NUMBER 50-51-52 (January-June 1989)

Nam Rahega kam sonSuno sayane loye Mira sut jayo nahinShishya na mudo koye

“One’s name will live on through one’swork, consider this if you are wise; Miradid not give birth to a son nor did shehave any disciples.”

(popular saying)

THE culture of north India valueswomen mainly as mothers of sons. Yet ithonours and reveres Mira, a childless

woman (widowed or separated) who isidentified in the popular imagination ashaving rebelled against husband and in-laws. In the country as a whole, she is thebest known of all women poets. Versionsof her songs are sung in Gujarati, Hindiand its dialects, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Bengali,Oriya. Some are incorporated into the GuruGranth Saheb. Her songs have been somuch a part of living oral traditions that itis not possible to establish definitively theauthenticity of all the songs attributed toher. Many of the more popular songsappear in different forms.1 Mira’s work isalso part of written literary tradition. She

is placed amongst the half dozen greatestbhakta poets in what has today come tobe called Hindi.

The figure of Mira, constructed inpopular imagination through legend andthe supporting interpretation of hersongs, has accumulated many meaningsover time. She is seen as a saint, as a mystic,as a fervent devotee of Krishna, as ananguished virahini, as one who gave upthe world for god, and also as a rebel.Many of the bhakta poets are perceivedas rebels against injustice of various kindsperpetrated by the established order, butMira is perhaps the only one in the Hindi

Poisonto

Nectar

The Life and Work of Mirabai

by Madhu Kishwar and Ruth Vanita

Mirabai in a group of bhaktas

76 MANUSHI

I saw the dard clouds and I wept,Shyam, I saw the dark clouds andwept

The black clouds and the yellowgathered, and they rained for a very long time.

Wherever I looked, there was water;the thirsty earth was green.

My lover lives in a foreign country,I”ve gotten drenched in my door-way standing and waiting for him.

Mira’s Lord Hari is the imperishableone; he proved his love for me.

(82, trans, Zide and Pande)

Friend, the arrow of his glance struckmy eyes;

Its point pierced my heart (and) hisswet image entered my soul.

For a long time I have been staying(here) watching the road, standingat my house.

My life clings to (my) dark beloved,(he is) a life-giving herb.

Mira says I am sold into the hands ofGiridhar, but people say I amloose.(14, trans, Zide and Pandey)Mira is dyed Hari’s* colour, other

colours did not take.My bangles are the tilak androsary,

chastity and austerity my ornamentsI don’t want other ornaments. This is

The wisdom of my guruSome may blame me, some may

praise me; (but) I will sing thepraise of Govind.

The path that the saintly have taken,I will take.

I neither steal nor harm anyone; whatcan anyone do to me?

having ridden an elephant, how canI ride a donkey? Such a thingcan’t be.

(25, trans. Zide and Pandey)*a play on the word which means “Vishnu” and also“green”

NUMBER 50-51-52 (January-June 1989)

region whose rebellion is against injusticewithin the family and kinship group,injustice done her because she was awoman. This dimension is present in thelife, legends and compositions of somewomen bhakta poets in other languages,but is perhaps most clearly and forcefullyarticulated by Mirabai.

Part of the forcefulness emanates fromthe fact that Mira belonged to the Rajputaristocracy of Rajasthan. Rajputstraditionally prided themselves on thevalour of their men and the fiercelyguarded sexual virtue of their women- bothessential components of the izzat orhonour held so dear in their martialtraditions. Their norms of segregation,seclusion of women, sanctions againstremarriage and widow marriage, were allJinked to control and valorization ofwomen’s sexual virtue. The practice by thisgroup of sati and of jauhar (collective satiperformed by Rajput women when thedefeat and death of the men at the handsof enemy forces seemed inevitable) areglorified in Rajput tradition as anexpression of the courage of their women-a courage thus articulated primarily indefence of their sexual virtue, thesupposed repository of communityhonour.

Some groups of Rajputs wereprominent amongst the groups thatpractised female infanticide in thenineteenth century, and boasted that theynever had to bow their heads before a son-in-law and his family. Being the dominantcommunity in Rajasthan, Rajput normsstrongly influenced Rajasthani culture asa whole. Even today, the effects of thedevaluation of women’s lives are evidentin the low sex ratio (proportion of womento men), low literacy, education andemployment rates for women, and greaterseclusion and segregation in most partsof Rajasthan as compared to many otherparts of the country.

It is in this context that Mira’s rebellionacquires its dramatic quality. She standsout as a lone and extraordinary figure, theexception that proves the rule. She doesnot seem to emerge from any knowntradition of women’s rebellion of this or of

any other kind in her community, nor, afterher, did any such tradition develop.Rajasthani Rajputs and Rajasthan ingeneral did not, even in the nineteenthcentury, throw up a social reformmovement around women’s issues, eventhough at this time such movementsemerged in many other communities andregions.

How then, do we explain, or rather,understand, a Mira? What does heremergence, her cultural survival and hersubsequent popularity signify? Let us lookat the little that is known and the more thatis believed concerning her life.

Life and Legend

The dates of Mira’s lifespan areuncertain and much disputed. Accordingto one account to which we will generallyadhere she was born c. 1498 and died c.1546. She is believed to have been thedaughter of Ratnasingh of the MedtiyaRathor clan, and his wife Vir Kunwari.Mira’s paternal great grandfather, Jodhaji,was the founder of Jodhpur. Her paternalgrandfather, Dudaji, had conquered Medtacity and 360 villages around it. He gaveMira’s father, Ratnasingh, 12 villages ofwhich the central village was Kudki. Mirawas born in the small fort at Kudki.

Tradition has it that as a young child,Mira pestered her mother to tell her themeaning of “bridegroom.” Her motherreplied that every girl has a bridegroom.Mira then demanded to know who herbridegroom was. To escape her persistentquestioning, Vir Kunwari pointed to animage of Krishna, saying: “There’s yourbridegroom”, and, ever after, Miraconsidered herself wedded to Krishna. Thesignificant point is that Mira’s natal familywere Vaishnavs. Her grandfather, Dudaji,his son Biramdev, (her uncle), andgrandson Jaimal (her cousin) are allmentioned as eminent Vaishnav bhaktasin Bhaktamal, a versified anthology of thelives of bhaktas, composed by Nabhadas,a bhakta of the low caste Dom community,who lived in the late sixteenth or earlyseventeenth century. Like Andal, Mira thusinherits Vaishnav bhakti as part of a family

legacy.She was married into the royal family

of Sisodia Rajputs of Mewar. The identityof her husband is not established beyonddispute. Traditionally, she was believed tohave been the wife of Maharana Kumbh,but most scholars now agree that herhusband was Bhojraj, eldest son of thefamed warrior, Rana Sanga. Some interpretthe marriage as part of a political alliancebetween the Ranas of Mewar and theRathors of Jodhpur, against the royal familyof Marwar.

According to some accounts, Mira wasaccompanied from her natal to her maritalhome by her maidservant and companionin bhakti, Lalita, who remained with herthroughout her life, acted as heramanuensis, and died with her. Dhruvdas,in his versified account of Mira’s life, saysthat Mira said : “I will take Lalita with me,(wherever I go), I have great love for her.”4

The legend continues that when shewent to her marital home, Mira wasrequired, as a new daughter-in-law, toworship her in-laws’ family deity- thegoddess (devi). The Sisodias wereShaktas, worshippers of Shakti. In theBhaktamal Vartik, 1712, his versifiedcommentary on the Bhaktamal, Priyadasnarrates:

When she reached the house, she touched her mother-in-law’s feet...The mother-in-law arranged a puja of the goddess.The groom worshipped first, and then the bride was to worship.She said: ‘How can one who has been sold into Giridhar’s handsWorship any other? My aspirations are set on him alone.’

