Mirabhajans

Mirabai is a 16th century mystical poet and singer known for her songs of devotion to Krishna, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the One who sustains the world. Her bhajans or devotional songs of high literary value are sung all over the country, even today, and her life has been depicted in many poems, songs, dances, films and paintings. She is, undoubtedly, one of the most important women in the history of India. Mira, also spelt as Meera, began her life as a member of the aristocracy in a village of Rajasthan. She belonged to a family of Krishna worshippers and imbibed devotional love for Krishna at a very young age. At the age of 13, her father got her married to Prince Bhoj Raj of Chittor. Her preoccupation with Krishna worship, her refusal to worship their family deity and her disdain for silk and jewels made her a thorn in the flesh for her husbands family.
When her husband died three years later, Mira refused to commit Sati. She also began to dance on the streets in the ecstasy of worship and move among all kinds of people, irrespective of caste or creed. Soon, she was disowned by her husbands family as well as her birth family and entered her new life as an emancipated devotee of Krishna. She wandered almost the entire region of the north of India, singing and dancing to her lover-lord Krishna and acquired a great number of followers from various parts of the country. Mira has left behind around 1300 songs of passion, eroticism and complete surrender to her lover and master, Krishna. A childless woman, who fearlessly broke with tradition and resisted feminine stereotypes, Mira is also an enduring symbol of a liberated woman who risked all to protect her independence, freedom and happiness.