How an erstwhile princess is on a mission to revive Kishangarh miniatures

Vaishnavi Kumari, the erstwhile princess of Kishangarh, has reninvented the timeless beauty of Kishangarh painting by blending traditional aesthetics with modern sensibilities for contemporary art lovers

Almond-shaped eyes, aquiline features, elongated faces with defined chins and noses, earthy tones, panoramic landscapes and stylised clouds — these are some of the things that set apart Kishangarh paintings from the other miniature traditions of India.

Drenched in bhakti and sringara rasas, these miniatures originated somewhere around the 17th Century in Kishangarh in Ajmer, Rajasthan. Rulers such as Raj Singh and Sawant Singh set up court ateliers led by Bhavanidas and Nihal Chand and patronised this art form. However, diminished patronage over the years has seen miniatures and traditional visual art forms relegated to the realm of handicraft.

Centuries later, Vaishnavi Kumari, who traces her lineage to the erstwhile royal family of Kishangarh, has taken upon herself the task of reinventing the art form to suit the contemporary milieu. In 2010, she set up Studio Kishangarh, where she works with artists to create paintings that merged traditional aesthetics and modern sensibilities.

“We do acrylic on canvas, work on wasli (handmade) paper and take up landscape themes. We might take inspiration from a Pichwai painting and interpret it in our own way, using gold and silver embellishment. We recently had a show ‘Ishq Chaman’ based on the poetry of Raja Sawant Singh. The poem talks about devotion and we created allegorical paintings on love and devotion for god,” says Vaishnavi Kumari, the curator and founder of Studio Kishangarh.

Vaishnavi graduated from NIFT and pursued her Master’s in art history from SOAS University, London. “Middlemen buy unique haathi-ghoda paintings at very low prices from artists. These are sold as souvenirs. That set me thinking. In museums and auctions, you see work that is highly valued, and I wondered why we were not producing that kind of quality. Traditionally, a patron influenced the kind of work done in karkhanas (workshops). For example, you see hunting scenes in Kota paintings, because the ruler wanted those depictions. Nainsukh (1710-1778) painted most of his works for the local ruler Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota in Himachal Pradesh. That encouraged me to set up an atelier and offer contemporary patronage,” says Vaishnavi.

A couple’s rendezvous in a lush green garden against the picturesque backdrop of mountains, dense flora and fauna and a distinct blue sky is an aesthetic marvel, and a typical Kishangarh miniature. This style is also synonymous with Bani Thani — known as the Indian Mona Lisa, a combination of grace and beauty, supposedly painted by Nihal Chand, as instructed by then ruler Raja Sawant Singh. It is said that the Raja and Bani Thani were lovers, and they are the nayak and nayika in several paintings.

Among the most famous of Kishangarh paintings, ‘Boat of Love’, is on display at the National Museum, Delhi. Inspired by Raja Sawant Singh’s poem, the painting depicts three scenes featuring Radha and Krishna — atop a hill, crossing the river seated on a boat accompanied by attendants, and amid dense foliage.