The narrative goes on with Mira beingtold: “Worship her whose worship willenhance your suhag”, that is, lengthenyour husband’s life, but still she refuses.The mother-in-law then tells Mira’shusband that “This bride is of no use. ...get rid of her, she has insulted me. Whywait for further evidence?” and “Rana wasangry when he heard this.”5

Thus, Mira’s bhakti first became

78 MANUSHI

conflict ridden in the context of herresistance to her husband’s family’sattempt to mould her, as the new daughter-in-law, according to their requirements. Oneof Mira’s songs is highly suggestive ofher reaction to this attempt by her in-laws:

Today I am in the company of good people, Rana, how fortunate I am.Those who mingle with good people are dyed four times overDo not associate with the Shaktas- your devotion will be disturbed.Sixty eight holy places, crores of Kashis and Gangas are at the feet sants.Whoever slanders them will go to hell; will become blind and crippled. Mira’s god is the lifter of mountains; I am clad in the dust of the sants’feet.

Modern Hindi scholars have been atgreat pains to argue that Mira “livedhappily with her husband” until his death,and then turned to intense Krishnabhakti as a sort of compensation: “Assoon as she was separated from herpatidev (husband as god) she suddenlyshattered all worldly ties, averted herattention from all else, and became evenmore immersed in her chosen deity.”6

7

8

Vishwanath Tripathi indignantlyrepudiates the idea that her rebellion mayhave been directed against her husband,saying: “She was not a light minded orpsychologically abnormal woman.”Chaturvedi too condemns the traditionalidea of Mira as a rebel against her husband:“... The blot of being a rebel against herhusband has been [wrongly] placed onher pure character.”

However, accepted tradition is atvariance with this view. Nagaridas, abhakta of the Vallabh Sampradaya’ whoalso happened to belong to the sameRathor clan as did Mira in his versescomposed c.1743, says that Mira wasoffered poison because she preferred thecompany of other devotees to physicalcontact with her husband. Legend has itthat Mira remained a virgin after hermarriage. Considering herself wedded toKrishna, she refused to consummate the

marriage. In two of her songs shedescribes herself as virgin through life afterlife” (Nos. 51, 77). This, however, couldbe meant as a metaphorical rather than aliteral description.

Traditionally, the “Rana” addressed inMira’s songs has been interpreted as herhusband. Later bhaktas who narrated herlife in their versified anthologies ofbhaktas’ lives established thisinterpretation and referred to her husbandas “Rana.” Recent scholarship, however,tends to identify the “Rana” addressed inher songs with her husband’s brotherVikramjit Singh who succeeded to the titleof “Maharana” after the death of Mira’sfather-in-law and husband. By thisaccount, the conflict escalated only afterMira became a widow.

In earlier accounts Mira is nowherereferred to as a widow, but is oftendescribed as a married woman refusing thepleasures and restrictions of married life.Nor in her songs does she ever refer toherself as a widow. She describes herselfas refusing silks and jewels, of which awidow would have been deprived.

Whatever the historical facts may be,it is significant that the Rana addressed inMira’s songs is not explicitly identified byher in terms of the familial relation he bearsto her, nor is he even named. He is referredto only by his title as a chieftain. Hismost important function in her songs isthat of a figure of authority. His powerextends over the family as well as thecommunity and the larger society. Thewomen described as hostile to her areidentified in familial terms (mother-in-law,sister-in-law), but the hostile male figureis clearly more powerful and dangerous.His displeasure has more fearfulconsequences- he attempts to kill her andalso persecutes the other devotees. Thelarger significance with which the Rana isinvested by the lack of explicitidentification leaves his figure open tomore diverse interpretation. This in partexplains how this figure lends itself to thetraditional interpretation as her husband.

The major source of conflict, as itemerges in Mira’s songs, and in legends,is her insistence on active association with

the community of bhaktas. A secludeddevotion to Krishna within the women’squarters is unlikely to have provoked suchanimosity from the family (although, asNilima Singh puts it: “A married womanwho did not consider her husband god,but considered god her husband musthave startled them’!).9 The conflict ofnorms became irreconcilable because ofMira’s spending time with like-mindedpeople not of her family, and actually goingso far as to dance and sing in gatheringsof devotees and in public places liketemple- a highly unsuitable practice for aRajput princess, and one that few middleor upper class families would considerrespectable even today.

It must also be remembered that thecommunity of bhaktas was by no meansentirely drawn from the upper castes. Infact, one important feature of bhakti wasits openness to people from all groups andits emphasis on the equality of alldevotees before god, the primacy ofdevotion and love over booklearning, anda consequent leaning in favour of the poorand lowly whose sincere devotion isviewed as more acceptable to god thanthe ritualistic religious observances of thelearned.

Some idea of the social composition ofthe bhakta community can be gleanedfrom Vaishnav chronicles like ChourasiVaishnavon ki Varta and Do SauVaishnavan ki Varta (The accounts of 84Vaishnavs, and The accounts of 200Vaishnavs). Many of the accounts identifybhaktas who were from low, Shudra anduntouchable castes, Muslims, nomads anddisreputable, even criminal groups:

“The story of Yadvendra Das the potter”;“The story of Patho the Gujari”:“The story of Ali Khan, the Pathan”;“The story of a Chuhra”;

*or, I behave differently/uniquely;(mein chalungi chaal anuthi) the wordchaal means both to walk and mode ofconduct as in chaal chalau.

**JiteraIly, the kitehen fire,

NUMBER 50-51-52 (January-June 1989)

Mine is the dark one, who dwells inBraj.

Friends, marriages of this world arefalse, they are wiped out ofexistence.

Wed my indestructible one, whom theserpent, death, cannot devour.

My beloved dwells in the heart, I’veseen the source of all bliss.

Mira’s god, indestructible joygiver,your slavegirl seeks your feet.

(194)

If Sisodiya is angry, what will he doto me?

I will sing the virtues of Govind,friends.

If Rana is angry, he will stay in hisown country (and not harm me).

If Hari is angry, I will wither, friend.I don’t care for worldly position;Fearless, I will beat the drum, friend.I will sound Shayam’s name on the

castanetsI will cross the ocean of life, friend.Strong Giridhar isMira’s refuge;I will cling to his lotus feet, friend.

(35, trans, Zide and Pandey)

Mine is the lifter of mountains, thecowherd, and none other.

O sadhus! there is no other -- I haveseen the whole world.

I left brothers, I left kindred, I leftall I had.

Sitting near the sadhus, I lost worldlyshame.

I looked at the devotees and I was onewith them; I looked at the worldand wept.

With tears I watered love’s creeperand it took root.

I churned the milk, drew out the gheeand threw away the whey.

Rana sent a cup of poison; I drankit and stayed ecstatic.

Mira’s attachment is strong -- whatwas to happen has happened

(18)

I am dyed in the dark one’s hue, Rana,I am dyed in the dark one’s hue

Beating the drum to keep time, Idanced before the sadhus.

People thought me mad with love.crazed for love of the dark one.

Rana sent me a cup of poison, Iswallowed it without a thought.

Mira’s god, the lifter of mountains,remains true life after life.

(37

Early nineteenth century painting of Mira

80 MANUSHI

“The story of a Dokri”;“The story of Kalavat, the washerman”;“The story of a prostitute”;“The story of a thief who was a Vaishnav”;“The story of a weaver’s daughter”;“‘The story of a Pathan’s daughter”;“The story of a prostitute’s daughter”;“The story of an ironsmith”;“The story of Raskhan Pathan”;“A Chuhra who got the better of Pandits.”

