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Editor's Note
One of the skeptics who personally investigated Notovich's claim was Swami Abhedananda, who journeyed to the monastery, determined to find either a copy of the Himis manuscript or to expose it as a fraud. His book of travels, entitled Kashmir O Tibetti, tells of a visit to the Himis gonpa and includes a Bengali translation of two hundred twenty-four verses, essentially the same as the Notovitch text
In 1925, the Russian philosopher, Nicholas Roerich, also journeyed to the monastery. He apparently saw the same documents as Notovitch and Abhedananda had seen. Both Abhedananda and Roerich were thereby convinced of the authenticity of the Issa legend..
The manuscript discovered by Notovitch, writes Gandhi, found many takers and the aim was to prove that he was not a fraud. Besides Swami Abhedananda, another disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Trigunatitananda went to the Himis Monastery. The monks there assured him that Notovitch had spent some time in the monastery, as he claimed, and they also showed him the manuscript. He was also shown two paintings of Isha. One was a depiction of His conversation with the Samaritan Woman at the well. The other was of him meditating in the Himalayan forest surrounded by wild beasts that were tamed by His very presence. While in America, the Swami described this
latter painting to an American artist who reproduced it. . Later, Dr. Nicholas Roerich, the reknowned scholar, philosopher, and explorer, travelled to Ladakh and was also shown the manuscript and was assured by the monks that Sri Isha had indeed lived in several Buddhist monasteries during His "lost years." He wrote about his own viewing of the scrolls in his book The Heart of Asia.
In 1921 the Himis monastery was visited by Henrietta Merrick who, in her book in the World's Attic, tells of learning
