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twine a garland of pearls round thy neck, girdle thee with a jewelled zone, tie on thy golden armlets and anklets, light incense to gratify thy nostrils, make thee offerings of sweet basil, present thee with sacred food to satisfy thy hunger, and prostrate herself in adoration before thee ? My father-in-law hath already abandoned thy worship in his dis pleasure with me, others too will reproach thee with my death and cease to do thee homage. But after all why should I be anxious ? Thou thyself knowest the past, the present, and the future. Thou hast ever preserved thy saints from poison, fire, and sword, so why should I be anxious now ? '
On this Mira Bai put the cup of poison on her head in token of submission, and then cheerfully drank it. On that occasion she composed the follow ing verses :—
Radha1 and Krishan dwell in my heart.
Some say that Mira is insane, others that she hath dis graced her family.
Opening her veil and baring her breast, she danceth with delight before her god.
In the bowers of Bindraban, Krishan with the tilak on his forehead gladdeneth my heart.
The Rana sent a cup of poison and Mira drank it with delight.
Mira's lord is the all-wise Girdhar ; she is bound to his service.
The Rana waited to hear of Mira's death, but her life was miraculously preserved, and her cheeks gradually assumed a higher bloom. She devoted herself to the further decoration and ornamentation of the image, and decked it out in fashions ever new. She sang the praises of her god and filled
her heart with delight and immortal love. She also composed the following on this occasion : —
I knew the Rana had given me poison. God who caused my boat to float across, separated the milk and water for me.1
Until gold is annealed, it is not perfectly pure.
0 king, keep thine own family in seclusion ; I am the wife of another.2
1 sacrifice my mind and body to the saint even though he be a pariah ; I have sold myself to god.
Mira for the sake of worshipping the lord Girdhar is entangled in the feet of holy men.
When the Rana found that the poison had pro duced no effect, he appointed tipstaffs to watch Mira Bai, and report when she again conferred with faqirs, so that she might be put to death when detected in the act. She was in the habit of laughing and holding playful converse with the idol. One day a tipstaff went and said to the king, 'At this very moment Mira Bai is holding conversation and laughing with some one/ The king took up his sword, and called out to her to open the folding doors. He asked her where the person was with whom she had been holding such pleasant discourse. She replied, ' There he is before thee, mine idol, mine adored. Open thine eyes and look. He is neither afraid nor ashamed of thee.'
Nabhaji states that Mira Bai and the idol had been playing at Indian draughts, and at the time of the Rana's entrance the idol actually extended its arm to move a piece. The Rana on witnessing the miracle became ashamed. There was, however, no real impression made on his obdurate heart.3
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Once when Mira Bai was ill she composed the following : —
Krishan with the large eyes looked at me, and smiled
As I was going to draw water from the Jamna and the vessel glittered on my head.
Since then the delightful image of the dark and beautiful one hath dwelt in my heart.
You may write and bring me incantations, you may write and bring me spells, grind medicine and give it me, that will not cure me.
If any one bring me Krishan as my physician I will gladly arise.
His eye-brows are bows, his eyes the arrows which he fitted thereto, and dischargeth to pierce me.
Mira's lord is the wise Girdhar ; how can I abide at home ?
A dissolute and abandoned person tried to tempt Mira Bai's virtue. He told her that he was armed with Girdhar Lai's permission to give her such pleasure as she could only obtain from man's em braces. She replied that she humbly submitted to Girdhar Lai's order, but that they must first dine. She meantime had a couch placed and dressed in the enclosure where saints were assembled. She there addressed her would-be paramour : ' Thou needest not be ashamed or afraid of any one, as the order of Girdhar Lai is on every account proper.' The man replied, * Does any one do such things before others ? ' She said she knew of no secret place, for Krishan was everywhere present. ' He seeth the good and bad acts of all and rewardeth men according to their deserts.' On hearing this the ruffian turned pale, and vice gave place to virtue in his heart. He fell at her feet and with clasped hands asked her mercy and divine intercession. Mira Bai felt compassion and brought him, in the words of the chronicler, face to face with God.
Tulsi Das, according to all received accounts, lived nearly a century after Mira Bai, but some
poets have made them contemporaries. The fol lowing letter to Tulsi Das is attributed by Raja Raghuraj Sinh to Mira Bai : —
To the holy lord Tulsi Das, the virtuous, the remover of sin, greeting —
I ever bow to thee, dispel all my sorrow.
All my husband's relations give me continual annoyance.