For a married woman to establishassociations with people outside her familyand mingle with them on her own is eventoday generally frowned upon. This is soeven when her associates are of her owncaste and class status. Mira’s song quotedabove suggests that the bhaktas werecriticised by many in contemporarysociety. Many of their practices werecertainly unorthodox. Numerous legendsrelating to different bhakias revolvearound their conflicts with establishedreligious authority and practice. Manyrelate to the breaking down of castetaboos. For example, in one legend, Kabirgot into trouble with Pandits because hechose as an act of piety to feed poorShudras instead of Brahmans.

That hostility to the bhaktas tookactive forms too, apart from slander, isindicated in the last line of a Mira songwhich also suggests, through its pointedparadoxes, that those who appear greatand good may be the opposite while thosewho appear base may be more worthy:

Strange are the ways of fate.The deer has large eyes to see yet strays [as if lost] from forest to forest.The crane* is shining white, the cuckoo black in hue,River water flows pure, the sea turns it salt**Fools are enthroned as kings, the learned wander door to door.

O Mira’s god, lifter of mountains! The Rana persecutes the bhaktas.

(190)* In folklore, an image of hypocrisy

particularly religious hypocrisy, as inbagula bhagat, because it stands still,pretends to be lost in meditation, and thensnaps up unwary fish which approach it.

** The smaller (rivers) are purer andmore useful than the large and mighty (thesea), an idea found also in Kabir (Badahua to kya hua ...)

In popular perception, too, Mira’s castestatus features as a point of conflictbetween her and her in-laws. In a folksongrecorded by Padmavati Shabnam, Mira andher sister-in-law, Udo, are depicted asholding a dialogue. Udo says:

Sister-in-law, I’ve tried my best to

dissuade you, but failed; do listen to me.The Rana is angry- do not go amongst strange* sadhus.It is a blot on the family, sister-in-law, we are being severely criticised.Wandering from forest to forest with

sadhus, you have lost your honour.You have been born in a great house yet you dance, clapping your hands..For you to sit amongst the high and the low [making no distinction], sister-in-law, when you are of so superior a caste,And when you have a husband like the Rana [is not right]10

* The word used is par, which carriesthe connotation of a strange man, parayapurush with whom it is improper for awoman to associate.

According to tradition, Mira choseRavidas, also known as Rohidas or Raidas,the Chamar bhakta, as her guru. In a songattributed to her, she says:

...I have found a guru in Raidas, he has given me the pill of knowledge,

...I lost the honour of the royal family, I went astray* with the sadhus,I constantly rise up, go to god’s temple, and dance, snapping my fingers,I don’t follow the norms as an oldest

daughter-in-law, I have thrown away the veil,I have taken refuge with the great guru, and snapped my fingers at the consequences.11

*The word used is bhatki — the sameword used in song 9: “People say I havegone astray.”

The first circle of opposition that Mirahad to break through was that of theimmediate family. This opposition took theform of restricting her movements bylocking her in:

O friend*, I cannot live without the delight giverMother-in-law fight, my sister-in-lawteases,The Rana remains angry.They have a watchman sitting at the door, and a lock fastened on it.Why should I give up my first love, the love of my former life?Mira’s god is the lifter of mountainsNone else pleases me.

(42)

* Whenever the word “friend” is usein translation, the original word is Sakhi,Sajni, Ali or Mai, all terms for a womanfriend.

Paradoxically, Mira resists thisopposition and goes her own way withthe aristocratic self assertion and valoursupposed to be characteristic of Rajputs,even while she is flouting communitynorms, Nabhadas in the Bhaktamal notedthis quality when he described her as“independent and completely fearless.”

The first person subject, coupled with

NUMBER 50-51-52 (January-June 1989)

O heart, touch the feet of HariThe lovely, cool and lotus-soft feet

that take away the flames of theworld.

Prahlad touched these feet, and tookon the rank of Indra.

The feet which made Dhruva steadythe feet that are the help of thehelpless;

The feet that encompassed the universe,and filled the earth fromtop to bottom with splendor;

The feet that mastered (the serpent)Kalia, and played with the milk-

maids;The feet that held up (mount)

Govardhan, and took away Indira’spride.

Mira says I am the slave of Giridhar’she is a ship to cross the limitlesssea (of life).

(I, trans. Zide and Pandey)

Friends, I am completely dyed this(i.e. Krishna’s) colour.

I drank the cup of immortal bliss,and became drunk.

My inebriation never goes away,however many millions (lit. crores)of ways I try (to get rid of it).

Rana sent me a basket with a snakein it, and Mira (lit. the girl ofMerta) put it around her neck.

Smiling, Mira hugged it as if itwere a string a new pearls.

Rana took a cup of poison, “FindMira,” (he said), “and give it toher.”

She drank it like charanamrita,singing the praises of Govinda.

I drank the cup of his names; nothingelse pleases me (now).

Mira says that her Lord is GiridharNagar; all (other or others’)impermanent colours fade.

(40, trans. Zide and Pandey)

Love — do not name it, O innocentone.

Strange is the path of love — set foot

there, your body wastes away.If you desire to love, be ready to give

up your head.*Love — as the moth loves the lamp —

revolve round it, surrender yourbody.

Love — like the deer hearing the horn— come forth, give up your life.

Love — as the chakor loves the moon— consume fiery coals.**

Love — as the fish loves the water— die rather than be parted.

Love — as the bee loves the lotus

— die enclosed within it.Mira says, surrender your being

at Giridhar’s lotus feet.(191)

*lit. make of your head a seat, inter-preted by scholars as “ behead yourselfand make your head your seat”, dowhat is impossible.** The partidge who in legend is soenraptured by the moon that it eats fierycoals, mistaking them for fragments ofthe moon.

“Love — like the deer hearing the horn — come forth, give up your life.”

82 MANUSHI

active verbs, is strongly in evidence in hersongs. Her name occurs not only in thecustomary last line signature, but often asa statement of what she is doing, forexample, in a first line: “Ecstatic, Mira singsgod’s praise.” (41) Phrases like “I will”, “Iwill not”, “I do” “I am”, “I have” and theirvariants are scattered through her songs.She repeatedly emphasises her disregardfor public opinion, that great deterrent tounorthodox actions, especially for women,even today:

Rana, to me your slander is sweet.Some praise me, some blame me. I

go the other way.*On the narrow path, I found god’s people. What should I turn back for?I’m learning wisdom among the wise, and the wicked look at me with malice.Mira’s Lord is Giridhar Nagar.Let the wicked burn in a furnace. * *(33, trans. Zide and Pandey)12

She, at times, expresses a painedsurprise at the hostility of the Rana:

Rana, why are you my enemy?You seem the karil* among trees to me.I left your palace, and your roof; I left your city.I stopped putting on kajal and beauty spots, and put on sash and shawl**Mira’s Lord is Giridhar Nagar.He turned the poison to nectar.(34, trans. Zide and Pandey)

* a thorny tree of the acacia family,associated with graveyards.

**lit., saffron shawl, i.e., ascetic robes.

Slander against a woman’s moralcharacter is a powerful weapon often usedto intimidate women into acceptingrestrictions on their movements andassociations. In Rajput culture, with itsemphasis on women’s sexual virtue, thisweapon was especially potent. Mirarenders it impotent in the only effectiveway- by declaring her refusal to be ruledby this norm: “I have given up the norm offamily honour, what can anyone do tome?”13 By stepping out of family andwomanly maryada (which means both“limit” like a lakshmanrekha, and“honour”) Mira disarms her detractors- thepoison of slander fails to work.

