Portrait of Maharaja Kumar Sawant Singh of Kishangarh (r. 1748-57)

In this portrait, Maharaja Kumar Sawant Singh, ruler of Kishangarh (r. 1748–57), stands on a white terrace amid beds of pink roses in full bloom. He was also a poet, under the pen name Nagari Das. One of his poems, titled “The Garden of Love” (ʿIshq Chaman), contains the following lines: Inhabit the garden of love, sing of the garden of love. Nagari says: Enter the beloved’s dwelling in the garden of love. Dedicated to the divine passion of Krishna for Radha, the poem is an expression of Sawant Singh’s ardent love for Bani Thani, a poet and singer. She is probably the woman gazing down at him from the top window in this painting, while her attendant holds the door ajar, reaching forward with a sprig of roses to invite Sawant Singh to enter his beloved’s dwelling in the garden of love.