Those familiar with the myth of two Chinese princes (Mam and Ekon) who supposedly founded the Mamigonian dynasty, would find its Indian version as interesting.  According to Zenob/Zenobias, one of the first desciples of St. Gregory the Illuminator, two Hindu princes (Gissaneh and Demeter) had conspired against Dinakspall, the king of Kanauj. Upon the discovery of the plot, which meant death to the princes, they fled to Armenia. They were welcomed to the country by the king and the population. In 149 B.C. King Valarsaces (the brother of Artaces the Great) allotted them and their followers the province of Daron, where they built a city called Veeshab—dragon in Armenian. The Hindu refugees also went to Ashdishad, where they set up statues of the gods they worshipped in India. When Armenia converted to Christianity, St. Gregory erected—on the site of the most important Hindu temple– a monastery where he deposited the relics of St. John the Baptist and Athanagineh the martyr. The monastery—now known as St. Garabed of Moosh—once again became an Armenian pilgrimage site in 2011.

Those familiar with the myth of two Chinese princes (Mam and Ekon) who supposedly founded the Mamigonian dynasty, would find its Indian version as interesting.  According to Zenob/Zenobias, one of the first desciples of St. Gregory the Illuminator, two Hindu princes (Gissaneh and Demeter) had conspired against Dinakspall, the king of Kanauj. Upon the discovery of the plot, which meant death to the princes, they fled to Armenia. They were welcomed to the country by the king and the population. In 149 B.C. King Valarsaces (the brother of Artaces the Great) allotted them and their followers the province of Daron, where they built a city called Veeshab—dragon in Armenian. The Hindu refugees also went to Ashdishad, where they set up statues of the gods they worshipped in India. When Armenia converted to Christianity, St. Gregory erected—on the site of the most important Hindu temple– a monastery where he deposited the relics of St. John the Baptist and Athanagineh the martyr. The monastery—now known as St. Garabed of Moosh—once again became an Armenian pilgrimage site in 2011.