What a fun journey this has been…
Cairo, a few months ago
Last October, with the borders opening up, I returned to Cairo to visit our team there. On this occasion my friend and colleague in Lebanon, Riad, came across for the meetings. His presence opened the way to meet other people and ministries.
One place he took me was the Evangelical Theological Seminary Cairo (ETSC), where we were hosted by Dr Hani, the president. The Center for Middle Eastern Christianity on the top floor captured my eye, as it is home to Kenneth Bailey’s library. As a young pastor, embarking on my first sermon series, in 1985, I settled on Jesus’ parables in Luke, with Bailey’s Poet & Peasant as my guide. Bailey became a bit of a hero for me, providing the spark for post-graduate work on the parables which was completed, eventually, as a DMin in 2011.
Also capturing my eye were the paintings in the little chapel on the ground floor. They seemed to be the perfect stories to have watching over pastors-in-training as they gathered for worship.
But neither of these ‘captures’ could be compared with what Hani said as we wandered through the central hallway leading from the chapel back to his office. The walls were adorned with photos, delaying my progress, and as he saw my eye rest on one of them, he commented:
“Yes, the seminary started on that houseboat given by an Indian maharaja.”
Really? Did you say “Indian maharaja”? How could that even be possible? What on earth was a maharaja doing in the land of the pharoahs?
Well, it’s true. El-dahabya-Ibis had been given to the American Presbyterian Mission by a maharaja and it was used to spread the gospel up and down the Nile. It became the venue for seminary classes. There would be studies on-board in the mornings before going ashore in the afternoons for fieldwork.
Now come with me, across the Arabian Sea…
Delhi—and the road to London, a few centuries ago
Ever since Queen Victoria took possession of the Kohinoor diamond, it has been worn only by women. Tradition states that men who possess it are cursed. So, it sits in Camilla’s crown, although I have it on good authority that it is not going to appear at the coronation.
The diamond’s early history gets a bit lost in myth and conjecture—but it does find its way into the Peacock Throne of the Mogul Emperor, Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal. [NB: ‘this throne cost twice as much as the Taj Mahal to build’ (9)]. Delhi is ransacked by Nader Shah and all that Mogul wealth, the richest economy in the world at the time, is transported, in 8000 wagons, across to Herat in Persia. Nader Shah takes the diamond out of the throne and wears it on his bicep. Gradually, he loses his grip on life and one night, ‘in the greatest night of mayhem in Persian history’ he is killed and what follows is a frenzied, free-for-all to claim all that Mogul wealth.
When the dust settles, it is the bodyguard, Ahmed Shah Durrani, who has the diamond. He makes his way to Kandahar, in Afghanistan. In fact, with all this wealth, he is able to broker a meeting with all the chiefs and a state called Afghanistan, roughly similar to today’s one, is formed for the first time. The Kohinoor takes on an extraordinary history, at one time hidden in the crack of a prison cell and on another occasion, sitting as a paperweight on a mullah’s table.
Then it is the turn of the Sikhs as the all-conquering Lion of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, brings the diamond back to Lahore. The so-called curse endures in his line and some years after his death, his 17th wife, Maharani Jindan, controls the empire with their little five year old, Duleep Singh, as the heir.
With the Koh-i-Noor strapped to his soft little arm, Duleep sat in his mother’s lap while she ruled over one of the most powerful empires in Asia (Dalrymple & Anand, 118).
The Kohinoor—as well as the rich, fertile Punjab—comes to the attention of the British, in the form of the East India Company, based in Calcutta. The British work to get the Maharani sent into exile and then they go to work on the boy. He signs the Treaty of Lahore, with one of the five articles devoted exclusively to the fate of the Kohinoor (!), now destined to appear on a cushion in Queen Victoria’s possession in London.
It is quite the story, isn’t it?
Many owners of the Koh-i-noor have indeed suffered in the most appalling ways. Its owners have variously been blinded, slow-poisoned, tortured to death, burned in oil, threatened with drowning, crowned in molten lead, assassinated by their own family and bodyguards, lost their kingdoms and died in penury. Even inanimate objects associated with the gem seem to have been struck down—witness the cholera epidemic and storms which nearly sank the Medea as it brought the Koh-i-Noor to England, scything through passengers and crew (Dalrymple & Anand, 198).
Originally the size of a duck egg (276 carats), the Kohinoor has become a symbol of the loot taken by the coloniser, ‘a prism through which to see empires’, and ‘a lightning rod for attitudes towards colonialism’ (Dalrymple & Anand, 199). It sits in the Tower of London and it is said that a moving walkway had to be built in order to keep the hordes of South Asian tourists moving along and not congregating at the diamond, shouting chor—or thief. According to Anita Anand, it couldn’t stop some of them from moonwalking backwards…!
