| Great Devotees |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
MIRA BAI |
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| The Drop of
Nectar in the Poison Mira's achievement in music is remarkable. She herself has set tunes to her songs and has mentioned the ragas. 'Rag Govinda' and 'Rag Mira Malhar' are her own creations. Mira's songs can easily be set to music. And this is why those songs have been on the lips of people for over four hundred years. There are several compositions on record said to have been her work. But only the lyrics known, as Padas (songs of folk style) are important. So far more than four hundred such songs have been collected. Mira's name is not mentioned in any of the royal chronicles of Rajasthan. No details of any kind can be found in the writings of contemporary historians. From all this, it is obvious that there was a deliberateattempt to wipe out her name from history. Some people had tried to kill her when she was alive. Probably they tried to prevent all mention of her in history. This would not be surprising. Jealousy and hatred make a man stoop to any mean act. The moving songs of Mira who had won the hearts of the people are still on their lips and so she lives still. Those kings in power
in those days not only hated her and treated her with contempt but also tried to expel her
from the pages of history. Today while we look for material in books of history for Mira's
biography, we have to ignore them. But Mira who had suffered their cruelty neither did not
hate them in return nor showed any anger. Like a drop of sweet nectar preserved unspoiled
even in the midst of poison, in the midst of hatred, violence and scandals, Mira fixed her
mind on Lal Giridhar and sang in praise of him. We feel as if we hear Mira say with a
smile, 'A devotee suffers any kind of hardship for the sake of his God, He never gives up
his God. By minding his own business, he reaches his goal.' |
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