Jayshree Singh

Meerabai – A Study in Context of Literature and Nature

 

Meerabai in Indian History and Indian Poetics

The poetry of Meerabai manifests an absolute sense of aesthetic beauty and expresses a sense of quest. She does not possess the multitude of human efforts like Kabir, consciousness of mind and soul like Tulsi and inward knowledge and vision like Surdas, yet Meerbai in her poetic songs alike her contemporary poets poignantly determines the basic perception and knowledge of the humanity and professes the value-oriented essential characteristics of the Veda. Therefore her songs even in the contemporary times of changes in political situation of the country as well as in the social conditions have the poetic truth and poetic taste. It is true that her poetic truth and beauty lies in her vision of humanity and nature in day to day life, it is neither the future world, nor it is beyond the range of sight. However in her songs she never related to any of the contemporary social taboos, fragmented nobility, destroyed values and declining tradition, although she herself had been the sufferer of these oppressive factors of the worldly life. She never protested against these miseries of being dispossessed and deprived, rather she attained strength from her adverse circumstances through her cultivated brilliance.  She in her own way represented the least privileged group of women. It is apt to quote:

“To look at a much later period, the tradition of ‘medieval mystical poets’, well established by the fifteenth century, included exponents who were influenced both by the egalitarianism of the Hindu Bhakti movement and by that of the Muslim Sufis, and their far-reaching rejection of social barriers brings out sharply the reach of arguments across the divisions of caste and class. Many of these poets came from economically and socially humble backgrounds, and their questioning of social divisions as well as of the barriers of disparate religions reflected a profound attempt to deny the relevance of these artificial restrictions and the issues of contemporary equality that characterize so much of contemporary society”(Amartaya Sen, 11).

 

The poetess and perceiver of sentiments                       

In context of literary poetics and perceiver of nature, the study of Meerabai’s poetic writings depicts her as the perceiver of sentiments. Her poetic songs reveal her penance, her lassitude and sorrow which she felt owing to the separation on the death of her mother in her childhood, then the death of her patrons her husband prince Bhojraj, her father-in-law Rana Sangram Singhji, the king of Mewar in the the 15th -16th century and finally her being a quester whose inner –self had always longed the reunion with God, the only savior in her despair, the only loving icon in her loneliness. She derived from her penanced life tranquility, gracefulness, purity, happiness and freedom from passions. Her strength, poise, tolerance and her focus churned the ills of world and she visualized God’s fantasy in this way:

Thane kai kai kehe samjau mahara vahala Girdhari
Purab janamki priti mahari ab nahi jatt niwari
Sundar badan jovatt sajani priti bhayi chhe bhari
Mahare ghare padharo Girdhar mangal gavey nari
Moti chowk purau vahala tan man tto par vari
Maharo sagpan tto syu sawariya jag syu nahi vichari
Meera kahe gopin ko vahalo ham syu bhayo brahamchari
Charan sharan hey dasi thari palak na kijay nayari (Saubhagya, 116).

Initially this togetherness of Meerawith her Lord Krishna was primarily a fancy for the unimaginable Supreme Spirit and she delved the God’s presence in her feelings and in her expression with aesthetic imagination and poetic creativity that has the sense of perception but no knowledge and insight. Later this same search of love for God Krishna became spiritual and psychical to praise Supreme Divinity without whose omnipresence and graciousness even Meera’s essence could not find solace and her ship of earthly life could not be sailed across the ocean, she wished God to be her partner in this difficult journey.

She sings a hymn on the request of saints that showed her purity, deep love and her determined devotion to God in this way:

Ab tto Hari naam lou lagi
Sab jag ko yeh makhan choranaam dharyo bayragi.
Kitt chhodi veh Mohan Murli kitt chhodi veh gopi
Mudr mudraiyi dori kati bandhi mathe Mohan topi.
Matt jasomatti makhan bandhe jake panv
Shayamkishor bhaye nav gaura chaitnaya jako nav.
Pitambar ko bhav dikhave kati kopin kasey
Gaur Krishna ki dasi Meera rasna Krishna basey.
Ali mahane lage Vrandavan nikko
Ghar ghar Tulsi Thakur puja darsan Govindji ko.
Nirmal nir bahe jamna ko bhojan dudh dahi ko
Ratan Singhasan aap virajaya mugat dharyo Tusi ko.
Kunjan kunjan phiru sawara sabad sunatt Murli ko
Meerare prabhu Girdhar Nagar bhajan bina nar fikko
(Saubhagya, 311).

Thus her both songs show her ‘Self’ being engaged in her duty to nature and in harmony with God’s love. She had sought shelter in her Lord Krishna both in her days of solitude and bliss. This was and till date relevantly denotes that Meera, in place of feeling displaced and alienated  because of going through social separation, social disregard and social disaster, found her well-being and balanced self-control in her spiritual upliftment which was beyond human understanding in her contemporary and even in the present times of earthly life. Her human ‘Self’ immensely contributes an example how to remain harmonious with the surroundings, social milieu and with the predicament that is illusory and full of duality on this earth.

