A new light on ancient Middle East religio-politics through literary and archaeological evidence:

Buddhism in ancient Israel and Arabia

BY A. D. T. E. Perera

Formerly, Associate Editor, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Government of Sri Lanka, Publication, Research Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, USA, Guest Research Fellow, Department of Disarmament and Development, UNO, New York

(Continued from May 23)

AMONG the higher gods who were worshipped by Bedouins of the deserts of North Arabia, the most important was Allah, Allat, Al-Uzza. They were pre-Islamic gods. Even prophet Mohammed's father bore the name 'Abd-Allah' or 'Abdullah', meaning a worshipper or servant of Allah.

Allah was worshipped in the Kabah and possibly represented by the famous blackstone in that place. "Allat" is believed to have been introduced into Arabia from Syria (ancient Aram) according to inscriptional evidence.

Let us now turn to the other problem, the most baffling question of the etymological origin of the word 'God'. We have searched high and low, to solve the mystery of 'God'. We turned our investigations into almost every available lexicon, dictionary and encyclopoedia, without any avail.

No publication that we have surveyed could give us an explanation as to how the word 'God' originated in the World. Finally we had to give up all our hopes and prayed to God to help us., "Oh, God lead me from darkness to light" - "Tamaso majyotir gamaya", and lo, there appeared the light, "Aloko Udapadi", as the greatest of all Arahat, the Supreme Buddha declared.

We can now with assurance declare that the word 'God' is derived from nothing else but the word 'Buddha', "How could that be?" will be the question of all those God fearing good souls.

Our researches proved that this word "God" is nothing but a derivative of the word "Buddha" from the secondary formation "Boddo", an early form, how the ancient Indo-Greeks, (also known as Bactrian Greeks), Sakas, Parthians, and Kushanas (Yue-Chih) used in their documents to name the Great Lord, Bhagavat Buddha.

The name "Buddha" with "d" as a dental consonant is quite difficult, I have observed, for many westerners to pronounce. Even at present, this happens to be so.

In USA and in Australia, during my University lectures (In these two countries) I have found many Westerners (Europeans) pronounce the word Buddha always with a cerebral 'd'. When I tried to correct them in my classroom, it was the most difficult task for them, to pronounce "Buddha" and sound the dentall 'd'.

They make a jaw breaking effort, yet without success and pronounce, 'Buddha' like 'Buddo' or 'Boddo' ('d' as in 'door' or "do"). sometimes I got amused but often disappointed, yet I could not help it but had to tolerate their great difficulty in pronouncing the name 'Buddha'.

However, now I feel happy that I had the good occasion to confront with such people because this very experience has been a pointer to solve the most intriguing thing, how the mystery word "GOD" appeared in the world.

In the coins issued by early Indo-Greeks (also known as Bactrian-Greeks), Scythians, Sakas and Kushanas of West Asia who were converted to Buddhism (a few centuries after the Alexandrian conquests of Persia and other kingdoms of Middle East) have for the first time in history of Buddhist iconography, the image of Buddha on the obverse side of their coins.

This numismatic evidence is like "God sent" to me, the only clue to solve the present problem of the etymological origin of "God".

Through my recollections, how my American and Australian students pronounced the word "Buddha" during my university lectures, I managed to trace its roots in the Indo-Greek numismatics. It could be presumed that the same problem had been encountered by the western people whether they be Greeks of West-Asians.

They too must have pronounced the name "Buddha" as "Boddo" and inscribed it on the reverse side of their coins. the best example is the coin issued by the great Kushana Emperor Kanishka, with a standing image of the Buddha (on the obverse) with the legend BODDO.

Araha and Allah

I am sure the Bactrian Greeks (or the Indo-Greeks) as they were called by several scholars, to distinguish them from Selcuicid Greeks) had not used the dental 'd' in BODDO legend of the coins that was inscribed on the obverse side.

Thus Bhagavat Buddha had been introduced to West-Asia and Middle East, as a Great Superhuman being worthy of worship, under the epithet "Boddo" during the first century of the Christian era and would have possibly replaced the former 'Araha' -Alaha (Allah) ideal of the original Buddhism (the Theravada ideal as some scholars would prefer to distinguish original Buddhism), that the great monk Ven. Punna established in Sunaparanata (the Sinai-Arabah region), his homeland, as we have demonstrated already (the West-Asian region).

Thus within a century at least of the Christian era, the Buddha - Boddo - Bod - God, ideal had been established and had penetrated into the region of Sinai-Arabah where the Araha - Alaha Allah concept of the supreme sinless compassionate Lord, was prevailing.

Based on our new discovery, we do not hesitate to declare that the mystic word 'GOD' has gone into the Holy Scriptures of at least some of those West Asiatic people (who held Araha - Alaha - Allah as the Supreme Being) through the linguistic or philological formation of BODDO', during the first century of the Christian era.

Jews who held "Torah" as their foremost Sacred Holy Scriptures would not have yielded to those extraneous religious texts or scriptures of the Buddhist Sects established by Punna Thera, wherein Araha, Alaha or Allah appeared variantly.

This can be clearly seen in the firm stand of Jews in recognising Jehowah (Yehoweh) as their Divine father, the Supreme Creator, right throughout from pre-Christian centuries up to now, and not Alaha or even Allah as it has gone into Aramaic and Arabic Holy Scriptures, and more so the all loving compassionate Boddo, Bod, God who they thought would not conform to their ideal of an Eternal Creator God - Jehowah who does not hesitate to punish those who go against his commandments and covenents.

Jehowah worshippers

There must have been bitter resentment between the two factions, namely, the priests (or priest - kings) of Jehowah worshippers and the cave dwelling eremites who rejected the Jewish torah since the days of Ven. Punna who preached the peaceful doctrine of "Araha Sambuddo" and the "Kingdom of Righteousness and baptised their newly ordained novice monks (a custom that is still being continued in Theravada Buddhist countries), and eschewed circumcision and totally opposed animal sacrifice and killing in whatever form to appease an unseen divine being.

It could be surmised that these Araha or Alaha followers were primarily the Aparantakas or Arabah and later known as Arabs of the Nabatean kingdoms that prevailed in this region who called their supreme religious being, their saviour by the name of ARAHA or ALAHA and finally Allah.

A recent scholar while explaining 'Allah' as principal God of Mecca says, "He was also worshipped in other places throughout Arabia as is shown by the occurrence of the name in Sabean, Minean and particularly Lihyanite inscriptions".

"Allat according to recent study of the complicated inscriptional evidence is believed to have been introduced to Arabia from Syria". (ancient Aram) With the rise in power of Jehowah faction of the primary Jewish tribes who allied with the Alexandrian Greeks and then with the Imperial Rome, the followers of Alaha of the Arabah kingdom of Nabateans were persecuted and severely ill-treated, exiled and gradually pushed out of their original seat of power in Sinai-Arabah region (modern Palestine) and had to seek safety in mainland Arabia, where they established as strong opponents of Jehowah worshipping Jews, and also as their eternal rivals.

