Meera

Meera, also known as Meera Bai or Mirabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Lord Krishna, celebrated as one of the most significant poet-saints of the Bhakti movement in North India.

She was born around 1498 in Kudki (also spelled Khudki), near Merta in Rajasthan, India, into a royal Rathore Rajput family as the daughter of Ratan Singh Rathore and Veer Kumari.

From early childhood, she exhibited deep spiritual inclination toward Krishna; a well-known anecdote recounts that at age four, while watching a wedding procession, she asked her mother who she would marry, and her mother pointed to an idol of Krishna, telling Meera she was already married to the deity.

Despite her devotion to Krishna, Meera was married in 1516 to Bhoj Raj, the crown prince of Mewar (also referred to as Rana Kumbha of Chitore in some accounts).

She fulfilled her royal duties as a princess while continuing her fervent prayers and ecstatic worship of Krishna, but her unwavering faith and disregard for royal conventions disturbed her in-laws. Her family repeatedly tried to break her devotion, with legends recounting attempts on her life including being given poison and a basket containing a snake, both of which she survived through divine intervention.

After her husband's death and following continued familial persecution and torments that interfered with her worship, Meera renounced royal life and became a wandering saint. She left her home and traveled to holy sites including Vrindavan and Dwarka, wandering the streets while singing bhajans (devotional songs) and reciting her poetic compositions about Krishna's glories and her love for him.

In Vrindavan, she attracted followers who were inspired by her poignant poetry and touching devotionals, encouraging them to worship Krishna and seek spiritual awakening during a time of steep spiritual decline.

Her devotional poems, composed in Rajasthani and Braj Bhasha, express her unwavering love and devotion to Krishna and are characterized by their emotional intensity and spiritual fervor. While thousands of poems are attributed to her, scholars believe only a few hundred approximately 200 to 1,300 pads are authentically hers.

Her songs helped revitalize the tradition of bhakti (devotional) yoga in India and continue to be sung across the country today.

According to legend, Meera merged with a Krishna idol in Dwarka around 1547, symbolizing her ultimate union with the divine. Tradition relates that one day while singing in a temple, Krishna appeared and opened his heart to her; Meera entered, leaving her body while in the highest state of Krishna consciousness, thus melting into the heart of Krishna.

Her life and works have had a lasting impact on Indian culture, with her story depicted in various films, television series, and literary works, highlighting her as a symbol of devotion and spiritual resilience. She demonstrated how a seeker could attain union with God through love, with her one message being that Krishna was her all.

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