A daughter of the Rathores
Mira was born around 1498 in Kudki, a small fief in Marwar. The family gave her a small bronze image of Krishna as a child; the legend says she announced, at four years old, that this would be her only husband.
The Rajput Princess of Krishna
Mirabai
मीराबाई
c. 1498 – 1547·Mewar, Rajasthan·
A Rajput princess who renounced royal status to become a wandering poet-saint. Her songs of intense love for Krishna remain among the most cherished compositions in Indian literature.
Born
Kudki, Rajasthan
Died
Dwarka, c. 1547
Language
Rajasthani, Braj
Tradition
Krishna Bhakti
Deity
Giridhar Gopal (Krishna)
Class origin
Rathore Rajput nobility
Principal work
Padavali
01Biography
She was born to rule and chose instead to wander barefoot through Vrindavan, singing to a stone image of Krishna as if to a husband. Her in-laws sent poison, snakes, and assassins. None of them worked. What survives is roughly two hundred padas — songs of an obstinate, ecstatic love that refused the world's verdict.
Marriage and widowhood
She was married at eighteen to Bhojraj of Mewar, eldest son of the warrior-king Rana Sanga. Bhojraj died within a few years, possibly at the battle of Khanwa. Mira refused to commit sati and refused to retreat into the women's quarters.
Defiance
She sang openly in temple courtyards, danced with sadhus, ate with people of every caste. Her in-laws — guardians of Rajput honor — sent the cup of poison, the basket with the cobra, the bed of nails. The legends multiply.
Vrindavan and Dwarka
She left Chittor sometime in the 1530s and spent her remaining years between Vrindavan and Dwarka. The tradition says she walked into the temple at Dwarka one morning and merged into the image of Krishna. Her songs travelled north into Punjab and south into Gujarat in her own lifetime.
02A Life in Brief
c. 1498
Born to Ratan Singh Rathore near Kudki, Rajasthan.
1516
Married to Bhojraj, crown prince of Mewar.
c. 1521
Widowed. Refuses sati and the seclusion of the women's quarters.
1520s
Sings openly with sadhus in the temple courtyards of Chittor.
1530s
Survives multiple attempts on her life; leaves Mewar.
c. 1540
Years of wandering between Vrindavan and Dwarka.
c. 1547
Disappears at Dwarka; tradition holds she merged into Krishna's image.
03Principal Works
Padavali
Rajasthani / Braj
Pada (lyric)
Approximately 200 lyrics confidently attributed; many more associated by oral tradition.
Narsi Ji ka Mahero
Rajasthani
Narrative poem
A retelling of a story of the poet-saint Narsinh Mehta — attributed to Mira.
04Key Teachings
Teaching · 01
Love as the highest discipline
The path to the divine is not renunciation of feeling but its full surrender.
Teaching · 02
Defiance of social rank
Caste, gender and station fall away in the presence of true devotion.
Teaching · 03
The body as obstacle and instrument
Mira treats the body neither as enemy nor as ornament — it is the instrument through which longing is made audible.
Teaching · 04
The unconditional husband
Krishna is not metaphor; he is the actual addressee, the actual beloved. The intensity of her poetry depends on this literalism.
05Famous Stories
Story
The Cup of Poison
Her brother-in-law Vikramajit is said to have sent her a cup of poison disguised as charanamrit. Mira accepted it as prasad from Krishna himself, drank it, and walked unharmed into the temple to sing.
Story
The Door at Dwarka
One morning in old age she entered the sanctum of the Dwarkadhish temple and did not come out. The doors closed of their own accord. When they were opened, only her sari remained on the image of Krishna.
06In Their Own Words
I have found a gem beyond all price. My Master has given me a priceless gift, and he has shown me his infinite mercy.
I am Mira, ever yours. The colour of my Lord is the only colour left in me.
Let them call me mad. I will dance with my anklets. Let them call me a fallen woman. I will sing with the saints.
07Verses in the Anthology
08Essays
Mirabai · Teachings
The puzzle of bridal mysticism: Mirabai's radical theology
What happens when the body's longing for union is not an obstacle to spirituality, but its very ground? A reading of Mirabai's radical claim to the sacred.
Mirabai · Bio & Impact
The princess who traded a crown for a song
A Rajput princess whose bhajans dissolved the architecture of marriage and lineage into a single, radical devotion to Krishna.
Mirabai · Stories & Miracles
The poison that became nectar
Exploring the hagiographic legends of Mirabai—poisoned cups and baskets of cobras—as radical arguments for spiritual autonomy.
09Connections
Read through: Devotion · Refusal · The body
Related Saints
Related Traditions
Krishna Bhakti
Worship of Krishna as Beloved; the tradition Mira gave its most personal voice.
Saguna Bhakti
Worship of the divine with form — for Mira, Giridhar Gopal.
10Further Reading
For Love of the Dark One: Songs of Mirabai
Andrew Schelling (trans.)
1993
Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems
Robert Bly & Jane Hirshfield
2004
Mirabai and her Padas
Krishna P. Bahadur
1998