Life of Ahmad — Page 212
BAI‘AT AT LUDHIANA as 212 priestcraft also was in the ascendant in Ludhiana. Very influential Maulaw i s lived there and their followers were spread far and wide. Maulaw i Abdul Q a dir and his sons Abdul ‘Az i z and Muhammad, who had taken an active part in the Mutiny of 1857 and were supposed to be the ringleaders, had come to Ludhiana and settled there after they had been granted a pardon. They played a prominent part in the public Mission in the Punjab. Ranjit Singh gave Lowrie a horse and Rs. 2,183/10/5. The population of Ludhiana at that time was about 20,000. A Sikh Rajah, who was under the protection of the English, ruled the town; there were no Christians in the Punjab before this. The Rev. John Newton and the Rev. James Wilson and their wives arrived in December, 1835. Six weeks after their arrival Lowrie was obliged to leave, never to return. His health was failing. While leaving India he expressed the hope that 'the Mission established at Ludhiana would be the morning star preceding the full day of Gospel light and influence among the interesting people of India. ' The Rev. M. A. Sherring says on page 218 of his history of Protestant Missions in India (London, 1875): 'The first mission introduced into the country of the Five Rivers was established at Ludhiana by the American Presbyterians in 1834. At that time a school was existing in this city, which had been opened by Sir Claude Wade, the Political Agent of the English Government, and which was attended by the sons and other relatives of Sikh Sardars or Chiefs, of Afghan exiles, and of respectable natives of the city. The school was transferred to the mission, but its generous founder continued to support it so long as he remained in that part of the country; and it is still, I believe, under the superintendence of the Mission. As early as 1837 a Christian Church was formed at Ludhiana. ' On page 221 he says: 'In the mutiny the Mission Church in the city of Ludhiana was destroyed by fire. The school building shared a similar fate. . . . . . the paper room. . . . . . the church on the mission premises (distinct from that in the city above alluded to) were set on fire. . . . . . On the arrival of the mutineers, the native Christians. . . . . . found shelter on the premises of one of the Cabul princes living in the neighbourhood. . . . . . '