When the British took away Maharaja Duleep Singh from Lahore, Lord Dalhousie -- the then viceroy of India -- decided that he should be taken to a place called Fatehgarh, a small, little, mosquito-ridden camp of indigo planters on the banks of the Ganga in UP (then United Province). He was taken to UP because the British had no intention of keeping any symbol of Sikh political power in Lahore.
However, his entry into the Christian fold and back into Sikhism is an interesting story in itself. He didn't become a Christian because he loved the religion or didn't come back into the Sikh fold for the same reason.
"I suppose it was an emotional moment but I think what comes out again is the sense of political rebellion" that Maharaja Duleep Singh showed in doing what he did, says Mr Sarna.
Essentially Duleep Singh was in the keep of one John Logan -- a surgeon in the British Army and also a Presbyterian missionary -- and his wife. In that instance he had attendants who were Christian and was made to believe that Christianity was the right way to live. He knew very little of Sikhism and he thought that Hinduism was only ritualism. So in comparison he was attracted towards Christianity.
According to the book Lord Dalhousie had prepared a very detailed document to prove that there was no undue influence used to convert Duleep Singh to Christianity.
However, 30-odd years later Duleep Singh once again expressed his desire to become a Sikh and he did it against all odds. The British wouldn't let him travel to India fearing political trouble. So a delegation of five Sikhs congregated in England and baptised him back into Sikhism.
It was a clear indication that he had renounced and rejected Christianity in the same rebellious way he had become a Christian earlier.
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