They cause me to endure great suffering when I associate with saints, and perform my worship.
Since childhood Mira hath contracted love for Girdhar Lai :
She cannot now free herself from it in any way ; it com pletely overpowereth her.
Thou art to me a father and mother ; thou conferrest happiness on God's saints.
Write and inform me what it is proper for me to do.
Tulsi Das's reply : —
They who love not Ram and Sita
Should be abandoned as if they were millions of enemies, however much we love them.
Prahlad abandoned his father, Bibhishan his brother Rawan, and Bharat his mother,
Bali his guru, the women of Brij their husbands, and their lives were all happier for having done so.
The opinion of all holy saints is that relations with and love of God are alone true.
Of what avail is the eye-salve which causeth the eyes to burst ; what more can I say ?
Saith Tulsi Das, that spouse is worshipful, that son is dearer than life,
Who is attached to Ram ; he is my real friend in this world.
As Mira Bai has been made a contemporary of Tulsi Das, so also she has been made a contemporary of the Emperor Akbar. It is said that having heard of the virtues and beauty of Mira Bai, he went with his minstrel, Tansen, both disguised as
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hermits, to visit her. The following lines in attesta tion of this circumstance are attributed to Mira Bai :—
O mother, I recognize Krishan as my spouse. Akbar came to test me and brought Tansen with him : He heard singing, music, and pious discourse ; he bowed to the ground again and again.
Mira's lord, the all-wise Girdhar, made me his protegee.
It is said that, on observing her devotion, Akbar was very pleased with the good fortune which enabled him to behold her. He made her a present of a jewelled necklace which she accepted with some misgivings, as it appeared too valuable an article for an ascetic to possess. The emperor was equal to the occasion, and said that he had found it while performing his devotional ablutions in the river Jamna, and thought it would be a suitable present to make her god. Tansen, it is said, com posed an ode in her honour, and he and his royal master then returned to their capital. The neck lace was too valuable not to provoke remarks un favourable to its recipient. The Rana submitted it to assayers who valued it at a fabulous sum of money. On inquiry it was found to be the same that a jeweller had sold not long previously for a large price to the emperor. Further inquiry led to the identity of the two strolling hermits with Akbar and his favourite minstrel. Mira Bai's fate was now sealed. Her husband suspected that she had been polluted by the emperor. For this there was but one penalty in that age — she must die. Mira Bai's father-in-law sent her a cobra in a box, so that when she opened it the reptile might sting her to death. She was told it was a salagram. Before opening the box she addressed it as follows : —
0 salagram in the box, why speakest thou not ?
1 speak to thee, but thou repliest not ; why art thou silent ?
This ocean of the world is very immense ; take mine arm and extricate me.
Mira's lord, wise Girdhar, thou alone art my helper.
On opening the box Mira composed the following: —
What shall the Rana do to me ? Mira hath cast off the restraints of her line.
The Rana once sent a cup of poison to kill Mira ;
Mira drank it with delight, loving it as if it were water blessed by her lord.1
The Rana hath now sent a box containing a cobra ;
But when I opened it and looked, the cobra became a salagram.
There was a sound of rejoicing in the company of the saints ; Krishan had mercy on me.
I decorated myself, attached bells to my feet, and, keeping time with both my hands,
Danced before the idol, and sang the praises of Krishan.
The holy are mine and I am theirs ; the holy are my life.
Mira is absorbed in the holy as butter is in milk before churning.
Rana Sanga, Mira's father-in-law, was still ob durate and determined that she should die by the sword, but no one could be found to act as exe cutioner. She was then ordered to kill herself in whatever way she thought fit. By this time she was a widow, her husband having predeceased his father, and her person was at her own disposal. Promising that she would obey the Rana's com mand she retired to her solitary apartment, during the night put on the dress of a mendicant, and left the palace. She plunged in the nearest river to die in obedience to the order she had received. It is said that she was miraculously preserved by an angel who brought her to shore and addressed her : ' O queen, thou hast obeyed thy father-in-law and art worthy of all praise for thy devotion, but thou
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hast a higher duty still to perform. It is thine to set a high example to the world, and show unto men how to fulfil the designs of the Creator and become absorbed in Him.' When she recovered she found herself alone on the river's bank with the current flowing at her feet. She stood up in amaze ment, not knowing for the moment what to do. She met some cowherds, of whom she inquired the way to Bindraban. They presented her with milk, and directed her whither to proceed. She walked on singing her hymns, the object of blessings and attentions in the villages through which she passed. On her arrival in Bindraban she desired to see Jiv Gosain. To her disappointment he sent her word that he would allow no woman into his presence.1 She replied, ' I thought everybody in Bindraban a woman, and only Girdhar Lai a man.2 I learn to-day that there are other partners than Krishan in Bindraban.' By this she scoffingly meant that the Gosain placed himself on an equality with Krishan as god of Bindraban. The Gosain, on hearing her rebuke, went barefooted to do her homage, and beholding her became filled with the love of God.3
Quid foeminis
Commune est cum monachis ? Nee te nee ullam aliam Admittemus in insulam.
