Jesus In India — Page 110
110 J e s u s i n I n d i a Sacharj Yun, and Karsh Yun. It is their descendants who are today known as the Afghans or Beni-Israel. The people of Asia-Minor, and Muslim historians of the West, call Afghans Sulaimanis. 57 In The Cyclopaedia of India, Eastern and Southern Asia , by Edward Balfour, Vol. III, 58 it is stated that the Jewish people are spread all over the central, southern, and eastern regions of Asia. In early times these people were settled in large numbers in China; they had a synagogue at Yih Chu, the headquarter of the district of Shu. Dr. Wolf, who wandered for a long time in search of the ten lost tribes of Beni Israel, is of the opinion that if Afghans are the progeny of Jacob, they belong to the tribes of Yahuda and Bin Yamin. Another report proves that the Jews were exiled to Tartary; they were found in large numbers in the territories round about Bukhara, Merv and Khiva. Prester John, Emperor of Tartary, in his letter to Alexis Comminus, the Emperor of Constantinople, writing about his dominions, says that beyond the river Amu there are the ten tribes of Israel who, though they claim to be under their own king, are in reality his subjects and vassals. Dr. Moore’s researches show that the Tartar tribe named Chosan is of Jewish origin and that among them are to be found traces of the ancient Jewish faith. For example, they still practise the rite of circumcision. The Afghans have a tradition that they are the ten lost tribes of Israel. After the sack of Jerusalem, the king Nebuchadnezzar took them prisoner and settled them in Ghor, near Bamiyan. Before the arrival of Khalid bin Walid 57 See Appendix, extract 12. (Translator) 58 It should be volume I, third edition. (Translator)