 

Her human self-liberation

 Meerabai existed in the history of the pre-independent period of India and she belonged to a village Merta in Jodhpur.  She survived from the period 1498 to 1547. It was the period of political violence, natural violence in the history of India. Even the state of Rajasthan faced the impact of political upheavals on account of the wars and conquests inflicted by Moghuls. The ruling king of Mewar Rana Sangram Singh is a historical evidence of the contemporary circumstances in two ways. First it was he who fought the battle of Kanhva in 1527 against Babur, the Moghul invader and secondly he proposed the marriage of his Princes Kumar Bhojraj with Meera. This alliance between two Rajput kingdoms later proved to be a political doom, because a little girl’s consent and choice was ignored for selfish interest, although that little girl survived her name and identity with her spiritual and ethical path. Meera who had suffered the cruelty due to patriarchal and hierarchical arbitrariness neither hated nor showed any anger to her household members, yet she gained strength and wisdom by remaining the eternal consort of Lord Krishna (Khanna, 99).

Another factor from the point of exploring Meerabai’s background is that she since the tender age of 5 nurtured the idea that Shree Krishna was her husband. When she got from a saint an icon of Krishna, her mother directed her that it was a toy and it was to be respected as it was Lord Krishna’s Murti. Her mother also communicated to her while a marriage procession passing by down their fort that Meera too would get a bridegroom like that of Murti. This reveals the status of girl in the society and mental set up that is framed around her. She took seriously the toy as her companion, then as her prospective husband and started to regard the idol of Lord Krishna as her only companion after the death of her mother. Later on as she kept on growing and maturing not just as beloved of Lord Krishna but as a mystical lover of ‘Girdhar Nagar’ while being in association of saints and her undeterred love for God led her to attain love, power, truth and wisdom.

Aforementioned historical factors delineate social, cultural, political, psychological and ecological perspectives when we study Meerabai’s life and her songs in view of the literature and nature. It is apt to add here Meerabai’s life and her devoted compositions seek ‘human-self liberation’ (Clark 102) in place of liberation. It means her self-liberation was above all worldly temptations and necessities and secondly her mythical self condemns the exploitative conquest of nature in the name of alliances, progress, prejudices and injustices against the environment and ecology. Her one of her padavali states social politics that symbolizes ecological crisis i.e. “a systematic violation of basic rights whose long term effect in weakening society can scarcely be underestimated” (Clark 87). She writes:

Mira danced with bells on her ankles.
People say Mira has gone mad.
The mother-in-law says
She devoted the family honour.
The king sent her a cup of poison
Mira drank it laughingly,
Offering body and soul at Hari’s feet.
Meera drinks the sweetness of his vision.
Girdhar is Meera’s Lord.
She comes to take refuge in him (Nilsson, 49).

Ironically these verses sensitize and problematize the social ecology in contemporary cultural times. According to a critic it illustrates ‘Human violence against the natural world which is ultimately a product of oppressive structures of hierarchy among human beings” (Garrad, in Ecocriticism, 2011). Secondly it also explains Meerabai’s “universal consciousness as heightened consciousness of beautiful objects” (Deshpande, 62).

 

Endless draught of love for divinity and nature

Meerabai confronted during her age two forces brute force against soul force. (Mahatma Gandhi in Hind Swaraj also mentioned these forces, written in 1909). The soul force emancipated Meerabai and she fearlessly like a superhuman took up the challenges, insults, harms, injuries and poison and she formulated spiritually a new order of social realm which later on followed by many religious reformers and nationalists to reawaken India from its slumber of fantasy and ruins, slavery, corruption, exploitation and violation of dignity, identity and rights. While on the other hand the brute force was opted by her mother-in-law or her brother-in-law Rana Vikramaditya in order to subdue her miraculous charisma among the masses of Chittor (Chopra, 19).  They sent her the poisonous cup of milk or garland with snake wrapped inside it.  Chittor was the capital city of Mewar State during Moghul emperor Akbar’s rule in India. For ages it had been the city of fertility, victory and beauty but the political intricacies deteriorated its ethnic and ethical claim of identity among Rajput princely states in the history of medieval India. And it was only the struggle of the South Rajasthan great warrior Maharana Pratap (the ruler of Mewar in the 16th -17th century) against Akbar (the  third Moghul emperor of India) could bring back the lost glory to Mewar. Thirdly the spiritual goals of Meerabai reflected in these verses convey that harmony, mental strength, pure consciousness, peace, reunion of human self with eternity can only be the ultimate realization in action and realization of beauty (Tagore, Sadhana, 312).

