Samor Bagh, with its old-money grandeur, is an area match for a king — wealthy wall-to-floor carpets, framed black-and-white images of members of the family, intricate wood wall items and delicate chinaware lining a wood shelf. However Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, the occupant of this sprawling 60-bigha property in Udaipur, believes he rightfully belongs elsewhere: to the sixteenth Century Metropolis Palace, the five-acre headquarters of the erstwhile Mewar royal household.
It’s a want that has positioned the 55-year-old on the centre of a public tussle in his prolonged household as, on November 25, hours after he was ‘anointed’ the pinnacle of the Mewar royal household, Vishvaraj and his followers had been concerned in a public skirmish with the household of his estranged uncle Arvind Singh Mewar, 79, and cousin Lakshyaraj Mewar, 39.
The skirmish, which led to stone pelting and clashes, got here after Vishvaraj and his entourage had been prevented from getting into the disputed Udaipur Metropolis Palace, which is at the moment beneath the management of Arvind Singh’s household, to make a customary go to to Dhuni, a bit of land inside the palace compound that’s thought-about sacred by the household.
The occasions served to not solely spotlight the comparatively unknown battle for the Mewar household property, estimated to run into a number of crores, but additionally introduced into focus the lives of Rajasthan’s erstwhile royals, and the sway they maintain over the general public.
“It was my proper to go to Dhuni after my father’s loss of life,” Vishvaraj, who can be a BJP MLA from Nathdwara, tells The Indian Specific as he sits on a luxurious black couch in his workplace along with his spouse Mahima Kumari, 52, the BJP MP from Rajsamand.
Politics, he says, is an extension of his public persona. Vishvaraj, whose father Mahendra Singh was a former BJP chief who later moved to the Congress, contested his first Meeting election final 12 months, months after becoming a member of the BJP, and was fielded in Nathdwara in opposition to Congress veteran C P Joshi, a five-time MLA. Though Nathdwara was thought-about a Congress stronghold — Joshi had received his earlier election by 16,000 votes — Vishvaraj Singh defeated him by 7,504 votes.
Earlier this 12 months, Vishvaraj’s spouse Mahima, who helped him along with his marketing campaign, beat Congress’s Damodar Gurjar within the common election by 3,92,223 votes. Since his “coronation ceremony” at Chittorgarh — as soon as the capital of the erstwhile Mewar kingdom and residential to the Chittorgarh Fort — earlier this week, the BJP MLA has been known as ‘Hujoor’, a royal honorific given to the ‘king’. Arvind Singh and Lakshyaraj proceed to be known as ‘Hukum’, a broader time period of respect for male members of the Rajasthan ‘royal’ household.
At palace gates, a public feud
One of many oldest royal households in Rajasthan, the Mewar household traces its lineage to Udai Singh-II and his son Maharana Pratap or Pratap Singh I, amongst Rajasthan’s most revered warrior kings. The erstwhile kingdom of Mewar includes the present-day areas of Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Banswara, Rajsamand and Pratapgarh.
The present feud within the Mewar household is between two units of descendants of Bhagwat Singh. The seventy fifth Maharana of Mewar, Bhagwat Singh was the adopted son of Maharana Bhupal Singh, who dominated Mewar from 1930 to 1955. Bhagwat Singh had three kids — former Chittorgarh MP Mahendra Singh, Arvind Singh and a daughter, Yogeshwari.
The dispute is between the households of Mahendra and Arvind Singh and dates again to the Eighties. On the core of it’s the Udaipur Metropolis Palace, a sixteenth Century architectural marvel with its grand arches, magnificent water fountains, and wealthy and classic furnishings that’s the town’s hottest vacationer spot.
The Metropolis Palace has three accommodations — Taj Lake Palace, Fateh Prakash, and Shiv Nivas, all landmarks of Udaipur metropolis. Arvind Singh’s department of the household oversees all three properties. Aside from this, the Hindu Undivided Household property additionally includes faculties and the Samor Bagh palace, at the moment serving as Vishvaraj Singh’s residence.
In accordance with palace sources, on the root of the dispute was Bhagwat Singh’s determination to lease out many properties of the royal household from 1963 to 1983, even promoting his stake in a few of them. As well as, he additionally arrange a Belief, the Maharana Mewar Charitable Basis, in 1969, donating to it the primary parts of the Metropolis Palace in addition to providing an endowment.
