Gaekwar has raled Baroda since (throne) in 1875 at the age of 13. His predecessor the Gaekwar Malho Rao, brother and successor of the able Gackwar Khande Rao who supported the British at the time of the Mutiny, had a short. reign of five years which was ter~ minated abruptly by his deposition for notorious misconduct and "gross misgovernment." Faced with the task of finding a new ruler for Baroda the Paramount Power, the British Government, went to a distant branch of the ruling family and chose the young prince, who, as Sayaji Rao Il, was placed on the Baroda gadi. "The choice was brilliantly successful, The Maharaja, has led the way in the development of education and industries, in. his State, He has successfully blended personal rule with a progressive system of building up representa. tive institutions on the basis of th old local self-government bodies. He himself is a man of cultured tastes and wide political knowledge,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.