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Meera, better known as Mirabai, and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu Mysticism poet and devotee of Lord Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti movement saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition.Karen Pechelis (2004), The Graceful Guru, Oxford University Press, , pages 21-23, 29-30Neeti Sadarangani (2004), Bhakti Poetry in Medieval India: Its Inception, Cultural Encounter and Impact, Sarup & Sons, , pages 76-80 She is mentioned in Bhaktamal, confirming that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Bhakti movement by about 1600.Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot (2006), India before Europe, Cambridge University Press, , page 109Annals And Antiquities of Rajasthan Vol. 1 Page no. 75 In her poems, she had madhurya bhava towards Krishna.
Most legends about Mirabai mention her fearless disregard for social and family conventions, her devotion to Krishna, and her persecution by her for her religious devotion. Her in-laws never liked her passion for music, through which she expressed her devotion, and they considered it an insult of the upper caste people. It is said that amongst her in-laws, her husband was the only one to love and support her in her Bhakti, while some believed him to have opposed it. She has been the subject of numerous folk tales and hagiography legends, which are inconsistent or widely different in details. According to legend, when her in-laws attempted to murder her with poison, Mirabai tied a sacred thread on a murti of Krishna, trusting in His divine protection, through which she was saved by divine intervention. This legend is sometimes cited as the origin of the ritual of tying Raksha Bandhan on Krishna's murti.Nancy Martin-Kershaw (2014), Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India (Editor: Mandakranta Bose), Oxford University Press, , pages 162-178
Millions of devotional hymns in passionate praise of Krishna are attributed to Mirabai in the Indian tradition, but just a few hundred are believed to be authentic by scholars, and the earliest written records suggest that except for two hymns, most were first written down in the 18th century.John Stratton Hawley (2002), Asceticism (Editors: Vincent Wimbush, Richard Valantasi), Oxford University Press, , pages 301-302 Many poems attributed to Mirabai were likely composed later by others who admired Mirabai. These hymns are a type of Bhajan, and are very famous across India.Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press, , page 254
Some Hindu temples, such as Chittor Fort, are dedicated to Mirabai's memory. Legends about Mirabai's life, of contested authenticity, have been the subject of movies, films, comic strips and other popular literature in modern times.Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press, , page 242
Mirabai was born into a Rathore dynasty royal family in Kudki (modern-day Beawar of Rajasthan), and spent her childhood in Merta City. She was the daughter of Ratan Singh Rathore and grand daughter of Rao Dudaji of Merta.
Meera unwillingly married Bhoj Raj, the crown prince of Mewar, in 1516.Usha Nilsson (1997), Mira bai, Sahitya Akademi, , pages 12-13Nancy Martin-Kershaw (2014), Faces of the Feminine in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India (Editor: Mandakranta Bose), Oxford University Press, , page 165 Her husband was wounded in one of the ongoing wars with the Delhi Sultanate in 1518, and he died from battle wounds in 1521. Both her father and father-in-law (Rana Sanga) died a few days after their defeat in the Battle of Khanwa against Babur, the first Mughal Emperor.
After the death of Rana Sanga, Vikram Singh became the ruler of Mewar. According to a popular legend, her in-laws tried to assassinate her multiple times. These attempts included sending Meera a glass of poison and telling her it was nectar, and sending her a basket with a snake instead of flowers. According to hagiographic legends, she was not harmed in either case, with the snake miraculously becoming, depending on the version, a Krishna idol or a garland of flowers. In another version of these legends, she is asked by Vikram Singh to drown herself. When she attempts to do so, she merely floats on the water.Usha Nilsson (1997), Mira bai, Sahitya Akademi, , pages 16-17 Yet another legend states that the third Mughal emperor, Akbar, came with Tansen to visit Meera and presented her with a pearl necklace. Scholars doubt this happened, as Tansen joined Akbar's court in 1562, 15 years after Meera's death. Similarly, some stories state that Ravidas was her guru (teacher), but there is no corroborating historical evidence for this. As of 2014, the three oldest records that mention Meeraare Munhata Nainsi's Khyat from Jodhpur, Prem Ambodh from Amritsar, and Nabhadas's Chappy from Varanasi; see: JS Hawley and GS Mann (2014), Culture and Circulation: Literature in Motion in Early Modern India (Editors: Thomas De Bruijn and Allison Busch), Brill Academic, , pages 131-135 are all from the 17th century and written within 150 years of Meera's death. Neither mentions anything about her childhood, the circumstances of her marriage to Bhojraj or that the people who persecuted her were her in-laws or from some Rajput royal family.J. S. Hawley and G. S. Mann (2014), Culture and Circulation: Literature in Motion in Early Modern India (Editors: Thomas De Bruijn and Allison Busch), Brill Academic, , pages 131-135 Nancy Martin-Kershaw states that to the extent that Meera was challenged and persecuted, religious or social conventions were unlikely to have been the cause, rather the likely cause was political chaos and military conflicts between the Rajput kingdom and the Mughal Empire.
