page_title: Dean Mahomed
section_title: The Travels of Dean Mahomet
hierarchical_section_title: Dean Mahomed / The Travels of Dean Mahomet
caption_attribution_description: English: 1794 Frontispiece of Dean Mahomet's Travels
context_page_description: Sheikh Din Muhammad was an Indian traveller, surgeon and entrepreneur who was one of the most notable early non-European immigrants to the Western World. Due to his foreign origin, his name is often spelled various ways in English documentation. He introduced Indian cuisine and shampoo baths to Europe, where he offered therapeutic massage. He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English.
context_section_description: On 15 January 1794, Mahomed published his travel book, entitled The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book is in epistolary form  as was common for travel books and many novels in that era and consists of 38 letters. the book begins with a brief introduction where he contrasts Ireland and India, writing that "the face of every thing about me [is] so contrasted to those striking scenes in India." and proceeds to give a sketch of his early years. He then describes his travels over the period 1770 to 1775 as a camp follower to the Bengal army as it moved around North East India.  A series of military conflicts  are described along with descriptions of some major cities, including Kolkata (Calcutta) and Varanasi (Benares). This is accompanied by first hand accounts of Indian culture, trade, military conflicts, food, wildlife, etc.  The book concludes with a description of Mahomed's voyage to Britain where he arrived at Dartmouth in September 1784. While Mahomed gives an insightful and sympathetic account of India and Indian customs, as Mona Narain points out this is done from an essentially European cultural perspective - he consistently uses the pronoun "we" to describe himself and Europeans, and does not in his writings seek to challenge poor governmental management within the East India Company. The historian Michael Fisher, who published a biographical essay to accompany an edition of the book, suggested that some passages in the book were closely paraphrased from other travel narratives written in the late 18th century.
caption: 1794 Frontispiece of Dean Mahomet's Travels
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