The hostility she faces then takessterner forms. The Rana’s hostility appearsto have taken the form of an attempt to killMira. The incident of his sending her acup of poison, which Krishna turned tonectar when she drank it, is repeatedlyreferred to in her songs. It acquires thepotency of a major symbol of her faith inher god, her triumph over her detractors,and the transmutation of her pain into joy.In one of her most famous songs, herabandon is conveyed in her dancing andher laughing:

Mira danced with ankle-bells on her feet.People said Mira was mad; my mother-in-law said I ruined the family reputation.Rana sent me a cup of poison and Mira drank it laughing.I dedicated my body and soul at the feet of Hari.1 am thirsty for the nectar of the sight of him.Mira’s lord is Giridhar Nagar; I will come for refuge to him.

(36, trans. Zide and Pandey)

In other songs, she refers to furtherevents which seem to either describe orsymbolise attempts to kill or torture her.The Rana sent her a serpent which turnedinto an image of god when she opened thebasket in which it was kept; in anotherversion, she wore the snake as a necklace

and it did not harm her; he sent her a bedof thorns which changed into a bed offlowers when she lay on it. Some scholarsinterpret these incidents as evidence ofMira’s having supporters in the palace,who substituted harmless objects for theharmful ones.

At some point, Mira left the palace andthe city, and, according to tradition,returned to her natal home at Medta. Aftershe left, Bahadurshah attacked andconquered Chittor in 1534 and about13,000 women are said to have committedjauhar. One popular belief is that this wasa visitation of divine wrath on the rulingfamily of Chittor for their maltreatment ofMira. A few years later, Vikramjit Singh

regained control over Chittor.The rulers of Medta too were

beleaguered, and, under attack fromMaldev of Jodhpur, frequently soughtrefuge at Ajmer, Ranthambhor and Malwa.

Mira’s songs suggest that her natalfamily, although Vaishnavs, did notapprove of her way of expressing herdevotion:

“I broke [bonds with] mother, fatherand family, like a straw.” (119)

And, again:

Whatever they say, my mind is fixed.Like gold added to good fortune is my love for the mind delighting one.The mind, sleeping through many births,Woke at the guru’s word.Mother, father, family, clan, broke like a thread.Mira’s god is the lifter of mountains; fortunate am I.14

Her having taken to a wanderer’s liferather than settling at Medta suggeststhat, for some reason, she preferred the

NUMBER 50-51-52 (January-June 1989)

former: “I will stay neither in my parentalhome nor in my mother-in-law’s home.”15

Having dealt with family opposition byleaving the protection of the home, Mirastill had to deal with often disapprovingopinions in the wider society. Shefrequently refers to what “people” and“people of the world” say about her, butdoes not more closely specify who thesepeople are: “The people of the world speakbitter words, and laugh at me.”(45)

But, even in her lifetime, she receivedpraise as well as blame. In more than onesong, she repeats the phrase “some praiseme, some blame me.” And, more strongly:

Because of you, beautiful dark one, all the people laugh.Some say Mira is mad, some say she is a destroyer of family,Some say she has lit a lamp and is immersed in the beloved’s name.16

In general, her attitude to those sheterms “people of the world” is one of loftydisregard. In one song, she criticises theirpriorities and distinguishes her ownaspirations from theirs:

People of this world die of shame [to be seen] invoking Ram’s nameGoing to Hart’s temple, their feet start achingBut they roam around the whole village.They will run to watch a quarrel, abandoning their work at home.They will sit all day to watch jesters, dancers, a harlot’s dance.Mira’s god, lifter of mountains, fix my heart’s desire on your lotus feet.

(157)As distinguished from the people of

the world, Mira opts for the society of otherbhaktas. In song after song, she describesherself as fortunate to have found thecompany of other devotees, privileged tosit with them, join in common devotion andin gathering of wisdom. This communityand its supporters in the wider societywould seem to have provided her analternative way of life.

She refers in some songs to symbolsof poverty such as tasteless vegetablesarid ragged clothing which she prefers tothe luxuries of the life she has given up.The world she has found is posed as thepolar opposite of the world where the Ranarules:

I don’t like your strange world, Rana,A world where there are no holy men, and all the people are trash.I have given up ornaments, given up braiding my hair.I have given up putting on kajal (collyrium), and putting my hair up.Mira’s Lord is Giridhar Nagar; I have found a perfect bridegroom.

(32, trans. Zide and Pandey)

The pleasures she has found in her newworld are imaged as true wealth, as againstthe false wealth of the community she hasleft:

I am connected with the great house* the merit of my former life has borne fruit.I have no use for a lake; why go to

a pond?I have no use for (the) Ganga and (the) Jamna, I will go to the sea.I have no use for associates. I will go (straight) to the chief.I have no use for courtiers. I will go to the court.I have no use for tin and glass; I will (like red-hot iron) withstand (the hammer blows).I have no use for gold and silver; I am a dealer in diamonds.My fortune has awakened, the ocean (the storehouse of jewels) is near.Who would turn down a cup of nectar, to drink bitter water?I am acquainted with pious men, I go away from the wicked.Mira’s Lord is Giridhar Nagar; he will fulfil my desires.

(24, trans. Zide and Pandey)*More often interpreted as “the big

house is locked” (against me).

According to legend, Mira travelledwidely, visiting many temples sacred toKrishna, including the shrine at Dakaur(from where one set of handwrittenmanuscripts of her songs has beenrecovered), Vrindavan, and finally, Dwarka.According to legend, Akbar and Tansentravelled to Dwarka to pay their respects

84 MANUSHI

to her, and she and Tansen sang one ofher bhajans together.

In one song, the temple (Giridhar’shouse) becomes the centre of herexistence, and her survival needs arelooked after in the course of this devotedexistence:

I go to Giridhar’s house.Giridhar is my real lover; I see his beauty and am allured.When night falls I go; and when day breaks I come back.Night and day I play with him; I

please him in every way.[line omitted from translation: What heclothes me in, I wear; what he gives I

with the situation by making it publicinstead of shrinking in silentembarrassment or humiliation:

Spreading a bed in the midst of thesant samaj, she said,

‘Why hesitate now, fearlessly immerseyourself in enjoyment.’

The sadhu then turned white and fellat her feet, asking her to guide him on thepath of devotion.17 This legend links upwith an important aspect of womenbhaktas’ lives. To be a bhakta was, in asense, to be outside conventional normsof behaviour. But a woman bhakta had toalso deal with certain powerful normsspecific to women’s behaviour. Thosewomen bhaktas, for example, who weretravelling on their own had to deal withthe possibility of sexual harassment. Someof them dealt with it in an openlyconfrontational way. Lal Ded andMahadeviakka, by discarding clothing, didwhat some groups of male sadhus do eventoday. It is noteworthy that both of themwere Shiv bhaktas. The practice ofwandering naked had been adopted bysome Shiv bhaktas who were known asavadutas. But because they were women,their action would not only strikeobservers with awe but also indicate thatthey had nothing to be ashamed of, to fearor to lose, with regard to the body. Mira’sspreading a bed in public is a similar wayof striking awe into and silencing thepotential seducer — the normative patternis reversed when not she, but he, isshamed and embarrassed.

According to another legend,recounted in Chaurasi Vaishnavan kiVarta, the Vallabhachari Sampraday, apowerful sect, wished to enrol her as amember. While she was cordial to them,she refused to join them. This angeredthem and they refused to accept herdonations or her hospitality. Even whenher own priest, Ramdas, joined theVallabhacharis, Mira refused to join,whereupon he is said to have abused her,calling her a whore, and left her house,

never to return.Another well known legend (also

found in Priyadas’ narrative) says thatMira went to meet Chaitanya’s disciple,Jiv Goswami, at Vrindavan, but he sent amessage, saying he could not receive her,as he had resolved never to look on awoman’s face — implying that looking ona woman might lure him from the path ofdevotion to god. Mira replied that she hadthought there was only one man inVrindavan, namely, Krishna, and wassurprised to find another man there —implying that the gender differencebetween mortals is irrelevant in bhakti,wherein all souls are in the position of thefemale in relation to god. Chastened bythis rebuke, Goswami came out andrespectfully escorted her in.

