The Bhavisya Purana is considered to be
one of the major 18 Puranas of the Vedic
canon and, as the name suggests, it mainly
deals with future events (the word bhaviysati stemming from the Sanskrit verb 'bhu',
meaning "to be"). The Bhavisya
Purana is most certainly an ancient text
as it is mentioned in a much older work,
the Apasthambha-dharma-sutras. However,
some of the predictions found in the Bhavisya
Purana concerning certain events and specifically
the prediction of Jesus found in the 19th
Chapter of the Pratisarga-parva section,
cannot be taken as absolute. A closer look
at this particular prediction of Jesus
strongly suggests foul play and interpolation
on the part of Christian Missionaries in
India during the late 18th century.
There are four known editions of the Bhavisya
Purana, each having different predictions
from the other, but suspiciously having
one consistent prediction - that of Jesus.
One edition contains five chapters, one
contains four, another contains three and
yet another contains only two. Additionally,
the contents in all four editions differ
in various degrees - some having extra
verses and some having less. Due to these
circumstances, it is difficult to ascertain
which of the four is the original text
of the Bhavisya Purana, if indeed an original
text still exists, but suspiciously all
four editions do mention Jesus.
The Venkateswar Steam Press edition of
the Bhavisya Purana printed in Bombay in
1829 (and reprinted by Nag Publishers in
2003) is probably the most complete version
available, containing all the main features
of the four manuscripts. Since none of
the four editions of the Bhavisya Purana predate British Rule in India, this further
suggests a discrepancy, plus the fact that
all four versions mention Jesus.
The consistent prophecy in all four editions
concerns the so-called meeting of Maharaja
Salivahana and Jesus. However, in examining
this section, certain flaws can be found
which betray its dubious origins. The section
begins thus:
vikramaditya-pautrasca
pitr-rajyam grhitavan
jitva sakanduradharsams
cina-taittiridesajan
bahlikankamarupasca
romajankhurajanchhatan
tesam kosan-grhitva ca
danda-yogyanakarayat
sthapita tena maryada
mleccharyanam prthak-prthak
sindhusthanam iti jneyam
rastramaryasya cottamam
mlecchasthanam param sindhoh
krtam tena mahatmana
ekada tu sakadiso
himatungam samayayau
"Ruling over the Aryans was a king
called Salivahana, the grandson of Vikramaditya,
who occupied the throne of his father.
He defeated the Sakas who were very difficult
to subdue, the Cinas, the people from Tittiri,
Bahlikas and the people of Kamarupa. He
also defeated the people from Roma and
the descendants of Khuru, who were deceitful
and wicked. He punished them severely and
took their wealth. Salivahana thus established
the boundaries dividing the separate countries
of the Mlecchas and the Aryans. In this
way Sindusthan came to be known as the
greatest country. That great personality
appointed the abode of the Mlecchas beyond
the Sindhu River and to the west. One time,
that subduer of the Sakas went towards
Himatunga (the Himalayas)." (19.19-22)
At the very outset, this section is fraught
with historical inaccuracies. Salivahana
was the king of Ujjain (in modern day Madhya
Pradesh), and while it is not surprising
that Salivahana traveled to the Himalayas,
the enemies that he supposedly vanquished
in battle before he went, should be looked
into more thoroughly. Historical research
tells us that the only invading force that
Salivahana actually subdued were the Sakas,
who entered India from the north-west regions.
But as for his defeating the Cinas (Chinese),
Bahlikas (Bactrians), Kamarupas (Assamese),
Romas (Romans) and the Khurus (Khorasans,
or Persians), there is no historical evidence
that validates Salivahana doing this, nor
is their any historical proof of the Romans
and the Chinese ever invading India. The
Bactrians (Greeks) came earlier during
the Gupta Period and the Persians (Moguls)
came later. The people of Assam were simply
a small hill-tribe during this period of
Indian history [conquering which would
not have warranted Vedic verse]. The text
continues:
hunadesasya madhye vai
giristhan purusam subham
dadarsa balabanraja
gaurangam sveta-vastrakam
"In the middle of the Huna country
(Hunadesa - the area near Manasa Sarovara
or Kailasa mountain in Western Tibet),
the powerful king saw an auspicious man
who was living on a mountain. The man's
complexion was golden and his clothes were
white." (19:22)
After
Salivahana defeated the Sakas he established
his empire, thus the Salivahana period
of Indian history began, circa 78 CE.
According to this apparently interpolated
section of the Bhavisya Purana, at
some point after establishing his kingdom,
Salivahana traveled to the Himalayas and
met Jesus. Yet, Christian scholars opine
that Jesus was born in 4 BCE and was crucified
somewhere between 27 and 36 CE. If we entertain
the idea that Christ somehow survived the
crucifixion and met Salivahana in the Himalayas,
this would make him around 80 years old
at that time. Yet surprisingly, the description
of Jesus in the Bhavisya Purana does not
mention that he was an old man.
