(early sixteenth century?) A poet-saint who was a devotee of the deity Krishna (bhakta).
Mirabai's songs are among the most well-known religious
(bhakti) poetry, despite the fact that nothing is known about her.
Mirabai was born into a royal family in a tiny kingdom in
Rajasthan, according to legend.
She had been committed to Krishna since she was a little
child.
Despite the fact that her parents had planned for her to
marry the scion of another monarch, she regarded Krishna to be her actual
spouse.
Her liberation occurred with the death of her husband, after
which she was permitted to leave her marital house after extensive battle with
her in-laws—during which they allegedly tried to poison her.
She spent her final years traveling areas linked with
Krishna and socializing with other devotees in "excellent company"
(satsang).
She traveled to Dwaraka, the city where Krishna is claimed
to have reigned, and was absorbed into Krishna's image in his temple there.
Mirabai's poetry is characterized by her love for Krishna.
She often refers to herself as his wife or as his awaiting
lover, expressing her desire for physical and metaphysical connection with him.
Her poetry is a deeply personal expression of her religious
fervor, and the power of her yearning has made her a religious symbol.
Mirabai's poetry raises perplexing authorship questions for
scholars, as the earliest manuscripts are several hundred years older than when
she is supposed to have lived, but for ordinary people, Mirabai's songs are
still popular today.
She has also appeared in at least ten feature films,
demonstrating the power of devotion even in today's world.
See A. J. Alston's The Devotional Poems of Mirabai, 1980,
and John Stratton Hawley and Mark Juergensmeyer's Songs of the Saints of India,
1988, for more information.
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