The last of these missions was headed by Raja Man Singh, the brother-in-law of Akbar himself. In the course of the year 1573, Akbar sent six diplomatic missions to Mewar to get Rana Pratap to agree to the former’s suzerainty but Rana Pratap turned down each one of them. He had sent several emissaries to Mewar to get Rana Pratap to agree to sign a treaty but the letter was only willing to sign a peace treaty whereby the sovereignty of Mewar would be intact. So long as the people of Mewar swore by their Maharana, Akbar could not realize his ambition of being the Jahanpanah of Hindustan. Akbar had control of Chittor but not the kingdom of Mewar. But he was not the only one troubled at this time. The pain of his father’s death, and the fact that his father had not been able to see Chittor again, troubled the young Maharana deeply. His old fort and his home beckoned to him. Pratap Singh had just become the Maharana of Mewar and he had not been back in Chittor since 1567. Join Our Telegram Channel For More Interesting Facts About People Meanwhile, Crown Prince Pratap Singh became Maha Rana Pratap Singh I, 54th ruler of Mewar in the line of the Sisodiya Rajputs. He swore revenge and left for Ajmer, to join the armies of Akbar, where he was offered a jagir – the town of Jahazpur – in return for his help.
Unlike Bharat, Jagmal did not willingly give up the throne.
However, knowing this to be disastrous for Mewar, the late Maharana’s nobles, especially the Chundawat Rajputs, forced Jagmal to leave the throne to Pratap Singh. Pratap Singh, in deference to his father’s wishes, decided to let his half-brother Jagmal become the next king. This was a departure from tradition as the Crown Prince did not accompany the body of the departed Maharana but instead prepared to ascend the throne, such that the line of succession remained unbroken. As the late Maharana’s body was being taken to the cremation grounds, Pratap Singh, the Crown Prince decided to accompany the dead body of the Maharana. However, in his later years, the late Maharana Udai Singh II had fallen under the influence of his favorite queen, Rani Bhatiyani, and had willed that her son Jagmal should ascend to the throne. In 1572, the Maharana passed away, leaving the way for Crown Prince Pratap Singh to become the Maharana. In Gogunda, Maharana Udai Singh II and his nobles set up a temporary government of the kindom of Mewar. The young Pratap Singh wanted to stay back and fight the Mughals but the elders intervened and convinced him to leave Chittor, oblivious of the fact that this move from Chittor was going to create history for all times to come.
Maharana Udai Singh II decided to leave Chittor and move his family to Gogunda, rather than capitulate to the Mughals. In 1567, when Crown Prince Pratap Singh was only 27, Chittor was surrounded by the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar. He was destined to be the 54th ruler of Mewar, in the line of the Sisodiya Rajputs. Maharana Pratap was the eldest of twenty-five sons and hence given the title of Crown Prince. Maharana Udai Singh II ruled the kingdom of Mewar, with his capital at Chittor. His father was Maharana Udai Singh II and his mother was Rani Jeevant Kanwar. Maharana Pratap was born on 9th May 1540 in Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan.