ARAKKAL ALI RAJA'S ATTACK OF MALDIVES

Ali Raja of Arakkal had Blinded the Sultan

There is a reference to the Raja of Arakkal, Kannur, in Kerala, Kunhi Amsa II, in the book, Kingdom of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan (Sultanat-e-Khudadad in Urdu) by Mahmood Khan Mahmood, translated by Anwar Haroon. I quote:

Ali Raja became the ruler of the coastal areas and he further developed his naval forces and attacked the islands close to Malabar, from where the people who were non-Muslims used to attack and oppress the Maplas. He captured their Raja and gouged both his eyes. After the capture of their Raja, all the people of the island surrendered to the Navy Commander Ali Raja and he returned to Mangalore along with the Raja of the islands. When Hyder Ali came to know that Ali Raja had gouged out the eyes of the Raja of the islands, he apologized to him and allotted him the land which could get him enough income for his living and punished Ali Raja by taking away his Commander ship (page 49).

This is called platitude. The Raja of the islands, captured by Ali Raja, was not a non-Muslim. It was the Sultan Hasan 'Izz ud Din(1759-1766) of the Maldives, whom Ali Raja blinded after capturing.

The incident was in 1763, after Hyder Ali captured Bednur, in Shimoga, in Karnataka, from the Ikkeri King.

Arakkal Flag, earlier

When Hyder Ali overthrew Krishnaraja Wodeyar in Mysore in 1757, Kunhi Amsa declared, "God is powerful and his fruit shall ripen", and entered Hyder's service as Naval Chief. After the capture of Bednur, he invited Hyder Ali to Attack the Chirakkal King or Kolathiri.

Kunhi Amsa established a large and well-armed fleet of 10 dhows and 3o larger sketches, in the Indian Ocean, in an attempt to conquer islands that had withstood the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Ali Raja, Muhammad Ali II sent Mappila forces to help Aurangazeb, in the Child's War of 1686-1690. The Mappila force was sent in 1689, to be part of the strong Mughal fleet from Janji, commanded by Siddi Yaqub or Yaquat Khan, Mughal Admiral, from Murud Janjira, the Fort at Murud, Raigad, Maharashtra. (1) It was the only undefeated Fort on the Western Coast during all invasions. His fleet was manned by the Mappilas and Abyssinians.

English Surrender, 1690

The Child's War was fought between the English East India Company and the Mughal Empire. In 1682, the Company sent William Hedges to Shaista Khan, Mughal Governor of Bengal, to obtain firman to grant England regular trading privileges throughout the Empire. The Company's Governor in London, the economist, Josiah Child then interfered with Hedge's mission, causing Aurangzeb to break off negotiations. Child declared war with the Mughals and sent Vice Admiral Nicholson in 1685 with 10 ships carrying 12 to 70 guns each and 600 men, to be reinforced by 400 men from Madras. His instruction was to seize Chittagong. What happened to those ships is another story. 

In 1690, the English surrendered and pleaded pardon with Aurangzeb. The English had to prostrate before him and pay a huge indemnity. So, Arakkal had a tradition. Legend takes it to the time Cheraman Perumal-Perumal and Malik Bin Dinar reached Dharmadam, near Thalassery, where his sister Sreedevi was living and converted her son, Mahabali, who became Muhammad Ali. Ali, belonging to the Arayan kulangara Nair Family of Kolathiri chieftains, married a princess from the Kolathiri family, and the Arakkal branch began. In this legend, Perumal left for Mecca from the ancient Poynadu comprising, Edakkad, Ancharakkandi and Mavilayi, governed by Randuthara Achans. Arakkal followed the Matriarchal system of inheritance, in which, succession was only to the offspring of the females, a system followed by Nairs, for, the male members were dying early, fighting wars in the army. 

Muliagee Palace in Male built in 1906

The Arakkal Kingdom had little more than the Kannur town and the Lakshadweep Islands (Agatti, Kavaratti, Androth, Kalpeni and Minicoy), originally leased from the Chirakkal king. Two brothers from the Arakkal family, Mammali and Kunjikoyamu were in the Travancore Navy, during 1707-1720 (see my post, Three Malabar Pirates in Travancore).

Male Sultan's Palace,1885

The Sultanate of Maldives was established in 1153, overthrowing the Buddhist King, Dhovem, and the first Sultan was, Koimala. The embarking fleet of Kunhi Amsa from Lakshadweep and Kannur carried on board, in 1763, Sepoys and on its pennon, the colours of Hyder Ali. They captured the Maldives and enacted cruelties upon fellow Muslims there. The Sultan 'izz Ud din's eyes were gouged out. Kunhi Amsa returned to Bednur to pay homage to Hyder and present the Sultan before him. Hyder Ali was outraged to see the Sultan blind. Hyder ordered the insane Admiral Kunhi Amsa out of the Command of his fleet and begged forgiveness from the Sultan. The deeply afflicted Hyder arranged to escort the Sultan to the Maldives and sought solace by withdrawing from his palaces and living in simplicity.

Child

The Sultan, son of Huraa Mohammed Famukdeyri and Amina Dio, daughter of Mohammed Kateeb of Muli,  succeeded Amina of Maldives and established the Huraa dynasty.

Kunhi Amsa had also captured 'izz Ud din's predecessor, Sultan Muhammad ImaduddinIII(1750-1757)and held him captive in Kavaratty where he died in captivity. He was the second son of Sultan Muhammed Imaduddin II and Amina Dio of Fenfushi. His father, who was the Prime Minister to Sultan Ibrahim Mudzhiruddin, overthrew the Sultan, establishing the Dhuyamgili dynasty. Imaduddin III was captured by Kunhi Amsa in 1752, transported to Kavaratty and occupied Male until he died in captivity in 1757. The occupation was ended by Muleegey Dom Hussain Maniku, a direct descendant of the penultimate Christian King, Joao. After the death of Imaduddin III, Maldives was ruled by Regents-first by his sister, Sanifa Rerdi Kabafalanu and then by his daughter, Amina of Maldives. The de facto Regent was Maniku, and Amina succeeded after her father's death.

The estranged Kunhi Amsa was taken back as Admiral by Hyder Ali in 1766 when he attacked Malabar, and his brother, Sheikh Ali, was appointed, the Chief of Port Authority. Kunhi Amsa, his brother and their men seized the Chirakkal palace whereupon the king and family fled to Travancore, and relatives of the king took refuge in the Tiruvangad Temple, near Thalassery, and the Zamorin committed suicide at Kozhikode.

Shaista Khan

Kunhi Amsa and Junumabe II who succeeded him were staunch allies of Hyder and Tipu Sultan but didn't get any special treatment after the Srirangapattana treaty of 1792. She signed the agreement in 1796, with the British, but continued possession of Kannur and Lakshadweep, with no claim to sovereignty. Up to 1864, Arakkal Raja was entitled to a seven-gun salute. With the outbreak of the war between France with the British, Lakshadweep remained unnoticed, but the British occupation became permanent there in 1875. On December 15,1908, all claims of Arakkal ended, agreeing to an annual pension of Rs 23,000, the claim to Minicoy as private property was also rejected.

________________________

1. In 1686, the East India Company, which had unsuccessfully tried to obtain a firman that would grant them regular trading privileges throughout the Mughal Empire, initiated the Anglo-Mughal War. This war ended in disaster for the English after Aurangzeb in 1689 dispatched a large fleet from Janjira that blockaded Bombay. The ships, commanded by Sidi Yaqub, were manned by Indians and Mappilas.

-Faruki, Zahiruddin (1972) [First published 1935]. Aurangzeb & His Times. Bombay: Idarah-i Adabiyāt-i Delli. p. 442.

Reference:

1. Malabar Manual/Logan
2. Kerala Muslim History/P A Syed Mohammed 
3. A Survey of Kerala History/A Sreedhara Menon
4. A History of Bengal/Charles Stewart

See my Post, THREE MALABAR PIRATES IN TRAVANCORE

  

A KANNUR BRIDE FOR THE SON OF TIPU SULTAN

TIPU AND THE ARAKKAL FAMILY TIED THE KNOT IN 1789

In his book,Splendors of Royal Mysore:The Untold Story of the Wodeyars,Vikram Sampath alludes to a mysterious part in the life of Tipu Sultan.I quote:
The confirmed resistance of the Nairs and the tacit under standing and support they received from the British became a nightmare for Tipu.This was the most decisive event during his reign,other than the attacks of the Nizam and Marathas or subjugating the Wodeyar family in Mysore.He entered into matrimonial alliance with the Arakkal family to consolidate his position,in Malabar.His son,Abdul Khaliq was married to Arakkal Bibi's daughter.He even sent further requests to the British at Tellicherry to refrain from helping the rebels in Malabar.

Tipu's sons handed over to Corwallis:Painting by Robert Home,1793-94

Sampath has not revealed the source of this information.A Sreedhara Menon,in his History of Kerala, records:Tipu visited Kannur and celebrated the nuptial ceremony of his son,Abdul Khaliq,with the daughter of Arakkal Beevi.After transferring some territory of Kolathiri, to Beevi,he went to Chavakkad by the sea shore,and from there, to Coimbatore.
 

Abdul Khaliq

The period of the marriage was,1789,according to East India Company records.It was when Tipu descended on Malabar through the Thamarassery ghat.Born in 1782,his son  Khaliq was just seven year old then.Three years later,in 1792,he was held a hostage,with his young brother,Muizz-ud-din,by the British,as part of the treaty of Srirangapattana.Khaliq was just 24,when he died on September 12,1806.

Arakkal Palace

On cross checking,I  found the marriage, has been mentioned in the Malabar Manual of William Logan,itself:Tipu visited Kannur and solemnized the preliminary ceremonies of a marriage between Bibi's daughter and Khaliq.
The decision of the marriage,was politically correct. A relationship with Arakkal , the only Muslim kingdom in Kerala,would have served his interests in the region,very well.Hyder Ali's wish to marry off Tipu to a daughter of the Nizam was once rejected by the Nizam,on the ground that Hyder was just a Punjabi commoner.Then,Hyder fixed a Navayat girl, Raushan Begum,daughter of Imam Saheb Bakshi of Arcot.Tipu himself chose,Ruqayya Banu,his child hood flame,daughter of General Lala Milan who died in the battle of Melkote.She was also the sister of Commander Burhanuddin.Tipu married both, the same evening,in 1774,when he was 24.
Then,Arakkal Raja was,Junumabe II.Her predecessor,Kunhi Amsa II had died in 1777.She ruled the kingdom during, 1777-1819.In the Arakkal family,even the female ruler was called Raja.There is historical evidence of Tipu meeting her,which will be discussed later.