Arvind Singh at the moment heads the Belief. His father’s dealing with of the royal properties angered Bhagwat Singh’s son Mahendra Singh, who filed a lawsuit in opposition to him in 1983. Ousted by his father over the lawsuit, Mahendra Singh ultimately went to settle at Samor Bagh, additionally a part of the household property.
After 37 years of listening to, the Udaipur district court docket lastly gave its ruling in 2020, equally dividing three properties — Shambhu Niwas Palace, the household residence contained in the Metropolis Palace; Badi Pal, a promenade; and Ghas Ghar, as soon as a space for storing for fodder that’s now a cultural centre — between Bhagwat’s three kids, says Mahendra Singh’s lawyer Narendra Singh.
Considerably, the court docket additionally thought-about the properties beneath the Mewar property and the belief as HUF properties that might be partitioned in line with the Hindu legislation. “Together with this, the court docket stated that Mahendra Mewar, Yogeshwari and Arvind Singh will keep at Shambhu Niwas contained in the Metropolis Palace for 4 years every from April 1, 2021,” he says.
Arvind Singh, who has been dwelling at Shambhu Niwas for over 35 years, challenged this ruling within the Rajasthan Excessive Courtroom, which stayed the decrease court docket order. It was after the loss of life of Mahendra Singh Mewar earlier this month that his son Vishvaraj was ‘anointed’ as the pinnacle of the royal household of Mewar.
Quickly after his ‘anointment’ in a ceremony at Chittorgarh, Vishvaraj and his caravan of almost 1,000 folks arrived on the gates of the Metropolis Palace however encountered police barricades. It was throughout this chaos that issues took a violent flip. In accordance with eyewitnesses, stones had been pelted from either side, with every one blaming the opposite.
On his half, Arvind Singh’s son Lakshyaraj has claimed he was making an attempt to “defend” his circle of relatives, together with, in line with palace sources, his bedridden father. “Getting into another person’s property with out permission is illegal,” he stated at a press convention he held on Tuesday, a day after the violence.
Vishvaraj, in the meantime, claims he was prevented from doing his “social duties”. “I’ve by no means been pretty much as good at public relations as Lakshyaraj Mewar. I went to the palace to go to the Dhuni, which everyone seems to be allowed to go to. I simply needed to fulfil the customs after the coronation,” he says.
Requested why he didn’t search permission from the palace authorities, Vishvaraj factors to the property dispute being pending within the Rajasthan Excessive Courtroom. “Till that’s settled, I’ve each proper to enter the palace, which is a part of the household,” he stated. On the night of November 27, temperatures lowered considerably when 4 folks, together with Vishvaraj, had been allowed to enter the palace gates for the darshan at Dhuni.
As soon as upon a time…
Again at Samor Bagh, a white shamiana stands on the huge and well-manicured lawns, shimmering within the solar. Inside, tons of of black chairs are lined up for the company, all dealing with a stage.
On the platform sits a pink couch — a raj gaddi for the “newly coronated” king. The entire setup bears an after party-look, with a number of males working to scrub up the place.
On Wednesday, the palace grounds performed host to tons of of the folks, all of whom had come to pay their respects to their new “Hujoor”. “This place was teeming then,” a palace guard says. “There was no place to face.”
When the Structure of India got here into impact in 1950, all royal titles had been abolished. The abolition of the privy purses in 1971 — a fee that was made to erstwhile royal households as a part of their settlement to combine their state with India — additional eroded the standing of the previous royals, making them emblematic of a bygone period in most components of the nation.
Nevertheless, within the minds of most of the people, and in their very own, they continued to inhabit their older world with its inflexible conventions and traditions – from customary coronations to grand Diwali and Ganesh Puja celebrations.
In accordance with the established Mewar customs, a newly coronated ‘Maharana’ is predicted to go to two temples – the household deity on the Udaipur Palace Grounds and the eighth Century Eklingji temple in Udaipur district’s Kailashpuri village, beneath whom the Maharaja of Mewar is supposed to work as diwan (minister). The go to to Eklingji Temple marks the tip of the mourning interval — after which, the ‘Maharana’ swaps his white pagdi, or turban, meant for grieving for the standard pink one which symbolises Mewar.
