The Palace at Merta
| Merta |
The palace at Merta was alive with festive preparations. Rao Dudha, the fourth son of Jodha Rao, the founder of Jodhpur, was returning from war with his sons. His grandson, young Jaimal, stood impatiently at the highest balcony, his eyes searching the distance for the approaching royal procession. When he spotted something far off on the road, his excitement burst forth.
“Call Maasa, Lolita! Tell her I see a procession!”
His cousin-sister, the little princess, came running with her Sakhi, Lolita, at her heels. Lolita, just six years old, darted off to summon the queens. Moments later, the ladies arrived, their laughter echoing through the stone corridors.
“But Jaimal,” one of them teased, “that is a wedding procession!”
Embarrassed by his mistake, the twelve-year-old straightened proudly. “I did not see properly, Kakisa,” he mumbled, trying to sound grown-up.
“Look, Lado,” said her mother fondly to the princess, “there goes the groom. One day, your groom will also come like this.”
“Who is my groom?” asked the curious little princess, her eyes wide with wonder.
“I don’t know that yet, Lado,” her mother answered, laughing with her sister. But the princess was not satisfied. “Please tell me, Maasa, who is my groom?” she insisted, following her elders and brother with endless questions. Confused and curious, she finally turned to her Sakhi.
“Wait a bit, Princess,” Lolita said, busily feeding her doll.
“Who is that?” the princess asked in puzzlement, pointing at the toy.
“My groom,” replied Lolita, blushing shyly.
The princess rushed back to her mother, exclaiming earnestly, “I also want a groom like Lolita.” Her mother only smiled, amused by her innocent chatter.
Around that time, Raidas, a saint and spiritual reformer of the Vaishnavite tradition, arrived at the Merta palace as the revered guest of Rao Dudha. The ruler, his sons, and his daughters-in-law busied themselves with attending to the holy man. When the king called Jaimal and his sister to meet their guest, he introduced them with pride.
“This is my grandson, Prince Jaimal, and my granddaughter, Princess Meera, Guruji.” Guru Raidas looked upon the two children kindly and smiled in blessing.
That same night, Raidas placed his idol of Kanha (Krishna) upon his ashan and went to the palace gardens to gather flowers. Princess Meera, curious and mischievous, slipped quietly into his chamber. Her eyes fell upon the idol, which looked to her just like Lolita’s Gudda, the toy groom. She lifted the idol gently, placed it on her lap, and began speaking to it tenderly. When Raidas returned, he was startled. The little girl spoke to the image as though it were her husband.
When he asked her to return the idol, she refused. In her childlike innocence, she offered everything she had...her jewellery, her toys, all her treasures, everything in exchange for the little figure. Touched by her devotion and sincerity, the saint gifted the idol to her, saying softly, “Take him, child. Care for him well.”
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Meera’s Spiritual Union
The next day, Jaimal and Lolita busied themselves with preparations for what they called Meera’s wedding to her Gudda Giridhari. None of the adults took the matter seriously, but Meera, radiant with belief, performed every ritual with profound devotion. She placed her Lord on the altar, offered flowers and light, and prayed with folded hands. In her heart, she was already wedded to Krishna.
When her mother died a few years later, Meera was no more than nine or ten. Loneliness engulfed her tender heart, and she clung even closer to her Giridhari, worshipping him as her eternal companion. She spoke to him the way she would confide in her mother, and her devotion towards the one she called her husband grew in her loneliness and will to be understood.
At the age of thirteen, her marriage was arranged with Kunwar Bhoj Raj, heir to the throne of Chittor and son of the illustrious Rana Sanga of Mewar. Meera resisted the marriage, insisting that she was already bound to her divine lord. Nobody paid heed to her childish banter. The royal women thought of it as a woman's resistance and fear of a new life. Yet, once the ceremony was complete, she revealed her faith to her husband, who listened with surprising understanding. Bhoj Raj respected her spiritual bond with Krishna, though her unorthodox devotion soon became the talk of the royal household. He was merely six years older than Meera, at the threshold of popularity among his subjects and the royals, a future ruler of the throne of Mewar. Yet, in Meera's own words, hidden in her devotional songs to her Lord, she praises the earthly bond she formed with Kunwar Bhoj Raj, who was ready to defy his people and kin for her faith. She calls him her only friend in the palace of Chittorgarh.
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| Meera Temple, Chittorgarh |
Meera fulfilled her duties as the future queen with grace, yet remained distant from the worldly bond of marriage. Her disregard for royal customs and her unwavering focus on Krishna stirred suspicion inside the Rani Mahal. Her in-laws, uneasy with her disregard for tradition, often conspired to disgrace or harm her. As a staunch Vaishnavite, she refused to worship their family deities: Eklingji, a form of Lord Shiva, and Tulaja Bhavani, an aspect of Parvati. Her sister-in-law, Padmavati, and brother-in-law, Vikramaditya, created numerous obstacles for her.
Solace came only through her poetry. Meera began composing verses that reflected her anguish, devotion, and longing. Guided again by Guru Raidas, who gifted her a tarang to accompany her songs, she wrote bhajans in solitude within the walls of Chittorgarh Fort.
