The young Raja Bijai Singh Bahadur on horseback with attendants

The kingdom of Datia was founded in 1626, when Maharaja Bir Singh Deo of Orchcha (in present-day Madhya Pradesh state) granted some territories to his son. This painting depicts one of their later descendents, Raja Bijai Singh Bahadur (r. 1839-1857). (The honorific title Bahadur, meaning "brave," was frequently bestowed upon high-ranking Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs.) Bijai Singh was thirteen years old when he became the king of Datia. He is shown here riding a heavily adorned horse and accompanied by attendants, one of whom holds an umbrella-a traditional South Asian emblem of rulership-over Bijai Singh's head.

For much of its history Datia was a contested kingdom, its rulers having to defend themselves against both the Mughal empire to their north and the Maratha kingdom to their south. By the time Bijai Singh ascended the throne, these regimes were no longer a threat. Datia, like many small South Asian kingdoms, had fallen under the control of the British colonial government.