Travel, 6 August (continued)

Doubling back on our travel route, we stopped in Batala at Baring Union Christian College. Founded in 1878 under the guidance of Reverend Baring, the purpose of this institution was educating the sons of the upper classes of the newly created Christian community in Punjab.

It functioned as a Christian high school until becoming an intermediate college in 1942, a degree college in 1944, and a post-graduate college in 1966.

We visited with some of the staff and toured the chapel.

We also learned the history of the post-graduate center for Sikh and Punjab Studies. Established in the 1960s as the Christian Institute of Sikh Studies, turmoil in the region in the 1980s necessitated a name change to the Christian Institute of Religious Studies. The institute aims to direct attention to the religions and communities of the area.