Sake Dean Mahomed- The first Indian author who wrote in English

There once lived a man who was a jack of all trades. A traveller, surgeon, entrepreneur and masseur at various points in life, he became the first Indian author to publish an English book. This is his story.

The Travels Of Dean Mahomet

<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If Dean Mahomed would’ve appeared on the face of Earth a few centuries earlier, he was likely to find himself working as a barber, because that was the caste he was born into. But as fate would have it, he was born precisely during a period when the socio-political landscape of India was undergoing tremendous change and this meant that Dean Mahomed was to live a life of adventure, exposure and innovation.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Born into a Bengali Muslim family in 1759, a time when Mughal rule in India was wearing away to make space for the East India Company to spread its wings, Dean Mahomed had a conflicting childhood. His ancestral lineage could be traced to the Nawabs of Bengal, but that did not mean he was the heir to any throne. His father served in the East India Company’s Bengal army and died in battle when Dean was 11 years old. He was then taken under the guardianship of Captain Godfrey Baker, an Anglo Irish Protestant officer. Dean served in the East India Company’s army as a trainee surgeon until 1782, when Captain Baker resigned. He decided to accompany Baker, his best friend, to Ireland.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There, he studied to improve his English language skills and fell in love with a beautiful Irish girl. When his religion came in between the love affair, the couple eloped and Dean later converted from Islam to Christianity. It was during this period that Dean penned his autobiographical narrative, “The Travels of Dean Mahomed”. He composed this as a series of letters that began with his departure from home in 1769, with his voyage of immigration to Ireland being the concluding chapter of the book. In it, he describes his travels as a trainee surgeon with the Bengal army as it moved around North east India.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Published in 1794, ‘The Travels of Dean Mahomed’ became the first English novel with an author of Indian origin. To Dean, each state of India was a rich story of its own and he recounted them all with its intricate details in his book, providing an insightful account of the complex realities of India. His dramatic narrative of his travels through the cities of Kolkata and Banaras, the rural regions that included dense jungles and agricultural zones and the range of interactions with the variety of people that he encountered brings alive for the readers the colonial world in which an array of ethnicities and socio-economic classes interacted, sometimes in hostility, and sometimes in cooperation.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">By writing from a European cultural perspective, Dean gave his readers good value for their money as his perspective was uniquely influenced by his upbringing in the elite Muslim community, his travels as a soldier for the East India Company’s army and his migration to Europe. However, Dean Mahomed had more to give. In 1810, after moving to London, he opened the first Indian restaurant in England, the “Hindoostane Coffee House”. It offered authentic Indian dishes and the hookah parlors made it a hit among the elite English.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

Mahomed's Baths

<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Once this venture came to a close in 1812 due to financial troubles, Dean moved to Brighton with his family, where he opened the first commercial masseur bath in England, called “Mahomed’s Baths”. Here, he introduced the technique of shampooing, inspired by the Indian champissage method. He tapped into his Indian roots and used his knowledge of herbal medicines to put together a shampooing service that found its place among the Kings of England and other elites who visited Mahomed’s baths for a bout of relaxation.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">After his death in 1851, Dean Mahomed lost his relevance and prominence. That was until the 1970s and 1980s, when scholars started drawing attention to his life and work. Through his 91 years of living, Dean Mahomed was able to touch many lives through his enterprising ventures and he continues to be an inspiration today to the many who are innovative and daring enough to push through the social fabric of mediocrity and bring to life their wildest ambitions and dreams.</span></p><p><br></p>