Kudki, Rajasthan·c. 1498 – 1547
मीराबाई
Mirabai
The Rebel Princess of Divine Love
She drank poison and it became nectar, because her Lord was her only refuge.
“I have felt the swaying of the elephant’s shoulders; and now you want me to climb on a jackass? Try to be serious.”
Life
Born around 1498 into the Rathore Rajput royal family of Merta in Rajasthan, Mirabai was given a small idol of Krishna as a child by a wandering sadhu. From that moment, she regarded Krishna as her true husband, her Giridhar Gopal, the mountain-lifter.
She was married in 1516 to Bhoj Raj, crown prince of Mewar. When he died in battle around 1521, Mira refused to perform sati or observe the conventions of widowhood. She spent her days singing, dancing in ecstasy before the idol of Krishna, and keeping company with sadhus, scandalous behavior for a Rajput queen.
Her in-laws, humiliated by her public devotion, attempted to kill her several times: with poison, with a venomous snake, with a bed of nails. In each case, the stories say, Krishna protected her. The poison became nectar. The snake became a garland of flowers.
She eventually left Mewar and spent her final years in Vrindavan and Dwarka, composing and singing bhajans. According to tradition, she merged into the idol of Krishna at the Ranchhodrai temple in Dwarka, her body never found. Over a thousand bhajans are attributed to her, composed in Rajasthani and Braj Bhasha, they remain the living voice of feminine devotion in India.
One Heart
“Mere to Giridhar Gopal, doosro na koi. My Lord is Giridhar Gopal; there is no other for me.”
Teachings
Love Beyond Convention
Devotion to God transcends all social boundaries: caste, gender, family honor, royal obligation. When the heart belongs to the Beloved, no human institution can claim it.
Total Surrender as Joy
Surrender is not a grim sacrifice but an ecstatic homecoming. Mira does not renounce the world in sorrow; she dances out of the palace because nothing in it compares to Krishna.
The Name as Refuge
In the darkest moments (when poison is offered, when the world turns hostile) the Name of the Lord is the only protection. Naam is the devotee’s armor.
Works & Publications
Bhajans and Padas
Over 1,000 devotional songs in Rajasthani and Braj Bhasha. Among the most widely sung bhajans in India.
Padavali
Collections of her verses compiled over centuries, expressing the full range of viraha (separation) and milan (union) with Krishna.
Mira Bai ki Shabdavali
A compilation of her padas organized by raga, preserving the musical tradition inseparable from her poetry.
An Inspiration
Mirabai embodies the fierce, uncompromising love that Ananta points to in satsang: the willingness to lose everything for the Beloved. Her bhajans are living proof that devotion is not tame.