Kishangarh princely state lay almost in the center of Rajputana and existed from 1611 to 1948. It was bounded on the north and north-west by Jodhpur, on the east by Jaipur, on the west and south-east by the British District of Ajmer and on the extreme south by the Shahpura chiefship. The chiefs of Kishangarh belonged to the Rathor clan of Rajputs and were descendents of Raja Udai Singh of Jodhpur.

Udai Singh’s second son Kishan Singh was born in 1575 and remained in the country of his birth till 1596. Here in consequence of some disagreement with his elder brother Sur Singh, the then Raja of Jodhpur, he took up his abode at Ajmer. Kishan Singh received from Akbar the districts of Hindaun and a grant of Setholao in subsequent for his services rendered in recovering the imperial treasure carried off by the Mers. In 1611 he founded the town of Kishangarh close to Setholoao.

In Akbar’s time Kishan Singh was styled Raja but according to State records Jahangir gave him the title of Maharaja. He died in 1615 and was followed by sixteen successors. The fourth of these, Rup Singh (1644-58) was a favorite of the Emperor Shah Jahan for whom he fought well and gained several victories. He thrice accompanied an expedition to Afghanistan and was rewarded with a command of 5000 along with several estates including a fort and a district of Mandalgarh.

Raj Singh, the seventh chief of Kishangarh (1706-48) fought in the battle of Jajau on the side of Shah Alam Bahadur Shah against Azam Shah and was wounded. He received a grant of the districts of Sarwar and Malpura. His successor Sawant Singh gave half the State to his younger brother Bahadur Singh and himself ruled at Rupnagar in the north. He was a religious recluse and soon retired to Brindraban where he died in 1764. His son Sardar Singh ruled for two years only and his successor being a minor, Bahadur Singh actually governed the whole territory till his death in 1781.

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