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Sayajirao III : (1863-1939), Mahārāja of/ The Gaikwād of Baroda (1875-1939). The Gaikwāds were a Marāthā clan settled in the village of Bhare, Haveli Tāluk, in the district of Pune. Of the three sons of Pilāji Gaikwād who went on to establish the kingdom of Baroda around 1770s, the youngest was Pratāp Rao who stayed back at Kalvānā to look after their little estate of 46 villages in Khāndesh. In 1761, his elder brother Dāmāji, then the Gaikwād, called Pratāp Rao to join the Maratha Confederates led by the Peshwa in the gigantic battle of Pāṇīpat from which he never returned. However, it was a descendant of his living in Kalvānā, 12-year old Gopal Rao who, in 1875, was chosen by the Maharani Jamnābai, the widow of Khanderao, the 12th Gaekwad of Baroda, to sit on the gādi of Baroda, as Sayājirao III, the 14th Gaekwad. During his minority Raja Sir Tanjore Mādhava Rao K.C.S.I. was appointed Regent & F.A.H. Elliot, a serving ICS officer as his tutor. On 28th Dec. 1881, Sir James Fergusson, Governor of Bombay (1880-85), placed him on the throne of Baroda. The most striking achievements of Sayājirao were his administrative, educational & socio-political reforms. In 1883, inspired by the ideals & solid work of Tilak, Agarkar et al in starting the New English School & the Fergusson College, Sayājirao launched free compulsory primary education in 1883, beginning by opening a High School in Baroda itself & Kadi, then the most volatile district, along with revival of traditional elected panchayats & other local bodies. In 1890, a new filing system was introduced (it was later copied in British India); in 1893, in addition to Mori (a form of Marathi) Gujarati also became an official language in administration. English replaced Latin-French as court language in England in 1731 – 500 years after the Magna Charta & by 1894 native tongues were already official court languages in Baroda. In 1906, free compulsory primary education was made state-wide! At the same time Sayājirao opened schools for girls & illiterate adults in Baroda & for tribals & backward & untouchable classes in as many villages as possible – one of most illustrious product was Dr. Ambedkar. In Baroda a school was opened for Sanskrit & music, & public libraries & the Kalā Bhavan institute of arts & technology were set up. Educational institutions thus increased from 217 in 1906 to 2,542 in 1939. Among social & administrative reforms: Hindu widow-remarriage, ban on child-marriage, unification of Hindu laws, codification of penal criminal procedure, a Sanitary Commissioner for the whole state (1891), a museum, a vast public park, the Ājwā waterworks, elective principle in panchayats & town councils, separation of judicial & executive functions. An admirer of the parliamentary form of government, a believer in industrialization, an advocate of all-round reforms & imbued with love for his country & his people, he played a decisive part in the general awakening of the people of India. In December 1892, when James Cotton introduced Sri Aurobindo to him, Sayājirao was twenty-nine & Sri Aurobindo, twenty. He returned to his capital in January 1893, & Sri Aurobindo arrived there in February. The opinion Sri Aurobindo formed of his abilities by the turn of the century, was that Sayājirao had acquired the political savoir-faire to rule over an empire. “The Gaikwād’s idea,” said Sri Aurobindo in April 1926, “was to create real centres of power in Princely States in order to hasten the march of freedom; but Princes as a class lack courage & political wisdom.” [cf. Purani, Evening Talks, 2007, p.289] It perhaps this idea of his that prompted Sayājirao to go to Calcutta; to quote Abinash: “A few days after March 1906, after settling all his affairs in Baroda, Aurobindo-babu joined us. The Maharaja of Baroda came to call him back but had to return disappointed.” [See Bhattacharya, Abinash] ─ In 1908 Sayājirao told the Aga Khān: “The first thing you’ll have to do when the English are going is to get rid of all these rubbishy states. I tell you there’ll never be an Indian nation until this so-called Princely order disappears.... If Lord Dalhousie (1812-60) hadn’t [by inventing ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ for wanton seizure] taken half India, abolishing or diminishing the sovereignty or territorial authority of scores of principalities, then perhaps something would have evolved along the lines of the German Empire, with considerable decentralization & local courts & capitals. But Dalhousie destroyed the possibility of principalities ever becoming useful, federal constitutional monarchies.” [H.H. Buch’s Maharaja Sayājirao III, M.S. Univ. publication, 1988; Philip W. Sergeant’s The Ruler of Baroda; Buckland’s Dict. of Indian Bio.; Fatehsingh Rao Gaekwad, Sayājirao of Baroda – The Prince & the Man, 1989, pp.219-20; s/a Purani, Evening Talks, 2007 & Rishabhchand’s Sri Aurobindo, 1972]