GAEKWAR (gah'ik-war), the family name of the Mahratta rulers of Baroda (q.v.), in India, which has been made by the English into a dynastic title. It is derived from the vernacular word for the cow, but it is a mistake to suppose that the family are of the cowherd caste ; they belong to the upper class of Mahrattas proper, sometimes claiming a Rajput origin.