After his death Jagmal Singh sat on throne as the new king of Mewar.
To honour the wish of his father Pratap Singh fully cooperated in installing Jagmal on the throne. He mollified the chieftains and the ministers who were in rebellious mood. But the subjects did not like it at all.
The matter did not end there.
Jagmal’s mother was hell bent on re-enacting the Ramayana story. She knew how Pratap Singh was respected by the courtiers, people and the ministers. As long as he was there he would be de-facto ruler and her son would always be under the danger of being upstaged and removed from the throne any time. And there was no better swordeer in Mewar than Pratap Singh.
Hence king mother Bhatiyani cautioned her son against the presence of Pratap Singh.
Jagmal himself realised how in the court Pratap Singh drew greater respect than the king. It irritated him. He began to suspect every move of Pratap Singh.
Instead of winning the support of his elder brother the king, Jagmal Singh deliberately started ignoring him.
The King was immaturish and could not manage the kingdom on his own. He lacked diplomatic skills and had little sense of differentiating between true friends and enemies.
To make matters worse Jagmal was growing up an ego and arrogance was taking roots in his mind. He had stopped even seeking the advice of the experienced ministers and the elder statesmen who were now feeling neglected. Dissatisfaction was spreading very fast. The chieftains were again openly getting into the rebellious mood.
The scene pained Pratap Singh. He saw the kingdom of Mewar going to dogs. Anything could happen anytime. As an elder brother Pratap Singh arrived at the court to lend some wise counsel to his younger brother who was destroying the Sisodiya reign with his inept handling of the affairs of the state.
The king duly got his elder brother seated. Pratap revealed the purpose of his visit.
Jagmal Singh listened respectfully to the advice of his brother. Pratap Singh advised him to give due importance to the old ministers and statesmen.
The king was asked to run the state in cooperation with the experienced courtiers, well meaning citizens the significance of keeping the chieftains and the commanders in trust and having their support.
For all that, the king must show due respect to all the deserving persons, he counselled.
After the departure of Pratap Singh, Jagmal Singh called a meeting of his cronies and discussed whatever had transpired between them.
The cronies did not want the king to pay heed to the advice of Pratap Singh because that would mean erosion of their own importance. Keeping the ruler misguided and misinformed was their game. They poisoned the ears of Jagmal and made him believe that what Pratap Singh had done was interference in the affairs of the king.
The cronies said that there could be some conspiracy behind Pratap’s move.
It set Jagmal’s mind working on the conspiracy line. May be, Pratap was trying to make his old faithful commanders and ministers more powerful in the court to dethrone him at the first opportunity. What Pratap revealed gave a hint that the ministers, courtiers, commanders and chieftains were not happy under his rule. Some one was surely trying to fan dissatisfaction in his royal court.
Who was engineering all this rebellious sentiment?
And what right Pratap had got to go about advising the king as if he were a child?
‘I must…crush the roots of the conspiracy’, muttered the arrogant Jagmal and he started pacing the floor in an angry mood.
He thought, ‘The old wisdom says that the evil should be nipped in the bud. Perhaps what the mother says is not wild imagination. Pratap Singh is not my elder brother but a potential threat to my throne. He is my political rival. After all I took away what was his by right, the throne of Mewar. That is what should biting him. He is the one who is instigating the courtiers to rise against me. I must make an example of him to warn the others. No one shall be allowed to upstage me.’
