Shroud of Turin DNA study reveals surprising India link

Thanks to a group of Italian researchers, the most debated relic in Christendom, the Shroud of Turin, has been found to carry traces of India.

What the DNA study really reveals about the Shroud of Turin’s past

In 2015, researcher Gianni Barcaccia and his colleagues undertook a detailed genetic analysis of dust particles extracted from the Shroud in 1978. What they found was DNA from multiple individuals, scattered across continents and centuries. Among these were haplogroups who are commonly associated with the Indian subcontinent. Nearly 40% of the human DNA on the cloth traces back to Indian lineages.

First documented in France in 1354, the Shroud is a 4.4 metre long linen cloth which bears the faint, haunting image of a man who appears to have been crucified. For believers, it is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, but for skeptics, it is just a medieval artefact. A radiocarbon dating that wad conducted in 1988 placed its origin sometime between 1260 and 1390 CE and cancelled out the possibility that the cloth ever belonged to Jesus Christ.

The Shroud has been touched, kissed, repaired, and venerated by countless hands over multiple centuries. Pilgrims from Europe, the Middle East, and beyond have come into contact with it. The genetic material found on its fibres is therefore not really a fingerprint of origin, but a record of interaction. It is about who has touched the cloth since.

The DNA study has its critics, particularly regarding contamination and sampling methods. And no serious scholar would argue that the Shroud is “Indian” in any meaningful sense. But if we dismiss the findings entirely, we would miss their cultural resonance.

There is no definitive answer really. We are very used to thinking of sacred objects as a personal belonging of a religion, or a region, or a narrative. But the Shroud of Turin challenges that ownership. It has been claimed, contested, analysed, and adored. It suggests simply suggests that faith, like DNA, does not respect borders.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.