Meanwhile many of those innocent, peaceful, cave dwelling eremite monks would have been tolerated and allowed to stay in their rock-cut dwellings as long as they would mind their own business without interfering with the mainstream Jewish religio political strategy.

Thus the Araha - Alaha worshippers, the peace loving original Sinai people continued to stay in the region with their cave dwelling monks, later known as Essenes (may be a derivative from Suna-Sinai), performing their religious rites and obligations based on high ethical order, morality and righteousness, and safeguarding and promoting the study and practice of their original Holy Scriptures the "Peshitta", as opposed to the Jewish Torah.

However, they too would have had to face occasional persecution according to the whim and fancy of the Jewish priest kings.

Buddhist Greek Kings

Thus the shrines and temples of those original Araha - Alaha worshippers founded in the vicinity of the Dead-sea would have continued to function despite the opposition of the jewsih priests at Jerusalem etc., and their lay followers of Jehowah, until the appearance of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist who, it is clear through Bibilical references, had tried to review the declining Alaha (Buddhalogy) religion that was yet surviving under great pressure with their temples either destroyed or appropriated by Jehowah followers.

During the same period one can witness that a neo-Buddhalogy was just emerging in the former Bactrian-Greek satrapies with territorial expansion of the imperial Kushanas under the great Buddhist Emperor Kanishka (cir.ist.Century, A.C.)

Bactrian Greek Kings like Minander (of Milindapanha fame) had already become devout patrons of Buddhism. The rule of emperor Kanishka gave a great impetus to Buddhism by spreading it in far away territories beyond his imperial frontiers.

Emperor Kanishka's period was exactly the time Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were operating in Jerusalem, and propagating the "Good News" of the "Kingdom or Righteousness" which the Israeli Jews could not have correctly grasped, and most unfortunately misunderstood to the great misfortune of John and Jesus Christ.

Jews were hesitant to crush the new movement, a revivalist campaign, of Jesus Christ at first, may be because of his affiliations with imperial Kushanas. However they killed John and framed charges against Jesus, a rebel against Imperial Rome.

The large followers who accepted Jesus' teachings, too must have made the cunning Jewish priests, at first, hesitant to do any harm to Jesus. Therefore they tried various strategies to entrap him.

It could be surmised that the "Arahan Buddha" followers were still holding on to their scriptures the "Peshitta" and the temples in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

Their presence during the pre-Christian (pre-Jesus) days can be definitely proved by the re-discovery of the famous "Dead-Sea Scrolls" in the early fifties of the present century, the scriptures that belonged to the cave and forest dwelling monks known as Essenes and written in arachic Aramaic script.

According to the scanty information that was made available to the scholarly public by those Jewish-Hebrew scholars who jealously guard the "Dead-Sea Scrolls" for nearly fifty years without publishing them, under various pretexts, these documents belonged to the monks dwelling in forest or cave hermitages and were later called Essenes.

The name "Essenes" could very likely be a later Jewish term from an original name derived from "Suna-Sinai" the homeland, Sunaparanatha where Ven. Punna established his group of Suna (Sinai) monks as demonstrated by us above.

The "Dead-Sea Scrolls" do not refer at all to a higher Divine Being by the name of Jehowah, unless the recent editors (who jealously guard these documents) tend to interpolate or smuggle in, the name Jehowah, in between the lines of these ancient religious scriptures written in Aramaic.

It is remarkable that without any such evidence at their disposal, as the newly discovered "Dead Sea Scrolls", some European scholars of the early decades of the present century have suggested that the "Essenes" could be an "original forgotten Buddhist Sect."

Scriptures of Araha

Although the Jews rejected "the religion of the Araha" (or Alaha), the Arabs, from the original Arabah stock, were fortunate enough to have adhered to the great doctrine found in the "Scriptures of Araha" and preserved by the monks of the Sinai-Arabah region, (the Dead-Sea region).

That is why the scholars of Islam have found it possible to declare that the concept of Allah is pre-Mohammed and had possibly derived from a religious concept got down from Sinai-Arabah area (or Israel-Palestine of the present day). This observation confirms our derivation of Essenes from an original religious community from Sinai.

Most of the pre-Christian and later (appropriated) Islamic temple sites in Arabia as referred to above, including the famous shrine at Mecca (which was identified by the great scholar monk Ven. Dr. Pannananda Mahathera, as the Makulaka monastery of the Buddha's day) has as the central object of worship a "Sacred stone dais".

The megalithic "Asanaghara" shrines of ancient pre-historic Sri Lanka and India that were appropriated by the Buddhists later, are a noteworthy clue which provides the missing link between early (original) Buddhist temple sites in South Asia and West Asia (middle East).

On the other hand, most of the religious practices of early Christian religion show that the Christian Church had no approval of Judaism. Judaic religious practices were anathema to the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Christian religion abhorred massacre of animals for sacrifice, circumcision, gullible adherence to Sabbath rituals and practices, no prayers or invocations for Jehowah the Creator. But of course, the greatest love and devotion to "the most compassionate righteous God, the Divine Loving Father in the Eternal Heaven" is emphasised.

We wish to present a few more evidence to substantiate our thesis that the Buddha's religion introduced to West Asia by Ven. Punna Mahathera, survived as a counter religious force to Judaic Monotheism, (in the same way original Buddhism played as a counter force to monotheistic, animal sacrificing Brahmanic Hindu religion in India) for many more centuries, preserving its originality intact until it was absorbed and assimilated into the two faiths namely.

Christianity preached by Jesus Christ and Islam preached by Prophet Mohammed, yet preserving a good portion of Buddha's original Doctrine - "Saddharma" and early Buddhist religious cults and practices like, circumambulating sacred objects of worship, erecting domes above shrines to symbolize the vastness of Buddha nature like the 'vault of the sky' or heavenly spheres; worshipping the great Buddha symbolically in the sacred seat or dais, fiery flame; crescent moon to remind the Buddhist Sabbath or Poya retreat; rejecting anthropomorphic images of the Supreme Buddha who is ineffable, elevating the Doctrine (Dhamma) on same part with the Great Divine Lord.

In the teachings of Jesus Christ, there are clear evidence to prove that He had definitely preached the Buddha's religion.

Now that we have produced substantial evidence to prove that the very name 'God' is a derivative of the name 'Buddha' through the Bactrian Greek - Saka - Scythian - Kushana word Boddo - Bod, it is incumbent on us to provide further facts to strengthen our thesis.

Jesus teachings

Jesus Christ never referred to a Supreme Divine Being by the name of Jehowah, the ancient Aramaic Peshitta scriptures, through which the original Jesus teachings as found in the Holy Bible were formulated, always had Alaha for the Supreme Being.

The Christian Bible that was translated through Greek into English from original teaching of Jesus in the Aramaic language, had for the first time the word 'God', the Divine Father.

