Gayakwad- the king who assisted Ambedkar and others

Created On: 14 April 2014 1:59 AM IST

Gayakwad- the king who assisted Ambedkar and others

Those who offered their service in British India in the welfare of the depressed class were many. But the one whose contributions were diverse and matchless was Sayajirao Gayakwad,

Those who offered their service in British India in the welfare of the depressed class were many. But the one whose contributions were diverse and matchless was Sayajirao Gayakwad, the king of Baroda. It was he who bestowed the title of ‘Mahatma’ upon Jyotiba Phulay for the revolutionary works he did to the cause of removal of social discrimination that low-castes faced then. Not only this but he also pleaded the British govt. to confer on him the title of “Booker T. Washington” of India. On the persuasion of Bhai Permanand [father of Veer Savarkar] he made the provision of monetary-relief from the fund of Baroda govt. for Jyotiba’s wife and son after his [Jyotiba] demise.

So also, the founder of the “Mission to the depressed class” Vitthal Rao Ji Shinde [popularly known as Maharshi Shinde] received scholarship from Sayaji Rao to complete his higher study in Manchester college of England. To keep the depressed-class away from the tendency of violence and retribution and to inculcate in them the inspiration for the self-emancipation was Maharshi Shinde’s modus-operandi. Here also Sayaji offered him his cooperation wherever needed

More notably, the architect of Indian constitution and Bharat Ratna, Bhimrao Ambedkar had been provided economic assistance during his college education by none other than Sayaji. And, on the recommendation of his guru Kaluskar, when Ambedkar was to go to foreign for the higher studies and was in the urgent need of money, then also, Sayaji came forward to give him scholarship. Ambedkar held Sayaji in high esteem and had a great sense of indebtedness towards him for the helps he gave to him on the different occasions. And, therefore, when he published his PhD research work —“The Evaluation of Provincial Finance in British India”, in the form of book he dedicated it to none other than Sayajirao Gayakwad

On 19th March 1918 a convention of “All India Council for Remedy of Untouchability” was organized in Mumbai. In the convention other than the prominent leaders like Vitthal Bhai Patel, Barister Jaikar, Bipinchandra Pal, also present was Sayaji Rao Gayakwad, who presided over the convention. What he spoke then is the reflexive of his outlook on the caste based untouchability—“For false notion born out of ignorance and caste-based ego to stand before social resurgence and scriptural knowledge is impossible…… untouchability is man-made, not God-made.”