Mīrābāī

Mīrābāī (c. 1498–1547), usually called simply Mīrā, was a Rajput princess and poet-saint of the The Bhakti Movement movement, devoted from childhood to Kṛṣṇa, whom she called Giradhar Gopāl (“the cowherd who lifted the mountain”). Her songs (padas), in a mixture of Rajasthani and Braj Bhāṣā, express passionate love for Kṛṣṇa as her husband and lover, the anguish of separation from him, and defiance of the family, caste and royal honour that tried to restrain her. She is the most famous woman poet of North India; her bhajans are sung in homes, temples and concert halls throughout the subcontinent.

Life

What is known of Mīrā’s life comes mostly from legend and her own poems, written down long after her death.

She was born around 1498 at Kudki, near Merta in Rajasthan, a princess of the Rāṭhoṛ clan. Her mother died when she was young. A famous story says that as a child, watching a wedding procession, she asked her mother who her own bridegroom would be; her mother, half in jest, pointed to an image of Kṛṣṇa — and from then on Mīrā regarded herself as Kṛṣṇa’s bride.

In about 1516 she was married to Bhoj Rāj, crown prince of Mewar, son of the great Rāṇā Sāṅgā of Chittor. She refused, the legends say, to consummate the marriage or to worship the family goddess, insisting that she was already married to Kṛṣṇa. Her husband died in battle a few years later; she refused to commit satī on his pyre. Her in-laws — especially her husband’s brother, who became king — were scandalised by her behaviour: she spent her time singing and dancing before Kṛṣṇa’s image, mixing with wandering holy men (sādhus) of every caste, and disregarding the seclusion expected of a royal widow. The legends say they tried to kill her: they sent her a cup of poison, which she drank as Kṛṣṇa’s nectar and survived; a basket containing a cobra, which turned into a garland or an image of Kṛṣṇa; a bed of nails, which became a bed of roses. Her songs refer to these trials:

The Rāṇā sent a cup of poison — Mīrā drank it laughing.

Eventually she left the palace and went on pilgrimage to Vṛndāvana, the land of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood, where, a story says, she asked to meet the great theologian Jīva Gosvāmī, who refused to see a woman; Mīrā replied that she had thought there was only one male in Vṛndāvana — Kṛṣṇa — and the rest were gopīs. She later went to Dvārakā, Kṛṣṇa’s city on the western coast. When emissaries came from Mewar to bring her back, she went into the temple to ask Kṛṣṇa’s permission — and, the legend says, merged into his image and was never seen again.

Poetry

Around 1,300 songs are attributed to Mīrā, though few can be authenticated. Their themes:

Exclusive devotion. Her most famous song begins:

मेरे तो गिरधर गोपाल, दूसरो न कोई। जाके सिर मोर मुकुट, मेरो पति सोई॥ My only one is Giradhar Gopāl — there is no other. He who wears the peacock-feather crown — he is my husband.

It goes on: “I have abandoned family, caste and honour… I have sat with holy men and lost the world’s respect… I watered the vine of love with my tears; now it has spread and borne the fruit of bliss.”

Defiance.

पग घुंघरू बाँध मीरा नाची रे। Mīrā danced with bells tied to her ankles. People said Mīrā has gone mad; her mother-in-law said she has disgraced the family.

Separation. Many songs express viraha, the agony of separation:

हे री मैं तो प्रेम दिवानी, मेरो दरद न जाणे कोय। I am mad with love — no one knows my pain. Only the wounded know the wound…

Joy. “Pāyojī maine rām ratan dhan pāyo” — “I have found the treasure of the jewel of Rām’s name.”

Legacy

Mīrā became a saint of the bhakti tradition within a generation; the hagiographer Nābhādās’s Bhaktamāl (c. 1600) already celebrates her. In modern times she became a symbol of women’s spiritual independence and of non-violent resistance: Gandhi cited her as a model of satyāgraha. Films, novels and the famous recordings of M. S. Subbulakshmi and Lata Mangeshkar have kept her songs alive. Feminist scholars (Parita Mukta, Nancy Martin) have studied how low-caste communities in Rajasthan preserved a more radical Mīrā than the respectable saint of later tradition.

Mīrā in conversation

Mere to Giradhar Gopāl, dūsro na koī — “mine is the Mountain-Lifter, no one else” — is the whole of her, and the classic line for a love that refuses every other claim.