Maharaja Sayajirao III: Baroda ruler whose far-sighted reforms still resonate Apart from his educational and social reforms, Sayajirao played a key role in the development of Baroda's textile industry Tuesday February 16, 2021 12:10 PM, Vishnu Makhijani, IANS New Delhi: 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.