Rajput Princes has adopted the
sophisticated and luxurious painting had become an integral
part.The
greatest patron of Kishangarh art was Raja Satwant Singh. He was himself a
painter and poet and wrote verses under the pseudonym of Nagaridas. He
fell in love with a court singer, Bani Thani, who subsequently became his
mistress. It is said that the famous Kishangarh Radha is made in her
likeness, but in fact the lotus-eyed woman had long been the Rajput ideal
of feminine beauty. In 1757, Satwant Singh abdicated and left with Bani
Thani for Vrindavan. By then the excellence of Kishangarh painting was
equalled only by those of the Kangra school of Himachal in the Himalayan
foothills. The artists were obsessed with the Krishna leela theme,
but they ,portrayed Krishna in a courtly instead of a pastoral setting.
Hunting scenes were also popular, as were equestrian portraits. The
paintings belonged to the Raja's of Kishangarh and were first seen by the
outside world in the 1940s. Some of these exquisite masterpieces are now
on view at the National Museum, New Delhi.
Twenty-Five km out o flown is Roopangarh fort which has recently been converted into a delightful hotel by the maharaja and maharani of Kishan Garh. Roopangarh was the capital of this province for about 100 years and was never conquered despite being repeatedly attacked by neighboring states. The fort was founded in 1653 by maharaja Roop Singh, the fifth ruler of Kishangarh. He was inspired to make this site his capital after watching a sheep gallantly protect her lambs from a pack of hungry wolves.
The old city of Kishangarh still
has the flavor of the magic world created by the artists. Modern
Kishangarh is bustling and crowded, important as a wholesale market for
red chilies and a cotton-weaving center. But Kishan Singh's city is about
2.5 miles away, on the fringe of an enormous lake. A road leads to the
fort and buses and tongas ply regularly.
The fort and palaces overlook the lake in the center of which is another palace, accessible by boat. The area is especially beautiful during the monsoon when the lotus blooms, and herons, egrets and ducks are to be seen.