Lost Jewel : A Timeline of the British Empire.

Does Duleep Singh convert to Christianity?

  • Yeah, why not?

    Votes: 6 50.0%
  • No, the Maharaja remains Sikh.

    Votes: 6 50.0%
  • Umm, none

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .
Prologue

I don't know if I am I doing it right, but I decided to take a shot at writing a timeline based upon the British Raj, especially Company rule. I am not an expert, and I would appreciate honest criticism so that I can make it better. Anyway, the timeline is post-Second Anglo-Sikh War right now, but will skip to 1856 in the first chapter, and as you know what happened in 1857, some real rumbling is going to happen in Empire



PROLOGUE




Fategarh, 1850, Unknown date

Sir John Login could not imagine the change the boy had had since the annexation of Punjab. Never mind the fact that the boy was clearly a follower of Christ now, all but in name. The greatest change was in his stance towards Empire. He was no longer the boy who was torn between loyalty to the state (the very state which had murdered his uncle in front of him), his mother (the very woman who had lost him his throne), and the British (the very people who had taken him away from his family). Login was still not sure of the morality of the annexation, as wasn't Lawrence, but such questions were but moot to Dalhousie, that great man. But such were not the fears of Sir John Login. The greatest fear, of course, was the jewel, the symbol of Punjab, the very essence of the sovereignty of the Sikh state. It would have been easier if the Brahmins had been able to take it to Jagganath after Ranjit Singh's death, but that treasurer ended up keeping it for the state, and as it was, the state was now Britain. The jewel, therefore, should have been British, but for a small hitch. A 10-year old boy can hardly sign a treaty and voluntarily sign over a diamond to another sovereign. The betrayals that the former Maharaja faced, would have turned whoever it was who had created the chakravarti doctrine, to blush with shame. He knew there was going to come a time when Duleep would ask questions, and he was afraid, that when he did, there was nothing stopping the rest of India from asking questions too. And India, as it was, was the Company, and the Company was the Empire. The Empire had been built on treaties and trade deals, fickle un-Christian objects, but commerce was not concerned of such. It was concerned about diamonds and rubies, Mughal gems and crystals, and the betrayals of humanity.
 
Chapter 1: We are the Sikh Religion Preservation Society
CHAPTER ONE: WE ARE THE SIKH RELIGION PRESERVATION SOCIETY.

By the Khalsa and its associates.


The Fmr. Maharaja Duleep Singh, after so many years of stay away from his homeland (a term still disputed by the greatest Indologists), returned home, well, to Calcutta. The East India Company, as well as the Foreign Office, in their colonial wisdom, had attempted to keep the Maharaja as close as possible to themselves. However, the good man could not stay away from the land of his calling so long. What would his people think? Although, as Sir Login, his foster father said, they were not his people, he felt a certain responsibility to him. Unfortunately, he was amidst a crisis in faith in the Empire. The 16 year old boy, after one blissful year of stay in Calcutta, had received a letter, and not only any letter, but a certainly dangerous one. It was from one of the most formidable enemies the British had ever had :- his mother. Although the contents of the letter are unknown, they were bad enough that Sir Login, on the request of the Maharaja, burnt it without notifying the Company officials. It is generally considered by historians that the letter had some relation to a planned insurrection in the Punjab, led by the Rani. The Board of Administration for Punjab had already stated that Sikh soldiers, although not near to rebellion for Jindan's sake, were jubilant at the return of the Maharaja back to the country. This worrying report made Dalhousie bar the Maharaja from travelling to Punjab. With a crisis brewing, and a feeling of insecurity in the Indian situation, the Board of Directors in London ordered Dalhousie to keep a keen eye on the young prince. Dalhousie was more than keen to comply. With events in India moving with surprising ferocity, Dalhousie, in one rash moment, decided that Punjab wasn't his ultimate moment of triumph. That was to be his next move, probably the greatest single mistake :- the annexation of Oudh. Oudh, whose Nawab was indeed sort of a playboy, sort of the person you love to hate and hate to love, believed in spending money, without inhibitions. Clearly there was no threat to the efficient actual administration of the state. However, the East India Company wasn't known for following international law, it certainly wasn't. Dalhousie used probably one of the most unique grounds for annexation in history: maladministration. Although the administration of the state was basically under the control of the British, through the Resident, the responsibility was placed upon the Nawabs. Poor souls, they were deposed for the greater good of the people of Oudh, which nobody understood.



