitude of man, Buddha creates a new world in the hearts of erring
+men; then he leaves the earth, to become once more an invisible being
+and resume his condition of perfect bliss. Three thousand years ago,
+Buddha incarnated in the celebrated Prince Sakya-Muni, reaffirming and
+propagating the doctrines taught by him in his twenty preceding
+incarnations. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Great Soul of the World
+incarnated anew in Gautama, laying the foundation of a new world in
+Burmah, Siam and different islands. Soon afterward, Buddhism began to
+penetrate China, through the persevering efforts of the sages, who
+devoted themselves to the propagation of the sacred doctrine, and under
+Ming-Ti, of the Honi dynasty, nearly 2,050 years ago, the teachings of
+Sakya-Muni were adopted by the people of that country. Simultaneously
+with the appearance of Buddhism in China, the same doctrines began to
+spread among the Israelites. It is about 2,000 years ago that the
+perfect Being, awaking once more for a short time from his inaction,
+incarnated in the newborn child of a poor family. It was his will that
+this little child should enlighten the unhappy upon the life of the
+world to come and bring erring men back into the path of truth; showing
+to them, by his own example, the way they could best return to the
+primitive morality and purity of our race. When this sacred child
+attained a certain age, he was brought to India, where, until he
+attained to manhood, he studied the laws of the great Buddha, who dwells
+eternally in heaven."
+
+"In what language are written the principal scrolls bearing upon the
+life of Issa?" I asked, rising from my seat, for I saw that my
+interesting interlocutor evidenced fatigue, and had just given a twirl
+to his prayer-wheel, as if to hint the closing of the conversation.
+
+"The original scrolls brought from India to Nepaul, and from Nepaul to
+Thibet, relating to the life of Issa, are written in the Pali language
+and are actually in Lhassa; but a copy in our language--I mean the
+Thibetan--is in this convent."
+
+"How is Issa looked upon in Thibet? Has he the repute of a saint?"
+
+"The people are not even aware that he ever existed. Only the principal
+lamas, who know of him through having studied the scrolls in which his
+life is related, are familiar with his name; but, as his doctrine does
+not constitute a canonical part of Buddhism, and the worshippers of Issa
+do not recognize the authority of the Dalai-Lama, the prophet Issa--with
+many others like him--is not recognized in Thibet as one of the
+principal saints."
+
+"Would you commit a sin in reciting your copy of the life of Issa to a
+stranger?" I asked him.
+
+"That which belongs to God," he answered me, "belongs also to man. Our
+duty requires us to cheerfully devote ourselves to the propagation of
+His doctrine. Only, I do not, at present, know where that manuscript is.
+If you ever visit our gonpa again, I shall take pleasure in showing it
+to you."
+
+At this moment two monks entered, and uttered to the chief lama a few
+words unintelligible to me.
+
+"I am called to the sacrifices. Will you kindly excuse me?" said he to
+me, and with a salute, turned to the door and disappeared.
+
+I could do no better than withdraw and lie down in the chamber which was
+assigned to me and where I spent the night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the evening of the next day I was again in Leh--thinking of how to
+get back to the convent. Two days later I sent, by a messenger, to the
+chief lama, as presents, a watch, an alarm clock, and a thermometer. At
+the same time I sent the message that before leaving Ladak I would
+probably return to the convent, in the hope that he would permit me to
+see the manuscript which had been the subject of our conversation. It
+was now my purpose to gain Kachmyr and return from there, some time
+later, to Himis. But fate made a different decision for me.
+
+In passing a mountain, on a height of which is perched the gonpa of
+Piatak, my horse made a false step, throwing me to the ground so
+violently that my right leg was broken below the knee.
+
+It was impossible to continue my journey, I was not inclined to return
+to Leh; and seeking the hospitality of the gonpa of Piatak was not, from
+the appearance of the cloister, an enticing prospect. My best recourse
+would be to return to Himis, then only about half a day's journey
+distant, and I ordered my servants to transport me there. They bandaged
+my broken leg--an operation which caused me great pain--and lifted me
+into the saddle. One carrier walked by my side, supporting the weight of
+the injured member, while another led my horse. At a late hour of the
+evening we reached the door of the convent of Himis.
+
+When informed of my accident, the kind monks came out to receive me and,
+with a wealth of extraordinary precautions of tenderness, I was carried
+inside, and, in one of their best rooms, installed upon an improvised
+bed, consisting of a mountain of soft fabrics, with the
+naturally-to-be-expected prayer-cylinder beside me. All this was done
+for me under the personal supervision of their chief lama, who, with
+affectionate sympathy, pressed the hand I gave him in expression of my
+thanks for his kindness.
+
+In the morning, I myself bound around the injured limb little oblong
+pieces of wood, held by cords, to serve as splints. Then I remained
+perfectly quiescent and nature was not slow in her reparative work.
+Within two days my condition was so far improved that I could, had it
+been necessary, have left the gonpa and directed myself slowly toward
+India in search of a surgeon to complete my cure.
+
+While a boy kept in motion the prayer-barrel near my bed, the venerable
+lama who ruled the convent entertained me with many interesting stories.
+Frequently he took from their box the alarm clock and the watch, that I
+might illustrate to him the process of winding them and explain to him
+their uses. At length, yielding to my ardent insistence, he brought me
+two big books, the large leaves of which were of paper yellow with age,
+and from them read to me the biography of Issa, which I carefully
+transcribed in my travelling notebook according to the translation made
+by the interpreter. This curious document is compiled under the form of
+isolated verses, which, as placed, very often had no apparent connection
+with, or relation to each other.
+
+On the third day, my condition was so far improved as to permit the
+prosecution of my journey. Having bound up my leg as well as possible, I
+returned, across Kachmyr, to India; a slow journey, of twenty days,
+filled with intolerable pain. Thanks, however, to a litter, which a
+French gentleman, M. Peicheau, had kindly sent to me (my gratitude for
+which I take this occasion to express), and to an ukase of the Grand
+Vizier of the Maharajah of Kachmyr, ordering the local authorities to
+provide me with carriers, I reached Srinagar, and left almost
+immediately, being anxious to gain India before the first snows fell.
+
+In Mure I encountered another Frenchman, Count Andre de Saint Phall, who
+was making a journey of recreation across Hindostan. During the whole
+course, which we made together, to Bombay, the young count demonstrated
+a touching solicitude for me, and sympathy for the excruciating pain I
+suffered from my broken leg and the fever induced by its torture. I
+cherish for him sincere gratitude, and shall never forget the friendly
+care which I received upon my arrival in Bombay from the Marquis de
+Mores, the Vicomte de Breteul, M. Monod, of the Comptoir d'Escompte, M.
+Moet, acting consul, and all the members of the very sympathetic French
+colony there.
+
+During a long time I revolved in my mind the purpose of publishing the
+memoirs of the life of Jesus Christ found by me in Himis, of which I
+have spoken, but other interests absorbed my attention and delayed it.
+Only now, after having passed long nights of wakefulness in the
+coordination of my notes and grouping the verses conformably to the
+march of the recital, imparting to the work, as a whole, a character of
+unity, I resolve to let this curious chronicle see the light.
+
+
+
+
+_The Life of Saint Issa_
+
+
+"Best of the Sons of Men."
+
+
+I.
+
+1. The earth trembled and the heavens wept, because of the great crime
+committed in the land of Israel.
+
+2. For there was tortured and murdered the great and just Issa, in whom
+was manifest the soul of the Universe;
+
+3. Which had incarnated in a simple mortal, to benefit men and destroy
+the evil spirit in them;
+
+4. To lead back to peace, love and happiness, man, degraded by his sins,
+and recall him to the one and indivisible Creator whose mercy is
+infinite.
+
+5. The merchants coming from Israel have given the following account of
+what has occurred:
+
+
+II.
+
+1. The people of Israel--who inhabit a fertile country producing two
+harvests a year and affording pasture for large herds of cattle--by
+their sins brought down upon themselves the anger of the Lord;
+
+2. Who inflicted upon them terrible chastisements, taking from them
+their land, their cattle and their wealth. They were carried away into
+slavery by the rich and mighty Pharaohs who then ruled the land of
+Egypt.
+
+3. The Israelites were, by the Pharaohs, treated worse than beasts,
+condemned to hard labor and put in irons; their bodies were covered with
+wounds and sores; they were not permitted to live under a roof, and were
+starved to death;
+
+4. That they might be maintained in a state of continual terror and
+deprived of all human resemblance;
+
+5. And in this great calamity, the Israelites, remembering their
+Celestial Protector, implored his forgiveness and mercy.
+
+6. At that period reigned in Egypt an illustrious Pharaoh, who was
+renowned for his many victories, immense riches, and the gigantic
+palaces he had erected by the labor of his slaves.
+
+7. This Pharaoh had two sons, the younger of whom, named Mossa, had
+acquired much knowledge from the sages of Israel.
+
+8. And Mossa was beloved by all in Egypt for his kindness of heart and
+the pity he showed to all sufferers.
+
+9. When Mossa saw that the Israelites, in spite of their many
+sufferings, had not forsaken their God, and refused to worship the gods
+of Egypt, created by the hands of man.
+
+10. He also put his faith in their invisible God, who did not suffer
+them to betray Him, despite their ever growing weakness.
+
+11. And the teachers among Israel animated Mossa in his zeal, and prayed
+of him that he would intercede with his father, Pharaoh, in favor of
+their co-religionists.
+
+12. Prince Mossa went before his father, begging him to lighten the
+burden of the unhappy people; Pharaoh, however, became incensed with
+rage, and ordered that they should be tormented more than before.
+
+13. And it came to pass that Egypt was visited by a great calamity. The
+plague decimated young and old, the healthy and the sick; and Pharaoh
+beheld in this the resentment of his own gods against him.
+
+14. But Prince Mossa said to his father that it was the God of his
+slaves who thus interposed on behalf of his wretched people, and avenged
+them upon the Egyptians.
+
+15. Thereupon, Pharaoh commanded Mossa, his son, to gather all the
+Israelite slaves, and lead them away, and found, at a great distance
+from the capital, another city where he should rule over them.
+
+16. Then Mossa made known to the Hebrew slaves that he had obtained
+their freedom in the name of his and their God, the God of Israel; and
+with them he left the city and departed from the land of Egypt.
+
+17. He led them back to the land which, because of their many sins, had
+been taken from them. There he gave them laws and admonished them to
+pray always to God, the indivisible Creator, whose kindness is infinite.
+
+18. After Prince Mossa's death, the Israelites observed rigorously his
+laws; and God rewarded them for the ills to which they had been
+subjected in Egypt.
+
+19. Their kingdom became one of the most powerful on earth; their kings
+made themselves renowned for their treasures, and peace reigned in
+Israel.
+
+
+III.
+
+1. The glory of Israel's wealth spread over the whole earth, and the
+surrounding nations became envious.
+
+2. But the Most High himself led the victorious arms of the Hebrews, and
+the Pagans did not dare to attack them.
+
+3. Unfortunately, man is prone to err, and the fidelity of the
+Israelites to their God was not of long duration.
+
+4. Little by little they forgot the favors he had bestowed upon them;
+rarely invoked his name, and sought rather protection by the magicians
+and sorcerers.
+
+5. The kings and the chiefs among the people substituted their own laws
+for those given by Mossa; the temple of God and the observances of their
+ancient faith were neglected; the people addicted themselves to sensual
+gratifications and lost their original purity.
+
+6. Many centuries had elapsed since their exodus from Egypt, when God
+bethought himself of again inflicting chastisement upon them.
+
+7. Strangers invaded Israel, devastated the land, destroyed the
+villages, and carried their inhabitants away into captivity.
+
+8. At last came the Pagans from over the sea, from the land of Romeles.
+These made themselves masters of the Hebrews, and placed over them their
+army chiefs, who governed in the name of Caesar.
+
+9. They defiled the temples, forced the inhabitants to cease the worship
+of the indivisible God, and compelled them to sacrifice to the heathen
+gods.