Exile and Devotion
Tragedy struck when Kunwar Bhoj Raj was killed in battle, only six years after their wedding. Meera’s sorrow was immeasurable, but she steadfastly refused to live as a widow. “How can I be a widow,” she declared, “when my husband, Krishna, is eternal?”
Impressed by her strength and perhaps taking pity on the teen widow of his childless heir, whom he had loved deeply, Rana Sanga permitted her to wear saffron robes, symbolic of renunciation, instead of a widow’s white. He even built a small temple for her beloved deity within the palace temple premises. But after his sudden death, the kingdom passed to the hands of his young son Vikramaditya, the new ruler of Mewar, who, driven by lust and arrogance, made indecent advances toward Meera.
Horrified, she prayed fervently to Lord Krishna for an escape. When news of Vikramaditya’s behaviour threatened to harm his reputation, Raj Mata Karnawati, the beloved favourite queen of Rana Sanga, intervened. She advised Meera to leave Chittorgarh quietly with her loyal Sakhi, Lolita. Before her departure, Meera entrusted the idol of Krishna to her mother-in-law for daily worship, for she was unsure about her whereabouts once she left home. In Chittorgarh, even today, people believe that the luck of Chittorgarh departed from the state with Meera and her humiliation.
Back in Merta, she hoped to find a permanent home, but her beloved brother and protector, Jaimal, had been slain in battle against the Mughals. Overcome with grief, knowing her stay there could not last longer than that of a guest, Meera soon set out on a pilgrimage to Mathura, Vrindavan, and Dwarka, accompanied by Lolita.
Wherever she went, her voice resounded through temples and village squares. She sang of her divine Beloved, losing herself in Bhakti, her body swaying in trance. People flocked to see her, and temples arose in her honour across northern India, especially in the towns where she stayed and sang. She preached that love for the divine did not need ritualistic prayers but a pure heart full of devotion. Such preaching prompted her to gain a crowd of followers who, in the spirit of the ongoing Bhakti Movement and in response to the atrocities of Brahmins, were ready to renounce the services of Brahmins for rituals in their homes. Like Meera, many sang praises to the Lord, often using their songs for devotion. Her popularity soon became a problem for many orthodox Brahmins who did not approve of her human approach to god and the discarding of age-old traditions.
The conflict with Brahmins became so great that the rumours spread in her name so unholy that she decided to leave Mathura for her last destination, Dwarka. Till today, a Meera Bai Temple stands in the courtyard of the house that once sheltered her in the city of her Lord. The courtyard, even today, is filled with the song and dance of Meera's Bhajans.
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Liberation in Dwarka
Years later, news reached Dwarka that Vikramaditya had been killed by Banbir, and his brother, Rana Udai Singh, now ruled Chittor. In 1540, after winning back his capital, Udai Singh journeyed to Dwarka seeking to bring Meera home, hoping to restore her to royal honour as Rajmata in Mewar. His mother, Rani Karnawati, had committed Jauhar in 1535, and he wanted to honour his sister-in-law and the rightful queen with the status of queen mother. Meera, however, had long transcended worldly ties. She wished only to remain near her Lord. But Udai's persuasions were getting tougher to refuse day by day. Udai Singh continued to come back to Dwarka with the proposal of Meera's return to Mewar.
According to the royal chronicles of Mewar, on the night of March 2nd, 1542, Meera was singing in the temple of Dwarkadhish. Drunk in divine ecstasy, she danced before her Lord under the moonlit sky. Suddenly, she paused, her eyes turning toward the idol.
“Oh, you are calling me, my Lord? I am coming,” she whispered.
She walked into the inner sanctum. When devotees entered at dawn, they found only her saree draped around the idol. Meera had become one with her divine beloved. Lolita, her faithful companion, unable to endure the separation, leapt into the Arabian Sea, crying, “Where there is Meera, there is Lolita.”
Conspiracy theories reigned over her sudden disappearance. While some theories pointed fingers at the orthodox upper classes who were intimidated by her return and influence over Chittorgarh, others blamed the Brahmins of Dwarka for her disappearance. Many speculated about seeing her in other places and inferred that she was fearful for her life and escaped the worldly ties once and for all. Her body was never found, and the truth of her disappearance remained engulfed in the veil of faith and devotion.
The Legacy of a Saint
This Rajput princess defied every boundary of her age. At six, she began her worship; at thirteen, she chose a divine husband; and at twenty, she renounced palace life for the path of Bhakti. She loved Krishna with a purity and intensity that transcended all social order.
Her poetry, still revered across India, offers glimpses into her struggles, faith, and spiritual fervour. Though her name was absent from royal records in both her paternal home and her husband’s kingdom for the longest time, thousands of temples stand in her honour throughout Rajasthan and beyond.
Meera Bai redefined the meaning of devotion. She rejected the authority of priests, denied the superiority of caste, and taught that divine love needs no mediator. Her songs stirred the Bhakti movement, her life defied patriarchy, and her spirit became the symbol of a woman’s unshakeable faith. She was an epitome of rebellion, a bright light paving the way for women to break the shackles of society and question the worldly ways.
Radha was Krishna’s love; Krishna was Meera’s. She remains, forever, the rebel saint who transformed history.