The metamorphosis of Alaha to God could be clearly observed during this period of transition from original Peshitta scriptures (or texts) to Jesus teachings. The reason for this transformation we have amply demonstrated above.

Jesus never preached on an everlasting, eternal heaven or Hades as is found in most other theistic religious systems. Jesus categorically denied such beliefs when He declared "heaven and earth will not last but my doctrine will last."

Jesus emphasised that everything will pass over. This is in conformity with Buddhism which declared everything is impermanent (anicca) and the 'Doctrine' of Nibbana the Supreme Bliss is eternal, Sanatana Dhamma. Jesus said, "my doctrine is not mine."

Jesus, chief disciples were males. Jesus and John both spoke about the 'son of God', 'Children of God'. This was quite consonant with the epithet of a noble disciple of the Buddha who is truly a Buddhaputto, a son of the Buddha, a son of Boddo, (Bod - God).

Great compassion

It was Jesus who emphasised the supreme love, the great compassion, which is 'Mahakaruna' in the teachings of our Lord Bhagavat Buddha (e.g. mettanca sabhalokasmin - Manasambhavaye aparimanam).

No divine punishment or wrath or an unseen power, heavenly authority, is there in the teachings of Jesus Christ. His God (Bod -Boddo - Buddha) was omnipotent or all powerful, omniscient or all knowing (Sabbannu, epithet of the Buddha) all love Mahakaruniko Natho Hitaya Sabbapaninam for the Buddha), all righteous, all just, all merciful, the entire cosmos (or creation as the Bible translators put it) is under His command or rule (Lokavidu epithet of the Buddha). He is the universal monarch and His kingdom or righteousness is Supreme (Buddha Rajjyaya or Buddha Khetta).

"That kingdom of my father," Jesus emphasised, "is not within this world" (of sinful craving, hatred and ignorance loba, dosa and moha as Buddha explained).

Jesus stopped the age-old Jewish religious rite of killing animals for sacrifice (like what the Buddha and his noble disciples did in India against the Brahmanic Hindu yagas by which thousands of innocent animals were killed to appease unseen, ferocious, vindictive imaginary divine beings).

Jesus ridiculed the Jews for their foolish practice of religious rites and rituals, like gullible adherence to Sabbath and circumcision.

Jesus declared, "Sabbath is for man and man is not for Sabbath," thus elevating the position of man even above the divine commands which was in consonance with one of the early Buddhist concepts of understanding man as 'one who has' an elevated mind (man or mana = mind + ussa = elevated hence manussa - man).

"Those followers of the kingdom of God are to seek righteousness above all. This reminds us of the Buddha's admonition - "first establish in morality" (sile patithaya naro sapanno). "Man is like a God when he has learned the lessons of mercy," Jesus said, thus bringing God down to earth.

Sassanian kings of West Asia even issued coins identifying "Buddha as the Divine Ruler" or God in the present sense. King Peroz I in his coins engraved the seated image of the Buddha on a throne with the legend, 'Bulda-Yazde' on it the Buddha's figure is shown with a halo of flames.

'Bulda-Yazde' means 'Buddha the King' which is very much similar to Islamic expression 'Allah-hu-Akbar', Allah is the ruler. Sinhala Buddhists always address the Buddha as Budurajan, (Buddha the king).

Jesus abhorred accepting money and property, a rule for Buddhist monks from the very beginning of Buddhism, which practice had been strictly adhered to by the Essenes, the cave dwelling eremites of Jerusalem who lingered for several centuries even after the severe persecution of 'God's people (Buddho's people), the Buddhists, by the followers of, Jehowah and the cruel priests of Jerusalem, as the Dead Sea Scrolls do divulge.

Incidentally it is stated in the Holy Bible that the Jews even hated God, which is a clear proof that God of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with Jehowah.

Even a bad thought, let alone fornication, is a sin, taught Jesus, thus reminding the Buddhists of the Buddha's saying, cetanaham bhikkhave Kammam vadami. Jesus said: "Love thy lord, thy God, through thy whole heart, whole soul and whole mind.

This is exactly a revised version of the Buddha's admonition to His disciples - 'love me and have faith in me and my Dhamma, all of you who are directed towards the blissful state of Svarga - 'heaven' (mayadhamme mayi saddhamattam pemamattam, sabbte sagga parayanti)

In every sermon of Jesus Christ that has come down to us in the Holy Bible (may be after so many alterations, deletions and revisions over many centuries in the past), we can get a glimpse of Buddha's universal message of Karuna and Pragna, that is loving kindness and cultivation of insight.

Jesus practised meditation and fasting as a good exercise for pacifying and purifying the mind (Samatha bhavana) before reaching wisdom and insight (Vidassana bhavana).

Allah-hu-Akbar

As foreseen by the Buddha, in his admonition to Ven. Punna, 'under violent, inhuman persecution and threats by the followers of Jehowah (the Jewish priests) of Sinaiparan (Sunaparanta) original Buddhism established by Punna Thera and his disciples and followers of the Nabatean kingdom of Arabah (around Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth) up to Sinai area, had retreated to mainland Arabia and Syria where they continued to survive as Arabs (or Beduin Arabs - Buddhist Arabs!), who build shrines with crowning domes, just like the Buddhist architectural type found in stupas (dagabas) in honour of their supreme blessed One, Alaha or Allah (or Allat) who was eventually deified as a merciful being, the Supreme Lord who is the great divine ruler (Allah-hu Akbar).

If our surmise and explanations can be justified, then it could be argued that in those Arab states where the Aramaic language prevailed, the Buddhist scriptures and practices too continued to serve with occasional changes and growth of extraneous cults and practices.

That is why in every pre-Islamic Arab shrine we get domical structures which surmount the main temple like in Buddhist stupas. There are also sacred stone altars, platforms and stone daises that are the main attraction in those shrines e.g. at Jerusalem, Amrah, Petra, Mecca, etc.

At the beginning these Alaha worshippers were aniconic like original Theravada Buddhists. But gradually Buddha images and icons of other divinities and royal patrons were also introduced to embellish the inside walls and grottos of these Arab religious shrines dedicated to Alaha (Allah).

That is why and how, when prophet Mohammed reached Mecca and Jerusalem and other early pre-Islamic Arab shrines and sanctuaries (more than one thousand years after Punna established Buddhism in Sunaparanta), he found the presence of images which he condemned and destroyed in his iconoclastic ardour, mistakenly believing that those were shrines of Jews, the arch-enemies of Arabs.

Yet, we are fortunate to get a few survivals among which are early representations of the Buddha (in the exact manner how the Buddha images were carved in early sites of traditional Buddhist countries), crudely carved, e.g. the stone image of 'Amyado of Shukayamim'.

According to a recent scholar this is 'a complete statuette in the round, carved in alabaster. The modelling is done with care but the lower part of the body is quite out of proportion, due no doubt to considering the head as the most important part. The inscription of the base gives the name of 'Ammyada' of 'Shukaymim'.

