I had seen many times discussions that mention a shift of our calendar before my visit to India in 2015, that the dates were intentionally advanced to make the history seem longer, likely some time in the 19th century. The thought originates from seeing dates from the 18th and 17th centuries that are written with an “i” – rather “i765” than “1765”, for example. Of course, one starts guessing that “i” is not the “thousand” but simply a mention of the calendar style – “from the birth of Jesus (Iehovah)” to distinguish it from other calendar styles (like, e.g. “from the making of peace” that is 5000 years earlier).

The idea itself is interesting but it is difficult to believe that this kind of atrocity is possible. And how can you be sure about the events that happened long time ago and how those dates were supposed to be written and all that. So you are left with doubts but never with surety. And suddenly all my doubts were blown away at once.

I was in Chennai, India, on a business trip. They have a beautiful church there: St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica. The white stone building, magnificent outside and tastefully decorated with wood inside, is definitely worth a visit. According to the Wikipedia, it exists from 1523.

Walking around inside the church, I suddenly came across several tomb stones mounted into the floor. This kind of thing is often seen in the older catholic churches, so that was not surprising. What was surprising were the dates that can be read quite clearly. This one in the picture is dated as J793, which is absolutely and without doubt 793 from the birth of Jesus, known nowadays more commonly as AD (Anno Domini). Here, instead of “i”, you can definitely read a clear “J”, so that there is no doubt whatsoever left regarding the date.

And so it appears that all our historical dates were reinterpreted at a certain point to give them an extra millennium. And the 2015 is not really 2015 but merely 1015. That is, if it’s the only change and there isn’t more. We also heard about the period of European history known as “dark ages” because we know so very little about. Well, that period never happened. It’s a thousand years sparsely populated with artificially moved around events to make an appearance … -->