Ghulam Ali handing over Sons

When Hyder Ali overthrew Krishna Raja Wodeyar II in 1759,Kunhi Amsa II  declared allegiance,and Hyder made him  the Naval Chief.In 1752,Kunhi Amsa had captured the Sultan Muhammad Imaduddin III(1750-1757) of Maldives,transported him to Kavaratti,part of Lakshadweep under Kunhi Amsa.He died in captivity.After becoming Hyder's Naval Chief,Kunhi Amsa captured the then Sultan of Maldives,Hasan 'izz Ud-din(1759-1766) and presented him to Hyder,after gouging out his eyes.Hyder,apologized to the Sultan for gouging out the eyes, gave him back the Sultanate and divested Kunhi Amsa of the Navy Commander ship.The relationship was recouped after the conquest of Bednur,in 1763,to crush the Nair rebellion.Ali Raja Muhammad Ali III had sent Mapila forces to help the Mughal King Aurangazeb, during the Child's war of 1686-1690.Sir Josiah Child was the Governor in London.Arakkal lineage was much more royal than that of Tipu.It traces its beginning to the Commander of Kolathiri,Arayankulangara Nair,embracing Islam,alongwith his wife,who was a princess from the Kolathiri family.
It is certain that the child marriage didn't mature or bear fruits.Before dying in 1806,at the young age of 24,Khaliq saw the empire falling and he went through hell.

Fatheh Hyder Ali

Tipu Sultan(1750-1799),had 16 sons in various women,and the last son died at child birth in 1797,two years before his death.His 11th son,Muhammad Nizam Ud din died the same year he was born,in,1791.History has the other 14:Fateh Hyder Ali(1771-1815),Abdul Khaliq(1782-1806),Muhi Ud din(1783-1811),Muizz-Ud din(1783-1816),Miraj Ud din(1784-),Muin Ud din(1784-),Muhammad Yasin(1784-1849),Muhammad Subhan(1785-1845),Muhammad Shukrullah(1785-1837),Sarwar Ud din(1790-1833),Muhammad Jamal Ud din(1795-1872),Munir Ud din(1795-1837),Sir Gulam Muhammed(1795-1872),Ghulam Ahmed(1796-1824).

Khaliq from the top painting

He had two sons in 1782,three in 1784,two in 1785 and three in 1795! That he begot three sons in 1795 is interesting since,the treaty of Srirangapattana was in 1792,and after that he was spending most of the time in his harem or zanana.Captain Thomas Marriot who was in charge of the harem,has recorded that there were 333 women of Tipu including servants and 268 women of Hyder and few eunuchs in the harem.The eunuchs were the gate keepers of the women's apartments.The women were from near and far-there were Turks,Georgians,Persians and there were women from Arcot,Thanjavur,Hyderabad and Delhi,apart from locals.There were two sisters of the Raja of Coorg,a niece of his Dewan Purnaiya and three relatives of the Wodeyars.George V Valentia,who visited the harem after the death of Tipu,has written in his Voyage and Travels,that each lady furnished her apartment according to the fashion of her country.Apart from Tipu,his confidential friend,Rajah Khan had free access to the women.If in Constantinople,the woman of the day was selected at the fall of a kerchief,here Tipu conveyed his intention to the Chief Minister,who in turn,known it to the woman.A diary was found after Tipu's death which  contained,in his own hand writing,names of the girls in the principal families with their age annexed.

Muizz-Ud-din

The harem was also a safe place for a woman,according to the book,Tarikh-i-Tipu,of Kirmani.The wife of Abdul Karim,Tipu's brother,was found in Hyder's harem.She was the daughter of the Nawab of Savanoor,ill treated by Karim.She was placed in the harem by Tipu.I don't know whether the claim of the author is right or wrong.Karim's son,Fatheh Hyder Ali,has also been referred to as Tipu's elder son in records.I have read the last Raja of Coorg,Chikkaveera Rajendra had made his father's women in the harem,his own concubines.Kirmani says,Tipu had sent back captured wives of Maratha sardars with gifts.But from Coorg and the Palegar family of Chitradurga,Tipu had forcibly taken princesses.