It could be presumed the name 'Shukaymim' of the figure represented in this statute as given in the archaic inscription carved out at the bottom, have preserved for posterity the revered name 'Shakyamuni' of Bhagavat Buddha, how the Lord Buddha is reverently addressed by the Buddhists in India, Tibet, China, Korea and Far-East as well as in Theravada countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea, Laos, Vietnam and was also found in the earliest pillar inscription of emperor Asoka installed at Lumbini.

With no contact with centres of Buddhist learning and culture for predominant Buddhist kingdoms in Asia, these 'Alaha - Allah' shrines of mainland Arabia, Middle-East and West Asia continued to exist for centuries and provided religious ardour to the common folk and rulers as well.

With the passage of time, these temples, their resident monks and their followers were subject to the influence of local popular cults and beliefs of various supernatural beings and divinities, thus giving rise to new syncretistic religions and religious sects.

Thus by the time of Prophet Mohammed (cir 6th century AC), the origin of the concept of Alaha and Allah, worship was totally forgotten and shrouded in obscurity, excepting a few surviving early religious cults and scriptures handed down from generation to generation which preserved the basic tenets of former Arahat (Arahan) ideal of original Theravada Buddhism introduced by Ven. Punna, such as a high moral code (Sila), belief in rebirth in heaven and a final eternal blissful state (devaloka, brahmaloka and Nibbana), perambulating as a mode of worship (pradaksina), wearing white clothes to signify religious sanctity (odata vasana), repeating many names of the Lord in praise of Him (nava arahadi Buduguna), no anthropomorphic images but aniconic, symbolic representations of the Lord (like a dais or altar, asana, flame of fire; foot print, dome or domical roof.)

God from Buddha

The reader of the present essay may now seek an explanation from us as to why and how the word 'God', if it was derived from 'Buddha' giving 'Buddo-Bod', was used by Jesus Christ and His followers had the Buddha been worshipped and was known as Araha or Alaha (and later Allah) among the West Asian countries of Aramaic speaking people including the communities with whom Jesus had moved. This was exactly a problem that had baffled us also. The answer to this problem can be found in the religio-cultural developments in the region under review.

The learned thesis by Ven. Dr. Pannananda Mahathera, quoted above, has prompted us to survey a wider geographical region from middle India to West Asia via the then civilised lands like Persia, Syria, Babylonia.

Had we embarked on our investigation on the origin of the word 'God' without understanding and analysing the political and religious background of this region, we would not have been able to find any answer to the problems that we faced.

The period during which Buddha was preaching His 'Saddharma' and establishing the 'Kingdom of righteousness' or 'Buddha Rajjyaya' (Buddha Khetta) in the circa sixth century BC had witnessed the emergency of various kingdoms and their merging into powerful monarchies in and around India, e.g. China, Achaemenid Persia, Egypt, Syria, Assyria, Greece, Crete, Babylonia and the Magadha Kingdom of India.

Middle East and West Asia had witnessed the greatest impact of politico-cultural upheavals of this period, mainly because of the influx of so many people to these regions through the great international highway, the eponymous Uttarapatha (Silk Route, as some do call).

We have already referred to this phenomenon. The availability of such an international trunk-route that served as quick passage for information also, caused the spread of the news of the birth of such a Great Being, a Supreme Buddha beyond the farthest corners of the east and the west.

Confucius in China and Greek philosophers were made to know or they themselves knew the Buddha's birth and appearance on earth. We may guess that such a person like 'Pilotika' who admired the Buddha so much and was instrumental in the preaching of the sermon 'Culla Hatthipadopama' (parable of the small elephant foot-print), was a Greek.

Texts say he was golden hued in complexion. They very name sounds like 'Plato'. We may suggest that Pilotika was a Greek of the Platonic school or family in Greece.

It could be demonstrated that the Buddha's teachings had reached a far wider area than the scholars thought, during His very lifetime. Even the person Zoroastrar we wish to identify with possible evidence at our disposal, as an early convert to Buddhism.

However, all that had been done towards the spread and establishment of the Buddha's 'Saddharma' and His 'kingdom of Righteousness', during the very lifetime of the Buddha by His Arahat monks and by the Buddha Himself, had experienced a setback within the very few centuries that followed the passing away of the Buddha, His Parinibbana.

There were various dissentient schools that wished to establish their own canon despite the original Theravada canon or 'Tripitaka'. Thus such schools like Sarvastivadins, Sammityas, Purva and Appra Sailiyas, Mahasanghikas, Lokottara Vadin who were the precursors of the major dissentient school of Buddhism, the Mahayana, appeared in India.

A few decades before and after the Christian era saw the Satrapies of Scythians, Sakasa and Kushanas, consolidating themselves in the former Indo-Greek (or Bactrian Greek) held territories in the north-western parts of India and beyond.

The rise of emperor Kanishka, the mighty ruler of the Kushana dynasty had a great impact on Buddhism, because he patronised the new Mahayana church of Buddhism whereby the Gautama Buddha was elevated to the position of an Eternal Cosmocrator or a hyper-human being, eternally residing in the Cosmic Buddhasksettra, the Sukhavati heaven.

In other words, the Great Buddha had been made an eternal divine being with innumerable Bodhistattvas (angels) attending upon Him, with the two primary acolytes Mahasthama and Avalokita (cf. the archangels of Christianity Michael and Gabriel who are supposed to be on either side of the God's throne in the heaven).

After a 'Sangayana' a grand Buddhist synod of Mahayana monks held at Purushapura (modern Peshawar), emperor Kanishka also had acted like his great predecessor emperor Asoka the Maurya, in patronising Buddhism and sending missionary monks to disseminate the noble doctrine (Saddharma) of the Buddha, but unlike in the case of Asokan Buddhist missionary monks, Kanishka's missionaries had a Mahayana tinge of the concept of the Buddha. (Some scholars refer to a Buddhist Council held by Kanishka at Vepulla mountain near Rajagrha and systematising a Mahayana treatise called the Vepulla Sutra).

Our investigations reveal that Jesus Christ and even his contemporary, the innocent monk John the Baptist, were born to families of original Alaha (Araha) school of Buddhism that was prevailing or surviving in the Israel Arabah region where Ven. Punna Thera's monastic establishments were set up with Jerusalem as the headquarters.

The constant feuds between Jehowah worshipping Hebrew speaking Jewish tribes and the Alaha worshipping Aramaic speaking Jewish tribes who later became Arabs can be gleaned if one were to read carefully the Holy Bible and relevant scriptures.

While the Hebrew speaking Jewish tribes and their scriptures in the Holy Torah the Aramaic speaking Jewish tribes had their scriptures compiled in the Holy Peshitta. This is a historical fact that cannot be disproved however much the Catholic church may dispute with us.

