Google dedicates doodle to Sake Dean Mahomed

Sake Dean Mahomed, one of the first Indians who brought the tastes and cultures of his homeland to England, has been honoured with a doodle by Google. 

Search engine giant Google created a commemorative doodle to celebrate Anglo-Indian traveller and entrepreneur Sake Dean Mahomed’s 260th birth anniversary on Tuesday, 15 January.

Dean Mahomed is credited with introducing ‘Shampoo baths’, a luxury bathhouse in London. He was the first Indian author to write a book in English in 1794.

Born in 1759 as Sheikh Din Muhammad in Patna, India, he served in British East India Army as a trainee surgeon until 1782.

Mahomed published 'The Travels of Dean Mahomed' in 1794, an autobiographical plot about his adventures in India. The book narrates about his time in the army and describes many important Indian cities and military campaigns.

He went to London in 1810 and opened first Indian restaurant ‘Hindostanee Coffee House’ in London at the age of 25.

The restaurant was closed due to bankruptcy after two years though. Mohomed did not lose heart and started a bathing spa, providing a combo of steam bath and Indian therapeutic massage.

He then wrote a book in 1822 titled ‘Shampooing or Benefits Resulting from the Use of Indian Medical Vapour Bath’ that became a bestseller then.

Mahomed fell in love with Jane Daly, an Irish woman from a protestant family. He converted to Anglicanism to marry Jane as it was illegal for a non-protestant to marry a protestant at the age.

The couple had seven children. He died in 1851 in Brighton.