RAS question
The Kishangarh School of painting reached its zenith under the patronage of which ruler?
Correct answer: (C) Raja Sawant Singh (Nagari Das).
The Kishangarh School of painting reached its zenith under Raja Sawant Singh, also known by his poetic name Nagari Das.
Explanation
Raja Sawant Singh is the patron associated with the high point of the Kishangarh School because the school’s most celebrated Radha-Krishna paintings were produced under his inspiration. Britannica identifies Kishangarh painting as an 18th-century Rajasthani school and notes that its brilliant Radha-Krishna series was due largely to Raja Sawant Singh, who reigned from 1748 to 1757. Sawant Singh was a Krishna devotee and poet who wrote as Nagari Das. His court artist Nihal Chand gave visual form to this devotional and romantic world, including the famous Bani Thani-associated facial type and Radha-Krishna imagery. That is why Sawant Singh, not another Kishangarh ruler, is treated as the school’s greatest patron.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Raja Kalyan Singh is not linked to the decisive Radha-Krishna series or to Nihal Chand’s Kishangarh works.
- (B) Maharaja Bakht Singh is not the patron identified for Kishangarh painting’s mature Radha-Krishna phase in Encyclopaedia Britannica’s account.
- (D) Raja Kishan Singh gives his name to the princely state context, but the question asks about the school’s zenith, which is tied to Sawant Singh’s patronage.
Concept
This tests the RAS art-and-culture theme of matching Rajasthan painting schools with their key patrons and signature works. Kishangarh recurs because Bani Thani, Nihal Chand and the Radha-Krishna idiom form a compact, high-yield cluster.