+
+10. They made common soldiers of those who had been men of rank; the
+women became their prey, and the common people, reduced to slavery, were
+carried away by thousands over the sea.
+
+11. The children were slain, and soon, in the whole land, there was
+naught heard but weeping and lamentation.
+
+12. In this extreme distress, the Israelites once more remembered their
+great God, implored his mercy and prayed for his forgiveness. Our
+Father, in his inexhaustible clemency, heard their prayer.
+
+
+IV.
+
+1. At that time the moment had come for the compassionate Judge to
+reincarnate in a human form;
+
+2. And the eternal Spirit, resting in a state of complete inaction and
+supreme bliss, awakened and separated from the eternal Being, for an
+undetermined period,
+
+3. So that, in human form, He might teach man to identify himself with
+the Divinity and attain to eternal felicity;
+
+4. And to show, by His example, how man can attain moral purity and free
+his soul from the domination of the physical senses, so that it may
+achieve the perfection necessary for it to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
+which is immutable and where bliss eternal reigns.
+
+5. Soon after, a marvellous child was born in the land of Israel. God
+himself spoke, through the mouth of this child, of the miseries of the
+body and the grandeur of the soul.
+
+6. The parents of the infant were poor people, who belonged to a family
+noted for great piety; who forgot the greatness of their ancestors in
+celebrating the name of the Creator and giving thanks to Him for the
+trials which He had sent upon them.
+
+7. To reward them for adhering to the path of truth, God blessed the
+firstborn of this family; chose him for His elect, and sent him to
+sustain the fallen and comfort the afflicted.
+
+8. The divine child, to whom the name Issa was given, commenced in his
+tender years to talk of the only and indivisible God, exhorting the
+strayed souls to repent and purify themselves from the sins of which
+they had become guilty.
+
+9. People came from all parts to hear him, and marvelled at the
+discourses which came from his infantile mouth; and all Israel agreed
+that the Spirit of the Eternal dwelt in this child.
+
+10. When Issa was thirteen years old, the age at which an Israelite is
+expected to marry,
+
+11. The modest house of his industrious parents became a meeting place
+of the rich and illustrious, who were anxious to have as a son-in-law
+the young Issa, who was already celebrated for the edifying discourses
+he made in the name of the All-Powerful.
+
+12. Then Issa secretly absented himself from his father's house; left
+Jerusalem, and, in a train of merchants, journeyed toward the Sindh,
+
+13. With the object of perfecting himself in the knowledge of the word
+of God and the study of the laws of the great Buddhas.
+
+
+V.
+
+1. In his fourteenth year, young Issa, the Blessed One, came this side
+of the Sindh and settled among the Aryas, in the country beloved by God.
+
+2. Fame spread the name of the marvellous youth along the northern
+Sindh, and when he came through the country of the five streams and
+Radjipoutan, the devotees of the god Djaine asked him to stay among
+them.
+
+3. But he left the deluded worshippers of Djaine and went to
+Djagguernat, in the country of Orsis, where repose the mortal remains
+of Vyassa-Krishna, and where the white priests of Brahma welcomed him
+joyfully.
+
+4. They taught him to read and to understand the Vedas, to cure physical
+ills by means of prayers, to teach and to expound the sacred Scriptures,
+to drive out evil desires from man and make him again in the likeness of
+God.
+
+5. He spent six years in Djagguernat, in Radjagriha, in Benares, and in
+other holy cities. The common people loved Issa, for he lived in peace
+with the Vaisyas and the Sudras, to whom he taught the Holy Scriptures.
+
+6. But the Brahmins and the Kshatnyas told him that they were forbidden
+by the great Para-Brahma to come near to those who were created from his
+belly and his feet;[1]
+
+7. That the Vaisyas might only hear the recital of the Vedas, and this
+only on the festal days, and
+
+8. That the Sudras were not only forbidden to attend the reading of the
+Vedas, but even to look on them; for they were condemned to perpetual
+servitude, as slaves of the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and even the
+Vaisyas.
+
+9. "Death alone can enfranchise them from their servitude," has said
+Para-Brahma. "Leave them, therefore, and come to adore with us the gods,
+whom you will make angry if you disobey them."
+
+10. But Issa, disregarding their words, remained with the Sudras,
+preaching against the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas.
+
+11. He declaimed strongly against man's arrogating to himself the
+authority to deprive his fellow-beings of their human and spiritual
+rights. "Verily," he said, "God has made no difference between his
+children, who are all alike dear to Him."
+
+12. Issa denied the divine inspiration of the Vedas and the Puranas,
+for, as he taught his followers,--"One law has been given to man to
+guide him in his actions:
+
+13. "Fear the Lord, thy God; bend thy knees only before Him and bring to
+Him only the offerings which come from thy earnings."
+
+14. Issa denied the Trimurti and the incarnation of Para-Brahma in
+Vishnu, Siva, and other gods; "for," said he:
+
+15. "The eternal Judge, the eternal Spirit, constitutes the only and
+indivisible soul of the universe, and it is this soul alone which
+creates, contains and vivifies all.
+
+16. "He alone has willed and created. He alone has existed from
+eternity, and His existence will be without end; there is no one like
+unto Him either in the heavens or on the earth.
+
+17. "The great Creator has divided His power with no other being; far
+less with inanimate objects, as you have been taught to believe, for He
+alone is omnipotent and all-sufficient.
+
+18. "He willed, and the world was. By one divine thought, He reunited
+the waters and separated them from the dry land of the globe. He is the
+cause of the mysterious life of man, into whom He has breathed part of
+His divine Being.
+
+19. "And He has put under subjection to man, the lands, the waters, the
+beasts and everything which He created, and which He himself preserves
+in immutable order, allotting to each its proper duration.
+
+20. "The anger of God will soon break forth upon man; for he has
+forgotten his Creator; he has filled His temples with abominations; and
+he adores a multitude of creatures which God has subordinated to him;
+
+21. "And to gain favor with images of stone and metal, he sacrifices
+human beings in whom dwells part of the Spirit of the Most High;
+
+22. "And he humiliates those who work in the sweat of their brows, to
+gain favor in the eyes of the idler who sitteth at a sumptuous table.
+
+23. "Those who deprive their brothers of divine happiness will
+themselves be deprived of it; and the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas shall
+become the Sudras of the Sudras, with whom the Eternal will stay
+forever.
+
+24. "In the day of judgment the Sudras and the Vaisyas will be forgiven
+for that they knew not the light, while God will let loose his wrath
+upon those who arrogated his authority."
+
+25. The Vaisyas and the Sudras were filled with great admiration, and
+asked Issa how they should pray, in order not to lose their hold upon
+eternal life.
+
+26. "Pray not to idols, for they cannot hear you; hearken not to the
+Vedas where the truth is altered; be humble and humiliate not your
+fellow man.
+
+27. "Help the poor, support the weak, do evil to none; covet not that
+which ye have not and which belongs to others."
+
+
+VI.
+
+1. The white priests and the warriors,[2] who had learned of Issa's
+discourse to the Sudras, resolved upon his death, and sent their
+servants to find the young teacher and slay him.
+
+2. But Issa, warned by the Sudras of his danger, left by night
+Djagguernat, gained the mountain, and settled in the country of the
+Gautamides, where the great Buddha Sakya-Muni came to the world, among a
+people who worshipped the only and sublime Brahma.
+
+3. When the just Issa had acquired the Pali language, he applied himself
+to the study of the sacred scrolls of the Sutras.
+
+4. After six years of study, Issa, whom the Buddha had elected to spread
+his holy word, could perfectly expound the sacred scrolls.
+
+5. He then left Nepaul and the Himalaya mountains, descended into the
+valley of Radjipoutan and directed his steps toward the West,
+everywhere preaching to the people the supreme perfection attainable by
+man;
+
+6. And the good he must do to his fellow men, which is the sure means of
+speedy union with the eternal Spirit. "He who has recovered his
+primitive purity," said Issa, "shall die with his transgressions
+forgiven and have the right to contemplate the majesty of God."
+
+7. When the divine Issa traversed the territories of the Pagans, he
+taught that the adoration of visible gods was contrary to natural law.
+
+8. "For to man," said he, "it has not been given to see the image of
+God, and it behooves him not to make for himself a multitude of
+divinities in the imagined likeness of the Eternal.
+
+9. "Moreover, it is against human conscience to have less regard for the
+greatness of divine purity, than for animals or works of stone or metal
+made by the hands of man.
+
+10. "The eternal Lawgiver is One; there are no other Gods than He; He
+has parted the world with none, nor had He any counsellor.
+
+11. "Even as a father shows kindness toward his children, so will God
+judge men after death, in conformity with His merciful laws. He will
+never humiliate his child by casting his soul for chastisement into the
+body of a beast.
+
+12. "The heavenly laws," said the Creator, through the mouth of Issa,
+"are opposed to the immolation of human sacrifices to a statue or an
+animal; for I, the God, have sacrificed to man all the animals and all
+that the world contains.
+
+13. "Everything has been sacrificed to man, who is directly and
+intimately united to me, his Father; therefore, shall the man be
+severely judged and punished, by my law, who causes the sacrifice of my
+children.
+
+14. "Man is naught before the eternal Judge; as the animal is before
+man.
+
+15. "Therefore, I say unto you, leave your idols and perform not
+ceremonies which separate you from your Father and bind you to the
+priests, from whom heaven has turned away.
+
+16. "For it is they who have led you away from the true God, and by
+superstitions and cruelty perverted the spirit and made you blind to the
+knowledge of the truth."
+
+
+VII.
+
+1. The words of Issa spread among the Pagans, through whose country he
+passed, and the inhabitants abandoned their idols.
+
+2. Seeing which, the priests demanded of him who thus glorified the name
+of the true God, that he should, in the presence of the people, prove
+the charges he made against them, and demonstrate the vanity of their
+idols.
+
+3. And Issa answered them: "If your idols, or the animals you worship,
+really possess the supernatural powers you claim, let them strike me
+with a thunderbolt before you!"
+
+4. "Why dost not thou perform a miracle," replied the priests, "and let
+thy God confound ours, if He is greater than they?"
+
+5. But Issa said: "The miracles of our God have been wrought from the
+first day when the universe was created; and are performed every day and
+every moment; whoso sees them not is deprived of one of the most
+beautiful gifts of life.
+
+6. "And it is not on inanimate objects of stone, metal or wood that He
+will let His anger fall, but on the men who worship them, and who,
+therefore, for their salvation, must destroy the idols they have made.
+
+7. "Even as a stone and a grain of sand, which are naught before man,
+await patiently their use by Him.
+
+8. "In like manner, man, who is naught before God, must await in
+resignation His pleasure for a manifestation of His favor.
+
+9. "But woe to you! ye adversaries of men, if it is not the favor you
+await, but rather the wrath of the Most High; woe to you, if you demand
+that He attest His power by a miracle!
+
+10. "For it is not the idols which He will destroy in His wrath, but
+those by whom they were created; their hearts will be the prey of an
+eternal fire and their flesh shall be given to the beasts of prey.
+
+11. "God will drive away the contaminated animals from His flocks; but
+will take to Himself those who strayed because they knew not the
+heavenly part within them."
+
+12. When the Pagans saw that the power of their priests was naught, they
+put faith in the words of Issa. Fearing the anger of the true God, they
+broke their idols to pieces and caused their priests to flee from among
+them.
+
+13. Issa furthermore taught the Pagans that they should not endeavor to
+see the eternal Spirit with their eyes; but to perceive Him with their
+hearts, and make themselves worthy of His favors by the purity of their
+souls.
+
+14. "Not only," he said to them, "must ye refrain from offering human
+sacrifices, but ye may not lay on the altar any creature to which life
+has been given, for all things created are for man.
+
+15. "Withhold not from your neighbor his just due, for this would be
+like stealing from him what he had earned in the sweat of his brow.
+
+16. "Deceive none, that ye may not yourselves be deceived; seek to
+justify yourselves before the last judgment, for then it will be too
+late.
+
+17. "Be not given to debauchery, for it is a violation of the law of
+God.
