Page 175 - DILMUN NO 20

Historical Links between lndia and the GuIf

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presses brought from Bombay by its publisher and editor, Abdulla Alayed.
73 Alzayed, a pearl merchant, reformer, and poet, himself owed much of his
fortune and experience to lndia where he had lived in exile for two years,
Prior to the 1930s, all official and unofficial written materials in the Gulf were
sent for printing to presses in lndia. It is no surprise, therefore, to know that
the printing and publishing of some of the very first Gulf books took place in
Bombay. Among these books are 'Ukud Aljawaher' (1918) and Tuhfat A0nasik'
(1925) which are believed to be the first and the second printed books in
Saudi Arabia. 74 The first map defining the locations of pearl fisheries in the
Gulf was also printed in Bombay in 1914.

Additionally, lndia was until the post-World War ١I years the only favourable
destination of the Gulf people for learning English and obtaining advanced
education. Many Gulf families, including the Royal Families of Bahrain and
Oman, chose lndian schools , such as Aligarh College, for their sons. As a
result, many of those who led the socio-cultural renaissance in the Gulf in the
early 20th centuyr owed their knowledge, experience, and prominence to
india. Among these were: Khalid Alfarai, Bahrain's most remembered poet
and reformer ;lbrahim Alurrayed, a well-known Bombay-born Bahraini poet
and literate; Said A0nooman,who played a remarkable role in the cultural
movement in Sharjah as early as 1910; and many other names.

lndia and the Early Modernization Process in the Gulf

ln order to have a firm hold on the region, the British colonial authorities
began as early as the first decade of the 20th centuyr to introduce a series of
administrative measures under the guise of reform, with much concentration
on Bahrain. These measures included the re-organization of the customs
department, establishment of postal and banking ser‫ق‬ices, and imposition of
the civil, commercial, and criminal codes of lndia. ١n lal these reforms, and
those introduced in the post-oil discovery years in the municipality,
communication, health and agricultural sectors, the British largely depended
on the lndians to fill most of the white-collar positions. For eample, the very