In accordance with Ajatshatru Singh Mewar, a member of the royal household, one wants the help of 16 Umraos to develop into the Maharana in Mewar. Landowners of outdated, these Umraos and their households had been thought-about the king’s major help system. “The vast majority of the Umraos, barring a couple of, had been current on the time of Vishvaraj’s coronation,” Ajatshatru Singh says.
“The gang that adopted him to the palace grounds on November 25 consisted of those that nonetheless think about Mahendra Singh Mewar because the rightful inheritor. Mahendra Singh was additionally topped after the loss of life of his father however he was ousted from the Metropolis Palace due to the authorized dispute.”
The incident of this week appears to have turned the tide of public sympathy in direction of Vishvaraj and in opposition to Lakshyaraj. What appears to have fueled this public sentiment in opposition to Lakshyaraj is his absence at his uncle Mahendra Singh’s funeral earlier this month. Kamlesh Soni, a 55-year-old shopkeeper close to the Metropolis Palace, stated the town markets had been shut down 4 hours after the information of the previous MP’s loss of life unfold. “All of us went to pay our respects to him. Within the metropolis and within the rural areas, Vishvaraj ji is the one who’s revered because the Maharana,” he says.
Prakash Rajpurohit, 45, who owns a resort close to the palace, involves Lakshyaraj’s defence. “Since Lakshayraj had claimed to be the inheritor of the royal title, permitting Vishvaraj contained in the palace after the coronation would have meant that he accepted him as the subsequent Maharaja. It was a technique to show his energy,” he says, including, “However by retaining the palace doorways shut, Lakshyaraj has made Vishvaraj well-known, not simply in Rajasthan however in the complete nation.”
A brand new-age ‘prince’
It’s 7.30 pm, and a chilly winter chill surrounds the Metropolis Palace. Lakshyaraj, wearing a gray and crimson sweatshirt and a yellow T-shirt, sits in a grand guests’ room that has hues of beige and crimson. Behind him are portraits of three males, all in conventional Rajputi apparel – a white angrakha kurta adorned with beads, a cummerpatti (waistband), a white pyjama, crimson jootis and a pagdi, full with swords hanging by their aspect.
The legend beneath Lakshyaraj’s portrait says “Maharaja” whereas subsequent to him, his father’s portrait bears the title “Shriji”. The rooms additionally characteristic a portrait of Lakshyaraj’s six-year-old son, certainly one of his two kids, in full royal apparel.
Solely an hour earlier, Lakshyaraj had opened the gates of the palace, shut since November 25, to the general public. Since this week’s incident, he’s held a number of press conferences and interviews, and now settles himself on a snug beige couch for yet another.
“Hundreds of individuals marched with swords in direction of the palace,” he tells The Indian Specific, livid on the whole episode. “When the doorways weren’t open, they broke the three-layer barricades and tried to climb the palace partitions. They made allegations of stone pelting however why don’t folks ask them concerning the hooligans who had been with them?”
Lakshyaraj maintains a really public picture. A tech-savvy ex-royal with 1 million followers on Instagram, the 39-year-old has been invited to a number of discuss reveals all around the nation and has been on journal covers.
Lakshyaraj is married to Nivritti Kumari, a member of the erstwhile royal household of the princely state of Patna in western Odisha. Though he’s but to contest an election, Lakshyaraj just isn’t averse to politics, admitting that it may occur “sooner or later”.
Requested why he didn’t attend his uncle Mahendra Singh’s funeral, Lakshayraj claims to have been threatened. “Our households aren’t on speaking phrases however I might nonetheless have gone for the funeral. However after receiving such data, it will have been a silly factor to do,” he says.
There are challenges to being a royal, he says. “You will see good folks however there may even be many who’re envious and pull you down. I do have few shut mates however issues can get tough with so many expectations.” At the very least there, the 2 feuding cousins share widespread floor. Again at Samor Bagh, Vishvaraj says, “The general public desires me to serve them. Being ‘Maharana’ just isn’t solely a part of my household legacy but additionally a cultural legacy.”
