The Russian scholar Nicolai Notovich was the first to suggest that Christ may have gone to India. In 1887, Notovich, a Russian scholar and Orientalist, arrived in Kashmir during one of several journeys to the Orient.

At the Zoji La pass, Notovitch was a guest in a Buddhist monastery, where a monk told him of the bodhisattva saint called Issa. Notovitch was stunned by the remarkable parallels of Issa's teachings and martyrdom with that of Christ's life, teachings, and crucifixion.

For about 16 years, Christ traveled through Turkey, Persia, Western Europe, and possibly, England. He finally arrived with Mary to a place near Kashmir, where she died. After many years in Kashmir, teaching to an appreciative population who venerated him as a great prophet, reformer, and saint, he died and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir itself.