+
+18. "That you may attain to supreme bliss ye must not only purify
+yourselves, but must also guide others into the path that will enable
+them to regain their primitive innocence."
+
+
+VIII.
+
+1. The countries round about were filled with the renown of Issa's
+preachings, and when he came unto Persia, the priests grew afraid and
+forbade the people hearing him;
+
+2. Nevertheless, the villages received him with joy, and the people
+hearkened intently to his words, which, being seen by the priests,
+caused them to order that he should be arrested and brought before their
+High Priest, who asked him:
+
+3. "Of what new God dost thou speak? Knowest thou not, unfortunate man
+that thou art! that Saint Zoroaster is the only Just One, to whom alone
+was vouchsafed the honor of receiving revelations from the Most High;
+
+4. "By whose command the angels compiled His Word in laws for the
+governance of His people, which were given to Zoroaster in Paradise?
+
+5. "Who, then, art thou, who darest to utter blasphemies against our God
+and sow doubt in the hearts of believers?"
+
+6. And Issa said to them: "I preach no new God, but our celestial
+Father, who has existed before the beginning and will exist until after
+the end.
+
+7. "Of Him I have spoken to the people, who--even as innocent
+children--are incapable of comprehending God by their own intelligence,
+or fathoming the sublimity of the divine Spirit;
+
+8. "But, as the newborn child in the night recognizes the mother's
+breast, so your people, held in the darkness of error by your pernicious
+doctrines and religious ceremonies, have recognized instinctively their
+Father, in the Father whose prophet I am.
+
+9. "The eternal Being says to your people, by my mouth, 'Ye shall not
+adore the sun, for it is but a part of the universe which I have created
+for man;
+
+10. "It rises to warm you during your work; it sets to accord to you the
+rest that I have ordained.
+
+11. "To me only ye owe all that ye possess, all that surrounds you and
+that is above and below you.'"
+
+12. "But," said the priests, "how could the people live according to
+your rules if they had no teachers?"
+
+13. Whereupon Issa answered: "So long as they had no priests, they were
+governed by the natural law and conserved the simplicity of their souls;
+
+14. "Their souls were in God and to commune with the Father they had not
+to have recourse to the intermediation of idols, or animals, or fire, as
+taught by you.
+
+15. "Ye pretend that man must adore the sun, and the Genii of Good and
+Evil. But I say unto you that your doctrine is pernicious. The sun does
+not act spontaneously, but by the will of the invisible Creator, who has
+given to it being."
+
+16. "Who, then, has caused that this star lights the day, warms man at
+his work and vivifies the seeds sown in the ground?"
+
+17. "The eternal Spirit is the soul of everything animate, and you
+commit a great sin in dividing Him into the Spirit of Evil and the
+Spirit of Good, for there is no God other than the God of Good.
+
+18. "And He, like to the father of a family, does only good to His
+children, to whom He forgives their transgressions if they repent of
+them.
+
+19. "And the Spirit of Evil dwells upon earth, in the hearts of those
+who turn the children of God away from the right path.
+
+20. "Therefore, I say unto you; Fear the day of judgment, for God will
+inflict a terrible chastisement upon all those who have led His
+children astray and beguiled them with superstitions and errors;
+
+21. "Upon those who have blinded them who saw; who have brought
+contagion to the well; who have taught the worship of those things which
+God made to be subject to man, or to aid him in his works.
+
+22. "Your doctrine is the fruit of your error in seeking to bring near
+to you the God of Truth, by creating for yourselves false gods."
+
+23. When the Magi heard these words, they feared to themselves do him
+harm, but at night, when the whole city slept, they brought him outside
+the walls and left him on the highway, in the hope that he would not
+fail to become the prey of wild beasts.
+
+24. But, protected by the Lord our God, Saint Issa continued on his way,
+without accident.
+
+
+IX.
+
+1. Issa--whom the Creator had selected to recall to the worship of the
+true God, men sunk in sin--was twenty-nine years old when he arrived in
+the land of Israel.
+
+2. Since the departure therefrom of Issa, the Pagans had caused the
+Israelites to endure more atrocious sufferings than before, and they
+were filled with despair.
+
+3. Many among them had begun to neglect the laws of their God and those
+of Mossa, in the hope of winning the favor of their brutal conquerors.
+
+4. But Issa, notwithstanding their unhappy condition, exhorted his
+countrymen not to despair, because the day of their redemption from the
+yoke of sin was near, and he himself, by his example, confirmed their
+faith in the God of their fathers.
+
+5. "Children, yield not yourselves to despair," said the celestial
+Father to them, through the mouth of Issa, "for I have heard your
+lamentations, and your cries have reached my ears.
+
+6. "Weep not, oh, my beloved sons! for your griefs have touched the
+heart of your Father and He has forgiven you, as He forgave your
+ancestors.
+
+7. "Forsake not your families to plunge into debauchery; stain not the
+nobility of your souls; adore not idols which cannot but remain deaf to
+your supplications.
+
+8. "Fill my temple with your hope and your patience, and do not adjure
+the religion of your forefathers, for I have guided them and bestowed
+upon them of my beneficence.
+
+9. "Lift up those who are fallen; feed the hungry and help the sick,
+that ye may be altogether pure and just in the day of the last judgment
+which I prepare for you."
+
+10. The Israelites came in multitudes to listen to Issa's words; and
+they asked him where they should thank their Heavenly Father, since
+their enemies had demolished their temples and robbed them of their
+sacred vessels.
+
+11. Issa told them that God cared not for temples erected by human
+hands, but that human hearts were the true temples of God.
+
+12. "Enter into your temple, into your heart; illuminate it with good
+thoughts, with patience and the unshakeable faith which you owe to your
+Father.
+
+13. "And your sacred vessels! they are your hands and your eyes. Look to
+do that which is agreeable to God, for in doing good to your fellow men,
+you perform a ceremony that embellishes the temple wherein abideth Him
+who has created you.
+
+14. "For God has created you in His own image, innocent, with pure
+souls, and hearts filled with kindness and not made for the planning of
+evil, but to be the sanctuaries of love and justice.
+
+15. "Therefore, I say unto you, soil not your hearts with evil, for in
+them the eternal Being abides.
+
+16. "When ye do works of devotion and love, let them be with full
+hearts, and see that the motives of your actions be not hopes of gain or
+self-interest;
+
+17. "For actions, so impelled, will not bring you nearer to salvation,
+but lead to a state of moral degradation wherein theft, lying and murder
+pass for generous deeds."
+
+
+X.
+
+1. Issa went from one city to another, strengthening by the word of God
+the courage of the Israelites, who were near to succumbing under their
+weight of woe, and thousands of the people followed him to hear his
+teachings.
+
+2. But the chiefs of the cities were afraid of him and they informed the
+principal governor, residing in Jerusalem, that a man called Issa had
+arrived in the country, who by his sermons had arrayed the people
+against the authorities, and that multitudes, listening assiduously to
+him, neglected their labor; and, they added, he said that in a short
+time they would be free of their invader rulers.
+
+3. Then Pilate, the Governor of Jerusalem, gave orders that they should
+lay hold of the preacher Issa and bring him before the judges. In order,
+however, not to excite the anger of the populace, Pilate directed that
+he should be judged by the priests and scribes, the Hebrew elders, in
+their temple.
+
+4. Meanwhile, Issa, continuing his preaching, arrived at Jerusalem, and
+the people, who already knew his fame, having learned of his coming,
+went out to meet him.
+
+5. They greeted him respectfully and opened to him the doors of their
+temple, to hear from his mouth what he had said in other cities of
+Israel.
+
+6. And Issa said to them: "The human race perishes, because of the lack
+of faith; for the darkness and the tempest have caused the flock to go
+astray and they have lost their shepherds.
+
+7. "But the tempests do not rage forever and the darkness will not hide
+the light eternally; soon the sky will become serene, the celestial
+light will again overspread the earth, and the strayed flock will
+reunite around their shepherd.
+
+8. "Wander not in the darkness, seeking the way, lest ye fall into the
+ditch; but gather together, sustain one another, put your faith in your
+God and wait for the first glimmer of light to reappear.
+
+9. "He who sustains his neighbor, sustains himself; and he who protects
+his family, protects all his people and his country.
+
+10. "For, be assured that the day is near when you will be delivered
+from the darkness; you will be reunited into one family and your enemy
+will tremble with fear, he who is ignorant of the favor of the great
+God."
+
+11. The priests and the elders who heard him, filled with admiration for
+his language, asked him if it was true that he had sought to raise the
+people against the authorities of the country, as had been reported to
+the governor Pilate.
+
+12. "Can one raise against estrayed men, to whom darkness has hidden
+their road and their door?" answered Issa. "I have but forewarned the
+unhappy, as I do here in this temple, that they should no longer advance
+on the dark road, for an abyss opens before their feet.
+
+13. "The power of this earth is not of long duration and is subject to
+numberless changes. It would be of no avail for a man to rise in
+revolution against it, for one phase of it always succeeds another, and
+it is thus that it will go on until the extinction of human life.
+
+14. "But do you not see that the powerful, and the rich, sow among the
+children of Israel a spirit of rebellion against the eternal power of
+Heaven?"
+
+15. Then the elders asked him: "Who art thou, and from what country hast
+thou come to us? We have not formerly heard thee spoken of and do not
+even know thy name!"
+
+16. "I am an Israelite," answered Issa; "and on the day of my birth have
+seen the walls of Jerusalem, and have heard the sobs of my brothers
+reduced to slavery, and the lamentations of my sisters carried away by
+the Pagans;
+
+17. "And my soul was afflicted when I saw that my brethren had forgotten
+the true God. When a child I left my father's house to go and settle
+among other people.
+
+18. "But, having heard it said that my brethren suffered even greater
+miseries now, I have come back to the land of my fathers, to recall my
+brethren to the faith of their ancestors, which teaches us patience upon
+earth in order to attain the perfect and supreme bliss above."
+
+19. Then the wise old men put to him again this question: "We are told
+that thou disownest the laws of Mossa, and that thou teachest the people
+to forsake the temple of God?"
+
+20. Whereupon Issa: "One does not demolish that which has been given by
+our Heavenly Father, and which has been destroyed by sinners. I have but
+enjoined the people to purify the heart of all stains, for it is the
+veritable temple of God.
+
+21. "As regards the laws of Mossa, I have endeavored to reestablish them
+in the hearts of men; and I say unto you that ye ignore their true
+meaning, for it is not vengeance but pardon which they teach. Their
+sense has been perverted."
+
+
+XI.
+
+1. When the priests and the elders heard Issa, they decided among
+themselves not to give judgment against him, for he had done no harm to
+any one, and, presenting themselves before Pilate--who was made Governor
+of Jerusalem by the Pagan king of the country of Romeles--they spake to
+him thus:
+
+2. "We have seen the man whom thou chargest with inciting our people to
+revolt; we have heard his discourses and know that he is our countryman;
+
+3. "But the chiefs of the cities have made to you false reports, for he
+is a just man, who teaches the people the word of God. After
+interrogating him, we have allowed him to go in peace."
+
+4. The governor thereupon became very angry, and sent his disguised
+spies to keep watch upon Issa and report to the authorities the least
+word he addressed to the people.
+
+5. In the meantime, the holy Issa continued to visit the neighboring
+cities and preach the true way of the Lord, enjoining the Hebrews'
+patience and promising them speedy deliverance.
+
+6. And all the time great numbers of the people followed him wherever he
+went, and many did not leave him at all, but attached themselves to him
+and served him.
+
+7. And Issa said: "Put not your faith in miracles performed by the hands
+of men, for He who rules nature is alone capable of doing supernatural
+things, while man is impotent to arrest the wrath of the winds or cause
+the rain to fall.
+
+8. "One miracle, however, is within the power of man to accomplish. It
+is, when his heart is filled with sincere faith, he resolves to root out
+from his mind all evil promptings and desires, and when, in order to
+attain this end, he ceases to walk the path of iniquity.
