He was born in the family of a farmer who, though he bore the name Gaekwad, was considered to be to the cadet branch of the Baroda royal family or that of the younger sons of a previous

ruler and thus not eligible to succeed to the throne. It was fate that decided his ascendancy as Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III (1875-1939) and his reign of over 60 years is today remembered

for an illustrious university that bears his name and a host of reforms in various spheres, including the economy, women's education, encouraging widow remarriage, abolition of child

marriages and the purdah — rather than creating edifices.