 
Chapter 2: Mockery And Merchants
CHAPTER 2: Mockery and Merchants


While the good old Marquis of Dalhousie was able to gain more territory for the Company than all previous Governor-Generals, he did so at immense cost, the cost of destroying what little reputation the Company had. Sir Henry Lawrence, on the date of October 5th, 1856 gave some distressing news to Canning, which shook him to his foundations. The noble Rani Jindan had escaped from Chunar Fort. How it had happened, and where she had gone was unknown to the British, but most thought that she had escaped to Afghanistan. However, what they were unaware of was that in the fort itself, discontent with British rule had led the occupying troops of the Bengal Army to help the Rani escape. The apparent failure of the garrison of the fort to keep the Rani inside was gifted with dishonourable discharge, something that angered the Punjabi-majority soldiers. Due to this apparent disrespect to them, the Punjabi soldiers mutinied against the British residents, and exiled them from the Fort. The well-stocked fort was now under complete British control. The Bengal Presidency, in a fix as it could not call Sikh troops to attack the fort, called upon the 34th Bengal Native Infantry Regiment to surround the Fort and blockade it. Unfortunately, the Fort which was well-stocked, refused to surrender. The number of troops was swelled, and by January of 1857, the entire Fort was surrounded by 11 regiments, included in which was the Shah Suja's Troop, which was responsible for a certainly heinous crime. The battery bombarded the fort for a period of 4 days, until the northern wall was but ruble, allowing the Foot components of the Bengal Army to enter the Fort. In the fighting, a certain soldier known as Mangal Pandey was killed. Since the rebels had already been dishonourably discharged, they were to be tried under civilian law. That is, they were executed. This further insult to Sikh soldier prestige led to massive resentment in the Punjab province, with many demagogues openly calling for rebellion. The Company was soon beginning to lose control of the situation, and Henry Lawrence, reporting back to Canning said that if measures weren't taken soon, the entire country would be up in flames. Enter, the Maharaja of Punjab, Duleep Singh.





THE CASKET PLOT

By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.
- Portia


The Rani Jindan, having escaped from Chunar, had seemingly disappeared from public view. However, there was reasonable belief that she had taken refuge in Afghanistan. This was not true. The Rani had in fact taken refuge in a place much closer to Calcutta, Nepal. From there, she did try often to send letters and missives to Duleep, but failed. In fact, if it wasn't for an accident of fate, the Maharaja would never have met his mother again.


Duleep Singh, extremely weary of staying in Calcutta, decided to travel the far wide lands of India, provided that he did not visit Punjab. The news of his mother's death had been hidden from him. Therefore, there was no adverse motive in Duleep seeking to visit the varied lands of India. The first mistake that his travelling companion, Login, made was to allow him to travel in the first place, with the approval of the Lord Canning. The second mistake was choosing Oudh as a place to visit. The Rani had travelled from Nepal to Oudh to travel to Punjab to raise the banners of rebellion. To the Rani, this could only be done if all of India was up in arms with Punjab. In the great city of Lucknow, a place of many people, the most unlikely things seemed to happen. The Maharaj, residing in a former nobleman's quite spacious house, revelled in the atmosphere of the Kingdom, turning a blind eye to the poverty and despair of the people. To him, he was a noble by birthright, a ruler of superior standard, something his father Ranjit would be disgusted by. It was not for him to think about the plight of his people. Besides, they were the responsibility of the British government. Who was he to choose for them?



O heavens! This is my true-begotten father!
Who being more than sand-blind, high gravel

- Launcelot


To be continued
 
Chapter 3 : The Jewelled Head
CHAPTER 3: Jewelled Heads




1857 London, April 13th.


Queen Victoria, symbolic ruler of the greatest Empire in modern history. On her crown, made by Dutch jewel impressarios, the Crown. Its centrepiece, the Koh-I-Noor, the Mountain of Light. Taken away from the Maharaja Duleep Singh by Lord Dalhousie through the Treaty of Lahore. Taken from Shah Shuja by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Taken by Ahmed Shah Abdali from Nader Shah. Taken by Nader Shah from Muhammad Shah Rangila. Placed on the greatest throne ever made, the Peacock Throne, by Shah Jahan. Taken from the Lodi dynasty by Babur. The possession that Humayun couldn't leave, never mind Islamic sensibilities towards rubies and spinels. It was, the modern day Syamantaka gem, the ultimate prize. It had been controversy, and destruction for all those who had taken it.