Other stories state that Mira Bai left the kingdom of Mewar and went on pilgrimages. In her last years, Meera lived in Dwarka or Vrindavan, where legends state she miraculously disappeared by merging into an idol of Krishna after being poisoned by her brother-in-law in 1547. While miracles are contested by scholars for the lack of historical evidence, it is widely acknowledged that Meera dedicated her life to Krishna, composing songs of devotion, and was one of the most important poet-saints of the Bhakti movement period.John S. Hawley (2005), Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Times and Ours, Oxford University Press, , pages 128-130
In her poems, Krishna is a yogi and lover, and she herself is a yogini ready to take her place by his side in a spiritual marital bliss. Meera's style combines impassioned mood, defiance, longing, anticipation, joy and ecstasy of union, always centred on Krishna.
Meera speaks of a personal relationship with Krishna as her lover, God and mountain lifter. The characteristic of her poetry is complete surrender.
Meera is often classed with the northern Sant bhaktis, who spoke of Krishna.
Queen Mira Bai composed a song dedicated to Guru Ravidas where she mentioned him as her Guru.
Prem Ambodh Pothi, a text attributed to Guru Gobind Singh and completed in 1693 CE, includes poetry of Mira Bai as one of sixteen historic bhakti saints important to Sikhism.JS Hawley and GS Mann (2014), Culture and Circulation: Literature in Motion in Early Modern India (Editors: Thomas De Bruijn and Allison Busch), Brill Academic, , pages 113-136
The continued influence of Meera, in part, has been her message of freedom, her resolve and right to pursue her devotion to Krishna and her spiritual beliefs as she felt drawn to despite her persecution. Her appeal and influence in Indian culture, writes Edwin Bryant, is from her emerging, through her legends and poems, as a person "who stands up for what is right and suffers bitterly for holding fast to her convictions, as other men and women have", yet she does so with a language of love, with words painting the "full range of emotions that mark love, whether between human beings or between human and divine".Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press, , page 245
The 1997 novel Cuckold, by Kiran Nagarkar, features her as one of the central characters.
In 2002, Indian film director Anjali Panjabi released a documentary film about Meera, titled A Few Things I Know About Her.
In 2009, Meera Bai's life was interpreted as a musical story in Meera—The Lover…, a music album based on original compositions for some well known bhajans attributed to her. James, a Bangladeshi musician, dedicated his song "Mirabai" to her.
The Meera Mahal in Merta City is a museum dedicated to telling the story of Mirabai through sculptures, paintings, displays, and a shaded garden.
Mirabai, a 26-episode series based on her life, starring Mrinal Kulkarni, was produced by UTV in 1997. Meera, a 2009 Indian television series based on her life, aired on NDTV Imagine. Shree Krishna Bhakto Meera, a 2021 Indian Bengali mythological television series based on her life, aired on Star Jalsha. Her life was also chronicled in the longest running mythological show, Vighnaharta Ganesh, where Lord Ganesh narrates her story to one of Lord Shiva's gana, Pushpadanta. Mira was portrayed by Lavina Tandon, while Krishna's role was essayed by Hitanshu Jinsi.
Ravidas as Mira's Guru
There is a small chhatri (pavilion) in front of Meera's temple in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan which bears Ravidas' engraved foot print. Chittauragarh Fort: An Enigma with a Thin Line between History and Mythology . 24 August 2009, Ghumakkar.com Legends link him as the guru of Mirabai, another major Bhakti movement poet.Peter Heehs (2002), Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience, New York University Press, , pages 368-370
Sikh literature
When the Adi Granth was compiled in 1604, a copy of the text was given to a Sikh named Bhai Banno who was instructed by Guru Arjan to travel to Lahore to get it bound. While doing so, he made a copy of the codex, which included compositions of Mirabai. These unauthorized additions were not included in the standardized edition of the scripture by the Sikh gurus, who rejected their inclusion.Clary, Randi Lynn. 'Sikhing’a husband: Bridal imagery and gender in Sikh scripture. Rice University, 2003.Singh, Pashaura. "Recent Research and Debates in Adi Granth Studies." Religion Compass 2.6 (2008): 1004-1020.Zelliot, Eleanor. "The Medieval Bhakti Movement in History: An Essay on the Literature in English." Hinduism. Brill, 1982. 143-168.Singh, Pashaura. "Scriptural adaptation in the Adi Granth." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 64.2 (1996): 337-357.
