Art: Incorrigible Romantics

Among the many kingdoms that flourished in medieval India, few were ever more warlike than the nine kingdoms of Rajputana in the north. Their rulers claimed direct descent from the sun, and even the powerful Moguls, who had swept everything before them, could not topple the lofty Rajput castle fortresses where men dreamed all night of battle. But as time passed, the Rajputs lost their fierceness, and from the 16th to the 19th centuries were patrons of a joyful and fragile art, which has become their chief legacy. Last week gallerygoers were trooping in to see an exhibition of that art...