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Top 10 Sensational Facts about Mirabai

Mirabai, a 16th-century Indian royal, is known more through legend than verifiable historic fact.

Mirabai was born in Merta in the Kudki district of Pali, Rajasthan, India, about 1498. The family worshipped Vishnu as their primary deity.

Her mother died when Mirabai was about four, and Mirabai was raised and educated by her grandparents. Music was stressed in her education

At an early age, Mirabai became attached to an idol of Krishna, given to her (legend says) by a travelling beggar.

In her teens, Mirabai was married to a Rajput prince of Mewar. However, her new in-laws were upset with the time she spent at Krishna’s temple.

In the advice by letter of the poet Tulsidas, she left her husband and his family. Her husband died only a few years later.

Mirabai was known for her songs of devotion to Krishna and for forsaking traditional women’s roles to devote life to Krishna worship. 

She was a Bhakti saint, poet and mystic, and also a Rani or princess. She lived from about 1498 to about 1545. 

Her name has also been translated as Mira Bai, Meerabai, Meera Bai, Meera, or M墨r膩b膩墨, and she is sometimes given the honorific of Mirabai Devi. 

Below are 10 sensational facts about Mirabai

1. Mirabai was Born a Princess

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Mirabai was born a princess, a granddaughter of Rao Dudaji Who was the third son of Rao Jodhaji, who established the kingdom of Rathod Dynasty in Rajasthan, with Jodhpur as its capital in the kingdom known as Jodhpur.

Jodhaji gave his son Rao Dudaji a small portion of the Jodhpur kingdom.

It consisted of several villages with Medta as its capital.  Medta is about 60 kilometres west of Ajmer in the present state of Rajasthan, India.

2. From a Tender age Mirabai nurtured the idea of  Being  Shree Krishna鈥檚 Bride

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One day, her mother was combing her hair on a balcony of her palace. She was about 5 years old at that time.

Mira saw a parade of a bridegroom. There was loud music and dancing. Several beautifully clothed women, as well as men, were in high spirits.

Mira saw the procession and asked her mother about it. The mother responded that the bridegroom was going to get married.

Young Mira asked innocently whom she would marry. Her mother was puzzled for a minute.

Then she saw the Shree Krishna’s Murti in the room, pointed to it and said, “He is your bridegroom.”

Mira took this seriously and started to regard Shree Krishna as her bridegroom from that moment on.

3. She was Divinely Beautiful but Humble

Mirabai was the most beautiful and delightful innocent girl of the kingdom

During her adolescence, Mira was the darling of not only her uncle Viramaji, her cousin brother Jayamal, and her grandfather Dudaji, the ruler of Medta, but she was also the darling of sadhus, ministers, elders and the entire kingdom.

She was also the most loved in Kudki, her birthplace.

Though she was the most beautiful and delightful innocent girl of the kingdom, she was never arrogant towards anyone.

4. Mirabai鈥榮 Marriage was Political

The Rajput kings were always struggling to be united among themselves to fight the Delhi颅-Ruler, Akbar.

The most powerful and respectful Rajput king, Sangramsingh (Sangaji) of the Sisodia Dynasty, was ruling the kingdom of Chittorgarh.

There was no love between him and the Medta kingdom or the Jodhpur kingdom.

However, he decided to mend the relationship with them with the ulterior motive of creating a temporary unity required to defeat Akbar.

In those days, the most common means to such unity was to create a relationship through marriage.

Rana Sangramsingh had four sons: Kumar Bhojraj, Rana Ratnasingh, Rana Vikramajit and Rana Udayasingh (Rana Udayasingh’s famous son, Maharana Pratapsingh, later on created unusual problems for the Moguls in Delhi).

Rana Sangramsingh proposed the marriage of his Prince Kumar Bhojraj with Mira, thus, tying a knot between the two most powerful kingdoms of the Rajputs.