As this legend suggests, bhaktiprovided a creative framework, whereinconventional notions of genderedbehaviour tended to be subverted. Mirawas able to find a respected place amongthe bhaktas because of this tendency tosubvert many value systems. Women, likethe lower castes and other despisedgroups, were able to find in bhakti morespace than was available to them inritualistic religion. Even in the morerestrictive culture of north India, thepresence of a number of women bhaktasis recorded in Vaishnav chronicles.Bhaktamal, for instance, gives a list ofwomen bhaktas’ names, in the Hindiregion:

Sita, Jhali, Sumati, Shobha, PrabhutaUma, Bhatiyani,Ganga, Gauri, Kunwari, Ubitha, Gopali,Ganeshde Rani,Kala, Lakha, Kritgarho, Manmati,Shuchi, Satibhama,Yamuna, Koli, Rama, Mriga, DevaDe Bhaktin Vishrama,Jugjeva, Kiki, Kamla, Devaki, Heera,Haricheri...”18

More is known about some otherwomen bhaktas like Sundar Kunwaribai,(born 1734) who also suffered muchhostility in both her natal and marital

eat]He is my old lover, I can’t be without

him for a moment.Where he wants me to sit, I sit; if

he sells me, I will be sold.Mira’s Lord is Giridhar Nagar; I

make myself an offering to himagain and again.

(20, trans. Zide and Pandey)

According to legend, Mira had toencounter different kinds of antagonismfrom amongst bhaktas too, but in eachcase she is supposed to have deftlyhandled the situation and emergedtriumphant. Priyadas in the BhaktamalVartik, 1712, narrates how a sadhudemanded that Mira sleep with him, sayinghe had received instructions to this effectfrom Krishna. Mira is depicted as dealing

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homes; her brother the bhakta Nagaridashad a disciple Banithaniji (died 1765). Someverses by both women are extant;Banithaniji’s are clearly influenced by Mira.Gangabai (bo 1571) who is said to havelived for 198 years, and was a follower oftVallabh Sampraday, also wrote someverses.19

The subverting of many conventionalvalues by bhaktas could be extended toinclude unconventional behaviour bywomen- not only such activity as singingand dancing in temples, which was centralto Mira’s expression of devotion, but alsosuch actions as leaving ONE’S husband.Bhaktamal narrates how Narsi Mehta, thefamous Gujan bhakta, had two daughters— Kunwarsena who left her husband andreturned to her father’s home, andRatansena, who did not marry. These two,along with two low caste women singerswho had become Narsi’s disciples, usedto sing and dance before god. Narsi’s uncle,the Brahman, Salang, was minister at thecourt of the king of Junagadh. Hecomplained to the king of Narsi’s improperbehaviour, and the king summoned Narsiand the court. Absorbed in devotion,Narsi and the four women came dancingand singing into the court assembly. Theassembly was impressed, but the king said:“What kind of behaviour is this? Why doyou keep these young women with you?”Narsi answered: “You have read manybooks but your brains are dust covered,you are far from the fragrance of devotion.Did not Shukdev praise the women ofMathura who left their husbands?”20 Thiskind of daring interpretation of religioussymbolism (the gopis’ love for Krishnabeing interpreted as a model of theacceptability of the separated woman) toencompass and validate the experience ofthe marginalised in a way that put thereligious orthodoxy on the defensive wastypical of the bhaktas’ style of functioning.

It is noteworthy that the bhaktas,though they were criticised and rebukedby the priestly authorities, were notpersecuted as heretics, cut off andoutcasted. A dialogue and creative tensionpersists between the opposed opinions,with bhakti ultimately winning

acknowledgment for its viewpoint andbecoming part of mainstream religiousideology and practice. This fact is crucialto the survival of Mira. Even in the legendsof the bhaktas’ lives, the dialogue neverbreaks down. The Brahmans do not refuseto dispute or debate. The very fact, forinstance, that they are offended by Kabir’sfeeding Shudras instead of them suggeststhat far from despising him utterly, theywish for his recognition. This tension isalso evident in the legendary account ofMira’s end.

Tradition has it that when she wasstaying at the Ranchhorji temple on theseacoast at Dwarka, Gujarat, her natal andmarital families sent a group of Brahmansas emissaries to persuade her to return.When she refused, the Brahmans starteda fast unto death outside the temple toexercise pressure on her. Mira was nowconfronted with a dilemma. If the Brahmansdied, she would have their blood on herhead. It is believed that after composingthe song Hari, tum haro jan ki pir, asking

god to save her from distress, she enteredthe temple and disappeared, having beenabsorbed into the image of Krishna. Thisis interpreted by some scholars as herhaving emerged from the western door ofthe temple which faces the sea and havingleapt into the sea, unseen by anyone.

Woman in BhaktiIn the work of bhakta poets, all that

comes in the way of self realisationthrough devotion, is criticised andcondemned. Most frequently, it is pridewhich obstructs devotion for whichhumility is a precondition. Pride mayoriginate in status, power, wealth, learning,ritualistic piety. All these may lead one toconsider oneself superior to others anddistract one from devotion. However, thepleasure of material enjoyments may alsoact as a distraction, becoming a substitutefor the love of god.

In the work of most male bhaktas,including such famous ones as Kabir andTukaram, woman frequently appears as anobstruction on the path of devotion.

86 MANUSHI

Kanak kamini, gold and woman, bothrepresent false intoxication, as opposedto the true intoxication of devotion. Theyare amongst the strongest lures to temptthe unwary devotee. Love of a humanbeloved is not, in this tradition, as it is insome sufi traditions, a step on the road tolove of god. In bhakti, the devotee, whenrelating to god through madhurya-bhav,as lover, must take on the role of a womanwho is singlemindedly devoted to onebeloved — god. The fear of woman asdistraction and temptress has deep rootsin earlier tradition — witness the manymyths of rishis losing the poweraccumulated through tapas, because theysuccumb to the charms of a woman.

Interestingly, we do not find a simplereversal of this idea in the work of womenbhaktas. Mortal man does not appear intheir work as a charmer who must beshunned lest the mind be distracted fromdevotion. The husband or prospectivehusband, who often appears in their workas an impediment to the quest for truth, isperceived not as a temptation, but as anobstruction, pure and simple. It is not hisbeauty or other allurements which mustbe resisted, but his interference, eventyranny.

What is represented as a temptation isthe status marriage confers on a woman— suhag. There is a special emphasis onthis temptation in the work of Mira. Manyother women bhaktas use imagery drawnfrom kitchen and household drudgery intheir poetry — the spinning wheel, thewaterpot, the cooking fire. Mira’s poetryis more replete with symbols of suhag —sindoor, headornament, bangles. For awoman of the Rajput nobility, marriageconferred not only respectable ritual andsocial status but also made many luxuriesaccessible. Dressing in finery was animportant privilege of the married woman.These luxuries too recur as images in Mira’swork — delicate food, silk saris, the hightowers of the palace, and, most often,various kinds of jewellery which representwomen’s special form of wealth.

In popular perception too, theseluxuries are seen as a temptation Mira mustresist. In the folksong Udo-Mira dialogue,

mentioned earlier, Udo tells Mira:

There is great suffering in the companyof sadhus...

Wear gemstudded ornaments, enjoylimitless pleasures...

Eat kheer and sugar, wear southernsilks...

[otherwise] you will get stale leftoversto eat and sour whey.

You will weep, sister-in-law, and dieor starvation, god will not comeand meet you.

