History of rulers before and during the building of the City Palace Udaipur:
Rana Sangha ruled between 1509 and 1527. A scion of the Sisodia clan of Suryavanshi Rajputs, Rana Sanga succeeded his father, Rana Raimal, as king of Mewar in 1509.
He united several Rajput clans for the first time since the Second battle of Tarain and marched against the Timurid ruler Babur. Despite initial success, Sanga suffered a major defeat at Khanwa through the Timurid’s use of gunpowder, which was unknown in North India at the time. He was later poisoned by his own nobles.
After the death of Rana Sanga, Ratan Singh II was crowned King. Ratan Singh II was assassinated in 1531. He was succeeded by his brother Maharana Vikramaditya Singh who was assassinated by his own father’s nephew Banvir in 1536. He then tried to kill Udai Singh ll who was only a child at that time. He was rescued by his nurse Panna Dhai who replaced him with her own son and sacrificed his life for the safety of the young prince.
Banvir became the next ruler of the dynasty. Despite his administrative reforms, he failed to get support from Mewar nobles due to his illegitimate birth. He was defeated and killed in the Battle of Maravli in 1540 CE against Udai Singh ll who succeeded him as the next ruler.
His first son Maharana Pratap was born in the same year. 4 years later Sher Shah Suri invaded Marwar(Jodhpur) after defeating Maldev at Sammel. Udai Singh had just dealt with the civil war in Mewar and did not have the resources to fight the Sur Empire, he thus surrendered Chittor to Sher Shah Suri on the terms that Sher Shah does not harm the people of Mewar. Sher Shah also accepted the terms as he knew that the siege would be long and costly.
Now Udai Singh felt that chittor was too vulnerable and he shifted Mewar’s Capital to a safer location. In 1559 work started in the Girwa portion of Mewar and in the same year a man-made lake was made to promote cultivation. The lake was completed in 1562 and the new capital soon came to be known as Udaipur.
Thus Udaipur’s name was derived by the Udai Singh ll
Fast forward to September 1567, his son Shakti Singh came to him from Dhaulpur and told him of Akbar’s plan to capture Chittor.
Udai Singh retired to Gogunda leaving Chittor in the hands of his loyal chieftains Rao Jaimal and Patta. Akbar captured Chittor after a four-month-long siege on 23 February 1568 and thus Chittor was lost to Mughals
Udai died in 1572 Gogunda and before his death, he nominated his fourth son Jagmal as his successor under the influence of his favourite queen and Jagmal’s mother Rani Bhattiyani. But after his death, the nobles of Mewar prevented Jagmal from succeeding and placed Maharana Pratap Singh on the throne on March 1, 1572.
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Udai Singh and his successors built the city palace, its construction took 400 years and it started in 1559.
City palace displays:
City palace of Udaipur is made of Granite and Marble. It gives tourists the glimpses of the history and lifestyle of the royal family of Mewar.
It is divided mainly into 2 castles,one for the king and prince, the other for the queens,princesses and maidens.
The pathway into the rooms and gardens is complex.
The space is small in width, and the doors are short in height, this was mainly to weaken enemy attacks if any as they won’t be able to travel quick for attacks.
The display of the city palace starts with a gallery displaying the weapons of Maharana Pratap. It states the total weight of all the weapons was said to be 35kgs.
It later showcased how queens, princesses and children of the royal family spent their time. It even displayed games like Chaupar and Shatranj(chess)
It then displayed the 4 main types of divine figures remembered in Rajasthan, the gods, demigods,the sursundaris and the hybrid animal figures.
Later artifacts of the ancient times were shown. Containing various things ranging from coins,musical instruments etc
At the end there was a 7minute display of ancient clothes, and items such as books and souvenirs available for sale