+
+9. "All the things done without God are only gross errors, illusions and
+seductions, serving but to show how much the heart of the doer is full
+of presumption, falsehood and impurity.
+
+10. "Put not your faith in oracles. God alone knows the future. He who
+has recourse to the diviners soils the temple of his heart and shows his
+lack of faith in his Creator.
+
+11. "Belief in the diviners and their miracles destroys the innate
+simplicity of man and his childlike purity. An infernal power takes hold
+of him who so errs, and forces him to commit various sins and give
+himself to the worship of idols.
+
+12. "But the Lord our God, to whom none can be equalled, is one
+omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; He alone possesses all wisdom
+and all light.
+
+13. "To Him ye must address yourselves, to be comforted in your
+afflictions, aided in your works, healed in your sickness and whoso asks
+of Him, shall not ask in vain.
+
+14. "The secrets of nature are in the hands of God, for the whole world,
+before it was made manifest, existed in the bosom of the divine thought,
+and has become material and visible by the will of the Most High.
+
+15. "When ye pray to him, become again like little children, for ye know
+neither the past, nor the present, nor the future, and God is the Lord
+of Time."
+
+
+XII.
+
+1. "Just man," said to him the disguised spies of the Governor of
+Jerusalem, "tell us if we must continue to do the will of Caesar, or
+expect our near deliverance?"
+
+2. And Issa, who recognized the questioners as the apostate spies sent
+to follow him, replied to them: "I have not told you that you would be
+delivered from Caesar; it is the soul sunk in error which will gain its
+deliverance.
+
+3. "There cannot be a family without a head, and there cannot be order
+in a people without a Caesar, whom ye should implicitly obey, as he will
+be held to answer for his acts before the Supreme Tribunal."
+
+4. "Does Caesar possess a divine right?" the spies asked him again; "and
+is he the best of mortals?"
+
+5. "There is no one 'the best' among human beings; but there are many
+bad, who--even as the sick need physicians--require the care of those
+chosen for that mission, in which must be used the means given by the
+sacred law of our Heavenly Father;
+
+6. "Mercy and justice are the high prerogatives of Caesar, and his name
+will be illustrious if he exercises them.
+
+7. "But he who acts otherwise, who transcends the limits of power he has
+over those under his rule, and even goes so far as to put their lives in
+danger, offends the great Judge and derogates from his own dignity in
+the eyes of men."
+
+8. Upon this, an old woman who had approached the group, to better hear
+Issa, was pushed aside by one of the disguised men, who placed himself
+before her.
+
+9. Then said Issa: "It is not good for a son to push away his mother,
+that he may occupy the place which belongs to her. Whoso doth not
+respect his mother--the most sacred being after his God--is unworthy of
+the name of son.
+
+10. "Hearken to what I say to you: Respect woman; for in her we see the
+mother of the universe, and all the truth of divine creation is to come
+through her.
+
+11. "She is the fount of everything good and beautiful, as she is also
+the germ of life and death. Upon her man depends in all his existence,
+for she is his moral and natural support in his labors.
+
+12. "In pain and suffering she brings you forth; in the sweat of her
+brow she watches over your growth, and until her death you cause her
+greatest anxieties. Bless her and adore her, for she is your only friend
+and support on earth.
+
+13. "Respect her; defend her. In so doing you will gain for yourself her
+love; you will find favor before God, and for her sake many sins will be
+remitted to you.
+
+14. "Love your wives and respect them, for they will be the mothers of
+tomorrow and later the grandmothers of a whole nation.
+
+15. "Be submissive to the wife; her love ennobles man, softens his
+hardened heart, tames the wild beast in him and changes it to a lamb.
+
+16. "Wife and mother are the priceless treasures which God has given to
+you. They are the most beautiful ornaments of the universe, and from
+them will be born all who will inhabit the world.
+
+17. "Even as the Lord of Hosts separated the light from the darkness,
+and the dry land from the waters, so does woman possess the divine gift
+of calling forth out of man's evil nature all the good that is in him.
+
+18. "Therefore I say unto you, after God, to woman must belong your best
+thoughts, for she is the divine temple where you will most easily obtain
+perfect happiness.
+
+19. "Draw from this temple your moral force. There you will forget your
+sorrows and your failures, and recover the love necessary to aid your
+fellow men.
+
+20. "Suffer her not to be humiliated, for by humiliating her you
+humiliate yourselves, and lose the sentiment of love, without which
+nothing can exist here on earth.
+
+21. "Protect your wife, that she may protect you--you and all your
+household. All that you do for your mothers, your wives, for a widow,
+or for any other woman in distress, you will do for your God."
+
+
+XIII.
+
+1. Thus Saint Issa taught the people of Israel for three years, in every
+city and every village, on the highways and in the fields, and all he
+said came to pass.
+
+2. All this time the disguised spies of the governor Pilate observed him
+closely, but heard nothing to sustain the accusations formerly made
+against Issa by the chiefs of the cities.
+
+3. But Saint Issa's growing popularity did not allow Pilate to rest. He
+feared that Issa would be instrumental in bringing about a revolution
+culminating in his elevation to the sovereignty, and, therefore, ordered
+the spies to make charges against him.
+
+4. Then soldiers were sent to arrest him, and they cast him into a
+subterranean dungeon, where he was subjected to all kinds of tortures,
+to compel him to accuse himself, so that he might be put to death.
+
+5. The Saint, thinking only of the perfect bliss of his brethren,
+endured all those torments with resignation to the will of the Creator.
+
+6. The servants of Pilate continued to torture him, and he was reduced
+to a state of extreme weakness; but God was with him and did not permit
+him to die at their hands.
+
+7. When the principal priests and wise elders learned of the sufferings
+which their Saint endured, they went to Pilate, begging him to liberate
+Issa, so that he might attend the great festival which was near at hand.
+
+8. But this the governor refused. Then they asked him that Issa should
+be brought before the elders' council, so that he might be condemned,
+or acquitted, before the festival, and to this Pilate agreed.
+
+9. On the following day the governor assembled the principal chiefs,
+priests, elders and judges, for the purpose of judging Issa.
+
+10. The Saint was brought from his prison. They made him sit before the
+governor, between two robbers, who were to be judged at the same time
+with Issa, so as to show the people he was not the only one to be
+condemned.
+
+11. And Pilate, addressing himself to Issa, said, "Is it true, Oh! Man;
+that thou incitest the populace against the authorities, with the
+purpose of thyself becoming King of Israel?"
+
+12. Issa replied, "One does not become king by one's own purpose
+thereto. They have told you an untruth when you were informed that I was
+inciting the people to revolution. I have only preached of the King of
+Heaven, and it was Him whom I told the people to worship.
+
+13. "For the sons of Israel have lost their original innocence and
+unless they return to worship the true God they will be sacrificed and
+their temple will fall in ruins.
+
+14. "The worldly power upholds order in the land; I told them not to
+forget this. I said to them, 'Live in conformity with your situation and
+refrain from disturbing public order;' and, at the same time, I exhorted
+them to remember that disorder reigned in their own hearts and spirits.
+
+15. "Therefore, the King of Heaven has punished them, and has destroyed
+their nationality and taken from them their national kings, 'but,' I
+added, 'if you will be resigned to your fate, as a reward the Kingdom of
+Heaven will be yours.'"
+
+16. At this moment the witnesses were introduced; one of whom deposed
+thus: "Thou hast said to the people that in comparison with the power of
+the king who would soon liberate the Israelites from the yoke of the
+heathen, the worldly authorities amounted to nothing."
+
+17. "Blessings upon thee!" said Issa. "For thou hast spoken the truth!
+The King of Heaven is greater and more powerful than the laws of man and
+His kingdom surpasses the kingdoms of this earth.
+
+18. "And the time is not far off, when Israel, obedient to the will of
+God, will throw off its yoke of sin; for it has been written that a
+forerunner would appear to announce the deliverance of the people, and
+that he would reunite them in one family."
+
+19. Thereupon the governor said to the judges: "Have you heard this? The
+Israelite Issa acknowledges the crime of which he is accused. Judge him,
+then, according to your laws and pass upon him condemnation to death."
+
+20. "We cannot condemn him," replied the priests and the ancients. "As
+thou hast heard, he spoke of the King of Heaven, and he has preached
+nothing which constitutes insubordination against the law."
+
+21. Thereupon the governor called a witness who had been bribed by his
+master, Pilate, to betray Issa, and this man said to Issa: "Is it not
+true that thou hast represented thyself as a King of Israel, when thou
+didst say that He who reigns in Heaven sent thee to prepare His people?"
+
+22. But Issa blessed the man and answered: "Thou wilt find mercy, for
+what thou hast said did not come out from thine own heart." Then,
+turning to the governor he said: "Why dost thou lower thy dignity and
+teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when, without doing so, it is in
+thy power to condemn an innocent man?"
+
+23. When Pilate heard his words, he became greatly enraged and ordered
+that Issa be condemned to death, and that the two robbers should be
+declared guiltless.
+
+24. The judges, after consulting among themselves, said to Pilate: "We
+cannot consent to take this great sin upon us,--to condemn an innocent
+man and liberate malefactors. It would be against our laws.
+
+25. "Act thyself, then, as thou seest fit." Thereupon the priests and
+elders walked out, and washed their hands in a sacred vessel, and said:
+"We are innocent of the blood of this righteous man."
+
+
+XIV.
+
+1. By order of the governor, the soldiers seized Issa and the two
+robbers, and led them to the place of execution, where they were nailed
+upon the crosses erected for them.
+
+2. All day long the bodies of Issa and the two robbers hung upon the
+crosses, bleeding, guarded by the soldiers. The people stood all around
+and the relatives of the executed prayed and wept.
+
+3. When the sun went down, Issa's tortures ended. He lost consciousness
+and his soul disengaged itself from the body, to reunite with God.
+
+4. Thus ended the terrestrial existence of the reflection of the eternal
+Spirit under the form of a man who had saved hardened sinners and
+comforted the afflicted.
+
+5. Meanwhile, Pilate was afraid for what he had done, and ordered the
+body of the Saint to be given to his relatives, who put it in a tomb
+near to the place of execution. Great numbers of persons came to visit
+the tomb, and the air was filled with their wailings and lamentations.
+
+6. Three days later, the governor sent his soldiers to remove Issa's
+body and bury it in some other place, for he feared a rebellion among
+the people.
+
+7. The next day, when the people came to the tomb, they found it open
+and empty, the body of Issa being gone. Thereupon, the rumor spread that
+the Supreme Judge had sent His angels from Heaven, to remove the mortal
+remains of the saint in whom part of the divine Spirit had lived on
+earth.
+
+8. When Pilate learned of this rumor, he grew angry and prohibited,
+under penalty of death, the naming of Issa, or praying for him to the
+Lord.
+
+9. But the people, nevertheless, continued to weep over Issa's death and
+to glorify their master; wherefore, many were carried into captivity,
+subjected to torture and put to death.
+
+10. And the disciples of Saint Issa departed from the land of Israel and
+went in all directions, to the heathen, preaching that they should
+abandon their gross errors, think of the salvation of their souls and
+earn the perfect bliss which awaits human beings in the immaterial
+world, full of glory, where the great Creator abides in all his
+immaculate and perfect majesty.
+
+11. The heathen, their kings, and their warriors, listened to the
+preachers, abandoned their erroneous beliefs and forsook their priests
+and their idols, to celebrate the praises of the most wise Creator of
+the Universe, the King of Kings, whose heart is filled with infinite
+mercy.
+
+
+
+
+_Resume_
+
+
+In reading the account of the life of Issa (Jesus Christ), one is
+struck, on the one hand by the resemblance of certain principal passages
+to accounts in the Old and New Testaments; and, on the other, by the not
+less remarkable contradictions which occasionally occur between the
+Buddhistic version and Hebraic and Christian records.
+
+To explain this, it is necessary to remember the epochs when the facts
+were consigned to writing.