Mirabai's compositions
Influence
Scholars acknowledge that Meera was one of the central poet-saints of the Bhakti movement, a period in Indian history rife with religious conflicts. Yet, they simultaneously question the extent to which Meera was a canonical projection of social imagination that followed, where she became a symbol of people's suffering and a desire for an alternative.Dirk Wiemann (2008), Genres of Modernity: Contemporary Indian Novels in English, Rodopi, , pages 148-149 Dirk Wiemann, quoting Parita Mukta, states,
English translations
English translations of Meera's poems titled Mystic Songs of Meera and The Devotional Poems of Mirabai have been written by A.J. Alston and V.K. Subramanian respectively.Alston, A.J., The Devotional Poems of Mirabai, Delhi 1980 Some bhajans of Meera have been rendered into English by Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield as Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems.Bly, Robert / Hirshfield, Jane, Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems, Boston, Massachusetts 2004 Schelling and Landes-Levi have offered anthologies in the USA.Schelling, Andrew, For Love of the Dark One: Songs of Mirabai, Prescott, Arizona 1998Landes-Levi, Louise, Sweet on My Lips: The Love Poems of Mirabai, New York 1997 Snell has presented parallel translations in his collection The Hindi Classical Tradition.Snell, Rupert. The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj Bhasa Reader, London 1991, pp 39, 104–109. Sethi has selected poems which Meera composed presumably after she came in contact with Ravidas.Sethi, V.K., Mira: The Divine Lover, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Punjab 1988
Popular culture
Composer John Harbison adapted Bly's translations for his Mirabai Songs.
Film and TV adaptations
Two well-known films of her life have been made in India: Meera (1945), a Tamil language film starring M. S. Subbulakshmi, and Meera (1979), a Hindi film by Gulzar, in which she is portrayed by actress Hema Malini. Other Indian films about her include: Meerabai (1921) by Kanjibhai Rathod, Sant Mirabai (1929) by Dadasaheb Phalke, Rajrani Meera/ Meerabai (1933) by Debaki Bose, Meerabai (1936) by T. C. Vadivelu Naicker and A. Narayanan, Sadhvi Meerabai (1937) by Baburao Painter, Bhakta Meera (1938) by Y. V. Rao, Meerabai (1940) by Narasimha Rao Bhimavarapu, Meera (1947) by Ellis Dungan, Matwali Meera (1947) by Baburao Patel, Meerabai (1947) by W. Z. Ahmed, Meerabai (1947) by Nanabhai Bhatt, Girdhar Gopal Ki Mira (1949) by Prafulla Roy, Raj Rani Meera (1956) by G. P. Pawar, Meera Shyam (1976), Meera Ke Girdhar (1992) by Vijay Deep.
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!Channel 1997 Mirabai 26 episodes; Director : Ved Rahi Mrinal Kulkarni Doordarshan 2009 Meera 135 episodes; Director : Mukesh Singh, Swapnil Mahaling (Shahane) Aashika Bhatia, Aditi Sajwan NDTV Imagine 2021–present Shree Krishna Bhakto Meera Director : Amit Sengupta Arshiya Mukherjee, Debadrita Basu Star Jalsha
See also
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1498 Births, 1547 Deaths, Hindu Female Religious Leaders, 16th-century Hindu Religious Leaders, 16th-century Indian Philosophers, Hindi-language Poets, Indian Women Religious Leaders, People Related To Krishna, Hindu Mystics, Indian Women Poets, Devotees Of Krishna, Bhakti Movement, People From Pali District, 16th-century Indian Poets, Poets From Rajasthan, Women Writers From Rajasthan, Indian Hindu Saints, Scholars From Rajasthan, Women Educators From Rajasthan, Educators From Rajasthan, Women Musicians From Rajasthan, Singers From Rajasthan, 16th-century Indian Women Singers, 16th-century Indian Singers, Women Mystics, Rajput Princesses, Rajasthani Literature, People From The Kingdom Of Marwar
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