There are no reliable historical records about Mirabai’s life. With the help of the literature and other sources, scholars have attempted to throw light on Mirabai’s life. These records state that Meera was born into a royal family in 1498 in the Pali village of Kudki to Ratan Singh, who was the fourth son of Duda Ji.
A small Rajput princely kingdom was ruled by his father Ratan Singh Rathod. Her mother died while she was a small child, and she was the only child of her parents. She received education in disciplines including politics, administration, music, and religion. Meera was raised by her grandfather, a passionate devotee of Lord Vishnu who was also a fierce warrior. Saints and sages would frequently stop by, and Meera was raised under his care. Meera had been in contact with religious leaders and saints in this way since she was a young child. Since she was young, she has been interested in Krishna Bhakti.
In 1516, Meera married Bhoj Raj, a prince of Mewar and the son of Rana Sanga. In a war with the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate in 1518, her husband Bhoj Raj was hurt; as a result, he passed away in 1521.
Her father and father-in-law were both killed in a conflict with Babur, the Mughal Empire’s founder, a few years after her husband passed away.
As per history, in accordance with the prevalent custom of that period, people tried to perform sati on her as her husband passed away, but Mira refused.
She began spending her time singing kirtans with Krishna Bhakti, and she thought of Girdhar as her husband.
Meera frequently visited temples where she performed dances for Krishna devotees in front of the idol of the lord. Because Mirabai’s family disliked her dedication to Krishna and her style of dancing and singing, multiple efforts were made to poison her to death.
Disturbed by the behavior of the family members, she went to Dwarka and Vrindavan. During her Vrindavan stay in 1539, Meera Bai met Roop Goswami. Rupa Goswami was a devotional teacher, poet, and philosopher of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. Around the year 1546, Mirabai moved to Dwarka from Vrindavan. People respected her everywhere she went. She used to be loved and honored with respect by the public.
She spent the majority of her time in the Krishna temple, where she met sages and pilgrims while also writing devotional poems and songs.
The Nirguna mixed Saguna approach of devotion and Mira’s mysticism was adopted by all.
Death
Though there is no exact evidence of her death it is believed that she became completely absorbed in the Lord Krishna idol while she was in Dwarka in 1560.
Our understanding of Mirabai is mostly based on her poetry. Her poem conveys the soul’s longing and searches for union with Sri Krishna. She expresses the Divine unity and the anguish of separation at different moments. Many of her bhajan-inspired devotional poems are being performed today.