To all of which Mira replies by saying“Sister Udo. ... you go and enjoy a royallife, I have no use for it.”21

Nowhere in Mira’s songs is the personof her husband (or of any man) describedas an allurement. Only suhag, therespectable status the husband’s presenceconfers on her, is mentioned. Suhag, inher work, becomes a symbol of delusionand maya (as woman often is in the workof male bhaktas). The woman addressedin Mira’s songs is told not to be taken inby it, the implication being that whatdeludes and lures women is the idea of themarried status, which is in fact farsurpassed by the mystical marriage withgod which springs from within oneself, notfrom an external source which can vanish:

Friend, O my friends, let us sporttogether, not go to a stranger’shouse.False these gems and pearls, falsetheir gleam and glitter;False these ornaments, true thebeloved’s garland;False these silken clothes, these sarisfrom the south,True the rags of the beloved inwhich the stays pure.Pour away the fifty six delicacies—such consumption is flawed.Our beloved’s vegetables are better,whether salted or saltless.Why look at others’ fertile fields andgrow envy (in your heart)?

Better your own less fertile plot —something will be born in it.Another’s young man may be worth alakh — it has nothing to do with us:If you go around with him, none willcall you good.Better your own interior husbandeven if he is a leper:When you go with him, all the peoplewill call you good.A lover like the indestructible one;love for him is true.Mira has met god — this alone is theway of devotion.

(26)

Against the lure of suhag, the womanbhakta poses the overwhelming charmsof her god. Her attraction to god is natural,spontaneous and so strong that it enablesher to break all bonds, confront allopposition. Her energies are directed muchmore against external opposition thanagainst temptations within. As comparedto the number of poems in Kabir, forexample, that deal with the waywardnessof the sinful mind, Mira has far fewer poemson this theme.

Mira represents her love of god assomething that comes to her perfectlynaturally, in comparison to which familyties, norms of honour and material luxuriesappear artificial impositions. The imagesused to describe her love are frequentlydrawn from the world of nature — thegathering of clouds, the coming of therains, the flowing of the river to the sea,the coming of dawn. All of these areimages commonly used by bhakta poets.But in Mira’s work, the rhythms of natureseem to fuse with the rhythm of the “I”who dances, sings, keeps time on variousmusical instruments, climbs to the rooftopto watch for Krishna, sets out on a narrowpath, laughs and plays.

Mira’s GodMira like many other bhaktas, posits

her god as a husband and also as a lover,even an adulterous lover. It would be amistake to simplistically see this as thesubstitution of one male dominatedstructure by another. For one thing, many

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Friend, the dark one’s glance is likelove’s dagger.

It struck me, and I grew restless; Ilost all sense of my body.

Pain spreads through my body, mymind is intoxicated.

I have found a few friends — all ofthem are mad.

Now I know well who he is — the onewho wanders the groves.

The chakor loves the moon, the mothby the lamp is burnt,The fish dies without water — dear

indeed is such love.How can I live without seeing (him),

my heart is not at rest.Go to him and say: Mira is yours.

(174)

I saw your beauty and was caught.All my family members and kindred

forbade me again and again.Strong had my attachment grown to

the peacock crowned dancer.My mind is absorbed in the dark one;

people say I have gone astray.Mira takes refuge at god’s feet, he

knows every heart.(9)

Mother, don’t forbid me: I will go tosee the holy men.

Shyam’s beauty lives in my heart:nothing else pleases me.

Everyone else sleeps peacefully, butmy eyes are awake.

The world which does not like Shyamis mad, and without wisdom.

Shyman is in my heart, and sleep doesnot come to me.

I don’t drink the water of a pondfilled only four months of the year;

The cascade of Hari’s nectar poursdown, I will quench my thirst withit.

The dark one’s beauty is excellent,I will go and took at his face.

Mira is suffering from the pangs ofseparation;

Whatever she wants to, she will do.(28, trans. Zide and Pandey)

Krishna lifting mount Govardhan to protect the people of Braj from the torrential rains sent by indra

88 MANUSHI

bhaktas, including males, when relatingto god through madhuryabhav, addresshim as husband and beloved. The mysticmarriage, the bhakta as bride waiting forgod as husband to lift the veil, and aswoman pining for her distant lover, are byno means restricted to women bhaktas.They are all pervasive in bhakti. This is aprevalent idiom of mysticism — not anidiom specially chosen by women bhaktasbecause they happen to be female.

Neither does the image of being thedasi or chakar (slavegirl or maidservant)of god originate in her femaleness.Dasyabhav or the attitude of a slave wasone of the five bhavas or rasas acceptedin bhakti as an appropriate way ofapproaching god.22 The other four wereshant, vatsalya, sakhya and madhurya,of which only vatsalya seems to be absentfrom Mira’s work. Dasyabhav isparticularly appropriate to emotionalbhakti, because of its implications ofconstant proximity, intimacy, completesurrender of will, humility, undemandingservice, and a sense of belonging. A largeproportion of male bhaktas in the Hindiregion added das to their names —Kabirdas, Tulsidas, Surdas, Raidas.

Inextricable from dasyabhav is therefusal to acknowledge any authority assuperior to god’s authority. Almost everybhakta’s life has legends attached to itrelating to their defiance and even rebukeof authority. One legend relating to Kabir(of which there are variants relating toother bhaktas) is recounted in BhaktamalVartik, wherein he refused to bow to theking, saying he would bow his head onlyto god. The bhaktas’ defiance ofauthorities, secular and religious, is theconsequence of their intention to humblethemselves only before god, the authoritythey have freely chosen. Kabir even goesso far as to imagine himself as the dog ofgod:

Kabir says, I am Ram’s dog, Moti ismy name;

Ram leads me by a string, I gowherever he takes me..23

Service of god is also interpreted as

humble and selfless service of his people.Numerous legends relating to bothVaishnav and Shaiva bhaktas stress theimportance of serving the devotees, whichis often seen as the highest form ofdevotion.

Humility and love of god do notindicate servility but self respect. Selfrespect consists in following the god onehas chosen, the god one finds by lookingwithin. One of Kabir’s famous padascompares the atma looking for god to themuskdeer which wanders in pursuit of thefragrance of the musk, not realising that itemanates from itself. The bhakta’srelationship with god is thus self directed,the fruit of an active, conscious choice,pursued with determined effort. Mira says:“Of my own volition I became enslaved.”24

Language and metaphor stress the elementof active decision and choice, which makethis enslavement entirely different from theenslavement forced upon one by externalsocial forces.

Mira uses the image of buying andselling to indicate the quality of herrelationship with god. Mira is sold toGiridhar and the sentence construction is“Mein to Giridhar hath bikani” (I am soldinto Giridhar’s hands”, not “Giridhar hasbought me”). In another song, she buysGiridhar, and here active verbs are used:

My friend, I bought Govind,You say secretly, I say openly —

after beating the drum I boughthim.

You say expensively, I say cheaplyafter weighing (him) on the scale, Ibought him.

I sacrificed my body, my life, and (allmy) priceless things.

(Mira says) Lord, give me yourdarsharn, in previous life you

promised me (this)(22, trans. Zide and Pandey)

An interesting popular version addssome lines which suggest the choice of aspouse (normally a bride but here a groom)who is criticised by others: “Some say he

is black, some say he is fair, I have boughthim with open eyes.”

The number of Mira’s songs whichstart with “I” or a variant (“me” or “my”)far outnumber those starting with anyother one word (29 in Chaturvedi’santhology, as compared to 11 starting withSanwaro or Shyam, which is the next largestnumber).

It is also interesting that Mira onlyoccasionally addresses the sants (as Kabirconstantly does: Santobhai’’Brothersants”) but very frequently addresses oneor more woman friends. Thirty six poemsin Chaturvedi directly address a womanfriend and about eight others use “He Ri”,the mode of addressing a female. Takingon the person of a gopi and addressingwomen friends is a mode commonly usedby male bhaktas too, but seems morepersonalised in Mira, particularly in thecontext of a discussion on suhag versusdevotion which, occurs in several songsaddressed to women friends.

