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Kersten takes the reader to sites
inIsrael, the Middle East, Afghanistan and India which are
connected with the life of Jesus and the evidence collected by
him shows that Jesus had survived the crucifixion and after the
resurrection, had returned to India where he died in old age.
The tomb of Jesus still exists in Srinagar where he is revered
as a saintly person. A lama in Ladakh asserted that "Issa",
born in far away Israel, visited India and Nepal in the 14th
year of his life. Documentary evidence in this regard is
preserved in monasteries in Lhasa.
When Kersten's
book was first published in Germany in 1983, it caused a flutter
in theological circles. It was, however, translated into 15
different languages. It ran 10 editions in Brazil alone. In the
present revised edition the author claims to have included some
additional material and also corrected certain inaccuracies.
Musings of a
Shikari
by Col A.I.R Clasfurd; Natraj Publishers, Dehra Dun; Pages 304;
Rs 395.
 Shikar is no
more considered a desirable activity. With wildlife and forests
both depleting at an alarming rate, killing of animals for sport
stands prohibited. Yet till the turn of the 19th and the
beginning of the 20th century, officers of the Raj drew
considerable pleasure from shikar, and shikar stories of that
age still hold a charm of their own. Therefore, when an old
officer of the British Army in India decides to narrate his
shikar experiences, one picks up the book with some
expectations.
When the author
says that he would begin at the beginning, one expects the
beginning of his shikar days. But he goes back to his school
days in Scotland, and by the time he makes the first mention of
shikar in India, nearly one-fourth the 304 pages of the book
have been expended. His first tiger finds mention towards the
middle of the book. Still he spends more wordage on describing
the landscape of central India than on narrating his hunting
experiences. However, there are some interesting anecdotes such
as when he and his shikar mates were forced to pull a bullock
cart laden with their gear on a dusty village road when the
bullocks had bolted.
His suggestion
that every officer in India should, according to his rank, be
allotted an annual quota of animals he can kill might have made
some sense in the days of the Raj, but today it sounds rather
absurd. Similarly his tips to shikaris about the weapons and
gear they should carry become irrelevant in today's context.
The Puffin
Book of Classic Indian Tales for Children
by Meera Uberoi; Puffin Books; Pages 200; Rs 399.
 Indian mythology and folklore
are a warehouse of tales that children over the ages have been
hearing from their grandparents. Meera Uberoi, a writer of
stories and poems for children, has chosen stories from the
Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Panchtanitra, and embellished them
with attractive illustrations by well-known artists. The tales
relate to love, betrayal, pride humour, valour and such human
attributes that children will find irresistible. Among the
stories are the churning of the ocean by the Devas and Asuras,
the subjugation of the ferocious Kalia by young Krishna,
Aklbar's challenge to Birbal to find the 10 biggest fools in
Agra, the death of Abhimanyu in the battle of Kurukshetra,
Dhruva's attainment of a supreme position among the stars, only
to mention a few. Hard bound and nicely printed in multicolour,
the book is a very desirable present parents can make to their
children.
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WHO
was Jesus? Where was he from? Where did he go? Why he appeared
so strange and mysterious to his contemporaries? What was he
really after?
