Mirabai's Krishna (1498 - 1550) Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Born a princess in Rajasthan region,
Mira fought tradition, for woman's right
To an independent life in her poems.
Mirabai formed a strong bond with the doll
Of the God Krishna given by a priest.
She believed Krishna to be her husband
For the rest of her life, refusing to die
With her husband when dead at her young age.1

Mirabai eventually left her kingdom
To fully devote her life to Krishna,
Embittered by her in-laws in her kingdom
As she refused to die at Sati rite
And did worship of Krishna as Vaishnavite
In a family wedded to Siva worships.
She danced from village to village, singing
Love for Krishna till she died and joined Him. 2


Mirabai's love for Krishna, the Dark One,
Is the sole subject of all her writing
And differs from other Bhakti in this way.
She viewed herself as a lover of Krishna
Waiting for Him to take away as His wife.
They call you the refugeless refuge,
They call you redeemer of outcasts.
Caught in a riptide in the sea of becoming.'3

Krishna is a lover and she's His love;
All the poetry she cried would reflect the mood
Of defiance, longing, anticipation,
Joy and ecstasy of union, with Him.
‘My Dark One has gone to an alien land.
He has left me behind, he's never returned,
So I've stripped off my ornaments, cut my hair;
Unless I meet Him, I don't want to live.' 4

Meera speaks of her relationship with Krishna
As her lover, lord and mountain lifter.
‘After making me fall for you so hard,
Where are you going? Until the day I see you,
No repose: my life, like fish washed on shore,
Flails in agony. For your sake I'll hurt
Myself to death on the saw of Kashi.
The lord is a lifter and I am his slave.'5

The love that binds Mira to Lord Krishna
Is like a diamond that breaks the hammer.
‘My heart goes into you as the polish
Goes into the gold and I live in you
As the lotus live in water.', declared she
‘He's playing the flute that rest on His lips;
Experiencing deep joy, He is charming
The hearts of women of Braj and me hence.'6

‘There is a longing, it is for his body,
For every hair of the Dark Body.
His face looks curiously like the bright Moon
And I saw it from the side, smiling.', told she.
‘I am mad with love; no one understand my plight.
Only the wounded understand the agony
Of the wounded when the fire rages in the heart.'
Her desire for Him was deep, bottomless. 7

‘Shyam, without thee I cannot sleep;
Every second seems many an age;
Every moment I'm tortured by separation;
A bed of flowers seams a bed of thorns.'
‘I have abandoned the worldly shame;
Without His sight I find no rest;
And streams of tears fall from my eyes.'
She alone knows what love hers is for Him.8

‘For if God is angry, where can I dwell?
Thou didst send me a cup of poison and
A black cobra; in all I saw only Krishna!
Mira is drunk with love, and is wedded to the Lord! '
‘Come to my pavilion, I have spread a bed
Made of delicately selected buds
And blossoms, and have arrayed myself
In bridal garb from head to toe.', longed she.' 9

‘I had gone to the Yamuna to fetch water.
When along came Krishna, stole my sari
A little monkey; I was left standing naked
In the water...', she was naked in words.
Meera Bai makes use of eroticism
With a sparing hand in her songs
To express deep, personal emotions.
Her love for Krishna is wife's for husband.10
06.10.2020