Mira’s god, as defined in her songs,does not fit neatly into a sagun or nirguncategory. On the one hand, she celebratesgod in the form of Krishna — not Krishnaas child (celebrated by Surdas) or as king,but as cowherd, flute player, beloved ofthe women of Braj, beautiful and delightgiving, refuge and protector of the peopleof Braj and of all those devoted to him.

In no song is there any element of fearof Krishna. She adopts a demanding tone,reproaches him for staying away andneglecting her. Joy resides in presence,pain in absence. Nor in any song isKrishna represented as telling her to do orrefrain from doing anything. He is not acommandment giving but a delight givingpresence. Among the attributes seen inhim by Mira, one that seems special to herwork as com-pared to that of others, is thesweetness of his words and his voicewhich recurs in more than one song,perhaps as a contrast to the bitterness ofthe words she mentions people asspeaking against her.

While she experiences the pain ofseparation and longs for union with god,she also repeatedly says, in the commonparadox of bhakti, that god is within her.

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Finding the beloved is indistinguishablefrom finding that which is within, the selfor the atma. “The doctor dwells within thesick one, the doctor alone knows the cure”(73) indicates the interiority of the entireexperience. The god within is not just theincarnate Krishna, but the parmatma withwhom the atma longs to merge. The nirgunaspect is often evident. In this song thecomplex meanings of this god emerge:

I am dyed in the hue of the lifter ofmountains.

Wearing a five-coloured robe* I go toplay a masked game.**

In this masked game, I met the darkone; body and mind took on hishue.

they whose beloveds live abroad keepwriting and sending letters.My beloved lives in my heart and

neither comes nor goes.Mira’s god is the lifter of mountains;

day and night she watches the pathfor his coming.

(23)

*the body, composed of five elements**jhirmit, a game like hide and seek, where theplayers’ identity is disguised; here, an image ofthe atma disguised in the world, searching forthe parmatma.

Although more of Mira’s songs to theincarnate Krishna are well known, in a largenumber of songs, frequently in the samesong, she also conceives of god as thenirgun god. Without specific attributes,whose name is the key to salvation, andwho is approached by the path of wisdom,through the mediation of the guru. This

god she sometimes calls Ram, sometimesGiridhar, sometimes Hari or Prabhu. Onesuch famous song is “Payo ji mainey RamRatan dhan payo”, another is “Ram namras pije manuva”:

Drink the nectar of Ram’s name.*O people,** drink the nectar of

Ram’s name,Give up bad company, sit always in

good company, listen to talk ofgod.

Pour away lust, anger, intoxication[of pride], greed and illusion fromyour being.

Mira’s god is the lifter of mountains,immerse yourself in his name.

(199)

*Ram, in Mira’s work, is generally referredto in the general sense to signify god, not in thespecific sense of Ram, husband of Sita and kingof Ayodhya.

** also interpreted as “O heart”.

Another, in which she uses more ofthe terminology of mysticism, combiningit with her own preferred imagery:

Let us go to the land of the unattainedon which death fears to look.

there, on love’s full lakes, swans*ever play.

In the company of sadhus and sants,let us garner knowledge.

Fixing our thoughts on the dark one,make the mind bright.

Tying on the anklet bells of goodaction, dance and dance of fulfilment,

*In the case of both Kabir and Nanak, forexample, the legend exists that on their death, adispute broke out between their Hindu and Muslimfollowers as to whether the body should becremated or buried. When the shroud was lifted,the body was found transformed into a heap offlowers which the two groups divided up. Thephysical presence of the body thus transmits asilent but crucial message to the community. Thefact that so many women bhaktas disappear (MiraAndal, Mahadeviakka, Lal Ded) and their bodies,or samadhis are not found indicates in one sensetheir remoteness from any one specificcommunity.

“... and a headjewel of gold”

90 MANUSHI

Adorned with the sixteen adornmentsand a headjewel of gold.**

Mira is indifferent to all but the dark one’slove.

*In mystic vocabulary, an image for theatma

**The headjewel in Rajasthan is worn bymarried women as a sign of their suhag.

An important dimension of thebhaktas’ conception of god was that ofthe protector of his devotees in distress,especially the poor and the despised.Legends emphasising this dimensionabound. To take just one, Chokhamela, theuntouchable bhakta who is reproached bythe priests for offering food to god and isrefused access to him, is justified whengod refuses to accept any offerings untilhe is recalled. Such legends began toacquire the status of the earlier stories ofgod’s redemptive mercy. The bhiktas’ owncompositions helped this cumulativeprocess.

Some of Mira’s songs too, apart fromreferring to the traditional stories of godcoming to the rescue of Sudama, Draupadi,Ahilya, Prahlad, Shabri, and the drowningelephant king, also narrate (song 139) howhe came to the aid of Kabirdas, byproviding for his family after Kabir hadgiven away to a needy sadhu all the clothhe had woven for sale; to the aid ofDhanna Bhagat (fifteenth century peasantbhakta) by making crops grow in his fieldthough he had sowed no seed, having fedall the seedgrain to visiting sadhus’, to theaid of Namdev the Maharashtrian bhakta)by restoring overnight his burnt up house,after Namdev, seeing god in the form ofthe fire consuming his house, had pouredinto it the few of his possessions that hadbeen saved; and to the aid of Karmabaiborn c. 017 in Jhansi in a Teli (oil presser)family, by refusing any food but thekhichdi she offered every morning toJagannath’s image at Jagannathpuri, andwhich god in the form of a child alwaysate, after a saint had reproached her fornot cooking it in the prescribed fashion,that is, not bathing and washing thekitchen, before cooking, and thus delayedthe process.

Mira as SymbolAlthough Mira does not directly

generalise about women’s situation on thebasis of her experience, yet her account ofher struggle for personal freedom fromsocietal restrictions imposed on herbecause she was a woman is perhaps themost sharply delineated account thatsurvives in the work of women bhaktas.Several male bhaktas from lower castegroups who similarly refer to the injusticethey encountered or who are constructedthrough legend as having encounteredsuch injustice (Kabir, Raidas, Chokhamela)became symbols for self respectmovements amongst the lower castes.Although they may not have tried to setup sects, groups of people chose to namethemselves after these bhaktas, explicitlyidentifying with the egalitarianimplications of their message of bhakti.

Even today, Kabirpanthis and Raidasis areorganised bodies of opinion whose faithhas a political and social dimension.

Mira, however, was not picked up as asymbol for any such self respect movementamongst women, even though her life andwork would seem to lend themselves verywell to such a role. This is true of all womenbhaktas. None have any sect establishedin their name, and though many areintegrated in mainstream traditions, nonehave been picked up by womencollectively for any specific relevance theymay have for women’s lives.

While we are not in a position toprovide definitive explanations for thisdifference, some possibilities suggestthemselves. When bhaktas from lowercaste groups repudiate discrimination onthe basis of caste, there is not much that isattractive in low caste status which theymust give up. In repudiating the rolesociety defines for a woman, of whichmarital status is a central feature, however,Mira gives up much that is very attractive.She, like lower caste male bhaktas, risksopprobrium and attack when she breakstaboos (her entry into public spaces andactivities forbidden to women; their entryinto sacred places and activities tabooedto low castes). But, in addition, she losesthe very limited but very concrete rewardsthat society offers a law abiding woman.By saying “I will not be a Sati” (Sati nahosya)—which could refer either toburning on her husband’s pyre or to beinga virtuous wife in the tradition of Satis likeSita, Savitri, Anusuya — she gives up therespect a Sati gets, and accepts insteadappellations like “bhakti” (fallen woman).She has to wear such abuses as her crown:“Whatever was said of me, good or bad, Itook it all on my head.”(13)

In contrast, lower caste male bhaktaswho were abused for breaking rules didnot lose any praise they could have gotby following the rules. There exists notradition of honouring and exaltingobedient Shudras or giving them theexalted, even defied, status of anythingcomparable to a Sati.