Muhi-Ud-din

Tipu,as I said before,married for the first time in 1774 when he was 24 and last probably in 1796 when he was 46.Among the first two wives,the one found by Haider was wife  in name only. She,Raushan, was called Padshah Begum.Taking her as Tipu's wife was resisted by the womenfolk in the palace,because,there were 'unpleasant rumors' about her family.His favorite,Ruqayya died in 1799,during the siege of Srirangapattana, out of shock.He married his last wife,Khadija Zaman Begum,daughter of Sayid Saheb,who was in the service of Tipu, in 1795.She died next year in child birth.There is a document called,Authentic Memoirs of Tipu Sultan,written by a British Army officer,which says,Tipu's wife was about 20, delicate and captivating.This has to be Khadija.So,Tipu had three official wives.The British took Tipu's sons,Abdul Khaliq and Muizz Ud din,in 1792,as hostages,at the end of the third Mysore war.Khaliq,the second son was, born in 1782,and Muizz,the fourth son,a year later,in 1783. Eyewitness accounts of the Siege say that Khaliq was 8 and Muizz 5.It is wrong.Khaliq, was 10 and Muizz,9. Khaliq was the favorite of the Governor General Charles Cornwallis and Lady Oakley,wife of the Governor of Madras,Charles Oakley.Maybe the frailty gave the child less age.It will not be wrong to assume Khaliq and Muizz  were born to Ruqayya Banu,because,Khaliq and Muizz were in the palace,and Ruqayya finally died in the palace. The women who didn't beget sons,were,discarded at the harem.The Kannur marriage gets some authenticity now,as Khaliq,in all probability,is the son of Ruqayya,though there is a theory that Khaliq was the son of a Hindu wife of Tipu.The eyewitness account of 1799 says the mother of the boys died of fright after the attack.It was Ruqayya.

Muhammad Subhan

The article 2 of the treaty of Srirangapattana ,1792 said:That the two sons of Tipu shall be detained as hostages till the stipulated sum to be paid at 3 installments,not exceeding 4 months each, shall be discharged-on payment there of,and the cession of one half the country and release of the prisoners-the said 2 sons shall be immediately dismissed.
It took not 4 months,but 18 months,for the release and return of the sons,Khaliq and Muizz Ud din.But all the sons along with family and relatives,about 300,were captured and confined after the Fourth Mysore war and the assassination of Tipu in 1799.So Khaliq became a hostage a second time,at age 17.He lived for 7 more years.

The world got the eye witness account of the 1792 hostage scene from A Narrative  of the Campaign in India Which Terminated the War with Tipoo Sultan,in 1792,by Major Alexander Dirom.He describes:The eldest boy,rather dark in color,with thick lips,a small flattish nose,and a long thoughtful countenance was less admired that the youngest,who is remarkably fair,with regular features,a small round face,large full eyes,and a more animated appearance".The only artist present at the scene was,Robert Home,who was the official war artist of the third Mysore war.

 

Muhammad Yasin

Khalik and Muizz,were delivered to Lord Cornwallis the Governor General,on February 26,1792,by the Vakil of Tipu,Ghulam Ali Khan."These children were this morning the sons of Sultan my master,their situation is now changed,and they must look up to your Lordship as their Father",Ghulam Ali said,as he led them to Cornwallis. Ghulam Ali(1758-1863)Senior Mysore Military Commander,had traveled to Constantinople to meet Sultan Abdul Hamid I during 1786-1790,from Malabar(Tadri port in records)and returned via Alexandria,Jeddah to Kozhikode.He accompanied the sons to Madras. The Madras Council voted 1663 pagodas for the accommodation of the sons  in the Fort St George of Madras.Cornwallis was appointed Governor of the Fort William,Bengal,in February,1786.In the painting by Home,he has included himself in the scene,standing in the left fore ground,holding a port folio.Home was the son of a Scot from Berwick.When the hostage sons left in the afternoon,Tipu was on the rampart,above the gateway.They were received with 21 gun salute near the tent,and met by,Sir John Kennaway and the Maratha and Nizam Vakils,or Commanders.They were led to the Head Quarters,each mounted on caparisoned elephants,seated in silver gowder.The procession was led by Camel harcarras and seven standard bearers carrying small green flags suspended from rockets,followed by 100 pikanen,with spears inlaid with silver, a guard of 200 Sepoys, and a part of horse.At HQ,they were received by a Battalion of Bengal Sepoys,commanded by Captain Thomas Welsh.Enroute to Madras,they visited Hyder's tomb at Kolar,and arrived at Madras on 29 June 1792.Before occupying a house at Fort St George,they stayed in tents.Col John Doyeton was their guardian.

The real Tipu:Portrait by John Zottam.1780.

Elaborate exchanges of gifts happened from next day.Cornwallis gave each a gold watch,following day,Khaliq and Muizz gave him,a Persian sword,jewels and shawls.Corwallis gave a Gun and a pair of pistols.Two palanquins,never unpacked,were found in the palace in 1799.
 

The Palanquin of Khaliq

In 1794 February,after fulfillment of the treaty,when Khaliq and Muizz prepared to return to Srirangapattana,Cornwallis and Lady Oakley presented to Khaliq,the 'most beautiful palanquin in India,ornamented with solid silver and gold moldings,each side supported by decorative snakes.Muizz used to recite Quranic and Persian verses to Cornwallis.Both were introduced to the Madras social scene with dance,music and dinners.
Now,coming back to the historical background of the marriage,Arakkal Junumabe II had sought protection from the East India Company in 1789, and stated positively that Tipu will be coming shortly to the coast with the whole force.She,it seems,was playing a deep game.Tipu's visit  primarily,was to appease the warring Kannur chieftains.Though the Mappilas of the coast were with the Beevi,the Mappila s of the South resisted Tipu's authority,and posed a threat to the Beevi.After Hyder's death in 1782,Beevi had signed an agreement with the Company,a year before the Mangaluru treaty of the Company,with Tipu.By 1789,she had been reinstated in her territory.Tipu's entry to Malabar in 1789,was his second,as all Rajas and Chieftains of North Malabar revolted and declared independence from Mysore.He devastated Kadathanad just before the marriage ceremony.One of the princes of Kolathiri, was killed by Tipu's soldiers during his escape and his dead body was dragged by elephants through Tipu's camp and subsequently hung upon a tree,along with 17 of his followers.Tipu,after the ceremony,handed over a portion of Chirakkal to the Beevi,and by the projected marriage,the trouble from the rebellious Mappila s in the South rapidly disappeared,and they stood on the side of Tipu's troops,later.He left Malabar,never to return.

