The Nazarene Kashmiri Christ — Page 33
33 the name of Israel and the two tribes of Judah and. Benjamin came to be known as Judah. At the invitation of the King of Judah, the Assyrians, under. Tiglath-pileser Shalmaneser and Sargon invaded. Samaria, the capital of the Ten Tribes, destroyed it and carried the Ten Tribes as captives to Assyria,. Mesopotamia and Medea. Later on the Assyrian. Kingdom was destroyed by the combined armies of. Babylonia and Medea. When Zedekiah, the King of. Judah, revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, the latter, laid siege to Jerusalem, completely destroyed the temple and carried almost all the inhabitants into captivity. The Ten Tribes were forever lost to the. Palestinian Jewry, (Jews) because when the Assyrians and the Babylonians extended their territories to the. East, they carried their captives, the Ten Tribes of. Israel to Iraq and Persia for the purpose of'. colonization and later when the Persians under Darius and Cyrus extended their territories still further East, to Afghanistan and India, these Jewish tribes migrated with them to these countries and they became settled in the East and were forever lost to the Western. Jewry. . Thus as a result of their conquest first by the. Assyrians and Babylonians and then by the Persians the Jews were dispersed to Persia, Afghanistan and. Kashmir and even to Khurasan, Samarkand and. Bokhara. The Kashmiris and Afghans of today are the descendants of those "Lost Ten Tribes of Israel". The fact is quite evident from the traditions, history and written records of these two peoples. The names of their towns and tribes, their physical features, their customs, habits, mode and manner of living, their dress, etc. , all point in the same direction. Their ancient monuments and old inscriptions also support this view. . The fact that there are many places, persons and tribes in Afghanistan and particularly in Kashmir which are named after Israelite names, and that the customs, habits, manners, mode of life, form of dress