State Highway 1, a couple of weeks ago
Barby and I find ourselves on holiday, driving to the southern tip of the North Island. Accompanying us is the Empire podcast, hosted by Anita Anand and William Dalrymple, in which the story of the book (see above) is retold in five episodes. If you have 4-5 hours to spare, it is a rollicking ride…
We reach the part about Ranjit Singh, his youngest wife (Maharani Jindan) and their little boy, Duleep. Not only is Jindan sent into exile, 10 year old Duleep is sent to live with a Scottish missionary surgeon family near Lucknow: John Spencer and Lena Login (apparently pronounced the ‘Logan’ way, rather than the password way!).
From what I can discover, they are good and godly people. Goodness me, John Spencer Login even suggests that the Sikhs should be paid for the diamond. What a novel idea! They welcome Duleep into their family and raise him as one of their own children. Rather unsurprisingly, with this nurture, Duleep converts to the Christian faith. Then, under the supervision of the Logins, he travels to England and finds himself becoming a favourite of Queen Victoria herself—even taking the time to do sketches of each other! Apparently, he is a good looking dude.
That story is picked up in other books and movies…
… and anyway my mind is rushing off in another direction. I am still reeling about the news of that Maharaja giving gifts to missionaries and have been telling the story to anyone who might be interested—and many who aren’t, I suspect.
As we drive on, I am starting to get shivers up my spine. Pins and needles. I am struggling to keep the car on the road.
Could it be that this Duleep Singh, the last ‘Indian’ owner of the famed Kohinoor diamond, the last Maharaja of the Sikh empire, this friend of Queen Victoria? Could it be that this guy is the one who gave a boat to American Presbyterian missionaries living in Egypt, which became the starting place for one of the leading seminaries in the Arab world today?
While I try to keep the car on the road, Barby goes on a wild ride through pages on wikipedia and then on to the ETSC website to see what she can find—all as the podcast continues…
Slowly, the story comes together. It emerges in the final podcast (on Princess Sophia, Duleep’s daughter, with an incredible story of her own) that Queen Victoria tries to be all contextual and attempts to arrange a marriage between Duleep and a young Indian woman under her care. Duleep will have none of it. While on a trip back to India, he stops off in Cairo and makes contact with a mission who run an orphanage. He seeks a Christian wife and makes enquiries. One thing leads to another and he marries Bamba, abandoned by her German father as the fruit of an affair with an Ethiopian woman. [NB: ‘A Story of Bamba’ is available online and takes 15min to read. It is beautiful.].
After wandering through wikipedia, Barby made her way back to the ETSC website and to this page on ‘The First Headquarters of the Seminary’. And, I guess after working back to the English through the Arabic transliterations, there is a reference to Doleib Singh and his wife Bembh …
Singh married her, and for their honeymoon the wealthy Indian bought the El-dahabya Ibis to sail on the Nile. Upon leaving Egypt with his wife, Singh donated the riverboat to the American mission to be used for the work.
Our car was now in safe hands—hands connected to an exhilarated heart.
nice chatting
Paul
Postscript 1: The Duleep-Bamba story becomes sad, very quickly.
Postscript 2: While growing up in the Login family near Lucknow, Duleep, like many before and after him, would take some respite from the hot summer months. Off to the Himalayas he would go… And guess where he went? To the very hillside, with its little bazaar, where Barby and I grew up: Landour. ‘The Castle’ was refurbished for him, with its entrance just 100m from Landour’s famed clock tower, and directly across from the little South India restaurant where our love for dosa was born.
My brother, Mark, has done a lot of work on ‘Then & Now’ photos of places in Landour and surrounding Mussoorie. Here is his book—and some photos of The Castle, or the Castle Hill Estate.
Another angle, with Barby’s home on the ridge on the upper left behind Castle Hill…
About Me

the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Just when I thought that it could not be possible to have another first-hand account of the impact of John Stott’s life (d. 2011), along comes this book by his close friend, John Wyatt. I am always ready to learn more about John Stott, but also about friendship. It fascinates me. It keeps coming up…
Reading stories to grandchildren over Christmas reminded me again of how powerful they can be. They are so compact and simple in presentation, and yet so clever in construction. There are just so many features at work in an effective story. It is some years since I taught narrative preaching, but when I did I’d…
Apart from the eight years in which we were based overseas, Barby has been working at the Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland since 2002. This year she is a ‘release teacher’, spending one day each week in three different classrooms, with three different age groups. Impressive—and demanding. One day is spent with 11-13 year olds—from…
Amazing story to prove how God weaves situations, peoples lives and Nations wealth of any sort to expand His Kingdom work. Thank you Paul Sir for sharing this wonderful story…!
Thanks, Varun — it is a remarkable story.
Praying that you are doing well—it was good to zoom/whatsapp the other day.
Warm greetings to your mother
Paul