Dirom's book

A year before,in 1788,Tipu had sent Mohammed Dervich Khan,Akbar Ali Khan and Mohmmed Osman Khan as Ambassadors to King Louis XVI of France.They informed the French government Tipu desired one of his sons received education in Paris.The French approved of the idea,if,before leaving for Paris,or in the course of his journey,the prince could learn to read and write,French,learn a little Calculus and Arithmetic. Louis XVI,who had commissioned a substantial diplomatic gift of Sevres porcelain for Tipu,persuaded one of the Ambassadors to sit for his portrait to Mme Yigee Le Brun.It seems,Tipu had decided to sent Khaliq to Paris.

Muhammad Shukrullah

When the British learned of Tipu's order in 1799,to the Dutch agents in Paris,to procure arms and ammunition,the British started the Fourth Mysore war,killing Tipu.This time,it was Major General David Baird,who received the surrender of Tipu's sons.After the death of Tipu,Baird asked Major Alexander Allan to enter the Fort carrying the flag of truce.He recognized one of the hostage sons.The General was severely affected by the sight of the princes.He received them with regard,assuring no violence.He gave them in charge to Lt Col Patrick Agnew and Captain Marriot.They conducted the princes to the Head Quarters camp,escorted by the 8th  Company of the 33rd Regiment.As they passed,the troops were ordered to pay compliment of presented arms.On June 19,they were transferred to Vellore Fort and eventually on 20 August,1806,to Kolkata,after the Mutiny in the Vellore Fort in the early hours of 10 July,the day of Tipu's daughter's wedding.It was the first war of Independence,51 years before,1857.If in 1857,Bahadur Shah Zafar was declared King,the Vellore mutineers declared Shehzada Fatheh Hyder Ali,elder son of Tipu,as King(he is also referred as Tipu's brother Abdul Karim's son).He had escaped the captivity at Vellore Fort and joined the Maratha Forces,in 1801.The British feared the presence of Tipu's descendants in South India.A descendant of Tipu,Noor Inayat Khan,became an Allied spy during Second World war.Her father Hazrat Inayat Khan,was a descendant of the uncle of Tipu Sultan.The 14th and last surviving son of Tipu,Sir Gulam Muhammad Khan,was recognized by the British as the official Head of the family,and was knighted in 1870.He died of dengue fever in 1872.His family branch and estate still survives.
The Arakkal kingdom came to an end in 1790,the year in which St Angelo Fort in Kannur was stormed by General Robert Abercromby.The Dutch had sold the Fort to Arakkal for One lakh,in 1772,along with the palace.

Reference:
1.History of Tipu Sultan/Mohibul Hassan
2. History of Kerala/A Sreedhara Menon
3.Splendors of Royal Mysore/Vikram Sampath
4.A Narrative of the Campaign in India/Major Alexander Dirom
5.Tarikh-i-Tipu/Hussein Ali Khan Kirmani
6.Voyage and Travels/George Valentia
7.Ali Raja of Cannanore/K K N Kurup
8.Tipu Sultan's Search for Legitimacy/Kate Brittlebank
9.Indian Renaissance:British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India/Hermione De Almeida
10.Kingdom of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan/Mahmood Khan Mahmood.Trans:Anwar Haroon
11.The Chirakkal Dynasty:Readings through History/M Sini
Note:The charcoal sketches of the sons are by James Hickey

See my Post,MUHAMMAD AYAZ KHAN(NAMBIAR)









 





 

AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

THE THEORY OF HIS MARRIAGE HAS NO BASIS

As one interested in the life of Jesus, I read with curiosity, the news of a book on Jesus' so called marriage to Mary Magdalene. The book,the news said, will be called, The Lost Gospel: Decoding Ancient Text that Reveal Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene. It was authored by media producer Simcha Jacobovici with a professor, Barrie Wilson. Simcha was known to be a peddler of misguiding theories, earlier trying to promote an ossuary as containing the bone of Jesus' brother,  James, by developing a documentary that claimed to unveil the Jesus' family tomb, and by claiming to have uncovered the nails used in Jesus' crucifixion. All proved to be hoaxes. The astounding 'revelation'  in the book is, Mary Magdalene was the same as Virgin Mary. Now the New Testament scholar Grey Carey has assessedthat the Lost Gospel is neither lost nor a gospel. It is an ancient Jewish novel, Joseph and Aseneth, a simple novel, ands so, there is nothing to decode.