A a
Mira Bai with loving devotion traversed every grove and pathway of Bindraban, and having fixed the sweet image of Krishan in her heart returned to her late husband's home. On finding her father- in-law still obdurate, she went on a pilgrimage to Dwaraka, where Krishan reigned after leaving Mathura. There again she became entranced with the pleasure of adorning and enhancing the beauty of her favourite god.
During her absence from Chitaur, the capital of Mewar, the visits of holy men to that capital ceased. Dissensions arose in the state. It was only then that the Rana realized what a holy person he had lost. He sent several Brahmans and instructed them to use every entreaty to Mira Bai to induce her to return, and finally to tell her that it was impossible for him to live unless she complied with his prayer. The Brahmans executed his orders, but Mira Bai refused to put herself again in the Rana's power. Upon this the Brahmans sat at her door and declared their intention of neither eating nor drinking till she had returned with them. She replied that she lived in Dwaraka only by the favour of Krishan. She would go and take leave of him and return to the Brahmans. She went to do homage to Ran- chhor,1 the visible representation of that god, became absorbed in his love, and what she had she gave — a humble offering of verses at his shrine :-
O god, remove thy servant's sufferings ;
Thou didst supply Draupadi with endless robes and save her modesty ;
For the sake of thy saint Prahlad thou didst assume the body of a man-lion ;
Thou didst kill Hiranyakashapu, who had not the courage to oppose thee ;
on the treatise of Rupa, and dwelt at length on the various phases of devotional exaltation.
^Krishan received the name Ranchhor when he fled from Raja Jarasandh to Dwaraka.
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Thou didst kill the crocodile and extricate the drowning elephant from the water.
0 beloved Girdhar, Mira is thy slave ; her enemies every where annoy her.
Take me, my friend, take me to thy care as thou knowest best .
1 have none but thee ; do thou show mercy unto me.
I have no appetite by day and no sleep by night ; my body pineth away.
Lord of Mira, all-wise Girdhar, come to me now ; I cannot live in thine absence.
It is said that Ranchhor, on beholding her supreme love, could resist no longer. He incorporated her in himself, and she became lost to human gaze. The Brahmans searched for her in vain. The only trace of her they could obtain was her sarhi, which was found enveloping the body of the idol. The Brahmans' faith in Krishan was confirmed, but their mission otherwise was unsuccessful, and they re turned sore disappointed to the Rana. The latter soon experienced the further mortification of be holding his state conquered and plundered, it is said, by the victorious army of Akbar as a retribution for the ill-treatment of Mira Bai.
The following is one of the hymns whose passionate devotion is said to have produced the result of Mira Bai's union with Ranchhor :-
With thy shell, discus, mace, and lotus dispel the fear of death. All places of pilgrimage ever abide in the Gomti for me. The clash of thy shell and cymbals is to me ever the essence of pleasure.
1 have abandoned my country, my queenly robes, my husband's palace, my property, and my kingdom.
Mira, thy slave, cometh to thee for refuge ; her honour is now totally in thy keeping.1
Aa2
It is said that in commemoration of the mira culous disappearance of Mira Bai, her image is still worshipped at Udaipur in conjunction with that of Ranchhor, the beloved Girdhar of her childhood.
The following is Mira Bai's hymn in Bhai Banno's Granth Sahib.
MARU
God l hath entwined my soul, O mother,
With His attributes,2 and I have sung of them.
The sharp arrow of His love hath pierced my body through and through, O mother.
When it struck me I knew it not ; now it cannot be en dured, O mother.
Though I use charms, incantations, and drugs, the pain will not depart.
Is there any one who will treat me ? Intense is the agony, O mother.
Thou, O God, art near ; Thou are not distant ; come quickly to meet me.
Saith Mira, the Lord, the mountain-wielder,3 who is com passionate, hath quenched the fire of my body, O mother.
The Lotus-eyed hath entwined my soul with the twine of His attributes.