Meera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meerabai (c. 1498 – c. 1547
AD) (alternate
orthographies:
Meera,
Mira,
Meera Bai) was an aristocratic
Hindu mystical singer and devotee of Lord
Krishna from
Rajasthan and one of the most significant figures of the
Sant tradition of the
Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 1,200–1,300 prayerful songs or
bhajans attributed to her are popular throughout India and have been published in several translations worldwide. In the
bhakti tradition, they are in passionate praise of Lord
Krishna.In most of her poems she has described her unconditional love for her Lord. She has tried to give the message that krishna bhakthi is the best way to live life as it helps us forget our desires and this inturn helps us attain moksha(or oneness with the Lord).
Details of her life, which has been the subject of several films, are pieced together from her poetry and stories recounted by her community and are of debatable historical authenticity, particularly those that connect her with the later
Tansen. On the other hand, the traditions that make her a disciple of
Guru Ravidas who disputed with
Rupa Goswami are consonant with the usual account of her life.
Biography
Meera, a
Rajput princess was born in
Kudki (Kurki), a little village near
Merta City[1] which is presently in the
Nagaur district of
Rajasthan in northwest India. Her father, jai Singh aman, was a friend of the
Rathore clan, the son of Rao Duda of Merta. Rao Duda was son of Rao Jodha of Mandore, founder of Mandsaur.
As an infant Meera became deeply enamored of an iconic idol of
Krishna owned by a visiting holy man; she was inconsolable until she possessed it and probably kept it all her life. (But some myths say that Meera saw a wedding procession of a bride-groom and asked her mother about her husband, then her mother took her in front of the family deity Lord Krishna. ) Then she was just five years old. She was highly influenced by her father as he was a sole worshipper of Krishna. But because she would not be able to keep the Lord happy the holy man took away the idol. Then she, her friend Lalita and her male cousin, Jaimal, went to the holy man or saint's house to get the idol back. When they went they saw that whatever the saint was offering to the Lord was not accepted. Then some ancient myths say that the idol started crying. Then next day the idol was given back to Meera and since then it remained with her. This made a bond between her and Lord and she was called "stone lover". She even organized a marriage with the idol. And she considered herself as spouse of Lord Krishna.
Meera’s marriage was arranged at an early age, traditionally to Prince
Bhoj Raj, the eldest son of
Rana Sanga of
Chittor. She was not happy with her marriage as she considered herself already married to Krishna. Her new family did not approve of her piety and devotion when she refused to worship their family deity- Tulaja Bhawani (Durga).
The
Rajputana had remained fiercely independent of the
Delhi Sultanate, the Islamic regime that otherwise ruled
Hindustan after the conquests of
Timur. But in the early 16th century AD the central Asian conqueror
Babur laid claim to the Sultanate and some Rajputs supported him while others ended their lives in battle with him. Her husband's death in battle (in 1527 AD) was only one of a series of losses Meera experienced in her twenties. She appears to have despaired of loving anything temporal and turned to the eternal, transforming her grief into a passionate spiritual devotion that inspired in her countless songs drenched with separation and longing.
Meera's love to Krishna was at first a private thing but at some moment it overflowed into an ecstasy that led her to dance in the streets of the city. Her brother-in-law, the new ruler of Chittorgarh, was Vikramaditya, an ill-natured youth who strongly objected to Meera's fame, her mixing with commoners and carelessness of feminine modesty. There were several attempts to poison her.
[2] Her sister-in-law Udabai is said to have spread defamatory gossip.
According to some myths Meera's brother-in-law Vikramaditya, who later became king of Chittor, after Bhojraj's death, tried to harm Meera in many ways, such as:
- The famous one is that he mixed poison in the prasadam or chandanamritam of Krishna and made her drink it. But by God's grace, Krishna changed it to Amrit.
- He pinned iron nails in Meera's bed, but, again by God's grace they turned into rose petals.
- He put a snake in a flower basket and told her that it was a gift from him to her Lord, but when she opened it actually became a gift- a garland.
There are many more in a similar vein.
