Mīrābāī

Mīrābāī is the most celebrated woman poet of the bhakti movement in North India. Her life is known mainly through hagiography, and historians treat its details with caution. She is said to have been a Rajput princess of Merta, in Rajasthan, born around 1500, who from childhood regarded Krishna as her husband. Married into the royal family of Mewar, she refused to accept the conventions of a widow or a queen, and devoted herself to singing and dancing for Krishna in the company of holy men.

The stories tell that her in-laws tried to kill her, with poison and a snake, which by Krishna’s grace did her no harm. She left Mewar, lived as a wandering devotee, and is said to have ended her life at Dvārakā, in Gujarat, where according to legend she merged into the image of Krishna in the temple.

Hundreds of songs in Rajasthani, Braj and Gujarati are attributed to her, though few can be securely traced to her own time; they have been sung across India for centuries, and her life has become a model of devotion that defies convention. Her poems speak of love, longing, separation and the joy of belonging to the Dark One, Krishna.