Following the inauguration of BJP MLA Vishvaraj Singh Mewar as the 77th Maharana of Mewar, Udaipur witnessed a dispute within the former royal family on Monday. When Mr. Singh was denied access to the old city palace, which is currently administered by a trust overseen by his uncle and cousin Shreeji Arvind Singh Mewar, a confrontation with his cousin Dr. Lakshay Raj Singh Mewar ensued outside the gates. As the day went on, the argument it started got more heated. After ten o’clock at night, the MLA’s followers began hurling stones and made an attempt to break through the palace gates. From within the palace, others are taking revenge. Images from the royal gates depict police attempting to subdue the crowd as stones fall from both sides. Three people were hurt.
According to reports, Vishvaraj Singh spent five hours last night standing at the location with his followers. Now, the district government has made the decision to step in.
Vishvaraj Singh — the BJP MLA from Rajsamand from where his wife Mahima Kumari is the sitting MP — was formally declared the heir to the Mewar family at a traditional coronation ceremony in the famous Chittorgarh fort 12 days after the death of his father Mahendra Singh Mewar.
Vishwaraj’s raj tilak was performed by an ex-nobleman who cut his finger with a sword and anointed him in blood during the coronation ceremony, which was led by priests who performed pujas and a havan. The Mewar family, which can trace its ancestry back to Bappa Rawal in the eighth century, has a tradition that dates back hundreds of years. Rana Pratap, who defeated the Mughals in the battle of Haldi Ghati, was its most well-known prince.
Following the ceremonial coronation, Mr. Singh made the decision to seek the blessings of his family’s deities, the Ekling Shiv temple located roughly 50 kilometres from Udaipur and the Dhooni mata shrine located inside the city palace. However, he was not allowed to enter the city palace because the trust is in charge of both temples. The administration had attempted to convince the Museum Trust to permit a few former nobles to accompany Vishwaraj Singh into the palace for darshan, but not the entire procession.
Anticipating trouble, the police had set up barricades and deployed additional personnel in the area around the city palace gates. But when Mr Singh was denied entry into the palace, his enraged supporters broke barricades and tried to get close to the city palace gates.
“The situation that we see today is unfortunate,” Vishvaraj Singh told media persons. “I am grateful for your support. On one side are properties, but there are also traditions where we seek blessings. This is wrong as far as traditions and society norms are concerned,” he added.
A court battle involving palaces, temples, and forts that are currently in the control of nine trusts has engulfed the younger generation of Mewar royals. Vishvaraj Singh’s uncle and cousin are in charge of all these trusts.
The Maharana Mewar Charitable Trust announced in the local newspapers this morning that they would not permit anyone to enter the trust property because they believed that someone might do so with the purpose to trespass and cause damage to the trust’s assets.
The conflict began in 1984 when Bhagwat Singhji, the former Maharana of Mewar, appointed his younger son Arvind Singh as the trusts’ director, so displacing Mahendra Singh, the eldest son, from the royal estates.
As the stand-off continues in Udaipur, this is a royal row that’s going to echo in the City of Lakes for some time.
