The Chittorgargh War Fort and the Princess Mirabai

Yesterday we visited the Chittorgarh Fort complex, a massive 700 acres of fort and 2 main temples. The fort was active in the 1200's and forward to the 1500's or so. It went back and forth - conquered and conquered again - mainly an ongoing, never-ending war between the Hindus and the Muslims.  I was reminded of a sobering passage by Wendell Berry - reflecting on the horrors of WW II. He wrote that war is all one war.  It's always and ever only been one ongoing war with different players and through different epochs. 

 Being at the Chittor fort was especially sobering to me because of parts of its history. Every time the "one side" -the Muslims - conquered the fort, Hindu women (more than 10,000 each time) who lived inside the fort would commit mass self-immolation (called Jauhar). You can see the large pit (ghat) into which they threw themselves rather than be taken captive.

Inside the fort complex is a Kali temple which was an appropriate segue for me to visit after wandering around the fort and contemplating its bloody history.

But the highlight for me was the Mirabai Temple.

Mirabai was a 16th century Indian princess known for her songs of devotion to Krishna and for forsaking traditional women's roles to devote her life to Krishna-worship.  She lived from about 1498 to about 1545.  Her name has also been translated as Mira Bai, Meerabai, Meera Bai, Meera, or Mīrābāī, and she is sometimes given the honorific of Mirabai Devi.

Her mother died when she was 4. At age 13 Mirabai was married to a Ranjputi prince who died a few years later. Her family was shocked that she did not commit sati, burning herself alive on her husband's funeral pyre, as was considered proper for a Rajputi princess. Then they were further shocked when she refused to remain secluded as a widow. Instead of following these traditional norms she took up enthusiastic worship of Krishna as part of the Bhakti movement. She ignored gender, class, caste and religious boundaries, and spent time caring for the poor.

All of this horrified her in-laws. The legends tell of multiple attempts on her life by Mirabai's late husband's family. In all of these attempts, she miraculously survived: a poisonous snake, a poisoned drink, and drowning. 

Mirabai's willingness to sacrifice family respect and traditional gender, family, and caste restrictions, and to devote herself completely and enthusiastically to Krishna, made her an important role model and saint in the Bhakti movement that stressed ecstatic devotion and rejected traditional divisions based on sex, class, caste, and creed.

Here are a few of her Quotes but if you are intrigued, google her amazing ecstatic devotional poetry. 

“I came for the sake of love-devotion; seeing the world, I wept.”

“The Great Dancer is my husband, rain washes off all the other colors.” 

"I have felt the swaying of the elephant's shoulders; / and now you want me to climb / on a jackass? Try to be serious."