+
+We have been taught, from our childhood, that the Pentateuch was written
+by Moses himself, but the careful researches of modern scholars have
+demonstrated conclusively, that at the time of Moses, and even much
+later, there existed in the country bathed by the Mediterranean, no
+other writing than the hieroglyphics in Egypt and the cuniform
+inscriptions, found nowadays in the excavations of Babylon. We know,
+however, that the alphabet and parchment were known in China and India
+long before Moses.
+
+Let me cite a few proofs of this statement. We learn from the sacred
+books of "the religion of the wise" that the alphabet was invented in
+China in 2800 by Fou-si, who was the first emperor of China to embrace
+this religion, the ritual and exterior forms of which he himself
+arranged. Yao, the fourth of the Chinese emperors, who is said to have
+belonged to this faith, published moral and civil laws, and, in 2228,
+compiled a penal code. The fifth emperor, Soune, proclaimed in the year
+of his accession to the throne that "the religion of the wise" should
+thenceforth be the recognized religion of the State, and, in 2282,
+compiled new penal laws. His laws, modified by the Emperor
+Vou-vange,--founder of the dynasty of the Tcheou in 1122,--are those in
+existence today, and known under the name of "Changements."
+
+We also know that the doctrine of the Buddha Fo, whose true name was
+Sakya-Muni was written upon parchment. Foism began to spread in China
+about 260 years before Jesus Christ. In 206, an emperor of the Tsine
+dynasty, who was anxious to learn Buddhism, sent to India for a Buddhist
+by the name of Silifan, and the Emperor Ming-Ti, of the Hagne dynasty,
+sent, a year before Christ's birth, to India for the sacred books
+written by the Buddha Sakya-Muni--the founder of the Buddhistic
+doctrine, who lived about 1200 before Christ.
+
+The doctrine of the Buddha Gauthama or Gothama, who lived 600 years
+before Jesus Christ, was written in the Pali language upon parchment. At
+that epoch there existed already in India about 84,000 Buddhistic
+manuscripts, the compilation of which required a considerable number of
+years.
+
+At the time when the Chinese and the Hindus possessed already a very
+rich written literature, the less fortunate or more ignorant peoples who
+had no alphabet, transmitted their histories from mouth to mouth, and
+from generation to generation. Owing to the unreliability of human
+memory, historical facts, embellished by Oriental imagination, soon
+degenerated into fabulous legends, which, in the course of time, were
+collected, and by the unknown compilers entitled "The Five Books of
+Moses." As these legends ascribe to the Hebrew legislator extraordinary
+divine powers which enabled him to perform miracles in the presence of
+Pharaoh, the claim that he was an Israelite may as well have been
+legendary rather than historical.
+
+The Hindu chroniclers, on the contrary, owing to their knowledge of an
+alphabet, were enabled to commit carefully to writing, not mere legends,
+but the recitals of recently occurred facts within their own knowledge,
+or the accounts brought to them by merchants who came from foreign
+countries.
+
+It must be remembered, in this connection, that--in antiquity as in our
+own days--the whole public life of the Orient was concentrated in the
+bazaars. There the news of foreign events was brought by the
+merchant-caravans and sought by the dervishes, who found, in their
+recitals in the temples and public places, a means of subsistence. When
+the merchants returned home from a journey, they generally related fully
+during the first days after their arrival, all they had seen or heard
+abroad. Such have been the customs of the Orient, from time immemorial,
+and are today.
+
+The commerce of India with Egypt and, later, with Europe, was carried on
+by way of Jerusalem, where, as far back as the time of King Solomon, the
+Hindu caravans brought precious metals and other materials for the
+construction of the temple. From Europe, merchandise was brought to
+Jerusalem by sea, and there unloaded in a port, which is now occupied by
+the city of Jaffa. The chronicles in question were compiled before,
+during and after the time of Jesus Christ.
+
+During his sojourn in India, in the quality of a simple student come to
+learn the Brahminical and Buddhistic laws, no special attention whatever
+was paid to his life. When, however, a little later, the first accounts
+of the events in Israel reached India, the chroniclers, after committing
+to writing that which they were told about the prophet, Issa,--_viz._,
+that he had for his following a whole people, weary of the yoke of their
+masters, and that he was crucified by order of Pilate, remembered that
+this same Issa had only recently sojourned in their midst, and that, an
+Israelite by birth, he had come to study among them, after which he had
+returned to his country. They conceived a lively interest for the man
+who had grown so rapidly under their eyes, and began to investigate his
+birth, his past and all the details concerning his existence.
+
+The two manuscripts, from which the lama of the convent Himis read to me
+all that had a bearing upon Jesus, are compilations from divers copies
+written in the Thibetan language, translations of scrolls belonging to
+the library of Lhassa and brought, about two hundred years after Christ,
+from India, Nepaul and Maghada, to a convent on Mount Marbour, near the
+city of Lhassa, now the residence of the Dalai-Lama.
+
+These scrolls were written in Pali, which certain lamas study even now,
+so as to be able to translate it into the Thibetan.
+
+The chroniclers were Buddhists belonging to the sect of the Buddha
+Gothama.
+
+The details concerning Jesus, given in the chronicles, are disconnected
+and mingled with accounts of other contemporaneous events to which they
+bear no relation.
+
+The manuscripts relate to us, first of all,--according to the accounts
+given by merchants arriving from Judea in the same year when the death
+of Jesus occurred--that a just man by the name of Issa, an Israelite,
+in spite of his being acquitted twice by the judges as being a man of
+God, was nevertheless put to death by the order of the Pagan governor,
+Pilate, who feared that he might take advantage of his great popularity
+to reestablish the kingdom of Israel and expel from the country its
+conquerors.
+
+Then follow rather incoherent communications regarding the preachings of
+Jesus among the Guebers and other heathens. They seem to have been
+written during the first years following the death of Jesus, in whose
+career a lively and growing interest is shown.
+
+One of these accounts, communicated by a merchant, refers to the origin
+of Jesus and his family; another tells of the expulsion of his partisans
+and the persecutions they had to suffer.
+
+Only at the end of the second volume is found the first categorical
+affirmation of the chronicler. He says there that Issa was a man blessed
+by God and the best of all; that it was he in whom the great Brahma had
+elected to incarnate when, at a period fixed by destiny, his spirit was
+required to, for a time, separate from the Supreme Being.
+
+After telling that Issa descended from poor Israelite parents, the
+chronicler makes a little digression, for the purpose of explaining,
+according to ancient accounts, who were those sons of Israel.
+
+I have arranged all the fragments concerning the life of Issa in
+chronological order and have taken pains to impress upon them the
+character of unity, in which they were absolutely lacking.
+
+I leave it to the _savans_, the philosophers and the theologians to
+search into the causes for the contradictions which may be found between
+the "Life of Issa" which I lay before the public and the accounts of the
+Gospels. But I trust that everybody will agree with me in assuming that
+the version which I present to the public, one compiled three or four
+years after the death of Jesus, from the accounts of eyewitnesses and
+contemporaries, has much more probability of being in conformity with
+truth than the accounts of the Gospels, the composition of which was
+effected at different epochs and at periods much posterior to the
+occurrence of the events.
+
+Before speaking of the life of Jesus, I must say a few words on the
+history of Moses, who, according to the so-far most accredited legend,
+was an Israelite. In this respect the legend is contradicted by the
+Buddhists. We learn from the outset that Moses was an Egyptian prince,
+the son of a Pharaoh, and that he only was taught by learned Israelites.
+I believe that if this important point is carefully examined, it must be
+admitted that the Buddhist author may be right.
+
+It is not my intent to argue against the Biblical legend concerning the
+origin of Moses, but I think everyone reading it must share my
+conviction that Moses could not have been a simple Israelite. His
+education was rather that of a king's son, and it is difficult to
+believe that a child introduced by chance into the palace should have
+been made an equal with the son of the sovereign. The rigor with which
+the Egyptians treated their slaves by no means attests the mildness of
+their character. A foundling certainly would not have been made the
+companion of the sons of a Pharaoh, but would be placed among his
+servants. Add to this the caste spirit so strictly observed in ancient
+Egypt, a most salient point, which is certainly calculated to raise
+doubts as to the truth of the Scriptural story.
+
+And it is difficult to suppose that Moses had not received a complete
+education. How otherwise could his great legislative work, his broad
+views, his high administrative qualities be satisfactorily explained?
+
+And now comes another question: Why should he, a prince, have attached
+himself to the Israelites? The answer seems to me very simple. It is
+known that in ancient, as well as in modern times, discussions were
+often raised as to which of two brothers should succeed to the father's
+throne. Why not admit this hypothesis, _viz._, that Mossa, or Moses,
+having an elder brother whose existence forbade him to think of
+occupying the throne of Egypt, contemplated founding a distinct kingdom.
+
+It might very well be that, in view of this end, he tried to attach
+himself to the Israelites, whose firmness of faith as well as physical
+strength he had occasion to admire. We know, indeed, that the Israelites
+of Egypt had no resemblance whatever to their descendants as regards
+physical constitution. The granite blocks which were handled by them in
+building the palaces and pyramids are still in place to testify to this
+fact. In the same way I explain to myself the history of the miracles
+which he is said to have performed before Pharaoh.
+
+Although there are no definite arguments for denying the miracles which
+Moses might have performed in the name of God before Pharaoh, I think it
+is not difficult to realize that the Buddhistic statement sounds more
+probable than the Scriptural gloss. The pestilence, the smallpox or the
+cholera must, indeed, have caused enormous ravages among the dense
+population of Egypt, at an epoch when there existed yet but very
+rudimentary ideas about hygiene and where, consequently, such diseases
+must have rapidly assumed frightful virulence.
+
+In view of Pharaoh's fright at the disasters which befell Egypt, Moses'
+keen wit might well have suggested to him to explain the strange and
+terrifying occurrences, to his father, by the intervention of the God of
+Israel in behalf of his chosen people.
+
+Moses was here afforded an excellent opportunity to deliver the
+Israelites from their slavery and have them pass under his own
+domination.
+
+In obedience to Pharaoh's will--according to the Buddhistic
+version--Moses led the Israelites outside the walls of the city; but,
+instead of building a new city within reach of the capital, as he was
+ordered, he left with them the Egyptian territory. Pharaoh's indignation
+on learning of this infringement of his commands by Moses, can easily be
+imagined. And so he gave the order to his soldiers to pursue the
+fugitives. The geographical disposition of the region suggests at once
+that Moses during his flight must have moved by the side of the
+mountains and entered Arabia by the way over the Isthmus which is now
+cut by the Suez Canal.
+
+Pharaoh, on the contrary, pursued, with his troops, a straight line to
+the Red Sea; then, in order to overtake the Israelites, who had already
+gained the opposite shore, he sought to take advantage of the ebb of the
+sea in the Gulf, which is formed by the coast and the Isthmus, and
+caused his soldiers to wade through the ford. But the length of the
+passage proved much greater than he had expected; so that the flood tide
+set in when the Egyptian host was halfway across, and, of the army thus
+overwhelmed by the returning waves, none escaped death.
+
+This fact, so simple in itself, has in the course of the centuries been
+transformed by the Israelites into a religious legend, they seeing in it
+a divine intervention in their behalf and a punishment which their God
+inflicted on their persecutors. There is, moreover, reason to believe
+that Moses himself saw the occurrence in this light. This, however, is a
+thesis which I shall try to develop in a forthcoming work.
+
+The Buddhistic chronicle then describes the grandeur and the downfall of
+the kingdom of Israel, and its conquest by the foreign nations who
+reduced the inhabitants to slavery.
+
+The calamities which befell the Israelites, and the afflictions that
+thenceforth embittered their days were, according to the chronicler,
+more than sufficient reasons that God, pitying his people and desirous
+of coming to their aid, should descend on earth in the person of a
+prophet, in order to lead them back to the path of righteousness.
+
+Thus the state of things in that epoch justified the belief that the
+coming of Jesus was signalized, imminent, necessary.
+
+This explains why the Buddhistic traditions could maintain that the
+eternal Spirit separated from the eternal Being and incarnated in the
+child of a pious and once illustrious family.
