In the second part, Akash explores a Christian reading of the Bhavishya Purana, suggesting it reveals Christ’s presence in ancient India, exclusively for Different Truths

Abstract

The Bhavishya Purana, an important Hindu prophetic text, contains a striking episode in which King Salivahana meets a holy man named “Isha Putra”, born of a virgin, who preaches righteousness and identifies himself as “Isha Masiha”. This narrative, controversial in modern scholarship, may reflect more than a colonial interpolation. Rather, this article presents a Christian theological reading of the episode as a possible manifestation of universal revelation—God revealing Christ beyond the borders of Palestine. Drawing from Christian doctrine, comparative theology, and historical accounts of Indo-Roman contact, this paper argues that the Bhavishya Purana provides intriguing textual evidence of Christ’s presence or influence in India, consonant with early traditions that Jesus visited the East during his so-called “lost years.”

Introduction

Christian theology teaches that Christ is the Logos—the universal Word through whom all things were made (John 1:1-3). If this is true, then it is reasonable to expect echoes of the divine Word even outside the bounds of Judaic and Christian scripture. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:20 that “since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities… have been seen.” Could Hindu scripture, especially the prophetic Bhavishya Purana, be one such echo?

This paper re-examines the oft-dismissed “Jesus episode” in the Bhavishya Purana, viewing it through the lens of Christian theology, Indo-Roman history, and the concept of “general revelation.” Rather than dismissing the episode as a colonial fabrication, we explore its potential authenticity and theological significance

The Encounter Between King Salivahana and Isha Masiha

The Bhavishya Purana, particularly its Pratisarga Parva (Book of New Creation), contains a remarkable encounter: the Indian King Salivahana meets a sage dressed in white, with golden skin and a peaceful demeanour. The sage calls himself “Isha Putra”—the Son of God, born of a virgin. He preaches a religion of truth and purity, rejecting idol worship and advocating inner purification, prayer, and worship of the Divine in the Sun.

This description resonates with Christological elements:

1.     Virgin birth (“kumari-garbha-sambhavam”)

2.     Identification as “Son of God” (Isha Putra)

3.     The term “Masiha”, a recognisable reference to “Messiah”

4.     Emphasis on truth, peace, and internal devotion

5.     Rejection of idol worship (parallel to the Second Commandment)

6.     His name being “Isha Masiha”, is aligned with “Jesus, the Messiah”

This episode, found in verses 17–32 of Chapter 19 of Pratisarga Parva, parallels certain tenets of the Gospel message. If not a coincidence, it opens the door to a much larger theological possibility: divine revelation in India.

Traditions of Jesus in India: The “Lost Years”

Several extra-canonical traditions—especially preserved in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and among Indian oral traditions—hold that Jesus (or “Issa”) travelled to India and Tibet between the ages of 12 and 30, a period not detailed in the canonical Gospels.

Nicolas Notovitch, in The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ (1894), claimed to have discovered ancient scrolls at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, which documented the journey of “Saint Issa” through India, Persia, and Nepal. While Western scholars dismissed Notovitch’s claims as fiction, oral traditions in Ladakh and Kashmir persist.

The Acts of Thomas, an early Christian apocryphal text, suggests that Christianity had reached India in the first century. The widespread acceptance of the Apostle Thomas’s journey to India (especially in Kerala) supports the plausibility of Indo-Christian contact by the early Common Era.

If Jesus did indeed visit India, the Bhavishya Purana’s record may be a preserved memory, not a prophecy or forgery, but a historical trace embedded in sacred literature.

Indo-Roman and Indo-Middle Eastern Trade Routes

The Greco-Roman world was not isolated from India. By the first century CE, flourishing trade routes existed between the Roman Empire and Indian ports such as Muziris and Bharuch.

Roman coins from Augustus’ time (27 BCE – 14 CE) have been found in large numbers in India.

Early Christian communities thrived in Edessa, Babylon, and even along the Silk Road.

Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana allegedly visited India around the same time, suggesting that itinerant teachers could indeed cross cultures.

Given this milieu, it is historically plausible that religious ideas—including those from early Christianity—penetrated India. A devout figure like Jesus, travelling eastward, may well have taught principles later recorded in Indian prophetic literature.

The Encounter Between King Salivahana and Isha Masiha

Though couched in Sanskrit and Hindu terminology, the Bhavishya Purana passage contains striking theological parallels to Christian doctrine:

Virgin Birth: Central to Christian Christology (Luke 1:34-35); the Purana affirms “kumari-garbha-sambhavam.”

