The Radcliffe Line might have divided everything between India and Pakistan in August 1947, but some legacies remained undivided even after 78 years, and Aitchison College is one such institution, having taken root in undivided Punjab.
Having deep interfaith connections in undivided Punjab, Aitchison College, formed in 1886 in Lahore, is celebrating its 140th anniversary this February, with echoes to be heard across the border at Patiala, in Indian Punjab, which had deep connections with Aitchison. Showcasing its association, Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, will share the celebrations on Feb 3, ahead of the main celebrations to be held at Aitchison Lahore on February 13-15.
The 15 living alumni in India who attended Aitchison until 1947 were invited to both functions. Two of these 15 are expected to travel to Lahore to be part of the celebrations.The process was also put in motion for reconnecting the descendants of old boys who were friends before 1947 at the college. The 6 pairs of such families, including the Raza and Bedi families, the Manawala and Raza families, the Bharwana and Bhadaur families, the Bajwa and Zulqarnain families, the Taarar and Butalia families, and the Bedi and Taarar families, were connected, reviving lifelong Aitchison friendships and the memories of their ancestors who were friends at Aitchison. US-based scholar Tarunjit Singh Butalia, with deep roots in Indian and Pakistan Punjab, as Honorary Envoy at Aitchison College, is taking extra pains to ensure the celebrations are felt across the borders and old memories are revived. When Aitchison was formed on Jan 2, 1886, as the Punjab Chiefs’ College, before being renamed Aitchison College on November 13, 1886, it had an Ambala connection, as 12 boys from Ambala Wards School were moved to Lahore in 1884 to establish Punjab Chiefs College.
Of these 12 students, 7 were Sikh and 5 were Muslim, as Aitchison embraced its multi-faith roots, fostering a sense of shared heritage and pride among its students, faculty, and staff of diverse faith backgrounds, recalled Butalia.
When Punjab Chiefs’ College was established, out of its staff of 8, 3 were Muslim, 4 were Hindu, and 1 was Christian. In mid-1880, a committee was formed to raise funds for the new college campus.
Princes, chiefs, landlords, and other people of influence donated over Rs 2.5 lakh by Nov 1886. On November 13, 1886, the Council of the Punjab Chiefs College met at Lawrence Hall and formally changed the name from Punjab Chiefs College to Aitchison College. The first Committee of Management, appointed to run the college, was also multi-faith.
Ram Singh, Sikh architect of Mayo College (renamed National College of Arts) in Lahore, initially designed the old building for holding classes, Boarding House 1 (Kelly), and Boarding House 2 (Godley).
During construction, a third boarding house, Leslie Jones, was added by 1891. Later, Ram Singh also designed the Principal and Vice-Principal houses in 1900-1902, and the Gurdwara and Mandir in 1904. The College currently boasts a Masjid, Gurdwara, and Mandir. The mosque was built in 1900 by the Nawab of Bahawalpur. The Maharaja of Darbhanga laid the foundation of the Hindu Mandir in 1910, while the Maharaja of Patiala did so for the Sikh Gurdwara just north-west of the Mandir.
Balwant Singh Ber established the dispensary on campus in 1899. The swimming pool was built in memory of the Rani of Mandi. Several sports and academic awards and trophies were established by Sikh Punjab Chief families.
“Until 1932, the policy of the college was to house Muslim boys separately from Sikh and Hindu boys in boarding houses. Each boarding house had its own mess, conforming to the religious dietary restrictions of that house.
With the joining of Principal CH Barry in 1933, this changed. He argued that while the boys studied together, they should also learn to live with one another, regardless of their faith. Thus began a grand experiment in which boarding houses were integrated and completed by 1940.
With it, the college was not just multi-faith but also interfaith. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and boys of other faiths lived together in rooms.
The messes of each boarding house were also integrated. Vegetarian food was served to all, while halal meat was served at the table only to Muslims, and jhatka meat was offered at the table to Sikh and Hindu boys. No wonder, Principal CH Barry is recognised today as one of the most transformative principals of Aitchison College,” said Butalia, whose father, Major Karamjit Singh Butalia (retd), studied there from 1946 to 1947.
His paternal grandfather, Captain Ajit Singh Butalia (retd), attended from 1924 to 1931, and his paternal great-grandfather also studied there from 1906 to 1915.By 1940, the boarding houses were fully faith-integrated, and the boys who lived together formed lifelong friendships with their roommates of many faiths. From 1886 to 1947, the college students were about 46% Sikh, 41% Muslim, 7% Hindu, and the remaining 6% Christian.
The college’s management appointed Dhani Ram Kapila as Principal in January 1947. He was the first non-Christian Principal of Aitchison. During the summer break of 1947, when partition became inevitable, the college sent all Muslim boys to the expected Pakistani side and Sikh and Hindu boys to the Indian side. The boys of Aitchison did not suffer physical harm during partition, but the emotional toll of never meeting their roommates and close friends of other faiths was traumatic for many old boys.
In 1947, the college population was more than 50% Sikh and Hindu boys.
These boys left, never to return to Aitchison, said Butalia. Lifelong Aitchison multi-faith friendships were shattered in 1947. Many of the boys who left for India joined Yadvindra Public School in Patiala (established in February 1948 by the Maharaja of Patiala), as well as Doon School in Dehradun, Bishop Cotton in Shimla, Lawrence School, Sanawar, Mayo College, Ajmer, and others. Principal Dhani Ram Kapila was appointed principal at YPS Patiala, along with several Aitchison Sikh and Hindu staff, while Bursar Shanti Lal Sehgal was appointed Bursar at Mayo College, Ajmer. When the Muslim boys returned to Aitchison College after partition in January 1948, half the college population was gone, the college population became single-faith for the first time, and, worst of all, their Sikh and Hindu roommates and friends were gone, never to meet them again.
In the early 1980s, Aitchison College Old Boys Association (ACOBA) began working with Aitchison Yadvindra Old Students Association (AYOSA) and arranged several visits across the border.
A significant delegation of old boys from India visited Aitchison for its 100th anniversary in 1986. The College held student exchange visits for sports competitions with YPS Patiala, Bishop Cotton Shimla, Daly College Indore, Mayo College Ajmer, and Doon School Dehradun from 1982 to 2010.There are about 15 living old boys in India, and almost the same number in Pakistan. To mark the 140th anniversary of Aitchison College’s founding, the college invited all the living old boys in India and Pakistan who attended until 1947. Earlier, when a gathering of families of those who studied at Aitchison was organised at Shivalikview Hotel in Chandigarh on July 7, 2025, TOI reached two of the Aitchison members, Simran Singh and Malinder Singh Sodhi, who studied from 1942 to 1947, and who got together to recollect memories that were well over 7 decades old.
Simran Singh belongs to Bhadaur village in Barnala district, and Malinder Singh to Buttar village in Moga district. Simran Singh studied from 1942 to December 1946, while living in Leslie House in the boarding school. After 2 years, he was shifted to Kelly House. Malinder Singh studied from 1943 to 1947.