In the biography of Jesus Christ we can see how He challenged the Jewish priests who tried to dominate and monopolise the Holy Temple at Jerusalem and even gone to the extent of chasing the unscrupulous priests out of the premises of the Holy Sanctuary which must have been patronised by the Jehowah and Alaha worshippers both.

Aramaic world

By the time Jesus was born in Jerusalem, Buddhism in its stronghold kingdoms in north-west India had developed into Mahayana under the patronage of Saka-Kushana monarchs as has been explained above.

The Aramaic speaking territories of pre-Christian centuries received all the inspiration from those Buddhist kingdoms and moreso when emperor Kanishka expanded his territories under the Kushana empire.

Hence the change of doctrinal policy of Buddhism in these kingdoms it was natural for the 'Aramaic world' of West Asia also to receive its influences and impact.

Therefore it could be easily explained that Jesus Christ also had become an ardent follower of the new school of Buddhism which had powerful and rich monastic centres in the Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian region that was the territory in the heart of the powerful Kushana empire.

This has been proved with evidence through archaeological discoveries by research scholars, who have found tangible evidence to prove Jesus' presence in Kashmir which was the part of the great Buddhist empire of Sakas and Kushanas both, during the first century before and after the present era.

It could be surmised that Ven. Isa or Jesus the Jew. was sent to Israel, with the backing and blessings of the powerful Mahayana Buddhist monks of the Kushana empire who still would have had contacts with Alaha (Araha) Buddhists in Arabia and Palestine.

Kingdom of righteousness

Evidence at our disposal is strong enough to declare unequivocally that Jesus was selected as the ideal missionary to spread the neo-Buddhist doctrine codified after the great Buddhist synod held by Emperor Kanishka in the same way 'Punna the Jew' was granted permission to go to the same region five centuries earlier to establish the 'Kingdom of Righteousness' and the 'Good News' of the path to Supreme Bliss in Eternal Nirvana.

The date of Jesus ministry in Judae region (cir 25-32 AC) tallies well with the reign of emperor Kanishka according to the latest reckoning by scholars.

Ven. Isa (or Jesus) had put a very bold front despite Jewish challenges and threats, even though he was aware that he was operating within the occupied territory of the Imperial Rome and under ever watchful hawkeyed cruel priests at Jerusalem (as reported in Dead Sea Scrolls), because Jesus was sure of the support that he could muster from the equally powerful Buddhist Empire of the Kushanas (See Bible. Math. 47:53).

While being under arrest, and his supporters led by Peter, tried to challenge the Roman gladiators, Jesus stopped his men to drive a doctrinal point, "Those who unsheathe their swords, will get killed by the very sword," and reminded them of the great compassion (Metta) that one need cultivate even against the cruel enemies.

Buddhist Empire

But Jesus did not hide the fact, "that if he wishes he can get thousands of angelic forces from the kingdom of his father to rescue him, "probably alluding at the powerful armies of the Kushana Emperor Kanishka who had established the most formidable Buddhist Empire after Asoka of India and before Kublai Khan of Mongal China.

Jesus, thus took the message of this neo-Buddhism with the Buddha elevated to the position of an 'Eternal Supreme Divine Ruler' to his home country the Judea region (former Arabah) where even during Jesus time, the monastic establishments and shrines would have definitely flourished under the eremites who lived in cave sanctuaries and followed saintly hermit lives around the Dead-sea littoral.

Dead-Sea Scrolls

It would be interesting to refer to the hermit monks known as 'Essenes' who lived in caves and grottoes around the Dead sea region and the discovery of religious scriptures written on parchments from sanctuaries near the Dead sea and referred to as 'Dead Sea Scrolls'.

After nearly five centuries of the establishment of Sinai (or Esseni) Buddhist Church by Ven. Punna Mahathra, it could be presumed that there could have been a substantial number of followers of the great Alaha, the supreme compassionate father and his peaceful 'Doctrine of righteousness', even at the time of Jesus, both within Israel and in Arabia Proper.

The Peshitta

It would not have been impossible for Jesus Christ to gather a large number of followers to his teachings which are based on the old original doctrine 'Saddharma' of the Buddha the great Arahan (Alaha), emphasising compassion and wisdom (metta and Prajna) as found in the Old Aramaic scriptures, the Peshitta, yet with a new emphasis by Jesus Christ and his apostles on the concept of the Buddha elevated far above that of Jehowah, the creator God of Torah. This is clearly reflected in the New Testament teachings of Jesus Christ.

The new teachings of Jesus must have brought shock waves on traditional Jews who during the pre-Christian centuries have been successful in curbing the extraneous Peshitta Scriptures and driving out the 'Alaha' followers beyond their territories to mainland Arabia, although they might have tolerated or were compelled to connive at some of the Suna (Sinai) monks, later called Esenes, who followed Alaha's Dhamma to remain within their territory as long as they confine themselves to their cave dwellings and do not interfere with Jewish mainstream religio-politics with a vibrant monotheistic orientation.

The Jewish opposition to Jesus Christ was so formidable and unrelenting that the cunning Jewish priests (as was the case with many priests all over the world) must have obtained political backing of the Roman governors of the time to castigate Jesus as an apostate and also a potential usurper who speaks and assures of a 'millennal kingdom of peace and righteousness'.

Finally Jesus Christ had to pay the penalty on the cross, although the Roman rulers were hesitant to take responsibility for executing punishment on Jesus Christ.

Jesus Framed

The final scene of the crucifixion is so dramatically portrayed in the Holy Bible, that anyone can understand how the vicious and cruel Jewish priests who framed Jesus, were insisting on nothing less than death penalty on him, while those who present were looking aghast.

One can easily surmise that not only Judas, but several others too must have been bribed by the Jewish priests to cause harm to Jesus while he was under arrest. Jesus's bold front before the Roman governor, shows that he was not expecting injustice from them.

The Roman governor's wavering attitude to pass judgement on Jesus, also shows that the Roman authorities too had a certain amount of fear not to antagonise Jesus and his Alaha, now 'God' followers who can get support from the imperial Kushanas who had by that time expanded their empire right up to western border to Imperial Rome.

However unexpected, Jesus was crucified not by the Roman governor's demand but by the demand of cunning and cruel Jewish priests.

The final words of Jesus Christ on the cross, Eli Eli Lama Sabachhami', is a mystery phrase to Bible translators who brought such a great person like Jesus to a very low pedestal and pointed out that Jesus was crying in agony and seeking divine intervention on his behalf.

Grace of Buddha

Had Jesus, studied Buddhism in India, in a monastery of the Gandhara empire somewhere in Kashmir, under emperor Kanishka's patronage, he would never have sought the help of an unseen divine power, but would have definitely sought the Sublime grace of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha (the Tri Ratna) as has been admonished by the Buddha Himself in the famous Dhajjhagga Sutta.

We shall make the Bible translators enlightened, that what the great Buddhaputtra (son of God) Jesus uttered on the cross, was nothing but reminding himself of the great qualities of the Buddha as a means of consolation and salvation from Sansaric bonds.