‘The lyrics of Meerabai are the holy heritage for Indian Literature philosophy, religion, culture and history’ (Kulshrestha, 22).  In addition they have been globally respected because of mystical presence of superconcious qualities of divinity and moreover all symbols and signs of nature are the impressions of God’s creations which human mind can only perceive alike Meerabai when one is completely immersed in the sanctity of truth and pure-consciousness for humanity and nature. Her lyrics in praise of God have aesthetically been a mode of her consciousness for her Lord Krishna and they manifest her self-revelation as regards creative unity that exists between her and Lord Krishna, between her and other objects of nature. It suggests symbolically oneness in all images as the nature itself is the manifestation of God’s creativity and creative unity when there exist compassion and love for all. Thus nature personifies ecological balance and it can only be realized if the human heart, mind and body alike Meera regards it to be unbreakable.

In one of the translated version of her poems ‘Unbreakable’ she writes:

Unbreakable, O Lord,
Is the Love
That binds me to You:
Like a diamond,
It breaks the hammer that strikes it.
My heart goes into You.
As the polish goes into the gold.
As the lotus lives in its water,
I live in You.
Like the bird
That gazes all night
As the passing moon
I have lost myself dwelling in You
O my Beloved-Return (Khanna, 137).

Meerabai in these verses is overwhelmingly arrested in the awe-inspiring majestic charm and spell of light and love of Lord Krishna just like the lotus in water, bird in the moonlit night and diamond as unbreakable rock.

These lines aesthetically drives human mind to the beauteous objects of nature whose indispensable relationship creates harmony and well-being. She professes her consciousness for cosmic harmony as well as for humanity that needs to be associated not only with environment, ecology but also with self-liberation, self-enlightenment and also with ethics of eco-justice. Her devotion to Lord Krishna is not a mere projection of her emotional lyricism, it suggests that when the human heart suffers in passion of mythical union with Infinite Supreme Creator of Universe, then all objects of nature reflect sanctity of relationship with one another, there seem to be ecological relationship in the mankind and nature.

 

Creative unity between human, nature and God’s laws

The human laws cannot be in conflict with God’s laws. Her poem ‘Drink the Nectar’ relates to  Meera’s illumined outlook to the worldly crisis in her times and even at present times:
Drink the Nectar of the Divine Name,
O human! Drink the nectar of the Divine Name!
Leave the bad company,
Always sit among righteous company.
Hearken to the mention of God (for your own sake)
Concupiscence, anger, pride, greed, attachment
Wash these out of your consciousness. Meera’s Lord is the Mountain – Holder,
The suave –Lover
Soak yourself in the dye of His colour ( Khanna, 140).

These lines metaphorically express a message to mankind to transform their behavior, mindset, thought in order to achieve eternal bliss on earth and all earthly illusions are mere trap to deviate mind and human body to attain pleasure or to lead to misery. Thus self-liberation is impossible in the midst of illusory liberation. The realization of eternal structure in humanity and nature can only be achieved if one man’s action enables all men to live happily like Lord Krishna protected the humble villagers from heavy rains; he lifted the mountain like an umbrella to rescue the villagers from the wrath of God Indra who felt his ego hurt when villagers prayed to Lord Krishna in place of him. Similarly all men’s action, will and thought contribute in the construction of happier world, if they surrender their fulfillment and enjoyment of action for the welfare all. Only then catastrophe of nature can be salvaged. Therefore ‘Meera was not just yogi searching the love of Lord Krishna; she was a messenger of God who spread harmony in the society and tried to eliminate social ecological crisis both in environment and in human nature’ (Prabhat, 299).

 

 

Works Cited

Chopra, Sudarshan. Meera: Parichaya and Rachnayay. New Delhi: Hind Pocket Books, 2002. Rpt. 2006, 2008. Print.

Clark, Timothy. The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and Environment. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.

Garrad, Gerg. Ecocriticism. In the Cambridge Introduction to Literature and ERnvironment, 2011. Print.

Deshpande, H.V. new Criticism and Critical Thought in Modern Marathi Literature and Literary Criticism. Jaipur: Shruti Publ., 2006. Print.

Khanna, Monika. Ed. MEERA: Her Life and Devotion.. new Delhi: Farsight Publ., 2011.. Print.

Kulshrestha, Rajani. Rajasthan Ki Mahila Kavyadhara. Udaipur: Ankur Publ., 2001. Print.

Prabhat, C.L. MEERA: Jeevan aur Kavya. Vol. 1 & 2. Jodhpur: Rajasthani Granthanagar, 1999. Print.

Nilsson, Usha S. Makers of Indian Literature – MIRABAI. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1969. Rpt. 1997, 2003, 2009.

Ranawat, Saubhagya Kunwari. Meera Charit. Gorakhpur: Granthagiri, 2009. Print.
Sen, Amartaya. England: Penguin Books, 2005. Print