At some time Meera declared herself a disciple of the guru
Ravidas[3] ("guru miliyaa raidasjee") and left for the centre of
Krishnaism,
Vrindavan. She considered herself to be a reborn
gopi, Lalita, mad with love for Krishna. Folklore informs us of a particular incident where she expressed her desire to engage in a discussion about spiritual matters with
Rupa Goswami, a direct disciple of
Chaitanya and one of the foremost saints of Vrindavan at that time who, being a renunciate celibate, refused to meet a woman. Meera replied that the only true man (
purusha) in this universe is Lord Krishna.
[4] She continued her pilgrimage, "danced from one village to another village, almost covering the whole north of India".
[5] One story has her appearing in the company of
Kabir in
Kashi, once again causing affront to social mores. She seems to have spent her last years as a pilgrim in
Dwarka,
Gujarat. It is said that Mirabai disappeared into the Dwarkadhish Murti (Image of Lord Krishna) in front of a full audience of onlookers.
Poetry
Meera's songs are in a simple form called a ch' (verse), a term used for a small spiritual song, usually composed in simple rhythms with a repeating refrain, collected in her
Padavali. The extant versions are in a
Rajasthani and
Braj, a dialect of
Hindi spoken in and around
Vrindavan (the childhood home of Krishna), sometimes mixed with Rajasthani.
- That dark dweller in Braj
- Is my only refuge.
- O my companion, worldly comfort is an illusion,
- As soon you get it, it goes.
- I have chosen the indestructible for my refuge,
- Him whom the snake of death will not devour.
- My beloved dwells in my heart all day,
- I have actually seen that abode of joy.
- Meera's lord is Hari, the indestructible.
- My lord, I have taken refuge with you, your maidservant
Although Meera is often classed with the northern Sant bhaktis who spoke of a
formless divinity,
[1]there is no doubt that she presents Krishna as the historical master of the
Bhagavad Gita who is, even so, the perfect
Avatar of the eternal, who is omnipresent but particularly focused in his icon and his temple. She speaks of a personal relationship with Krishna as her lover, lord and master. The characteristic of her poetry is complete surrender. Her longing for union with Krishna is predominant in her poetry: she wants to be "coloured with the colour of dusk" (the symbolic colour of Krishna).Her style of literature is mainly rajasthani mixed with brij language.But one can also see a hint of Gujarati as well as Punjabi in her writings.
English versions
Alston and Subramanian have published selections with English translation in India.
[3][6] Schelling
[7] and Landes-Levi
[8] have offered anthologies in the USA. Snell
[9] has presented parallel translations in his collection
The Hindi Classical Tradition. Sethi has selected poems which Mira composed presumably after she came in contact with Saint Ravidas.
[10] and Meera Pakeerah.
Some bhajans of Meera have been rendered by
Robert Bly in his
Mirabai Versions (New York; Red Ozier Press, 1984). Bly has also collaborated with Jane Hirshfield on
Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems.
[11] Dr Prayag Narayan Misra has presented more than 20 devotional poems—available online in both Hindi and English languages.
[12]
Popular culture
Composer
John Harbison adapted Bly's translations for his
Mirabai Songs. There is a documentary film
A Few Things I Know About Her by Anjali Panjabi.
[13] Two well-known films of her life have been made in India,
Meera (1945), a
Tamil language film starring
M. S. Subbulakshmi, and
Meera a 1979
Hindi film by
Gulzar. TV series,
Meera (2009–2010) was also based on her life.
J. A. Joshi
[14][15] has written a novel "Follow the Cowherd Boy"
[16] published by Trafford Publishing
[17] in 2006. Meera Bai's life has been interpreted as a musical story in
Meera—The Lover..., a music album based on original compositions for some well known Meera bhajans, releasing 11 October 2009.
[18]
Osho has given a commentary on Meera's bhajans.
Sagar Arts, the creator of mythological and historical serials such as Hatim Aladin, Chandragupta Maurya, Prithviraj Chauhan, Dwarkadheesh, Jai jai jai Bajrangbali, Mahima Shani Dev Ki, Ramayan etc., created a serial on July 27, 2009 – January 29, 2010. Younger Meera was played by
Aashika Bhatia and elder Meera was played by
Aditi Sajwan.
