The Art of Shringara: Revisiting the Kishangarh School of Rajasthani Painting

Abstract

This article revisits the Kishangarh School of painting at its artistic peak under the patronage of Raja Sawant Singh (reigned 1748–57), an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. Under his guidance and patronage artist, Nihal Chand painted mostly on the theme of Radha-Krishna. Raja Sawant Singh visualized himself as Krishna and a lady called Bani Thani, a singer-poetess at Kishangarh court as his Radha. She had exquisite facial features which gave birth to a new aesthetic idiom, which included a high forehead, arched brows, drawn-out beautiful eyes and a sharp chin below thin lip. What followed was creation of some very iconic artworks which are much admired among art lovers. Bani Thani became something of a legend as she inspired landmark paintings of a prince and his muse in different settings which were close to being illustrations of the poetic works of Raja Sawant Singh, which he had penned in his devotion to Lord Krishna. The article traces the history and context of this style of the Kishangarh School, a sub-school of the larger Marwar School of Rajasthani painting.