Bani Thani

Uncommon card · No. 189104

Bani Thani was a singer and poet in Kishangarh (then part of Rajputana) in the time of Raja Sawant Singh (1748–1764), whose mistress she became. After he abdicated the throne the couple retired to a comfortable life in Vrindavan, a place associated with the life of Krishna and Radha, to whom Sawant Singh was greatly devoted. A group of Indian paintings of around 1750 attributed to Nihâl Chand from the Marwar school of Kishangarh show Radha Krishna, using the same models, who are assumed to be Sawant Singh and Bani Thani. Bani Thani is depicted with elegant and graceful features, rather stylized, including arched eyebrows, lotus-like elongated eyes and pointed chin. One painting of her was featured in an Indian stamp issued on 5 May 1973.

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