Every day, Mahomet stood to stare out of his doorway at the British soldiers marching by. He had long cherished the dream of a life in the military, though his own father had died just that year in service as a soldier with the East India Company.
The year was 1770, and the young boy who eyed the finely-dressed British officers, yearning for an introduction, would set a series of firsts for an Indian. His account of his experiences, ‘The Travels of Dean Mahomet’, is the first book in English to be published by an Indian; his business ideas led to the introduction of both curry and shampoo to Europe, and his knack for adventure saw him elope with an Irish girl from Cork and settle in Brighton. As the lives of subalterns go, his was one that did not lack adventure.
Sake Din Mahomet was only 11 when he found his calling with the East India Company. He managed to befriend an Irish captain called Evan Baker, who recruited him as a subaltern officer. The job was largely peaceful – for twelve years, they saw no combat. But the Maratha campaigns in 1771 saw them called away from Patna, and Mahomet soon found himself pitted against his own people.
The brigade he was part of was notorious for looting the villages they passed by. Local villagers took a shot at revenge when they raided Mahomet’s camp and kidnapped him, as he was resting on his elaborate palanquin. The villagers stripped him bare and wanted to kill him, but ultimately spared his life, and he ran back to the camp shirtless, to give the officers word of the raiders. In the counter-attack, a few were captured – and their ears and noses chopped off as a message.
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