Kishangarh State was a princely state of India from 1611 to 1948. It was founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609. Prior to Kishan Singh this area was ruled by Raja Samokhan Singh who was a distant relative of Kishan Singh's family and grandfather of Naubat Khan. Raja Samokhan Singh a Jodhpur prince lost to the forces of Akbar and his grandson Mishri Singh was kept under house arrest. Mishri Singh later accepted Islam and was renamed as Naubat Khan. Kishangarh State was located between 25° 49′ and 26° 59′ in the north, and 70° 49′ and 75° 11′ east. Bordered on the North and northwest by Jodhpur; on the east by Jaipur; on the west and southeast by the Ajmer District and on the extreme south by Shahpura.
History
Kishen Singh, who was the second son of Udai Singh of Jodhpur left his family's lands for Ajmer in 1596. From the Mughal Emperor Akbar he received the district of Hindaun ; and later, the grant of Setholao along with certain other districts. In 1611, he founded the town of Kishangarh which name was then also given to the state. The 13th Chief succeeding Udai Singh was Kalyan Singh and in his time, on 26 March 1818, Kishangarh was brought under British Protection. in the Guise of Krishna and Radha Cruising on Lake Gundalao, Kishangarh Kalawant, Raja of Kishangarh prior to Kishan Singh.Portrait by Ustad Mansur, Mughal School towards 1600, British Museum, London.
Kishangarh was the capital of the princely state during the British Raj, which was located in the Rajputana Agency. It had an area of 2210 km² and a population in 1901 of 90,970. This figure for population represented a decrease of 27% over the census figure of 1891, something presumably attributable to the famine of 1899-1900. Population was 85,744 in 1931. The state enjoyed an estimated revenue of £.30,000/- in 1875 and paid no tribute to the British Raj. In 1840, Prithvi Singh, became the 15th Maharaja of Kishangarh, and reigned till his death in 1879, after which he was succeeded by his son, Sardul Singh. Maharaja Madan Singh ascended the throne in 1900 at the age of sixteen, at a time when the state was reeling from the impact of a devastating drought. The administration under him and his diwan was widely deemed worthy of approbation; irrigation from tanks and wells was extended and factories for ginning and pressing cotton were started. A social reform movement for discouraging excessive expenditure on marriages made remarkable impact during his reign.
Rulers
The rulers of Kishangarh who belonged to the Rathor dynasty took the title of 'Maharaja'.