Second, low caste male bhaktas whoembraced poverty did so while continuingto live a householder’s life. One important

Mirabai in a Rajathan temple. Theinscription on the base reads “The

crestjewel of bhaktas, Shti Mirabai”

NUMBER 50-51-52 (January-June 1989)

difference between bhakti as a mode ofattaining god, and many other modes, isthat giving up a householder’s life is notrequired of a bhakta. Most of the malebhaktas continue to live with and providefor their families, to perform their castebased occupation, and to do all the socialduties required of them. They pridethemselves on attaining god throughsimple devotion, not through austerities.It is this which makes bhakti moreattractive and accessible to large numbersof ordinary people.

But Mira is not allowed to do this. Theideology of pativrata, whereby a woman’ssalvation lies in unquestioning devotionto her husband, comes into active conflictwith the ideology of bhakti when thebhakta is a woman. Apart from the floutingof secular and religious authority in whichall the bhaktas have, to some extent, toengage, the woman bhakta has also toflout the absolute authority of thehusband and his family over her life, sinceshe now acknowledges a higher authority.This conflict makes the simultaneity ofbhakti and grahastha, which is possiblefor the male bhakta, impossible for her.

Once out of the house, Mira iseffectively out of her community. The malelow caste bhakta who continues to liveand work at home, and dies there,* in themidst of the community, becomes a focusfor community aspirations. Mira, havingbecome outcasted, or at least remote,cannot function in the same way. Theperception of Mira as having beenoutcasted from her community took deeproot. This is suggested by the fact that itappears to survive in some form eventoday. Parshuram Chaturvedi narrates thatwhen he visited Chjttor fort and Udaipurhe was told that Mira is not respectedamongst Rajputs there. PadmavatiShabnam says that the folk literature libraryat Girnar reports that most of Mira’s songswere collected from lower caste and Bhilsingers.25

Mirabai had not only to live anextraordinary life but to prove herextraordinariness by going throughordeals (of which the cup of poison, thesnake and the bed of thorns are dramatic

symbols). Having thus proved herself,dared all, broken all barriers, she is exaltedand revered, and regains in far greatermeasure the honour and repute she lost orseemed to have lost by flouting the normsof womanly behaviour. She is nowperceived as existing beyond such norms.

But, by being compelled to be so farbeyond the ordinary, she becomes a noteasily imitable model. Her way remainsliterally “anuthi”. Like Kali who may treadon her husband, like certain south Indiangoddesses who behead their husbands,she becomes an object of adoration ratherthan a model or a guide to action for otherwomen.

It is significant, nevertheless, that shefinds so honoured a place in so manytraditions and media. Her sharpest, mostdefiant and critical verses are among herbest known and have contributed toher.special fame. This is in contrast to manycultures where women’s writingsperceived as outrageous weresuppressed, even destroyed, or buried,and had to be recovered from oblivioncenturies later.

This duality in dealing with strong andcreative women seems to be acharacteristic of our culture that persistseven today. A woman who is ready to riskeverything, by openly defying family,community and social opinion, and byflouting all norms, may be subjected to allkinds of ordeals and temptations —sought to be restricted, married 6ft,imprisoned, even beaten or killed. But ifshe manages to survive it all and still becreative, she will get not just recognitionbut a very special kind of honour reservedfor such women, almost worshipped asbeing of a category apart, a heroine, a near-goddess to whom ordinary standards donot apply. She can then get away withmuch that would ordinarily be consideredoutrageous.

But her existence and high repute willnot of itself become ground for restrictionson other women to be relaxed or for theboundaries of their freedom to beenhanced. Being perceived asextraordinary, she is by definitionconsidered to be in a different category

from other women and the freedom allowedher will not be extended to them.

Though Mira may not have inspiredcollective action by women, she hascertainly acted as an inspiration to manyindividual women. Despite her not beingplaced, for literary merit, in the same classas Sur and Tulsi, her songs, because oftheir superb singability, linger in thememory. A line like “Pad ghungroo bandhMira nachi re” or “He Ri, mein to premdiwani” catches the attention for thesense of abandon it conveys. Theoutstanding melodic quality of her work,making it so suitable for singing anddancing, has ensured its wide reach, andthe plain and direct language andsentiment its easy adaptibility to manylanguages.

The paradox of Mira’s song iscontained in its intense lyricism whichconveys the overall emotion of joy evenwhen pain, suffering, separation, are beingdescribed. This may, ultimately, be theparadox of all art which, like the parasmani,transmutes the painful riddte-of life intolasting beauty, or, in Mira’s phrase,changes poison to nectar.

References and NotesTranslations of Mira’s and other

bhaktas’ poems in and accompanying thisarticle are by Ruth Vanita, unless otherwiseindicated.

1. Numbering of Mira’s songs quotedand referred to in this article follow that inParshuram Chaturvedi, Mirabai kiPadavali, 17th edition, 1983, Hindi SahityaSammelan, Allahabad,”T’from which thetranslations are also done, unlessotherwise indicated.

2. Nabhadas’ Bhaktamal mentions aRajput queen, Jhali, who was a disciple ofRaidas, but little else is known of her.

3. Chaturvedi, op. cit., pp. 18 and 25.4. From the excerpt in Chaturvedi, p.

233. See also Sudershan Chopra, MimParichay Tatha Rachnayen, Hind PocketBooks, Delhi, 1976, 2nd edition, and NilimaSingh, Mira: Ek Antavang Pari-chay,Saraswati Vihar, 1982.

5. From the excerpt in Chaturvedi, 234-235.

92 MANUSHI

6. Chaturvedi, p. 21.7. Vishwanath Tripathi, Mira ka Kavya,

Macmillan, Delhi, 1979, p. 43.8. Chaturvedi, p. 220.9. Nilima Singh, op cit, p. 9.10. Padmavati Shabnam, Mira:

Vyaktitva aur Krititva, Hindi PracharakSansthan, Lucknow, 1976 , pp, 202-205.

11. This is one of the poems listed asdoubtful by Chaturvedi, p. 244.

12. Poems from Mirabai, translated byS.M. Pandey and Norman H. Zide, with anintroduction by S.M. Pandey, unpublishedmimeo, University of Chicago, 1964. Allother poems marked “trans. Zide andPandey” are from this collection.

13. Sudershan Chopra, op cit., p 39.14. Chaturvedi, p. 240.15. Chaturvedi lists this as part of a

variation of No. 23, p. 106 footnote.16. Chaturvedi, p. 240.17. From the excerpt in Chaturvedi, p.

236.18. Quoted in Vishwanath Tripathi, op.

cit., p. 24.19. Chaturvedi, p. 79.20. From the excerpt in Vishwanath

Tripathi, op. cit., pp. 21-22.21. Padmavati Shabnam, op. cit., pp. 202-

205.22. In shantbhav, the devotee calmly

contemplates the incarnate form of god;

in dasyabhav, the devotee relates as aservitor to the glorious form of god; insakhya bhav, the devotee relates to godas a friend and constant companion: invatsalyabhav, the devotee identifies withthe parents of god as a child, and rejoicesin the god child’s beauty (in a variant, thebhakta relates like a child to god asparent); in madhuryabhav the devotee aswife relates to god as husband andtherefore, all-in-all.

23. Kabir Granthavali. ed. Bhagwat-swarup Mishra, Vinod Pustak Mandir, Agra1986, 4th edition, p. 61, doha no. 14.

24. Sudershan Chopra, op. cit., p. 40.25. Padmavati Shabnam, op. cit. p. 500.