Therefore we declare that what Jesus had uttered was nothing but the famous hymn in praise of the great God, the Supreme God, God of all Gods, Devatideva, Brahmatibrahma. Buddha (Bodo-God) - 'Itipiso Bhagava Araham Samma Sambuddho etc.' However Jesus was very weak and emaciated after the severe and painful trial the Jews meted out to him.

Therefore the feeble words Jesus had uttered, would not have come out through his lips properly or else, even if at all those words were properly pronounced, due to the great commotion, the vast crowd in front of the crucifixion, who were horrified to witness the grisly scene of such a compassionate person being crucified, could not have understood him.

Aramaic Bible

Therefore what was left for the Aramaic Bible scribes and their later translators was a fraction of what Jesus had uttered.

The line as it is now found in the Holy Bible as: 'Eli Eli Lama Sabachtami' can be compared with 'Araham Sammasambuddho' in original Pali, which would have gone into Aramaic slightly differently during Jesus' time, and could be surmised as, stood somewhat like 'Alaham Lamma Samoccham' and gone to Greek scribes as 'Eli Eli Lama Sabocchami' and had appeared in the English translations variantly.

If at all there were survivals of pockets of adherents of the original followers of Buddhism of the Alaha (Araha) school as taught by the great monk Ven. Punna to the people of Sinai - Arabah (Suna-Apranta) region, when Jesus appeared in the scene (roughly the same area but predominated by Jews, when the Arahabs were pushed into Arabia and Syria by the time Jesus was born) surely they would have got confused with the new concept of god (or Bod) as the supreme Omniscient Being, a divine father of great compassion residing in an eternal cosmic realm, (the Sukkhavati heaven of Mahayana Buddhism) and would have not supported Jesus fully or acceded to his teachings.

Moreover the Alaha devotees of original Buddhism in Arabah too would have by this time (nearly five centuries after Ven. Punna's mission to Sunaparanta of ferocious people) dispersed far and wide owing to the formidable opposition of Jewish-Jehowah followers and had themselves settled down firmly in mainland Arabia and Syria and maintained the (Bedouin) Arab religious identity as a formidable religious fraternity opposing the Jewish-Jehowah worshippers.

Although the 'Alaha' worshipping Arabs did not approve of the new theistic 'Boddo' or 'God' doctrine of Jesus, they seem to have tolerated Jesus because his teachings on 'righteousness and compassion' and final emancipation in the, 'kingdom of righteousness' tally well with the teachings of the religion of Great Compassionate Almighty Alaha (Allah), according to which one could reach a temporary heaven after death through one's meritorious acts and reach the final blissful eternal heaven by complete surrender to Alaha (Allah).

Undoubtedly Arabs and Jews both would have accepted Jesus as a messenger of God and Alaha both. Even today Islam considers Jesus as a messenger of Allah.

Up till recently, the Arab-Jewish religious rivalry, although both communities trace their origin to the same ethnic stock, was a great mystery to Islamic and Christian religious historians.

I am sure with our discovery of Alaha-Allah etymology in the original Theravada Buddhist term Araha which is an epithet of the Buddha and the Peshitta holy scriptures which preserved the name Alaha with reference to the great divine father, this problem is now solved considerably if not conclusively.

Jehowah of Jews

Our thesis is well substantiated by the fact that both Alaha (of the Peshitta-Aramaic Christian scriptures) and Allah (of the Quranic-Arabic scriptures) worshippers maintain that their compassionate God is one and the same, Jesus and Mohammed were messengers of the same compassionate God, who is the supreme ruler, the divine king of the 'Kingdom of Righteousness' which is diametrically opposed to the Jehowah (of the Torah-Hebrew scriptures) of the age-old traditional Jewish religion that was prevailing in Sinai-Arabah region, centuries before both Christianity and Islam originated in West Asia.

It could now be easily seen that in the first century AD this region of Sinai-Arabah (Suna-Apara of early Buddhist texts) of West Asia saw three different religious fraternities opposing one another and claiming allegiance to their own Holy Scriptures, namely (1) the Jewish Torah, (2) Christian Holy Bible (revised by Saul the former arch-enemy of Christ followers, who was later named Paul) and (3) Pre-Islamic Aramaic Peshitta Scriptures which later developed into Arabic Surah-Quran after Prophet Mohammed, the son of Abud-Allah, the servant of Alaha (or Araha).

Even the very word Bible is a mystery word we may say.

The Jews do not have any Holy Scriptures by that name. Western scholars have tried to trace the name 'Bible' from the Greek word 'biblios' - which means papyrus bark used as a writing material or parchment paper. If Bible means a reference to a book only, surely most.

If not all, of the books at that time must have been written on papyrus and the Jews too could have used the word for their Holy scriptures which too were written and preserved on papyrus parchments.

Peshitta-Bible-Torah

The original name of the Holy Scriptures of Aramaic speaking Jews (not Hebrew speaking Jews) and Arabs both, was Peshitta and not Bible or Torah. Why then the Christian Bible alone was named the Bible had to be investigated and solved.

This is a great mystery and we hope our recent discoveries will throw much light on the problem to solve this mystery. The translators of the original Greek Bible based on old Aramiac Scriptures, (Aramaic was the language used by Jesus himself, incidentally) state inter-alia.

"Had the Peshitta been made by order of one of the rival churches, the others would have rejected it. But since all Christians, even the Muslims in the Middle East, accept and revere the Peshitta text, it proves beyond a doubt that it was in use many centuries before the division of the Church."

The above facts show that the Holy scriptures as referred to by the name Peshitta and accepted as sacred by Arabic speaking Moslems and Aramaic speaking Jews and others of Middle East had nothing to do with the Jewish Torah.

It is something entirely different and distinct from the Hebrew Jewish Torah.

It is through our observations, that these Aramaic scriptures were nothing but "Survivals of the original Buddhist teachings" of the Church established by Ven. Punna Thera that we can solve the mystery of the origin of not only Peshitta but also the three different sacred books - Torah, Peshitta and the Holy Bible.

There is not much problem as to the genesis of the Jewish-Hebrew Torah. The Holy Bible is of Christian origin after the peaceful mission of the great personage Jesus Christ.

The problem now remains as to the origin of Peshitta based of the worship of a Supreme Being by the name of Alaha.

If Peshitta was a compilation of Buddhist orientation or Buddhist doctrinal matters, as we do suggest, it has to be proved. Peshitta is the Aramaic name for the original Holy Scriptures. We quote: "This name was given to this ancient and authoritative text to distinguish it from other Bible translations - around 431-451 A.D.

Further "all Christians, even the Moslems in the Middle East accept and revere the Peshitta. Peshitta is without dispute even earlier than the writings of Bar-Dasan who was living in the second century Aramaic was the mother tongue of Jesus Christ and He preached His gospel in Aramaic".