Son of God: “Isha Putra” matches the Johannine language of Jesus as the “Only Begotten Son” (John 3:16).

Peace and Righteousness: Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) echoes the Purana’s emphasis on japa (prayer), internal purity, and truth.

Name Recognition: “Isha Masiha” bears phonetic similarity to “Yeshu Mashiach” (Jesus the Messiah in Hebrew-Aramaic).

These parallels are too specific to be dismissed as syncretism. They point toward an authentic encounter between Indian spirituality and early Christian teaching.

The Encounter Between King Salivahana and Isha Masiha

The Bible teaches that God has not left Himself without a witness in any culture (Acts 14:17). The early Church Fathers—Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen—believed that God planted seeds of truth in various philosophical and religious traditions.

Clement writes in Stromata (Book I):

“The Law is for the Hebrews; philosophy is for the Greeks. But both came from the same Logos.”

If God could speak through the Sibylline Oracles or through Socrates, could He not also reveal glimpses of Christ to Hindu sages, embedding fragments of divine knowledge in their texts?

The Bhavishya Purana may be one such example of general revelation—an inspired glimpse of the Incarnation perceived across space and culture.

Objections and Responses

Objection: It’s a Colonial Interpolation:

 Many scholars argue that the Bhavishya Purana passage is a 19th-century interpolation introduced by Christian missionaries. However, there is little direct evidence for this claim. While it is true that some versions of the text were copied or published during the colonial era, the oral and textual transmission of the Puranas is complex and decentraliced.

Moreover, Indian traditions such as those preserved by Nath yogis and the Ahmadiyya sect suggest that stories of “Isa in India” predate the colonial period. If the story was known in oral traditions or regional versions, its appearance in written texts during the colonial era does not prove its fabrication.

Objection: Doctrinal Inconsistencies with Christianity

The Purana version includes practices like sun worship or japa, not found in the Bible. However, these could reflect cultural accommodation rather than doctrinal distortion, just as Paul quotes Greek poets in Acts 17.

Jesus often taught using local idioms (e.g., parables about mustard seeds and fig trees). Similarly, if Jesus spoke to an Indian audience, he might have used familiar spiritual categories. Such adaptations would not compromise the Gospel’s core message.

Hindu-Christian Dialogue and Shared Spiritual Vision

Rather than reducing the Jesus episode in the Bhavishya Purana to forgery or colonial interference, a more fruitful path lies in interreligious dialogue. What if this episode reflects a deeper spiritual intuition of Christ?

Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux), a 20th-century Christian monk in India, wrote, “Christ is not foreign to India. He is the eternal Logos, the Sat-Chit-Ananda… the deepest Self of all.”

The Bhavishya Purana’s recognition of “Isha Masiha” as a teacher of truth may point to this universal Logos, working mysteriously in all cultures.

Conclusion

While scepticism remains, the Bhavishya Purana’s Jesus episode presents a compelling case for the universality of Christ’s mission. Whether historical record, prophetic vision, or preserved memory, the text attests to the possibility that India encountered Christ, not as a foreign invader, but as a universal redeemer.

Rather than being embarrassed by this convergence, Christians should celebrate it as evidence that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). As missionaries, scholars, and seekers continue to explore the intersections of Hindu and Christian wisdom, the Jesus of the Bhavishya Purana invites both traditions into deeper understanding, mutual respect, and ultimately, divine encounter.

References:

Holy Bible (NIV). Zondervan Publishing.

Notovitch, N. (1894). The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ.

Rocher, L. (1986). The Puranas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.

Clement of Alexandria. Stromata.

Doniger, W. (1999). The Hindus: An Alternative History. Penguin.

Apocryphal Acts of Thomas.

Abhishiktananda. (1974). Saccidananda: A Christian Approach to Advaitic Experience.

Parpola, A. (2005). The Roots of Hinduism. Oxford University Press.

Jones, W. (1788). Asiatic Researches, Vol. 1.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Akash Paul

Akash Paul, a renowned criminologist, theologian, and demonologist, and the author of two globally acclaimed textbooks, pioneered post-crime analysis in criminology and comparative religious studies in theology. His expertise spans criminal profiling, sexual offenses, Christianity, and religious history, with notable contributions to each of these fields. An insightful critic of contemporary society, he also writes poetry, short stories, and novels, blending creativity with profound societal analysis.

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