Vikramaditya Singh

Rana Vikramaditya (1517–1536) was a Sisodia Rajput ruler of Mewar Kingdom, younger son of Rana Sanga and the elder brother of Rana Udai Singh II. He was unpopular amongst the nobles of Mewar. He was also infamous for his numerous unsuccessful assassination attempts of Meerabai. During his brief reign, Chittor was sacked by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. However, Bahadur Shah was not able to hold Chittor for long and the Sisodias recaptured it within a short time of his departure.

Early Life and Reign Vikramaditya was the third son of Rana Sanga and the eldest son of his mother Rani Karnavati. As the third son he was not expected to rule as the heir apparent was his eldest brother Bhoj Raj. Bhoj was married to the famous Krishna devotee Meerabai. After Bhoj's early death however Vikramaditya's second eldest brother Ratan became heir.

After Rana Sanga's death in 1528, Vikramaditya's brother Ratan took the throne. During this time Karnavati took up residence at Ranthambore Fort with her sons, Vikramaditya and Udai. During this time Karnavati named Rao Suraj Mal of Bundi, her cousin (who also happened to be Ratan's brother in law) as Ratan's legal guardian. This naming of guardianship along other factors caused animosity to grow between Rao Suraj and Ratan. According to legend he made multiple attempts to murder Meerabai, which all failed due to the divine intervention of Krishna. Bahadur Shah was not able to hold Chittor for long and the Sisodias recaptured it within a short time of his departure.

Assassination

Vikramaditya's temperament had not improved even after the defeat. In 1536, he physically abused a respected old chieftain at the Court. This led the Mewar nobles to place Vikramaditya under palace arrest, leaving Udai Singh as heir-elect to the throne. Vanvir Singh sought out to turn Vikramaditya's soldiers against him and succeeded. Vanvir allegedly, the illegitimate son of Udai Singh's uncle, Prithviraj considered himself to be the rightful heir to the throne. In 1537 (some books mention in 1536 as well), he conducted a festival called the "Deepdan" and used it to his full advantage. While the whole kingdom was celebrating the festival, he found this the right time and assassinated the imprisoned Vikramaditya, then hurried towards the rawala to get rid of the only remaining barrier to his ambition, the 14-year-old Maharana-elect, Udai Singh, in which he failed due to Panna Dai's alertness, patriotism and loyalty.