+
+Doubtless the Buddhists, in common with the Evangelists, meant to convey
+by this that the child belonged to the royal house of David; but the
+text in the Gospels, according to which "the child was born from the
+Holy Spirit," admits of two interpretations, while according to Buddha's
+doctrine, which is more in conformity with the laws of nature, the
+spirit has but incarnated in a child already born, whom God blessed and
+chose for the accomplishment of His mission on earth.
+
+The birth of Jesus is followed by a long gap in the traditions of the
+Evangelists, who either from ignorance or neglect, fail to tell us
+anything definite about his childhood, youth or education. They commence
+the history of Jesus with his first sermon, _i.e._, at the epoch, when
+thirty years of age, he returns to his country.
+
+All the Evangelists tell us concerning the infancy of Jesus is marked by
+the lack of precision: "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit,
+filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him," says one of the
+sacred authors (Luke 2, 40), and another: "And the child grew, and waxed
+strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing
+unto Israel." (Luke 1, 80.)
+
+As the Evangelists compiled their writings a long time after the death
+of Jesus, it is presumable that they committed to writing only those
+accounts of the principal events in the life of Jesus which happened to
+come to their knowledge.
+
+The Buddhists, on the contrary, who compiled their chronicles soon after
+the Passion occurred, and were able to collect the surest information
+about everything that interested them, give us a complete and very
+detailed description of the life of Jesus.
+
+In those unhappy times, when the struggle for existence seems to have
+destroyed all thought of God, the people of Israel suffered the double
+oppression of the ambitious Herod and the despotic and avaricious
+Romans. Then, as now, the Hebrews put all their hopes in Providence,
+whom they expected, would send them an inspired man, who should deliver
+them from all their physical and moral afflictions. The time passed,
+however, and no one took the initiative in a revolt against the tyranny
+of the rulers.
+
+In that era of hope and despair, the people of Israel completely forgot
+that there lived among them a poor Israelite who was a direct descendant
+from their King David. This poor man married a young girl who gave birth
+to a miraculous child.
+
+The Hebrews, true to their traditions of devotion and respect for the
+race of their kings, upon learning of this event went in great numbers
+to congratulate the happy father and see the child. It is evident that
+Herod was informed of this occurrence. He feared that this infant, once
+grown to manhood, might avail himself of his prospective popularity to
+reconquer the throne of his ancestors. He sent out his men to seize the
+child, which the Israelites endeavored to hide from the wrath of the
+king, who then ordered the abominable massacre of the children, hoping
+that Jesus would perish in this vast human hecatomb. But Joseph's family
+had warning of the impending danger, and took refuge in Egypt.
+
+A short time afterward, they returned to their native country. The child
+had grown during those journeyings, in which his life was more than
+once exposed to danger. Formerly, as now, the Oriental Israelites
+commenced the instruction of their children at the age of five or six
+years. Compelled to constantly hide him from the murderous King Herod,
+the parents of Jesus could not allow their son to go out, and he, no
+doubt, spent all his time in studying the sacred Scriptures, so that his
+knowledge was sufficiently beyond what would naturally have been
+expected of a boy of his age to greatly astonish the elders of Israel.
+He had in his thirteenth year attained an age when, according to Jewish
+law, the boy becomes an adult, has the right to marry, and incurs
+obligations for the discharge of the religious duties of a man.
+
+There exists still, in our times, among the Israelites, an ancient
+religious custom that fixes the majority of a youth at the accomplished
+thirteenth year. From this epoch the youth becomes a member of the
+congregation and enjoys all the rights of an adult. Hence, his marriage
+at this age is regarded as having legal force, and is even required in
+the tropical countries. In Europe, however, owing to the influence of
+local laws and to nature, which does not contribute here so powerfully
+as in warm climates to the physical development, this custom is no more
+in force and has lost all its former importance.
+
+The royal lineage of Jesus, his rare intelligence and his learning,
+caused him to be looked upon as an excellent match, and the wealthiest
+and most respected Hebrews would fain have had him for a son-in-law,
+just as even nowadays the Israelites are very desirous of the honor of
+marrying their daughters to the sons of Rabbis or scholars. But the
+meditative youth, whose mind was far above anything corporeal, and
+possessed by the thirst for knowledge, stealthily left his home and
+joined the caravans going to India.
+
+It stands to reason that Jesus Christ should have thought, primarily, of
+going to India, first, because at that epoch Egypt formed part of the
+Roman possessions; secondly, and principally, because a very active
+commercial exchange with India had made common report in Judea of the
+majestic character and unsurpassed richness of the arts and sciences in
+this marvellous country, to which even now the aspirations of all
+civilized peoples are directed.
+
+Here the Evangelists once more lose the thread of the terrestrial life
+of Jesus. Luke says he "was in the deserts till the day of his shewing
+unto Israel" (Luke 1, 80), which clearly demonstrates that nobody knew
+where the holy youth was until his sudden reappearance sixteen years
+later.
+
+Arrived in India, this land of marvels, Jesus began to frequent the
+temples of the Djainites.
+
+There exists until today, on the peninsula of Hindustan, a sectarian
+cult under the name of Djainism. It forms a kind of connecting link
+between Buddhism and Brahminism, and preaches the destruction of all
+other beliefs, which, it declares, are corroded by falsehood. It dates
+from the seventh century before Jesus Christ and its name is derived
+from the word "djain" (conqueror), which was assumed by its founders as
+expressive of its destined triumph over its rivals.
+
+In sympathetic admiration for the spirit of the young man, the Djainites
+asked him to stay with them; but Jesus left them to settle in
+Djagguernat, where he devoted himself to the study of treatises on
+religion, philosophy, etc. Djagguernat is one of the chief sacred cities
+of Brahmins, and, at the time of Christ, was of great religious
+importance. According to tradition, the ashes of the illustrious
+Brahmin, Krishna, who lived in 1580 B.C., are preserved there, in the
+hollow of a tree, near a magnificent temple, to which thousands make
+pilgrimage every year. Krishna collected and put in order the Vedas,
+which he divided into four books--Richt, Jagour, Saman and Artafan;--in
+commemoration of which great work he received the name of Vyasa (he who
+collected and divided the Vedas), and he also compiled the Vedanta and
+eighteen Puranas, which contain 400,000 stanzas.
+
+In Djagguernat is also found a very precious library of Sanscrit books
+and religious manuscripts.
+
+Jesus spent there six years in studying the language of the country and
+the Sanscrit, which enabled him to absorb the religious doctrines,
+philosophy, medicine and mathematics. He found much to blame in
+Brahminical laws and usages, and publicly joined issue with the
+Brahmins, who in vain endeavored to convince him of the sacred character
+of their established customs. Jesus, among other things, deemed it
+extremely unjust that the laborer should be oppressed and despised, and
+that he should not only be robbed of hope of future happiness, but also
+be denied the right to hear the religious services. He, therefore, began
+preaching to the Sudras, the lowest caste of slaves, telling them that,
+according to their own laws, God is the Father of all men; that all
+which exists, exists only through Him; that, before Him, all men are
+equal, and that the Brahmins had obscured the great principle of
+monotheism by misinterpreting Brahma's own words, and laying excessive
+stress upon observance of the exterior ceremonials of the cult.
+
+Here are the words in which, according to the doctrine of the Brahmins,
+God Himself speaks to the angels: "I have been from eternity, and shall
+continue to be eternally. I am the first cause of everything that exists
+in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South, above and
+below, in heaven and in hell. I am older than all things. I am the
+Spirit and the Creation of the universe and also its Creator. I am
+all-powerful; I am the God of the Gods, the King of the Kings; I am
+Para-Brahma, the great soul of the universe."
+
+After the world appeared by the will of Para-Brahma, God created human
+beings, whom he divided into four classes, according to their colors:
+white (Brahmins), red (Kshatriyas), yellow (Vaisyas), and black
+(Sudras). Brahma drew the first from his own mouth, and gave them for
+their _appanage_ the government of the world, the care of teaching men
+the laws, of curing and judging them. Therefore do the Brahmins occupy
+only the offices of priests and preachers, are expounders of the Vedas,
+and must practice celibacy.
+
+The second caste of Kshatriyas issued from the hand of Brahma. He made
+of them warriors, entrusting them with the care of defending society.
+All the kings, princes, captains, governors and military men belong to
+this caste, which lives on the best terms with the Brahmins, since they
+cannot subsist without each other, and the peace of the country depends
+on the alliance of the lights and the sword, of Brahma's temple and the
+royal throne.
+
+The Vaisyas, who constitute the third caste, issued from Brahma's belly.
+They are destined to cultivate the ground, raise cattle, carry on
+commerce and practice all kinds of trades in order to feed the Brahmins
+and the Kshatriyas. Only on holidays are they authorized to enter the
+temple and listen to the recital of the Vedas; at all other times they
+must attend to their business.
+
+The lowest caste, that of the black ones, or Sudras, issued from the
+feet of Brahma to be the humble servants and slaves of the three
+preceding castes. They are interdicted from attending the reading of the
+Vedas at any time; their touch contaminates a Brahmin, Kshatriya, or
+even a Vaisya who comes in contact with them. They are wretched
+creatures, deprived of all human rights; they cannot even look at the
+members of the other castes, nor defend themselves, nor, when sick,
+receive the attendance of a physician. Death alone can deliver the
+Sudra from a life of servitude; and even then, freedom can only be
+attained under the condition that, during his whole life, he shall have
+served diligently and without complaint some member of the privileged
+classes. Then only it is promised that the soul of the Sudra shall,
+after death, be raised to a superior caste.
+
+If a Sudra has been lacking in obedience to a member of the privileged
+classes, or has in any way brought their disfavor upon himself, he sinks
+to the rank of a pariah, who is banished from all cities and villages
+and is the object of general contempt, as an abject being who can only
+perform the lowest kind of work.
+
+The same punishment may also fall upon members of another caste; these,
+however, may, through repentance, fasting and other trials, rehabilitate
+themselves in their former caste; while the unfortunate Sudra, once
+expelled from his, has lost it forever.
+
+From what has been said above, it is easy to explain why the Vaisyas and
+Sudras were animated with adoration for Jesus, who, in spite of the
+threats of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, never forsook those poor people.
+
+In his sermons Jesus not only censured the system by which man was
+robbed of his right to be considered as a human being, while an ape or a
+piece of marble or metal was paid divine worship, but he attacked the
+very life of Brahminism, its system of gods, its doctrine and its
+"trimurti" (trinity), the angular stone of this religion.
+
+Para-Brahma is represented with three faces on a single head. This is
+the "trimurti" (trinity), composed of Brahma (creator), Vishnu
+(conservator), and Siva (destroyer).
+
+Here is the origin of the trimurti:--
+
+In the beginning, Para-Brahma created the waters and threw into them the
+seed of procreation, which transformed itself into a brilliant egg,
+wherein Brahma's image was reflected. Millions of years had passed when
+Brahma split the egg in two halves, of which the upper one became the
+heaven, the lower one, the earth. Then Brahma descended to the earth
+under the shape of a child, established himself upon a lotus flower,
+absorbed himself in his own contemplation and put to himself the
+question: "Who will attend to the conservation of what I have created?"
+"I," came the answer from his mouth under the appearance of a flame. And
+Brahma gave to this word the name, "Vishnu," that is to say, "he who
+preserves." Then Brahma divided his being into two halves, the one male,
+the other female, the active and the passive principles, the union of
+which produced Siva, "the destroyer."
+
+These are the attributes of the trimurti; Brahma, creative principle;
+Vishnu, preservative wisdom; Siva, destructive wrath of justice. Brahma
+is the substance from which everything was made; Vishnu, space wherein
+everything lives; and Siva, time that annihilates all things.
+
+Brahma is the face which vivifies all; Vishnu, the water which sustains
+the forces of the creatures; Siva, the fire which breaks the bond that
+unites all objects. Brahma is the past; Vishnu, the present; Siva, the
+future. Each part of the trimurti possesses, moreover, a wife. The wife
+of Brahma is Sarasvati, goddess of wisdom; that of Vishnu, Lakshmi,
+goddess of virtue, and Siva's spouse is Kali, goddess of death, the
+universal destroyer.
