Udaipur Palace witnesses clashes over new Maharana's standoff with cousin

Vishvaraj engaged in a standoff with his cousin Dr Lakshay Raj Singh Mewar at the gates of the historic city palace after he was refused entry into the palace, which is now run by a trust managed by his cousin and uncle Shreeji Arvind Singh Mewar.

The row escalated as the day progressed and at night, the MLA's supporters started hurling stones and attempted to storm the palace gates.

Others are retaliating from inside the palace with visuals from palace gates showing stones landing from both sides.

Three people have been injured and the police are trying to control the mob.

According to reports, Vishvaraj Singh has been standing with his supporters on the spot for the last 5 hours. The situation prompted the district administration to intervene.

Vishvaraj Singh, the BJP MLA from Rajsamand where his wife Mahima Kumari is the sitting MP, was formally declared the heir to the Mewar dynasty at a traditional coronation ceremony in the historic Chittorgarh fort 12 days after the death of his father Mahendra Singh Mewar.

The coronation ceremony included pujas and a havan followed by Vishwaraj's raj tilak done by an erstwhile noble who slashed his finger on a sword and anointed him in blood.

The tradition goes back hundreds of years in the Mewar dynasty, which traces its lineage back to Bappa Rawal in the 8th Century. Its most famous royal was Rana Pratap, who fought the Mughals in the battle of Haldi Ghati.

After the symbolic coronation, Singh had decided to take the blessings from family deities -- the Dhooni mata temple inside the city palace and the Ekling Shiv temple about 50 kilometres from Udaipur.

But since both temples are run by the trust, he was denied entry into the city palace. The administration had tried to persuade the Museum Trust to allow not the entire procession, but a few erstwhile nobles to accompany Vishwaraj Singh into the palace for darshan. 

Smelling trouble, the police set up barricades and deployed additional personnel in the area around the city palace gates. But when Singh was denied entry into the palace, his supporters broke barricades and tried to get close to the city palace gates.

"The situation that we see today is unfortunate. "I am grateful for your support. On one side is properties, but there are also traditions where we seek blessings. This is wrong as far as traditions and society norms are concerned," Vishvaraj Singh told media persons.

The new generation of Mewar royals have been involved in a legal dispute over palaces, temples and forts that are now run and managed by nine trusts. All these trusts are handled by the uncle and cousin of Vishvaraj Singh.

Early this morning, the Maharana Mewar Charitable Trust published in the local newspapers that they would not allow anyone to enter the trust premises as they anticipated that this could be done with the intention to trespass on and damage trust properties.