SAYAJIRAO GAEKWAD III (PB)

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III
of Baroda state towered over all the other rulers of princely states in
British India. The book not only documents how a Maratha farmer’s son became
a maharaja by a twist of fate, but also reveals interesting details about how
the ‘favourite son’ of the British Empire found himself on the brink of being
deposed by the British. Extensively researched and engagingly written, the
book unearths secret records from the India Office in London and discloses
the role played by Sayajirao in India’s fight for freedom. Despite failing
health and great personal tragedies, Sayajirao governed the state with
remarkable zeal and had many firsts to his credit. As early as 1881, he
opened several schools for girls and a training college for lady teachers. In
1893, he introduced free primary education for children and became the first
Indian ruler to do so. He banned child marriage and untouchability and
promoted inter-caste marriage and widow remarriage widely. This is a
biography of a great ruler whose legacy does not lie just in great
institutions like the Laxmi Vilas Palace, Ajwa reservoir, Kala Bhavan,
Central Library of Baroda, Baroda College (now MS University of Baroda),
Baroda Museum and Bank of Baroda, but in the scale, nature and foresight of
his endeavours.