+
+Of this last union were born, Ganesa, the elephant-headed god of wisdom,
+and Indra, the god of the firmament, both chiefs of inferior divinities,
+the number of which, if all the objects of adoration of the Hindus be
+included, amounts to three hundred millions.
+
+Vishnu has descended eight times upon the earth, incarnating in a fish
+in order to save the Vedas from the deluge, in a tortoise, a dwarf, a
+wild boar, a lion, in Rama, a king's son, in Krishna and in Buddha. He
+will come a ninth time under the form of a rider mounted on a white
+horse in order to destroy death and sin.
+
+Jesus denied the existence of all these hierarchic absurdities of gods,
+which darken the great principle of monotheism.
+
+When the Brahmins saw that Jesus, who, instead of becoming one of their
+party, as they had hoped, turned out to be their adversary, and that the
+people began to embrace his doctrine, they resolved to kill him; but his
+servants, who were greatly attached to him, forewarned him of the
+threatening danger, and he took refuge in the mountains of Nepaul. At
+this epoch, Buddhism had taken deep root in this country. It was a kind
+of schism, remarkable by its moral principles and ideas on the nature of
+the divinity--ideas which brought men closer to nature and to one
+another.
+
+Sakya-Muni, the founder of this sect, was born fifteen hundred years
+before Jesus Christ, at Kapila, the capital of his father's kingdom,
+near Nepaul, in the Himalayas. He belonged to the race of the Gotamides,
+and to the ancient family of the Sakyas. From his infancy he evinced a
+lively interest in religion, and, contrary to his father's wishes,
+leaving his palace with all its luxury, began at once to preach against
+the Brahmins, for the purification of their doctrines. He died at
+Koucinagara, surrounded by many faithful disciples. His body was burned,
+and his ashes, divided into several parts, were distributed between the
+cities, which, on account of his new doctrine, had renounced Brahminism.
+
+According to the Buddhistic doctrine, the Creator reposes normally in a
+state of perfect inaction, which is disturbed by nothing and which he
+only leaves at certain destiny-determined epochs, in order to create
+terrestrial buddhas. To this end the Spirit disengages itself from the
+sovereign Creator, incarnates in a buddha and stays for some time on
+the earth, where he creates Bodhisattvas (masters),[3] whose mission it
+is to preach the divine word and to found new churches of believers to
+whom they will give laws, and for whom they will institute a new
+religious order according to the traditions of Buddhism.
+
+A terrestrial buddha is, in a certain way, a reflection of the sovereign
+creative Buddha, with whom he unites after the termination of his
+terrestrial existence. In like manner do the Bodhisattvas, as a reward
+for their labors and the privations they undergo, receive eternal bliss
+and enjoy a rest which nothing can disturb.
+
+Jesus sojourned six years among the Buddhists, where he found the
+principle of monotheism still pure. Arrived at the age of twenty-six
+years, he remembered his fatherland, which was then oppressed by a
+foreign yoke. On his way homeward, he preached against idol worship,
+human sacrifice, and other errors of faith, admonishing the people to
+recognize and adore God, the Father of all beings, to whom all are alike
+dear, the master as well as the slave; for they all are his children, to
+whom he has given this beautiful universe for a common heritage. The
+sermons of Jesus often made a profound impression upon the peoples among
+whom he came, and he was exposed to all sorts of dangers provoked by the
+clergy, but was saved by the very idolators who, only the preceding day,
+had offered their children as sacrifices to their idols.
+
+While passing through Persia, Jesus almost caused a revolution among the
+adorers of Zoroaster's doctrine. Nevertheless, the priests refrained
+from killing him, out of fear of the people's vengeance. They resorted
+to artifice, and led him out of town at night, with the hope that he
+might be devoured by wild beasts. Jesus escaped this peril and arrived
+safe and sound in the country of Israel.
+
+It must be remarked here that the Orientals, amidst their sometimes so
+picturesque misery, and in the ocean of depravation in which they
+slumber, always have, under the influence of their priests and teachers,
+a pronounced inclination for learning and understand easily good common
+sense explications. It happened to me more than once that, by using
+simple words of truth, I appealed to the conscience of a thief or some
+otherwise intractable person. These people, moved by a sentiment of
+innate honesty,--which the clergy for personal reasons of their own,
+tried by all means to stifle--soon became again very honest and had only
+contempt for those who had abused their confidence.
+
+By the virtue of a mere word of truth, the whole of India, with its
+300,000,000 of idols, could be made a vast Christian country; but ...
+this beautiful project would, no doubt, be antagonized by certain
+Christians who, similar to those priests of whom I have spoken before,
+speculate upon the ignorance of the people to make themselves rich.
+
+According to St. Luke, Jesus was about thirty years of age when he began
+preaching to the Israelites. According to the Buddhistic chroniclers,
+Jesus's teachings in Judea began in his twenty-ninth year. All his
+sermons which are not mentioned by the Evangelists, but have been
+preserved by the Buddhists, are remarkable for their character of divine
+grandeur. The fame of the new prophet spread rapidly in the country, and
+Jerusalem awaited with impatience his arrival. When he came near the
+holy city, its inhabitants went out to meet him, and led him in triumph
+to the temple; all of which is in agreement with Christian tradition.
+The chiefs and elders who heard him were filled with admiration for his
+sermons, and were happy to see the beneficent impression which his words
+exercised upon the populace. All these remarkable sermons of Jesus are
+full of sublime sentiments.
+
+Pilate, the governor of the country, however, did not look upon the
+matter in the same light. Eager agents notified him that Jesus announced
+the near coming of a new kingdom, the reestablishment of the throne of
+Israel, and that he suffered himself to be called the Son of God, sent
+to bring back courage in Israel, for he, the King of Judea, would soon
+ascend the throne of his ancestors.
+
+I do not purpose attributing to Jesus the _role_ of a revolutionary, but
+it seems to me very probable that Jesus wrought up the people with a
+view to reestablish the throne to which he had a just claim. Divinely
+inspired, and, at the same time, convinced of the legitimacy of his
+pretentions, Jesus preached the spiritual union of the people in order
+that a political union might result.
+
+Pilate, who felt alarmed over these rumors, called together the priests
+and the elders of the people and ordered them to interdict Jesus from
+preaching in public, and even to condemn him in the temple under the
+charge of apostasy. This was the best means for Pilate to rid himself of
+a dangerous man, whose royal origin he knew and whose popularity was
+constantly increasing.
+
+It must be said in this connection that the Israelites, far from
+persecuting Jesus, recognized in him the descendant of the illustrious
+dynasty of David, and made him the object of their secret hopes, a fact
+which is evident from the very Gospels which tell that Jesus preached
+freely in the temple, in the presence of the elders, who could have
+interdicted him not only the entrance to the temple, but also his
+preachings.
+
+Upon the order of Pilate the Sanhedrim met and cited Jesus to appear
+before its tribunal. As the result of the inquiry, the members of the
+Sanhedrim informed Pilate that his suspicions were without any
+foundation whatever; that Jesus preached a religious, and not a
+political, propaganda; that he was expounding the Divine word, and that
+he claimed to have come not to overthrow, but to reestablish the laws of
+Moses. The Buddhistic record does but confirm this sympathy, which
+unquestionably existed between the young preacher, Jesus, and the elders
+of the people of Israel; hence their answer: "We do not judge a just
+one."
+
+Pilate felt not at all assured, and continued seeking an occasion to
+hale Jesus before a new tribunal, as regular as the former. To this end
+he caused him to be followed by spies, and finally ordered his arrest.
+
+If we may believe the Evangelists, it was the Pharisees who sought the
+life of Jesus, while the Buddhistic record most positively declares that
+Pilate alone can be held responsible for his execution. This version is
+evidently much more probable than the account of the Evangelists. The
+conquerors of Judea could not long tolerate the presence of a man who
+announced to the people a speedy deliverance from their yoke. The
+popularity of Jesus having commenced to disturb Pilate's mind, it is to
+be supposed that he sent after the young preacher spies, with the order
+to take note of all his words and acts. Moreover, the servants of the
+Roman governor, as true "agents provocateurs," endeavored by means of
+artful questions put to Jesus, to draw from him some imprudent words
+under color of which Pilate might proceed against him. If the preachings
+of Jesus had been offensive to the Hebrew priests and scribes, all they
+needed to do was simply to command the people not to hear and follow
+him, and to forbid him entrance into the temple. But the Evangelists
+tell us that Jesus enjoyed great popularity among the Israelites and
+full liberty in the temples, where Pharisees and scribes discussed with
+him.
+
+In order to find a valid excuse for condemning him, Pilate had him
+tortured so as to extort from him a confession of high treason.
+
+But, contrary to the rule that the innocent, overcome by their pain,
+will confess anything to escape the unendurable agonies inflicted upon
+them, Jesus made no admission of guilt. Pilate, seeing that the usual
+tortures were powerless to accomplish the desired result, commanded the
+executioners to proceed to the last extreme of their diabolic cruelties,
+meaning to compass the death of Jesus by the complete exhaustion of his
+forces. Jesus, however, fortifying his endurance by the power of his
+will and zeal for his righteous cause--which was also that of his people
+and of God--was unconquerable by all the refinements of cruelty
+inflicted upon him by his executioners.
+
+The infliction of "the question" upon Jesus evoked much feeling among
+the elders, and they resolved to interfere in his behalf; formally
+demanding of Pilate that he should be liberated before the Passover.
+
+When their request was denied by Pilate they resolved to petition that
+Jesus should be brought to trial before the Sanhedrim, by whom they did
+not doubt his acquittal--which was ardently desired by the people--would
+be ordained.
+
+In the eyes of the priests, Jesus was a saint, belonging to the family
+of David; and his unjust detention, or--what was still more to be
+dreaded--his condemnation, would have saddened the celebration of the
+great national festival of the Israelites.
+
+They therefore prayed Pilate that the trial of Jesus should take place
+before the Passover, and to this he acceded. But he ordered that two
+thieves should be tried at the same time with Jesus, thinking to, in
+this way, minimize in the eyes of the people, the importance of the fact
+that the life of an innocent man was being put in jeopardy before the
+tribunal; and, by not allowing Jesus to be condemned alone, blind the
+populace to the unjust prearrangement of his condemnation.
+
+The accusation against Jesus was founded upon the depositions of the
+bribed witnesses.
+
+During the trial, Pilate availed himself of perversions of Jesus' words
+concerning the heavenly kingdom, to sustain the charges made against
+him. He counted, it seems, upon the effect produced by the answers of
+Jesus, as well as upon his own authority, to influence the members of
+the tribunal against examining too minutely the details of the case, and
+to procure from them the sentence of death for which he intimated his
+desire.
+
+Upon hearing the perfectly natural answer of the judges, that the
+meaning of the words of Jesus was diametrically opposed to the
+accusation, and that there was nothing in them to warrant his
+condemnation, Pilate employed his final resource for prejudicing the
+trial, viz., the deposition of a purchased traitorous informer. This
+miserable wretch--who was, no doubt, Judas--accused Jesus formally, of
+having incited the people to rebellion.
+
+Then followed a scene of unsurpassed sublimity. When Judas gave his
+testimony, Jesus, turning toward him, and giving him his blessing, says:
+"Thou wilt find mercy, for what thou has said did not come out from
+thine own heart!" Then, addressing himself to the governor: "Why dost
+thou lower thy dignity, and teach thy inferiors to tell falsehood, when
+without doing so it is in thy power to condemn an innocent man?"
+
+Words touching as sublime! Jesus Christ here manifests all the grandeur
+of his soul by pardoning his betrayer, and he reproaches Pilate with
+having resorted to such means, unworthy of his dignity, to attain his
+end.
+
+This keen reproach enraged the governor, and caused him to completely
+forget his position, and the prudent policy with which he had meant to
+evade personal responsibility for the crime he contemplated. He now
+imperiously demanded the conviction of Jesus, and, as though he
+intended to make a display of his power, to overawe the judges, ordered
+the acquittal of the two thieves.
