Tucked in the small strip of garden across the Faculty of Arts of the MSU, is a silent clock tower, called the Shri Sayaji Tower. The tower was erected during the years 1920-21 at the cost of Rs. 30,470 from which the clock itself costed about Rs. 3000.
The Tower :
The tower is almost 40 feet high and emerges from a small one storeyed structure. The tower displays stone facade adorned with tall openings with stone jalis. The tower is divided in almost four portions, the bottom most portion of this has a door to enter the tower. The portion above this has the above mentioned stone jalis. The next portion has small stone balconies, protruding out from all four sides of the tower. These cantilevered balconies also display stone jalis in form of parapets. Just above the balconies are the clocks, also on all the four sides of the tower. It is said that it is the only clock which has the numbers of the dial, written in the “Devanagari” script. The topmost and the final portion of the tower has a domed chattri/cupola topped with a finial.
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It is said that the funds for the tower was contributed by State Scholars in Europe in the Year 1894.
The Donors of Clock :
– Sampatrao Gaekwad
– Ganpatrao Gaekwad
– Umendra Bhai Desai
– Jijaba B. Mohite
– Nanajirao S. Sinde
– Madhavrao A. Sitole
– MotiBhai B. Patel
– RaojiBhai M. Patel
– Alaudin M. Pathan
– LaluBhai H. Kharadi
– RanchhodLal K. Lohar
– Mansingrao A. Solasker
Chief Engineer – A.H. Coyle.
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Once a marker of time, to passengers coming to the nearby railway station the volume of chimes has now almost been muted, and tower itself is hardly noticed by anyone, because of the tall trees that it hides behind !
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