Maharaja’s Love : Mobile Library

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III opened the first mobile library in the state of Baroda in the year 1885. His goal was to have a library in each village of Gujurat and for that he started 2560 libraries, of which 200 were out of his kingdom.

He  also started 500 mobile libraries in Gujurat. These mobile libraries were pulled by elephants,camels, horses,bulls and even donkeys.The smallest such library was pulled by a donkey. These libraries had a collection of more than 2.5 lakh books. This shows how much intelligence and foresight the Maharaja had in those days.

At that time, the Maharaja of Baroda realized the importance of spreading the importance of literature. He was a great patron of publishers and writers of that time.

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III was the Maharaja of Baroda state from 1875 to 1939, and is notably remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the royal Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas which ruled parts of present day Gujurat.

The Sayajirao Gaekwad library,also known as the Central library in Banaras Hindu University(BHU) is one of the best libraries in India.

The work of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad will always be remembered and will guide our new generations.