The
text continues with Salivahana asking
Jesus, "Who are you?" to which
Jesus replies:
isa-putram mam viddhi
kumari-garbha sambhavam
"I am the Son of God (isa-putra)
and I am born of a virgin (kumari-garbha)."(19:23)
The
idea common amongst Christians that Jesus
was born of a virgin only came into existence
several centuries after Jesus and was
not part of early Christianity. Thus,
it is unlikely that Jesus would have
spoken of his birth as such. The Christian
idea that Jesus was born of a virgin
is based on the following verse found
in the Christian version of the Old Testament
in the Book of Isaiah:
"Behold,
a virgin has conceived and bears
a son and she will call his name Immanuel."
However, the original Hebrew text of the
Book of Isaiah does not mention anything
about a virgin:
hinneh ha-almah harah ve-yeldeth ben ve-karath
shem-o immanuel
"Behold, the young woman has conceived
- and bears a son and calls his name Immanuel." (Isaiah
7.14)
The Hebrew word for virgin is 'betulah' yet it appears nowhere in this verse of
Isaiah. The word used is 'almah' which
simply means 'a young woman'. Isaiah only
uses 'almah' once. However, the word 'Betulah' is used five times throughout the Book
of Isaiah, so Isaiah obviously made a distinction
between these two words.
After Jesus has introduced himself to
Salivahana he explains that he is teaching
religion in the distant land of the Mlecchas
and tells the king what those teachings
are:
mlecchasa sthapito dharmo
maya tacchrnu bhupate
manasam nirmalam krtva
malam dehe subhasubham
naigamam japamasthaya
japeta nirmalam param
nyayena satyavacasaa
manasyaikena manavah
dhyanena pujayedisam
surya-mandala-samsthitam
acaloyam prabhuh sakshat-
atha suryocalah sada
"Please
hear from me, O King, about the religion
that I have established amongst the
Mlecchas. The mind should be purified
by taking recourse of proper conduct,
since we are subject to auspicious
and inauspicious contaminations - by
following the scriptures and concentrating
on japa (repetition of
God's names) one will attain the highest
level of purity; by speaking true words
and by mental harmony, and by meditation
and worship, O descendant of Manu.
Just as the immovable sun attracts
from all directions the elements of
all living beings, the Lord who resides
in the Surya-mandala (sun globe) and
is fixed and all-attractive, attracts
the hearts of all living creatures." (19:28-30)
Nowhere in the Gospels do we find in the
ministry of Jesus the above teachings to
his followers. Furthermore, in this passage,
Jesus is advocating the worship of the
Sun-god (again, something that is absent
in his instructions to the apostles). Japa,
meditation, the negation of both good and
bad karma, are all concepts that are familiar
to eastern religions such as Hinduism and
Buddhism, but not to the Abrahamic religions
of the west.
Considering the above anomalies and the
fact that no edition of the Bhavisya
Purana can be found prior to the British period
in India, we can only deduce that the Bhavisya
Purana was tampered with by the Christian
missionaries who added the chapter on Jesus.
Their motive is obvious - to make the personality
of Jesus acceptable to the Hindus, in order
to convert them to Christianity.
In 1784, the famous Indologist Sir William
Jones wrote the following letter to Sir
Warren Hastings, Governor General of India,
confirming our suspicions.
"As to the general extension of our
pure faith in Hindoostan there are at present
many sad obstacles to it... We may assure
ourselves, that Hindoos will never be converted
by any mission from the church of Rome,
or from any other church; and the only
human mode, perhaps, of causing so great
a revolution, will be to translate into
Sanscrit... such chapters of the Prophets,
particularly of ISAIAH, as are indisputably
evangelical, together with one of the gospels,
and a plain prefatory discourse, containing
full evidence of the very distant ages,
in which the predictions themselves, and
the history of the Divine Person (Jesus)
is predicted, were severally made public
and then quietly to disperse the work among
the well-educated natives." (Asiatic
Researches Vol. 1. Published 1979,
pages 234-235. First published 1788).
It may also be noted that throughout the
Pratisarga-parva of the Bhavisya
Purana we find the stories of Adam and Eve (Adhama
and Havyavati), Noah (Nyuha), Moses (Musa),
and other Biblical characters. These we
also consider to be added by zealous Christians.
In conclusion, the Bhavisya
Purana may
well be a genuine Vedic scripture prophesying
future events, but from the above analysis
we can say with certainty that the Jesus
episode of the Bhavisya Purana is not an
authentic Vedic revelation.
The
Editors
