Songs of the Saints of India by John Stratton Hawley

Meera's temple to Krishna at Chittor Fort, RajasthanĪuthentic records about Meera are not available and scholars have attempted to establish Meera's biography from secondary literature that mentions her and wherein dates and other moments. Legends about Mirabai's life, of contested authenticity, have been the subject of movies, films, comic strips and other popular literature in modern times.

Hindu temples, such as in Chittorgarh fort, are dedicated to Mirabai's memory. These hymns are a type of bhajan, and are very famous across India. Many poems attributed to Meera were likely composed later by others who admired Meera. Millions of devotional hymns in passionate praise of Krishna are attributed to Meerabai in the Indian tradition, but just a few hundred are believed to be authentic by scholars, and the earliest written records suggest that except for two hymns, most were written down only in the 18th century. She has been the subject of numerous folk tales and hagiographic legends, which are inconsistent or widely different in details. Most legends about Mirabai mention her fearless disregard for social and family conventions, her devotion to Krishna, her treating Krishna as her husband and being persecuted by her in-laws for her religious devotion.

She is mentioned in Bhaktamal, confirming that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Bhakti movement culture by about 1600 CE.

Mirabai was born into a Rathore Rajput royal family in Kudki (modern-day Nagaur district of Rajasthan) and spent her childhood in Merta. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna.

Songs of the Saints of India by John Stratton Hawley