The Crucifixion by Giotto (C.1320).First image of Jesus

Even the theory of his marriage is not new. It is there in the Gospel of Philip, which is part of the Nag Hammadi texts. Nag Hammadi is a city, in Upper Egypt,on the west bank of the Nile,where a collection of 12 leather bound papyrus texts were found in 1945, which form the Gnostic gospels. If we piece together the life of Jesus in India, it will become evident that he belonged to a sect,which led a yogic life,abhorring the life with women. Jesus Lived in India, by Holger Kersten, is an important book, but no mention is made in it about an important text, The Crucifixion by an Eyewitness, along with some other books.

The Crucifixion, an old parchment, was found while excavating an ancient house, in the antique city of Aquila in Naples, in 1810 by Commissioners of Arts of the French Army. The house which was owned by the Essenees earlier was later occupied by  Grecian friars. This document was published in German in 1873, and a copy found its way to a Freemason in Massachusetts, and got published in English in 1907. A copy was brought to India by Swami Abhedananda from the US in 1921. Abhedananda was a contemporary of Vivekananda in the same Mission-a far superior genius in Phiosophy than Vivekananda. The latter always kept the other at a distance. I have read the 1o volumes of Collected Works of Vivekananda, but has read only three volumes of the total 24 of Abhedananda. I found these first at the home of Perumbadavam Sreedharan, the writer, at Thamalam, Thiruvananthapuram, and bought them from Kolkata, later.

Nag Hammadi Scrolls

The Crucifixion was written by an Esseneer, member of the Essenees monks sect, of which Jesus was a member, to a friend in Alexandria, just 7 years after the execution. The document contains the death warrant of Jesus, prepared by the Governor of lower Galilee, Pontius Pilate. It orders the first Centurion, Quilius Cornelius to lead Jesus to the place of execution. The witnesses who signed condemnation of Jesus are four: Daniel Robani, Joannes Robani, Raphael Robani, all Pharisees, and Capet, a citizen. The warrant says, Jesus shall go out of the city, by the gate of Struenus.

To me, all this is amazing, and confusing, too. The authenticity of this document has been questioned on the grounds that the original is claimed to be in Latin, and it was found as parchment. Latin is not a probability and ancient documents were in papyrus. The writer has used the four gospels, and the exclusion of super natural in the text is modern.

The Crucifixion affirms Jesus didn't die on the cross. He was restored to life through tender and careful nursing of the influential Joseph of Arimathea, and the Physician Nicodemus. Jesus fell into a death like trance and as Esseer brothers were conversant with the medical sciences interfered. The Crucifixion is silent on what happened to Jesus after he was rescued. It is assumed that the silence was because of the instruction of the Order. The later life of Jesus was claimed to have found recorded in the Hemis Gompa monastery in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, in 1887 by the Russian traveler Nicholas Aleksandrovich Notovich.

It is the biggest Himalayan Monastery, 45 kilometers from Leh, situated at a height of 12000 feet. Notovich, the Belarusian Jew, claimed to have browsed through 84000 scrolls of manuscripts, on the life of Isa and wrote, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. Max Muller exposed his claims by writing to the Monastery. In 1899, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed wrote Jesus in India refuting the claim Jesus was in India, before Crucifixion. But Swami Abhedananda, in 1922, went to the same monastery, found the scrolls, and wrote in Bengali, Kashmere-o-Tibbate. This is also not mentioned in Kresten's book. Abhedananda's claim was questioned by Richard Hooper in 2012. In 1975, Susanta Kumar Chattopadhyay went to Hemis to make a documentary, and wrote an article in 1978. He has not recorded, seeing the scrolls.

Notovich

The group which claims Jesus was in India argue that Jesus, after crucifixion, escaped to Kashmir traveling from Tibet, visited Benares, Gaya, died in Kashmir, and was buried at Roza Bal in Khaniyar. Viceroy Lord Irwin visited it in 1930. Two books, Jesus died in Kashmir by Andreas Faber-Kaiser and Did Christ Live and Die in Kashmir? by Iqbal Kaul, find no mention in Kresten's book. Academics who do research have a tendency not to reveal the names of the primary books they used in Bibliography, while even mentioning the pedestrian- I don't know whether this is the case with Kresten. He has been accused of re-packaging old claims, by some scholars.

Jesus was not a well known person during his time. Philo the Alexandrian historian, who died about CE 50, didn't know him. Flavius Josephus the historian, who wrote Jewish Antiquity, born in CE 37, mentioned Jesus' execution, in just a few lines, without referring the Christians. Jesus was born in Nazareth, a small town of Galilee, about the Roman year 750. The name Jesus was an alteration of the popular name Joshua. Around CE 28 (1st year of the reign of Tiberius), the reputation of Johanes or John the Baptist spread in Palestine. Born in Juttah, on the Eastern shore of the Dead Sea near Hebron, he looked like a Yogi, clothed in Camel's hair, eating locusts and drinking wild honey. He was Jesus' Guru, in the Essenees Sect, the abode of which was near John's birth place, on the Western shore of the Dead Sea. King Herod, who was troubled by the birth of Jesus, belonged to the Sadducee sect, nopposed to the sect of Jesus. After his death, the artisan parents of Jesus escaped from Egypt to Galilee. The Evangelist Luke mentions the decree of taxation, as reason for their escape to Nazreth-the taxation, historically, happened only later. Luke says the taxation was decreed by Caesar Augustus, when Cyrenius was the Governor of Syria,during King Herod's reign. But Cyrenius was appointed to this Office, long after the death of Herod.