Paul preached the Christian gospel written in Aramaic. His epistles were written...when Christianity had spread into Syria and parts of near East and India.

"The word Peshitta means true and original Doctrine. If we consider carefully and critically the above remarks about the Peshitta text (or the original versions of the existing Holy Bible, or to be more accurate the proto-Bible) much facts can be gleaned to solve the mystery of the Bible.

First and foremost, now we know that it was respected and revered by the Christians and the Moslems both. It is quite unlikely that Jesus had preached a new or revised doctrine of the Jewish religion and wish to identify Torahic Jehowah with the Biblical God.

The great antipathy of Jews to Jesus Christ shows that His teachings were not in conformity with their religious ideals and scriptures. On the other hand if it was an entirely original doctrine of Jesus Christ, it would not have spread so quickly in such an alien land, in a vast area at the very first few decades after His death, namely, from Syria through Middle East to India, as Peshitta authorities record.

Our view, is (which is also the view of recent research scholars who have found substantial evidence of Jesus' connections with Buddhist kingdoms of North West India of the period) that Jesus Christ was preaching the doctrine of the Buddha to those very Semitic communities who had already become adherents of Alaha (of Peshitta Scriptures), the great Arahan Buddha, centuries ago with the mission of Ven. Punna to Sinai-Arabah (Suna-Aparanta) region of the Nabettean monarchs.

Jesus and Mahayana Buddhism

However the teachings of Jesus seems not to be based on the Araha ideal of original Buddhism. Jesus had seemingly emphasised the new Buddhist doctrine as found in Mahayana Buddhism revised by Emperor Kanishka and his immediate predecessors of the Kushana Empire that spread throughout North-Western India into parts of Central Asia, Far East and Middle East.

Thus when Jesus emphasised the Buddha as Cosmocrator, the Universal Compassionate Father, such views would have been anathema to Jews of Jehowah's religion.

On the other hand Jesus' God (Bod-Boddo) of the Eternal Blissful Heaven (Sukhavati of Mahayana Buddhism) would not have been easily understood by the original converts to Buddhism (those who held Alaha-Araha as their great Omniscient Lord), who were by that time had established in Arabia proper and other neighbouring kingdoms sporadically.

Saul who changed his name to Paul (later St. Paul) must have been either an honest and understanding convert to Jesus' teachings of Boddo (God) as Cosmocrator, or else a cunning Jewish priest who wished to compromise with the Jews as well as with the Roman Caesars by presenting the new Christian Theology as an off-shoot of old Jewish religion of Jehowah worshippers which will not be a great threat to Roman religious institutions based on age-old thesistic concepts such as Jupiter (Zeus), Adonis, Venus, Hermes, Bachchus, Eros, et al.

Whatever the case may be, original teachings of Jesus Christ had to face great challenges and resulted in revisions and alterations, after several synods and colloquiums held by the Christian church fathers, before being acceptable to the rulers of Rome and their religious hierarchy to become one with the "Holy Roman Empire" which proved to be not so holy.

The very word 'Peshitta' for the Aramaic-Christian or proto-Christian canon can be traced back to an original Buddhist word for Lord Buddha's teachings, namely 'Bhashita' which means What was spoken or the 'original word', 'Truth' and is also known as 'Buddha Bhashita'.

The word "Peshitta" means "straight, sincere, true that is "the Original" and given to the ancient authoritative text to distinguish if from the other Bible revisions and translations.

Persian Empire

Our contention that Buddhism in its original doctrinal form had spread along the Great Northern Highway, the Uttharapatha to several other kingdoms and regions outside India, during the very life time of the Buddha can be further substantiated if we analyse the religion of Ahura Mazda preached by Zoroaster in the Persian Empire of Achaemendis (present day Iran).

The God of Zoroaster was "Ahura Mazda". Zoroaster was a contemporary of Gautama Buddha and was born around 570 B.C. according to ancient Iranian historiographical chronology.

The word "Ahura Mazda" has very close resemblance to "Arahan Buddha" which name had already spread beyond Arabia towards the Sinai-Jerusalem region through Ven. Punna's mission and to the very heart of Achaemendi-Iran through the very first lay disciples of the Buddha, namely the two caravan leaders Tapassu and Bhalluka.

It had been found that the birth place of Bhalluka was the township Bhalk a border township on the great trunk route Uttharapatha, close to or within the then achaemenid Empire.

The great Achaemenid (Persian) emperor Xerxes says: "That Ahura Mazda made his father Darius the Great, king of kings, while his grandfather Vishtaspa and great grandfather Rshama were both alive.

Zoroaster can thus be considered as a learned convert, a noble disciple of the great Ahura Mazda (Arahan Buddha) when Buddha visited these kingdoms beyond the north-west frontier of India, and preached the Good Doctrine "Zad Sparam" as found in the Avesta which is nothing but the "Sad Dharma" the Noble Doctrine of the Buddha.

The Arab historian, Mazudi (A.C. 956), states that king Histaspas's (Vishtaspa, grandfather of Emperor Xerxes) residence was in the city of Balkh, the capital of Bactria.

In my article on Balkh (which appeared in the "Encyclopedia of Buddhism") and ancient site where very early Buddhist monuments have been discovered, I have referred to the fact that the first two lay disciples of Lord Buddha namely, Tapassu and Bhalluka the caravan traders, had hailed from Balkh and had come through the northern high way (Uttharapatha) to India and met the Buddha.

The two brothers became the first two lay disciples of the Buddha, by surrendering themselves before the Lord (see supra).

King Vishtaspa could have definitely heard of the Buddha and His "Saddharma" through such caravan leaders and other travellers. Zoroaster the Iranian too must have become a noble disciple of the Buddha having listened to the Buddha and understood His teaching (Saddharma).

Zoroaster a Buddhist

If the very first lay disciples of the Great Buddha were also Bactrians from Balkh, it is not unlikely that Zoroaster also had met the Buddha himself like the West Asian Ven. Punna the Arab (or Jew), who was a caravan leader himself from far away Sinai-Arabah (Suna-Apara).

According to the same historian, "Zoroaster converted Vishtaspa, the father of Darius the Great and brought the kingdom under Righteousness", also "the deliverer of the imperilled Empire with great wisdom and efficiency."

The date of Zoroaster is further confirmed by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (cir. 360 A.C.), who says, "about the Magi and holy rites.... to this science the Bactrian Zoroaster made many contributions and after him the wise king Hystaspes, the father of Darius," ...."Therefore it is possible when a date around 570-493 B.C. is assigned to Zoroaster lends some support."

Incidentally, we may suggest that it could be quite possible that the three Magi who visited baby Jesus and advised Joseph and Mary to flee from possible Jewish dangers were either Zoroastrian Buddhist monks of the original Alaha (Araha) Buddhist group of Zoroaster's founding or Buddhist monks of Punna's group from Arabia.

