Case file · Folklore / legend
Notovitch and the 'lost years' of Jesus at Hemis
In 1894 Russian traveller Nicolas Notovitch published 'The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ', claiming the Hemis monastery in Ladakh held scrolls on 'Saint Issa' who studied in India.
1894 CE · 33.91, 77.70 · status: hoax
The sceptical view
Max Müller doubted it, and in 1895 J. Archibald Douglas visited Hemis; the head lama denied Notovitch had ever been there or that such texts existed.