ఏనాటిది మేవాడ్ రాజ్యం?|| Udaipur city palace

#mewar #udaipur #mewardynasty #chittorgarhfort This is about the kingdom in Rajputana called the Kingdom of Mewar. For the natural and historical region, "Udaipur State" .
Mewar was bounded by the Aravali Range to the northwest, Ajmer to the north, Gujarat, Vagad, and Malwa regions to the south, and the Hadoti region to the east. The region is home to many mountainous hills and passes embracing the wildest ridges and elevated plateaus, with rivers like Banas, Som, and Sabarmati. The region has forests too, covering mostly hilly tracts, which fall under the category of dry deciduous forests.

By 1818, the armies of Holkar, Scindia, and Tonk had plundered Mewar, pauperising Bhim Singh. As early as 1805, Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar approached the East India Company (EIC) for assistance but the Treaty of 1803 with Scindia prevented the British from entertaining the request. But by 1817, the British too were anxious to have alliances with Rajput rulers and the Treaty of Friendship, Alliances and Unity was concluded between Mewar and EIC on 13 January 1818.

After the Third Anglo-Maratha War and under the treaty, the British Government agreed to protect the territory of Mewar, in return for which Mewar acknowledged British supremacy and agreed to abstain from political associations with other states and to pay one-fourth of its revenues as tribute for 5 years, and three-eight in perpetuity.

Col. James Tod was appointed as the Political agent of Udaipur to the EIC and he worked to reestablish the Maharana as the central figure in the region. His kaulnama of 1818 established the Maharana as the "absolute supremacy" among his chiefs. Col Tod remained the Political Agent from 1818 to 1822 and resigned citing ill health.

Under the EIC, within 3 years, revenue of Mewar increase by more than double. Still, this revenue couldn't save Mewar. By Bhim Singh's death in 1828, and his son Jawan Singh's accession in the same year, Mewar had gone bankrupt. Mewar had also racked a lot of debt from the EIC. Jawan Singh was mostly interested in consumption of alcohol and less in administration. He died in 1838 leaving no heir and his throne, after a long discussion among senior nobles, was offered to Sardar Singh, the great-grandson of Maharana Sangram Singh II from his son Nath Singh of Bagore.

Sardar Singh heavily cracked down on the supporters of his contender, Sardul Singh, and imprisoned many of those supporters. He died soon in 1842 and was succeeded by his brother Swarup Singh. He made several Administrative reforms which also led to improvement in the financial situation. He also abolished sati in Mewar. He extended help to the EIC during the 1857 revolt by giving shelter to distressed European families and by cracking down on the supporters of the revolt in Mewar.

Swarup died in 1861 and was succeeded by his nephew Shambhu Singh who was a minor at the time. British applied their regency policy on him and appointed regency council. This council brought some reforms like abolishing begaar and selling of children and women. The Legal system was tweaked to be more like the western system and new roads were built. in 1865, when British handed over control back to Shambhu Singh, the financial position of Mewar was much better. He further reformed the region till the end of his reign in 1874. A new legal code was introduced in Mewar in 1870.