• Jan 25 2016
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Rajsamand Lake

There may be several reasons Raj Singh undertook construction of a lake of such large scale. It is mentioned that while travelling to Jaisalmer, Raj Singh had to stop for 3 days due to large volume of water in the river, so he thought of stopping the river and building a pond around it.

Raj Singh was known to be quick tempered and in his lifetime, he had executed one of his sons, wife, a Brahmin and a Charan.

One of his queens, mother of prince Sardar Singh wanted her son to succeed the throne instead of elder prince Sultan Singh, for which she created suspicion in the mind of Maharana. Thus, Raj Singh executed his son, Sultan Singh. Thereafter, the same queen now conspired to kill Raj Singh in order for her son to ascend the throne, but the Brahmin cook who was supposed to poison Raj Singh was caught and the whole conspiracy was revealed. Thus, the conspiring queen and the Brahmin cook were both executed on the orders of Raj Singh. Sardar Singh, who was unaware of the conspiracy, committed suicide by eating poison.

In another incident, Udaibhan, a Charan who was a tazimi sardar, arrived in the royal court to find that Raj Singh did not rose up to greet him as was the custom. Construing it as a sign of disrespect, Udaibhan loudly derided the Maharana in the court while a meeting with a Mughal noble was going on, finalizing a treaty between the Mughal Empire and Mewar. Raged at the insult, Raj Singh lost his temper and attacked Udaibhan, killing him in the court.

Later, Raj Singh consulted his purohits to find a way to redress these killings and it was suggested that he build a large pond or lake.