Book Title: Unknown Life of Jesus Christ New Edition 2009 Publication
Author(s): Nicholas Notovitch, Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation
View full book text
________________
:
The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ In crossing the valley Saspula and near the village of the same name, one sees two convents, on one of which our traveler was surprised to see floating a French flag, a present, he afterward learned, from a French engineer and used by the monks simply as a decoration.
M. Notovitch spent the night at the village and visited these convents where the monks took great delight in showing their visitor their books, rolls, images of Buddha, and the prayer-wheels, explaining politely and patiently all the sacred objects. Here, also, M. Notovitch received the same answers in reply to his inquiries, i.e., that the great monasteries at one possessed copies relating to the prophet Issa.
From here the traveller hastened on towards Leh, with no other object now than to secure a copy of the Buddhist records of the life of Jesus, which might perhaps, he thought, show the inner life of the best of men and complete the details so indistinct which the Scriptures give us about him. On his arrival at Leh, M. Notovitch put up at the bungalow, specially built for Europeans who come over the Indian route in the hunting season.
Leh, the capital of Ladak, is a small town of five thousand inhabitants. It is built on pinnacles of rock. From a distance it has an imposing appearance which it owes entirely to the palace, built on a slight eminence, possessing a front of two hundred and fifty feet, and which is seven stories high. High above it, on the summit of a rocky mountain, is a monastery with its painted battlements and flags. In the centre of the town is a square, or market place, where merchants of India, China, Turkistan, Kashmir and Thibet, come to exchange their products for Thibetan gold.
The governor of Ladak, Vizier Surajbal, who has taken his degree as Doctor of Philosophy in London, resides in a vast twostoried building in the centre of the town. In honour of the foreign visitor he organized a polo game in the square, ending in the evening with dances and games in front of his terrace.
.
82