Sayajirao of Barboda: The Prince and the Man

Sayajirao III, at the young age of thirteen, became the Mahraja of baroda and thus stepped into an inheritance of fabulous wealth and power. The boy from a peasant upbringing, whom the British had assiduously brought up to play the role of an obedient Prince, instead, showed himself to be doggedly independent. An enlightened Head of State, he made the welfare of his people his foremost concern at a time when such concepts were new, even in the western world. He introduced reform after reform-political, social, administrative and educational-such as were not seen in other parts of India till well after Independence.