Hemis Monastery

The Gospel of Mathew and Luke  is silent on Jesus' childhood, except the mention of his visit to the Temple,with his parents, to take part in Passover, at age 12. It was the age in which Jews were capable of participating in sacred rites. When the parents went home, he was missing. They found him in the Temple on the third day, arguing with the scholars. Three women always accompanied him: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, wife of Chuza, one of the stewards of Antipas and Susanna. For 18 months, he avoided going to the Temple or Jerusalem. At the Feast of Tabernacles of CE 32, his relatives pressed him and he went almost alone, far away from the Caravan. The feast, established by Judas Maccabeas, in memory of purification of the Temple, after sacrileges of Antochius Epiphanes, usually fell at the autumnal equinox. It was also called the Fealty of Lights because, lamps were lighted in houses for eight days of the feast. A Dipavali. It was his farewell to Galilee, an area inhabited by Essenees and so despised by the opposite faction of Pharisees. From there, he went to Peren and to the banks of the Jordan river.

The next day, Sunday March 29, he descended from Bethany to Jerusalem. His enemies decided not to catch him on Friday, the beginning of Passover, fearing an outbreak, on his arrest. He won't be arrested at the Temple too. So, it was decided to arrest him on Thursday, 02, April. Judas of Kerioth sought him everywhere.The Passover was to commence next day evening, with eating the Paschal lamb-for the next seven days, only unleavened bread was eaten. So,his last meal was not the ritual feast of Passover, as the Church wants us to believe. It is owing to the error of a day in reckoning. Though the first three Gospels say Judas betrayed him for money offered by the Pharisee priests, the fourth says that on the occasion of the meal in Bethany, Judas was indignant at the anointing as an unnecessary extravaganza,that he carried the purse and acted the thief in that Office. It was nightfall when they left the room. They passed through the valley of Kedron, and Judas kissed him, the identification sign to the enemy camp. Peter drew his sword and wounded the ear of Malachus.nThe rest is history.

Foot prints of Jesus/Roza Bal tomb

Jesus was brought to the Judgement Hall, adjoining the Tower of Antonia, next morning. He was whipped, but the Jewish law prohibited more than 40 lashes. Crucifixion was  not Jewish in origin. First known practice of it was by Persians, Alexander and his Generals brought it to the Mediterranean world, Egypt and Carthage. The Romans learned it from Carthaginians. It was reserved for slaves, inferior people. Hence Jesus was crucified along with two thieves. Otherwise, it was death by sword.

The place of execution, Golgotha has not been identified so far. The word means skull, so a place like a bald skull. It has to be somewhere between Kedron and Honnom valleys, north or north west of Jerusalem. It happened around 3'0 clock in the after noon. The first two gospels d0 not mention any of the 12 disciples were present. Several Galilean women were there. Among them three Marys: Magdalene, his mother, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Mark). The wonderful movie, The Gospel According to St Mathew (1964), by Pasolini, comes to my mind. His own mother donned the role of the mother of Jesus!

I was retelling the story of Jesus so far, to reach this moment, but the Fourth Gospel says two men performed the Office of the Embalming, winding it in linen clothes. The women provided spices and ointments. Both Mathew and Luke say the Body was taken safely by disciples to a secret hilly place,for embalming. So, Jesus didn't die on the Cross; it is there in The Bible itself. Do you apply ointments to a dead body?

Pilate

The term resurrection is symbolic. I have no intention to philosophize.

Jewish custom doesn't allow the crucified to hang on the Cross over night. In the letter of the Esseer in The Crucifixion, emphasis is given to Jesus' wound on the side. Nicodemus the Physician knew Jesus was not dead because if Jesus had died, the wound would not have bled for such a long time. Nicodemus sent Joseph of Arimathea, the influential, to Pilate, and he himself went to collect proper drugs,pretending he wanted to embalm the body.

The Eye Witness letter speaks about the wound above the hip. So, this wound was lower down than what is generally believed. No vital organs were damaged. The spear pierced only the skin. His feet was not pierced, as it was not the custom at crucifixions. The earth quake that happened then electrified Jesus' nerves. I want to underline the information that Joseph was sent to Pilate. For What? Of Course to facilitate the rescue operation.

During the life of Jesus, the Tau Cross, in the shape of, 'T', was used. We think Jesus carried the entire cross, seeing the myriad paintings. It was not so.The victim carried only the Platibulum or the cross arm, weighing about 110 pounds or 50 kilograms, to the place of execution. The Stipes, or upright post was permanently fixed there, and the Platibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the Stipes.

The victim was never nailed on the palms, the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrist, radial and Ulna. Luke the physician in his gospel, says that at Gethsemane, Jesus' sweat became drops of blood. In modern medicine, this is called Hematidrosis. Under emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can burst.

