Meera Bai

• The Prime Minister participated in Sant Mirabai Janmotsav, a program to celebrate the 525th birth anniversary of Sant Mirabai in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
• A commemorative stamp and coin were also released in honour of Sant Mira Bai.

ABOUT SANT MEERA BAI

• Meera Bai was a 16^th century Hindu mystic Bhakti poet and she was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna.
• Meerabai was the princess who was born on 1498 to Rajput King Ratan Singh, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
  • She was the only child.
• Meera got married in 1516 to Bhoj Raj, the son of Rana Sanga and prince of Mewar.
  • He was injured in 1518 in a conflict with the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and due to this, he died in 1521.
• She expressed her deep love for Lord Krishna through soul-stirring poems (bhajans and padavali), which conveyed her spiritual yearning and intense longing for union with the divine.
• She wrote hundreds of songs and initiated a mode of singing the songs, a raga.
  • About 200-400 songs are accepted by scholars as being written by Mirabai; another 800-1000 have been attributed to her.
• She was the first to introduce Giridhara Gopala cult of Brindavan.
• She was a disciple of Saint Ravidas.

ABOUT BHAKTI MOVEMENT

• The Bhakti saints advocated for attaining God through devotion (bhakti) rather than adhering to rules, regulations, or societal structures.
• The movement originated in South India in the 7th and 10th CE, mostly in the poems of Alvars and Nayanars.
• It swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reached its peak between the 15th and 17th century CE.
• The two schools of Bhakti saints were– Nirguna and Saguna School.
  • According to Nirguna school of thinking, God had no shape and lacked any characteristics.
  • The Saguna School, on the other hand, held that God manifests himself through incarnations like Rama and Krishna and has a specific shape, personality, and beneficial qualities.
• Other famous Bhakti saints include- Guru Nanak, Tulsidas, Kabirdas, Ravidas and Surdas