Birthday of Mirabai, devotee-poet of Krishna; bhajan programs held

Meerabai Jayanti honours Meera, the sixteenth-century Rajput princess and poet-saint whose songs of love for Krishna are sung across India five centuries later. Tradition places her birth on Sharad Purnima, around 1498, at Kudki near Merta in Rajasthan, in the Rathore royal family. As a child she received an image of Krishna as Giridhar Gopal and gave him her heart, declaring him her only husband. Married into the royal house of Mewar, she refused to set aside her devotion, singing and dancing before Krishna in temples among ordinary devotees and sadhus. Legend tells that the poison sent to her turned to nectar, and the snake in a basket to a garland. She left the palace for Vrindavan and finally Dwarka, where, it is said, she merged into the image of Krishna as Ranchhodji. Her padas in Braj, Rajasthani and Gujarati — such as Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo and Mere To Giridhar Gopal, Dusro Na Koi — are the heart of the Bhakti tradition's language of longing. The day is celebrated with bhajan sandhyas, especially at Chittorgarh, Merta and Vrindavan.

No fast is prescribed; many keep the Purnima fast.