However, the above statements further confirm that Zoroaster was a Bactrian from Balkh, the place of origin of the very first, two lay disciples (Tapassu and Bhalluka) of our Lord Bhagavat Buddha. Furthermore it is stated that "Airan-vej' the place where Zoroaster was born, "was in the direction of Ataropatakan (Azervaijan)."

"Ataropatakan" can easily be identified as an early Iranian term for the eponymous "Uttarapatha", the Great Northern Highway which ran through ancient Iran via Balkh in Bactria, in north-western part of India, and connected Middle India up to Sri Lanka through Dakshinapatha (Dekkan) the Great Southern Highway.

According to Zoroaster's biography, he was taken to Ahura Mazda (Arahan Buddha) by an arch angel named 'Vohu Manah'. It is likely that Vohu Manah may have been a great disciple of the Bhagavat Buddha. We may identify 'Vohu Manah' tentatively with 'Moggalana' the Great Buddha's chief disciple along with Sariputta.

On the command of Ahura Mazda, Zoroaster went to meet king Vishtasp (father of the great monarch, emperor Darius) and converted him.

The above passages suggest that Ahura Mazda (Arahan Buddha) personally instructed Zoroaster at a very friendly level and that incident was not a mysterious divine intervention as some modern writers and pundits try to interpret without giving any thought to the historical background, and the political episodes that took place in the Achaemenid Imperial Court, and also the unforgettable geographical factor, the northern Highway Uttarapatha ("Ataropatakan" in ancient Persian), that linked northern India and Persia.

Light of Asia

As modern historians' interpretations go Zoroaster's founding of fire temples does not necessarily mean that the Zoroastrian religionists were fire-worshippers.

They must have definitely lighted oil-lamps, and burnt incense, joysticks etc., in honour of the Great Compassionate Lord, the Bhagavat Buddha, the Supreme Light ("The Light of Asia" as Sir Edwin Arnold said, the flame of fire, the symbol how the Buddha was aniconically represented in pre-Christian art and sculpture), because Zoroaster's teachings do not speak of fire-worship, or any invocation or incantation to a fire-god as the "Agni" cult of Indian Brahmins.

Zoroaster's teachings are nothing but an emphasis on "Great Righteousness" like in the case of emperor Asoka's conversion to Buddha's doctrine of "Great Righteousness". Few religious terms of Zoroaster's teachings as recorded in the Holy Text "Avesta" can easily help, even a modern day Buddhist layman, to understand the similarity of these doctrinal terms of Avesta with original Buddhist Textual terms, as for example, the selections of the book "Arda Virad" are called 'Zad-Sparam" which can be easily compared with the Buddha's noble Doctrine "Sad Dharma".

The Holy Text 'Avesta' can be compared with the Buddhist term 'Vastu' or 'Vattu', e.g. Katha Vattu, and many Sanskrit Buddhist texts with name ending "Vastu" e.g. Maha Vastu.

The holy hymns or the stanzas of the sacred text Avesta are called 'Gathas' which is exactly the term used in original Buddhist texts and never found in contemporary religious texts of India or Vedic of Hindu origin.

The founder as well as expounder of 'Righteousness' (Zad Sparam) in the imperial court of the great Achaemendids, the revered Guru Zoroaster was however killed by his rivals, the enemies of the new religion, may be at the instigation of the cunning Jews as well as greeks, at the Imperial Court of the Persian monarch, who in subsequent centuries abetted with the Greek Alexander to spell doom to Persepolis and with the Roman Governor Herod to kill Jesus Christ.

When Zoroaster was killed, his temples and all his religious scriptures were put into flames. This shows that the killings of Zoroaster was an act of religious fanaticism. But the Doctrine of Ahura Mazda the Supreme Lord, the Great Compassionate Arahan Buddha, as we now dare to indentfy Him with Ahura Mazda, prevailed in Pesia for nearly 300 years until the last of the Acheamendid emperors Darius II was killed and his city Persepolis, the metropolis, the metropolis of a universal emperor who ruled a vast empire from Mediterranean sea up to the Himalayas in "Righteousness", the pride of whole Asia was totally destroyed and ruthlessly burnt with all her buildings, religious scriptures and monks and monasteries by the vicious, bellicose Alexander the Greek who set forth from Greece having murdered his own father and mustering only 20,000 (twenty thousand) foot soldiers to meet the mightly Persian army of 600,000 (six hundred thousand soldiers).

Alexander in hell

In the ancient Iranian (Persian) records, this pathetic story is mentioned thus: "Alexander had destroyed all priests and learned men and self destroyed and he fled to hell".

Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the British archaeologist in his 'Flames over Persepolis' explains well, how the Greeks, possibly with their West Asian allies among whom were Jews and others in Sinai-Jerusalem region (who opposed the new religion of Alaha worshippers that was again spreading fast with the backing of Imperial Achaemendis) had first destroyed the frontier Satrapies of the Persian Empire like Egypt, Syria etc., and then gradually penetrated into Persia proper.

In the initial stages of Alexander's campaign against Egypt and Syria, and Jews would have given him the fullest support to resolve old scores.

The Greeks and Jews who lived within Persia as both prisoners of war and mercenaries and served in the Persian army and navy too, would have acted as spies to help the combined forces of Alexander and his Jewish allies to penetrate deeper into the heart of Persia, without much difficulty and made a sudden onslaught at Persepolis, like Prince Vijaya did to Lankapura (the prehistoric capital city of Sri Lanka around 550 B.C.).

All these historical episodes prove beyond doubt, one salient fact, namely, although Buddhism the compassionate teachings of the Buddha for the establishment of righteousness (Saddharma) through moral order and mental culture, attracted to it vast crowds and was appealing to the intellectual community of the day, like the proto-Arabian Nabetean Kings, Syrian monarchs, emperors like Darius, Xerxes of Persia, Asoka of India, the Selucid and Bactrian Greek Kings like Minander (of Milindapanha fame), Kanishka the mighty Scythian-Kushana emperor, Devanampiyatissa of pre-Christian Sri Lanka, et al, and proved itself to be a great civilizing factor, yet it also proved to be a disastrous factor to great Kingdoms and empires to change from traditional jingoism to peace-making and peace-keeping with their powerful military machines put into cold-storage.

Buddhist Kingdoms

Miliary men and belicose war-lords, masquerading as peace-makers and peace-keepers, as in the present day, found easy access to those great peace loving, peaceful centres of civilization of Buddhist Kingdoms and also took the opportunity to pay off old scores.

Alexander's conquests were not mere expression of gaining territorial expansion for the constricted Greek city states. It was also an attempt to check the tide of a new philosophy or a new moral order for the world, the "Doctrine of Universal Peace", of the Lord of Peace "Santi Nayaka", the Buddha Sakyamuni, that was gaining ground and fast spreading, with the backing of the most powerful empire of the day, the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, throughout the vast Persian Empire's Satrapies and the Iands around and across the great northern highway-Uttarapatha- that linked the East and the West.

(To be continued)