Unfortunately, girls had little say in their marriage in those days. The Rajputs were shortsighted and selfish. They sought the advice of dharma gurus who were ritualistic and ignorant of the Truth

5. Mirabai鈥檚  Devotion to Shree Krishna preceded her Duty to Marriage

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Mira was dedicated to her spiritual goal and purpose of life and did not compromise the Truth under any circumstances.

Mira was married off, against her wishes to Rana Bhojraj of the Sisodia. After a forced marriage she did what any wise young lady with true faith in Krishna would do.

She refused to let Rana Bhojran touch her because she considered herself already married.

She was already the faithful bride of Lord Krishna. At first, nobody in the Sisodia family took Mira’s strange behaviour seriously.

They hoped in vain that she would eventually give in knowing that no one dared to displease the mighty Sisodias.

6. Mirabai’s Devotion to Krishna caused a Huge Rift Between her and her In-laws

Due to her stand, a tussle began between the mighty Sisodias and a gentle, beautiful Mira whose only defence was her true Love, Krishna, the Supreme Lord began.

It was obvious that nobody in the Sisodia family liked Mira’s contradictory behaviour because it put their pride at stake.

There was persuasion, threats, attempts to cause her suffering and there were even attempts to kill her.

It’s well known that in the family life of such a clan most in-laws would take revenge on Mira for her disobedience and non-compliance.

Her husband and father-in-law had a soft corner in their hearts for Mira, but not to the degree to approve of her behaviour, which contradicted their religious traditions.

7.  The Sisodia Family  Poisoned Her

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She was poisoned but she came out unscathed.

A very poisonous snake, disguised as a flower garland, was sent to her but she accepted it as a gift from Shri Krishna and made a necklace out of it and no harm was done to her.

We need not go into many details of her sufferings as we have known most of them through her Bhajans.

There were many other terrible attempts made to “straighten out Mira;”

8. Mirabhai鈥檚 Faith was Unshakable

Her faith was undeniably strong and her love was so pure that not even all earthly power could have stood against her spiritual strength.

At every stage in daily life, she experienced troubles; yet, she was too pure to accept the defeat of her love.

It may be noteworthy that during the rule of Vikramaditya, her brother-in-law, who became the ruler after the untimely death of her husband, she suffered vehement opposition from the Sisodias.

When all attempts failed to get rid of Mira

When all attempts failed to get rid of Mira, the Sisodias finally decided to send her to her parental home.

Mira was always prayerful, humble, gentle and firm in her determination and didn’t allow even the worst circumstances to interfere with her love for Lord Krishna.

She left Chittorgarh, stopped in Pushkar to take a holy bath and reached Medta.

9. Mirabai was an Unconventional Widow

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His family was shocked that Mirabai did not commit sati, burning herself alive on her husband’s funeral pyre, as was considered proper for a Rajputi princess (rani).

Additionally, they were further shocked when she refused to remain secluded as a widow and to worship his family’s deity, the goddess Durga or Kali.

Instead of following these traditional norms for a widowed Rajputi princess, Mirabai took up enthusiastic worship of Krishna as part of the Bhakti movement.

She identified herself as the spouse of Krishna. Like many in the Bhakti movement, she ignored gender, class, caste, and religious boundaries, and spent time caring for the poor.

10. Lord Krishna Finally Absorbed her in Him at the Dwarka Temple

Mira, however, was too absorbed in her Love for Krishna and having seen the vanity of worldly life, family life, friends and others, she had abandoned any hope to reconcile with the worldly.

She discarded her body in 1624 AD in Dwarka, in the western most part of the state of Gujarat, India.

She lived approximately 67 years during which she loved nothing but Lord Krishna.

It is said that the Lord finally absorbed her in Him at the Dwarka temple.

India is a land of eternal love stories defying the blows of Time for ages. One such timeless story is that of Meera Bai鈥檚 love for Lord Krishna.

Born a Rajput princess of Merta in Rajasthan, Meera Bai ended up being a saint in love with her lord.

The life of Meera Bai from the magnificence of a palace to the austerity of a hermitage is a manifestation of transcendental love between the Divine and the human.