Meher Baba in Bhandardara, Maharashtra, in 1933. Courtesy of the Elizabeth Chapin Patterson Photo Archives (ECPPA). The photo was taken by Elizabeth Patterson, who wrote in a typed note : "Bbandardara, mentioned in this Diary, was a place on the way to Kashmir where we stayed with Baba. The picture that I took ofBaba that we like so much with his hairflowing. ill white sadra, was taken by me all a walk mentioned and Lake Arthur is in the backgroulld. I believe it was actually taken April 9. 1933. as that is the date ill my Diary.'
'lourists 310ck to 'Jesus's 'lomb' in 2<ashmir Sam JWiller, SrillafJar A reader sent me this interesting articlefrom theBBG. When my daughter and I weretraveling in India in 1987 (I won the Fly-to-India Sweepstakes given by ourBaba Centerin LA) OUl" guide was showing us around Srinigar-a gorgeous place-and he pointed out, in passing, a wooden shack, saying in a casual tone, "thatisuiberejesus isburied."First I had everheardofit! But thenI reada book that we sellin the Love StreetBookstore - Journeyinto Kashmir & Tibet - fascinating! It is written by a proftssor who had heard all the legends, and set out toprove them wrong. The evidence hefound was so overwhelming, he endedup a convert and wrote this book about it. He goes intogreatdetailaboutJesus' lifebefore and ajter the crucifixion and resurrection.
J\ belief that Jesus survived the crucifix.l"\.ion and spent his remaining years in Kashmir has led to a run-down shrine in Srinagar making it firmly onto the mustvisit-in India tourist trail. In the backstreets of downtown Srinagar
is an old building known as the Rozabal shrine. It's in a part of the city where the Indian security forces are on regular patrol, or peering out from behind check-posts made of sandbags.There are still occasional clashes with militants or stone-throwing children, but the security situation has improved in recent times and the tourists are returning. When I first searched for Rozabal two years ago, the taxi circled around a minor Muslim tomb in a city of many mosques and mausoleums, the driver asking directions severaltimes before we found it. The shrine, on a street corner, is a modest stone building with a traditional Kashmiri multi-tiered sloping rooÂŁ A watchman led me in and encouraged me to inspect the smaller wooden chamber within, with its trellis-like, perforated screen. Through the gaps I could see a gravestone coveredwith a green cloth. When I returned to the shrine recently though, it was shut-its gate padlocked because it had attracted too many visitors. The reason? Well, according to an
eclectic combination of New Age Christians, unorthodox Muslims and fans of the Da Vinci Code, the grave contains the mortal remains of a candidate for the most important visitor of all time to India.
'Crazy Professor'
O
fficially, the tomb is the burial site of Youza Asaph, a medieval Muslim preacher-but a growing number of people believe that it is in fact the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. They believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion almost 2,000 Easters ago, and went to live out his days in Kashmir. "What else could they do? They had to close it," Riaz told me. His family home almost overlooks the shrine, and he is witheringly dismissive of the notion that Jesus was buried there. "It's a story spread by local shopkeepers, just because some crazy professor said it was Jesus's tomb. They thought it would be good for business. Tourists would come, after all these years of violence." And then it got into the Lonely
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