Building on earlier work on the interannual variability of the boreal autumn equatorial westerlies (UEQ) over the Indian Ocean and concomitant rainfall anomalies at the coast of East Africa and in Indonesia, the inherent circulation mechanisms are here explored further from long-term surface and upper air data. Fast UEQ and deficient East African rainfall come with positive sea level pressure (P) and negative sea surface temperature (T) departures in a domain (W) at the northwestern extremity and opposite departures in a domain (E) at the southeastern extremity of the equatorial Indian Ocean. However, there is no seesaw between W and E in either P or T and no indication of local forcing of T on P. The large-scale pressure field, in particular the zonal pressure gradient along the equator and the South Indian Ocean pressure and southern tradewinds, control the evolution of UEQ. Fast UEQ steepens the zonal temperature gradient, thus tightening the inverse relationships between the zonal gradients of pressure and temperature. The rainfall anomalies associated with the interannual variability of UEQ, surface manifestation of a zonal circulation cell along the Indian Ocean equator, are favored by the kinematic and thermodynamic conditions in W and E. Thus, with fast UEQ the domain W features departure lower tropospheric divergence and subsidence and, favored by the cold T and subsidence, reduced precipitable water, all conducive to deficient precipitation. By contrast, E has departure lower tropospheric convergence and ascending motion and, favored by the warm T and ascending motion, enhanced precipitable water, in conjunction conducive to abundant rainfall. The interannual variability of the boreal autumn equatorial westerlies, dominated as it is by the large-scale pressure field, is crucial in the climate dynamics of the equatorial Indian Ocean region. This leads to the question: What controls the pressure pattern over the Indian Ocean basin?