Every dynasty of the Sultanate, ended, in a terrible failure.

Delhi raided, by the Persians

Nader Shah killed, by household.

Ahmed Shah Abdali, consumed by leprosy

Timur Shah Durrani, natural death, but loses imperial holdings.

Shah Shuja Durrani, blinded, loses Empire, sees son tortured, gets tortured himself

Ranjit Singh, massive strokes leave him paralysed, unable to speak, leading him to unintentionally opening quarrels in the Empire, over the diamond.

Kharak Singh, poisoned.

Nau Nihal Singh, crushed under falling building.

Sher Singh, murdered

Duleep Singh, betrayed, loses war, loses kingdom.

East India Company, ?

British Empire, ?



With such a history, it was understandable that Victoria felt a bit queasy about it, because, as was proved before, she herself had faced certain tragedies, inexplicably linked with the timing of the East India Company trying to send her the diamond


The ship Medea, struck with cholera, no-where to go, driven from Mauritius.

Sir Robert Peel, dead.

Queen Victoria, struck by assailant.

Government of Lord Aberdeen, falls.


Napoleon III's ball was very good, but there were certain things, that overshadowed it, about the diamond.


It was simply speaking, bad, nay, terrible luck.



DUM DUM CANTONMENT, APRIL 1857

The massive resentment from the introduction of the Enfield Rifle, which was still a source of massive controversy between Indian sepoys in the Bengal Army. The members of Dum Dum Cantonment where majority Hindu and Muslim upper class soldiers dominated, where aware of a particularly grisly rumour about the British, two in fact. One was that during the siege of the Chunar Fort, the British had massacred all the civilian members of the Rani's household, and another was that, of the Enfield P-53 rifle. Introduced in Meerut cantonment, the Rifle was a controversial addition to the arms of the Company. The fact that it possessed greased cartridges , angered quite a few. Both these rumours, most likely false, spread through the cantonment like wildfire, and soon enough, events were passing at an unstoppable pace. For one, there were seeds of dissension in the Punjab Irregular Force, when the 1st Regiment of the Punjab Infantry, which was usually loyal, refused to conduct a tactical exercise along the border to drive away bandits, if they were overseen by British officials. Sir Henry Lawrence, Chief Commissioner of Punjab, weary of the problems he had had to face, accepted, and allowed the Regiment to do as they pleased. After this, events moved incredibly fast. On the date of 12th April, 1857, large numbers of fires begin to spread through the former cities of the Oudh state, origin unknown. As rebellion seemed more and more likely, the British revoked the cartridges which had themseves replaced the greased ones of 1856. However, by a stroke of bad luck, and terrible timing, a British officer at Meerut cantonment asked his men to fire the rifles with the cartridges in parade. Certain men of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry refused.

They were court-martialled, sentenced to 10 years hard labour. This angered the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, as well as the people of Meerut. On the date of 10th May, 1857, a Sunday, the city of Meerut broke out in heavy rioting. Many shops and European establishments were destroyed, and the bazaar was up in flames. The members of Meerut Cantonment at that point were mainly Native, since the European garrison had gone away to church, or was on a break. Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army General Anson, gave the order to the members of the cantonment to break up the riot. The Native members refused. From the account of Captain Darcy, a officer in the 11th Bengal Native, stated that everything was so spontaneous, that it was hard to remember. But a clear picture of the events that followed could be constructed. The 3rd Bengal Light, after refusing orders, swung towards the Officer's barracks, massacred the former-mentioned unlucky officer, and his associates, and then began rounding up all Europeans in the city. It was a hard task, as many had already died after the rest of the cantonment rose up in revolt, and along with the crowd, had been responsible for murdering many an European. Even worse was the fact that certain regiments had already delivered their officers and families outside the city, and therefore were bereft of leverage. As the realisation of the events dawned on both the British and the Bengal Army, they understood one thing, the rebellion had begun.
 
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