This is a folklore retelling of the life of Meera Bai. Little is known about her historically, except that she was a devotee of Lord Krishna and the granddaughter of Rao Duda of Marwar. Since Rana Sanga was an ally of the king, she was married to the crown prince of Mewar, Bhoj Raj, who unfortunately died in one of the many battles Mewar fought with Babur. After that, her journey from Mewar to Merta to Vrindavan and Dwarka can be traced only with folklore.
The palace at Merta was buzzing with preparations. Duda Rao, the fourth son of Jodha Rao, founder of Jodhpur, was coming back after a war with his sons. His grandson Jaimal was waiting for their sight at the highest balcony of the Palace. There was something at a distance, a procession. Excited, he called out to his cousin's sister. The Princess came running
with her Sakhi in tow.
" Call Maasa, Lolita, tell her I see a procession."
Sakhi Lolita, still a child of six, ran inside and came back with the Queens.
" But Jaimal, that's a wedding procession" The queens laughed.
" Oh, I did not see properly, Kakisa" Jaimal felt embarrassed at his childishness. He was only twelve, yet he wanted to behave like his father.
" Look, Lado, there goes the groom. One day, your groom will come like this."
" Who is my groom?" The curious princess asked cluelessly.
" I don't know that yet, Lado." Her mother and aunt giggled.
" Please tell me, Maasa, who is my groom?" The princess kept nagging her mother, her aunt, and her brother. Confused, she went to her Sakhi.
" Wait a bit, Princess. I am feeding my Gudda."
"Who is that?" The clueless, curious princess looked at the doll in her hand.
" My Groom", Lolita blushed.
The princess rushed to her mother. " I also want a groom like Lolita." Her mother smiled at her childish banter.
| The Palace at Merta |
Raidas, a Vainavist saint from that time, arrived at the palace with the king. The king, his sons and his daughter - in - laws were busy looking after the spiritual guru. Jaimal and his sister were called by their grandfather to the guest's chambers.
" This is my grandson, Prince Jaimal and my granddaughter, Princess Meera Guruji." Guru Raidas looked at the two children and smiled.
That night, Raidas took his Kanha out and placed him in the ashan. He then went to the palace gardens to look for flowers. Meera sneaked in and saw the idol that looked just like Lolita's Gudda. She took the idol on her lap and started playing with it. When Raidas came back, he was shocked. The princess had no clue who she held and was talking to Kanha like he was her husband. Guru Raidas told her to give the idol back, but she refused. She offered him all her jewellery, toys and everything dear to her in return for the Idol. Seeing the child's eagerness, he gave the Idol to the princess as a gift and told her to take care of him.
The next day, Jaimal and Lolita were busy arranging Meera's wedding to her Gudda Giridhari. No adult paid any heed to this incident, as Meera believed she was getting married. She followed all rituals with the idol of the Lord and took him as her husband. She worshipped him like a wife and talked to him as if he talked back. He was her companion in loneliness. Meera's mother died when she was just nine or ten. After her death, Meera felt even more lonely and drew herself close to Giridhari.
At the age of thirteen, her wedding was arranged with Bhoj Raj, the Prince of Chittor. He was Rana Sanga of Mewar's son and heir to the throne. She did not want this marriage as she believed that she was already married to the Lord. But once she was married, she confided in her husband her belief that she was married to Krishna. He understood and respected her wishes. She did all her duties as the future Queen of Chittorgarh, but her rigidity remained towards her marital relationship, creating all kinds of rumours in the Rani Mahal. Her In-Laws were not happy with her obsession and tried to put her in trouble many times. She refused to worship their family deities, Eklingji, a form of Lord Shiva and Tulaja Bhavani, a manifestation of Parvati, as she was a Vaishnavist. This led to her sister-in-law, Padmavati and brother-in-law, Vikramaditya, creating many hurdles for her. Meera found solace in writing poetry. She wrote down her pain and dilemma in poems that she sang to her Lord. It was at this time that Guru Raidas gave her a Tarang to sing bhajans to the lord. Meera composed many beautiful Bhajans locked in her room at Chittorgarh Fort.
 |
| Meera Temple, Chittorgarh |
Her husband died in a battle, merely six years after the marriage. Meera lost her biggest ally and friend, yet she refused to dress like a widow and follow the rituals because she claimed she was still married to Krishna. Rana Sanga pitied her condition and allowed her to wear saffron robes instead of white. He even built a separate temple to place her Lord there. Rana Sanga died soon after, leaving Meera helpless. Soon, Vikramaditya was on the throne of Mewar, helped by his mother Karnawati. His eyes fell on Meera, and he made indecent proposals to her. Unable to bear the humiliation, Meera lamented to the Lord. Fearing that upsetting or disrespecting Meera would work against Vikram's popularity, Rani Karvawati asked Meera to leave the premises. With the help of Lalita, she escaped from the palace. Before leaving, she gave her Lord's Idol to her mother-in-law to worship. She travelled to her paternal house at Merta, hoping to be accepted back. Reaching there, she found that her brother and protector, Jaimal, had been killed in a war by the Mughals. After staying a few days there, she set out on a pilgrimage to Mathura, Brindavan, and Dwarka with Lolita. She travelled all over North India dancing in Bhakti trance with villagers and singing beautiful Bhajans. Everywhere she went, one could find a Meera Bai Temple in the places she stayed.
It was when she was in Dwarka that Vikramaditya was killed by Banbir, and after a long gap, his brother Rana Uday Singh ascended the throne of Chittor in 1540. He travelled to Dwarka to bring Meera back to Chittor and restore her respected position as Rajmata. But Meera was beyond worldly luxury. She wanted to stay near her lord.
On the 2nd of March, 1542 (according to the Mewar Royal sources), she was singing at the Dwarka Krishna temple, dancing with joy for her lord alone at midnight, when suddenly she called out, " Oh, you are calling me Lord, calling me to you? I am coming!" She went into the temple sanctum. The next morning, onlookers found just her saree wrapped around the Idol. Shocked, the devotees knew this saint was no ordinary woman. She used to call herself the reincarnation of one of the Lord's Gopis. Lalita, who had been with Meera forever, could not bear the pain of separation and jumped into the Arabian Sea, saying, " Where there is Meera, there is Lalita"
This Rajput Princess was the first and last of her kind. She left her friends at the mere age of six and started worshipping Krishna. She saw the Idol like a human and had no idea of who he was, yet her love and Bhakti were immense. She left the luxuries of the palace and fought with the world for her unorthodox ways of love and worship. She was a pillar of the Bhakti movements. She proved how far a woman can go for love. Radha was Krishna's love; He was Meera's. Her poetry is still of high literary importance and gives small details of her life and hardship. Yet in the Palaces of both her paternal and her husband's places, she is not mentioned. Temples built for her worship, however, are found across Rajasthan. She defied the norms of what society dictated to women and widows, sang and danced in public and preached that calling god required no need to please Brahmins; Bhakti was reformed in her words. She was indeed a woman who changed history.