+
+The judges, seeing the injustice of Pilate's demand, that they should
+acquit the malefactors and condemn the innocent Jesus, refused to commit
+this double crime against their consciences and their laws. But as they
+could not cope with one who possessed the authority of final judgment,
+and saw that he was firmly decided to rid himself, by whatever means, of
+a man who had fallen under the suspicions of the Roman authorities, they
+left him to himself pronounce the verdict for which he was so anxious.
+In order, however, that the people might not suspect them of sharing the
+responsibility for such unjust judgment, which would not readily have
+been forgiven, they, in leaving the court, performed the ceremony of
+washing their hands, symbolizing the affirmation that they were clean of
+the blood of the innocent Jesus, the beloved of the people.
+
+About ten years ago, I read in a German journal, the _Fremdenblatt_, an
+article on Judas, wherein the author endeavored to demonstrate that the
+informer had been the best friend of Jesus. According to him, it was out
+of love for his master that Judas betrayed him, for he put blind faith
+in the words of the Saviour, who said that his kingdom would arrive
+after his execution. But after seeing him on the cross, and having
+waited in vain for the resurrection of Jesus, which he expected to
+immediately take place, Judas, not able to bear the pain by which his
+heart was torn, committed suicide by hanging himself. It would be
+profitless to dwell upon this ingenious product of a fertile
+imagination.
+
+To take up again the accounts of the Gospels and the Buddhistic
+chronicle, it is very possible that the bribed informer was really
+Judas, although the Buddhistic version is silent on this point. As to
+the pangs of conscience which are said to have impelled the informer to
+suicide, I must say that I give no credence to them. A man capable of
+committing so vile and cowardly an action as that of making an
+infamously false accusation against his friend, and this, not out of a
+spirit of jealousy, or for revenge, but to gain a handful of shekels!
+such a man is, from the psychic point of view, of very little worth. He
+ignores honesty and conscience, and pangs of remorse are unknown to him.
+
+It is presumable that the governor treated him as is sometimes done in
+our days, when it is deemed desirable to effectually conceal state
+secrets known to men of his kind and presumably unsafe in their keeping.
+Judas probably was simply hanged, by Pilate's order, to prevent the
+possibility of his some day revealing that the plot of which Jesus was a
+victim had been inspired by the authorities.
+
+On the day of the execution, a numerous detachment of Roman soldiers was
+placed around the cross to guard against any attempt by the populace for
+the delivery of him who was the object of their veneration. In this
+occurrence Pilate gave proof of his extraordinary firmness and
+resolution.
+
+But though, owing to the precautions taken by the governor, the
+anticipated revolt did not occur, he could not prevent the people, after
+the execution, mourning the ruin of their hopes, which were destroyed,
+together with the last scion of the race of David. All the people went
+to worship at Jesus' grave. Although we have no precise information
+concerning the occurrences of the first few days following the Passion,
+we could, by some probable conjectures, reconstruct the scenes which
+must have taken place.
+
+It stands to reason that the Roman Caesar's clever lieutenant, when he
+saw that Christ's grave became the centre of universal lamentations and
+the subject of national grief, and feared that the memory of the
+righteous victim might excite the discontent of the people and raise the
+whole country against the foreigners' rule, should have employed any
+effective means for the removal of this rallying-point, the mortal
+remains of Jesus. Pilate began by having the body buried. For three days
+the soldiers who were stationed on guard at the grave, were exposed to
+all kinds of insults and injuries on the part of the people who, defying
+the danger, came in multitudes to mourn the great martyr. Then Pilate
+ordered his soldiers to remove the body at night, and to bury it
+clandestinely in some other place, leaving the first grave open and the
+guard withdrawn from it, so that the people could see that Jesus had
+disappeared. But Pilate missed his end; for when, on the following
+morning, the Hebrews did not find the corpse of their master in the
+sepulchre, the superstitious and miracle-accepting among them thought
+that he had been resurrected.
+
+How did this legend take root? We cannot say. Possibly it existed for a
+long time in a latent state and, at the beginning, spread only among the
+common people; perhaps the ecclesiastic authorities of the Hebrews
+looked with indulgence upon this innocent belief, which gave to the
+oppressed a shadow of revenge on their oppressors. However it be, the
+day when the legend of the resurrection finally became known to all,
+there was no one to be found strong enough to demonstrate the
+impossibility of such an occurrence.
+
+Concerning this resurrection, it must be remarked that, according to the
+Buddhists, the soul of the just Issa was united with the eternal Being,
+while the Evangelists insist upon the ascension of the body. It seems to
+me, however, that the Evangelists and the Apostles have done very well
+to give the description of the resurrection which they have agreed upon,
+for if they had not done so, _i.e._, if the miracle had been given a
+less material character, their preaching would not have had, in the
+eyes of the nations to whom it was presented, that divine authority,
+that avowedly supernatural character, which has clothed Christianity,
+until our time, as the only religion capable of elevating the human race
+to a state of sublime enthusiasm, suppressing its savage instincts, and
+bringing it nearer to the grand and simple nature which God has
+bestowed, they say, upon that feeble dwarf called man.
+
+
+
+
+_Explanatory Notes_
+
+
+_Chapter III._
+
+_Secs. 3, 4, 5, 7_
+
+The histories of all peoples show that when a nation has reached the
+apogee of its military glory and its wealth, it begins at once to sink
+more or less rapidly on the declivity of moral degeneration and decay.
+The Israelites having, among the first, experienced this law of the
+evolution of nations, the neighboring peoples profited by the decadence
+of the then effeminate and debauched descendants of Jacob, to despoil
+them.
+
+_Sec. 8_
+
+The country of Romeles, _i.e._, the fatherland of Romulus; in our days,
+Rome.
+
+_Secs. 11, 12_
+
+It must be admitted that the Israelites, in spite of their incontestable
+wit and intelligence, seem to have only had regard for the present.
+Like all other Oriental peoples, they only in their misfortunes
+remembered the faults of their past, which they each time had to expiate
+by centuries of slavery.
+
+
+_Chapter IV_
+
+_Sec. 6_
+
+As it is easy to divine, this verse refers to Joseph, who was a lineal
+descendant from King David. Side by side with this somewhat vague
+indication may be placed the following passages from the Gospels:
+
+--"The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
+thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife" ... (Matt.
+i, 20.)
+
+--"And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried,
+saying, Hosanna to the son of David" (Matt. xxi, 9.)
+
+--"To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
+David;" ... (Luke i, 27.)
+
+--"And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David;"
+... (Luke i, 32.)
+
+--"And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as
+was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli ... which was
+the son of Nathan, which was the son of David" (Luke iii, 23-31.)
+
+_Sec. 7_
+
+Both the Old and the New Testaments teach that God promised David the
+rehabilitation of his throne and the elevation to it of one of his
+descendants.
+
+_Secs. 8, 9_
+
+--"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom,
+and the grace of God was upon him."
+
+--"And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the
+temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and
+asking them questions."
+
+--"And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and
+answers."
+
+--"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that
+I must be about my Father's business?"
+
+--"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
+man" (Luke ii, 40, 46, 47, 49, 52.)
+
+
+_Chapter V_
+
+_Sec. 1_
+
+"Sind," a Sanscrit word, which has been modified by the Persians into
+Ind. "Arya," the name given in antiquity to the inhabitants of India;
+signified first "man who cultivates the ground" or "cultivator."
+Anciently it had a purely ethnographical signification; this appellation
+assumed later on a religious sense, notably that of "man who believes."
+
+_Sec. 2_
+
+Luke says (i, 80): "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and
+was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel." The
+Evangelists say that Jesus was in the desert, the Buddhists explain this
+version of the Gospels by indicating where Jesus was during his absence
+from Judea. According to them he crossed the Sind, a name which,
+properly spoken, signifies "the river" (Indus). In connection with this
+word it is not amiss to note that many Sanscrit words in passing into
+the Persian language underwent the same transformation by changing the
+"s" into "h"; per example:
+
+_Sapta_ (in Sanscrit), signifying seven--_hafta_ (in Persian);
+
+_Sam_ (Sanscrit), signifying equal--_ham_ (Persian);
+
+_Mas_ (Sanscrit), meaning mouth--_mah_ (Persian); _Sur_ (Sanscrit),
+meaning sun--_hur_ (Persian); _Das_ (Sanscrit), meaning ten--_Dah_
+(Persian); _Loco citato_--and those who believed in the god Djain.
+
+There exists, even yet, on the peninsula of Hindustan, a cult under the
+name of Djainism, which forms, as it were, a link of union between
+Buddhism and Brahminism, and its devotees teach the destruction of all
+other beliefs, which they declare contaminated with falsehood. It dates
+as far back as the seventh century, B.C. Its name is derived from Djain
+(conqueror), which it assumed as the symbol of its triumph over its
+rivals.
+
+_Sec. 4_
+
+Each of the eighteen Puranas is divided into five parts, which, besides
+the canonical laws, the rites and the commentaries upon the creation,
+destruction and resurrection of the universe, deal with theogony,
+medicine, and even the trades and professions.
+
+
+_Chapter VI_
+
+_Sec. 12_
+
+Owing to the intervention of the British, the human sacrifices, which
+were principally offered to Kali, the goddess of death, have now
+entirely ceased. The goddess Kali is represented erect, with one foot
+upon the dead body of a man, whose head she holds in one of her
+innumerable hands, while with the other hand she brandishes a bloody
+dagger. Her eyes and mouth, which are wide open, express passion and
+cruelty.
+
+
+_Chapter VIII_
+
+_Secs. 3, 4_
+
+Zoroaster lived 550 years before Jesus. He founded the doctrine of the
+struggle between light and darkness, a doctrine which is fully expounded
+in the Zend-Avesta (Word of God), which is written in the Zend language,
+and, according to tradition, was given to him by an angel from Paradise.
+
+According to Zoroaster we must worship Mithra (the sun), from whom
+descend Ormuzd, the god of good, and Ahriman, the god of evil. The world
+will end when Ormuzd has triumphed over his rival, Ahriman, who will
+then return to his original source, Mithra.
+
+
+_Chapter X_
+
+_Sec. 16_
+
+According to the Evangelists, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which the
+Buddhistic version confirms, for only from Bethlehem, situated at a
+distance of about seven kilometres from Jerusalem, could the walls of
+this latter city be seen.
+
+
+_Chapter XI_
+
+_Sec. 15_
+
+The doctrine of the Redemptor is, almost in its entirety, contained in
+the Gospels. As to the transformation of men into children, it is
+especially known from the conversation that took place between Jesus and
+Nicodemus.
+
+
+_Chapter XII_
+
+_Sec. 1_
+
+--"Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
+unto Caesar, or not?" (Matt. xxii, 17.)
+
+_Sec. 3_
+
+--"Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which
+are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. xxii, 21;
+_et al._)
+
+
+_Chapter XIV_
+
+_Sec. 3_
+
+According to the Buddhistic belief, the terrestrial buddhas after death,
+lose consciousness of their independent existence and unite with the
+eternal Spirit.
+
+_Secs. 10, 11_
+
+Here, no doubt, reference is made to the activity of the Apostles among
+the neighboring peoples; an activity which could not have passed
+unnoticed at that epoch, because of the great results which followed the
+preaching of the new religious doctrine of love among nations whose
+religions were based upon the cruelty of their gods.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Without permitting myself indulgence in great dissertations, or too
+minute analysis upon each verse, I have thought it useful to accompany
+my work with these few little explanatory notes, leaving it to the
+reader to take like trouble with the rest.
+
+
+--_Finis_
+
+
+[1] The Vaisyas and Sudras castes.
+
+[2] Brahmins and Kshatriyas.
+
+[3] _Sanscrit_:--"He whose essence (sattva) has become intelligence
+(bhodi)," those who need but one more incarnation to become perfect
+buddhas, _i.e._, to be entitled to Nirvana.
+
+
+
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