The crucifixion usually ended with crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs, which prevented the victim from pushing himself upward. The legs of the thieves were broken, but Jesus was spared, thus giving him a chance to survive. The line in the gospel of John, And immediately there came out blood and water, specifies Jesus didn't suffer suffocation.

Abhedananda

The bodily ascension of Jesus to heaven, in Mark and Luke is disproved by Paul's first letter to the Corinthians(15:5:50): Now this I say, Brethren,that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The two disciples present, Mathew and John, doesn't mention, ascension. Bodily ascension is there in several Indian texts: for instance, Sundara Murthy Nayanar ascended to heaven from Thiruvanchikulam temple in Kerala.

Resurrection is an absurd theory propagated by the Church. It belittles sacrifice. If there is resurrection, there is no sacrifice through death. If Jesus resurrected, he fails in comparison with the sacrifice of Prometheus, who stole fire for the entire humanity from Olympus. Zeus chained him to a rock, so that vultures could eat his liver. Prometheus would have definitely failed to impress the world, if he had popped back to life, by resurrection. No sacrifice is compensated by resurrection. There is no martyrdom by resurrection. A martyr resurrects only in the minds of the humanity. It is better to think Jesus didn't resurrect, but he survived.

The eye witness account has a description of Jesus, in the form of a letter by Publius Lentulus, Governor of Judea, predecessor of Pilate: Jesus was noble,beautiful. His hair color was of ripe chest nut, shoulders was color of earth. Hair parted in the middle of fore head. Beard was thick, not long, but divided in the middle. He had the look of terror in grave eyes. When he refused to reprove,he terrified, when he admonished, he wept. He conversed seldom. In learning he was the object of wonder. He knew all science. He wore sandals. Went bear headed.

Josephus

This description tallies with the oldest portrait of Jesus, found on a tomb in the Catacombs, Rome. It also resembles the portrait of Jesus drawn by Giotto, the first by an artistm who lived during 1266-1337.

From the account, it is evident that Jesus was an Essenee together with John the Baptist. John used to be a Yogi in India.He practiced baptism,before he appeared in Galilee, according to Dr S Radhakrishnan. The Pharisees and Sadducees were popular at that time. Essenees was a small sect.

Why was Jesus crucified? It was a political act. There were no political ideologies then other than the politics of religion. He was punished because he vehemently preached Esseenism, against the religion of the pharisees and Sadducees. Sadducees were Epicureans, whereas, Pharisees were stoics. Jesus chided both: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Mathew 16).

In chapter 23,Jesus cries four times,woe unto them. He says: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clear the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

He considered the Pharisees the most vicious, cunning and dangerous of all Jews. While the Pharisees were full of hypocrisy and egotism, Sadducees denied the immortality of the soul and life afterwards. When the Pharisees and Sadducees went to John the Baptist at Salem, on the bank of the Jordan river, to be baptized, he refused by saying, O, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore, fruits for repentance (Mathew, Chapter 3,7:8).

Philo

King Herod, a Sadducee, was rebuked by John on several times, for Herodias, his brother, Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison (Luke, Chapter 3,19:25). Finally, John was beheaded.

One Jesus Ben-Pandera was stoned to death and hanged on a tree for blasphemy, according to Talamud, on the eve of a Passover, in the year of Jannaeus (BCE 106-79). He is considered the founder of Essenees. Flavius Josephus the historian, who lived both before and after the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus, has described elaborately Esseenism, as he himself had under gone three years trial of the Order. They were vegetarians, lived distanced from the masses and women. 

The places where the Essenees lived within Palestine, at the time of John and Jesus, were: Nazreth, the valley of Achor near Bethabara, the area around Castle Masseda, the desert at Ephraim, the Mountain at Igutha near Hebron, Bethania near Jerusalem, the valley at Thabor, the town surrounding Macheraus, where John was afterwards captive and beheaded at the command of Herod. Philo, Alexandrian Neo platonist, contemporary of Jesus, says that the Essenees numbered 4000.

If you have under stood the politics, the inference is simple: if there is a Gospel which says Jesus was married, it should be the handiwork of an enemy.

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I am not sure whether the theory, Essenee evolved from Ishana, Siva, is just a figment of imagination. Christians in Kerala use the word, Nathan repeatedly, referring to Jesus. Natha, according to Swami Prajnanananda, is also Siva. Philo had written in his letter to Hephaerstion, Macedonian nobleman and a General in Alexander's Army: This is India, is called Yoga.

Reference:

1.Jesus Lived in India/Holger Kresten

2.Christ the Saviour and Christ Myth/Swami Prajnanananda

3.The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ/Nicholas Notovich

4.The Crescent and the Cross/Eliot Warburton

5.The Life of Jesus/Dr David Friedrich Strauss

6.Did Christ Live and Die in Kashmir?/Iqbal Kaul

7.Jesus Died in Kashmir/Andreas Faber -Kaiser

8.The Crucifixion

9.Eastern Philosophy and Western Thought/Dr S Radhakrishnan

10.Christianity and Mythology/J M Robertson 
11.Jesus,Buddha,Krishna and Lao Tzu/Richard Hooper 
12.A Physician's view of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ/Dr C Truman Davis

See my Post,RAYMUNDO PANIKKAR HAD HIS ROOTS IN KERALA