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Krishna as Aristocrat

Indian art has been acclaimed by scholars as religious in nature but sensuous in feeling. The miniature painting of Kishangarh is known more for its depiction of Radha and Krishna in an easily identifiable style due to its typical facial features. Prince Sawant Singh depicted as Krishna and Bani Thani as Radha have been immortalized by Nihal Chand in several paintings.

Krishna here is not the pastoral god of Gokula and Vrindavana, but an aristocrat. Slim and tall, he is a Rajput prince, dignified and arrogant, as he looks sideways. He is distinguished by the blue color of his body in the true Kishangarh style. He has an elongated face, arched eyebrows, lotus shaped eyes tinged with pink. He has a sharp nose and the sensitive lips are slightly dyed red, below which is a pointed chin resting on a long neck. A lock of hair is falling on the cheek close to the ear enhancing the beauty of the face. He wears a tilak on his forehead. On his head, he wears a turban decorated with pearls and jewels and loops strewn with pearls are hanging at the back. Strings of pearls worn round his neck come down below the chest and provide a glittering effect to his attire.

The line drawing is powerful and highly expressive. The pleasing shades like green, yellow and white are arranged in a very captivating manner.

Judiciously used dots of red provide a relief to the subdued colors.