Did Jesus visit India? Some traditions state that Jesus visited India between the ages of 12 and 33, in order to study and learn. What evidence is there that he did or did not visit India?
Where was Jesus from his age 12 to 33?

From age 12 to 30 he was in Nazareth. And from age 30 to 33 he was in and around Jerusalem. Where else? And no, he was not in India.

Why does scripture not mention this period in Jesus' life?

Because scriptures are not biographies of Christ. Their intention and purpose was different. They wanted to record the story of salvation. And from a Christian perspective, by divine providence, the hidden life of Christ (age 12 to 30) is not necessary for that.

India as a hub of knowledge

If assuming that Jesus traveled to gain knowledge, rather than India, a more convenient and feasible destination would be Rome. Rome was connected by road to Jerusalem and by extension to Nazareth too. Think about the dangers of crossing all those countries to reach India. Also, India was not a single country at that time. A host of kingdoms ruled over India in those days. (All of this is under the assumption of ignoring Jerusalem, which was the center for Jewish studies, and the assumption that Jesus needed to travel to gain knowledge, which he never preached about or talked about in his later years.)

Other problems with this hypothesis

There are many other problems in this hypothesis. Some of them are:


There is absolutely no concrete evidence. Absolutely none!! Those people who claim that he went to India say that there are scrolls hidden deep in some monastery. But that is not evidence. It is just fables. Anyone could claim anything like this. These are not mentioned in any reliable sources, nor can they be verified at all.
Being a devout Jew, Jesus would not have studied in a polytheistic religion. If he had, at least it should have been reflected in his teaching, which it is not.
We know from his public life that just like every other devout Jew, Jesus made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year. The last recorded event of Jesus' childhood was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. From this we can reasonably assume that he made the pilgrimage during his hidden life too. Even a single trip to and from India that time would be extremely dangerous and difficult no matter what the means of transportation. Also, the trip would be very costly, and Jesus' family was poor.
Jesus was known in his community as a carpenter, since it was a Jewish tradition for young boys to learn their father's trade. His parables were even influenced by his job. He told of building a house on a rock as opposed to sand (Matthew 7:24-27). This is a great indication that Jesus has spent his adolescent years in his own community.
There are numerous passages in the Bible stating that people recognized him and refused to believe in him because he was just a carpenter and they knew him too well to accept him. This implies that Jesus was very well known in his community, which would not have been possible if he had been in India for most of his life. (See Matthew 2:23; 13:54-56; Luke 2:51-52; 4:22.)
Why did Jesus not talk about India to his disciples? None of the early records mention such a journey. The Jewish leaders did not like Jesus. So when they condemned him, they would certainly have said that he had learned heretical things in a foreign land. They knew who he was, and the people knew who he was. So this going to India hypothesis does not hold water.




There is a similar theory called the Swoon hypothesis, which claims that Jesus went to India after his death but before the ascension. Covering this would be beyond the scope of the question, but Wikipedia does a decent job of explaining the problems with it.