Mirabai

Indian Bhakti poet-saint, princess of Rajasthan, and one of the most beloved female voices in the long history of Hindu devotional literature. Born around 1498 into the royal family of Merta, she renounced her aristocratic life after the death of her husband and devoted herself entirely to her chosen Beloved, the dark-skinned cowherd god Krishna. Her poems — sung in Rajasthani and Hindi by ordinary devotees for over five centuries — are some of the most ecstatic and uncompromising love poetry in any language. Where most Bhakti poets remained within the social structures of their time, Mirabai walked through caste, marriage, and royal expectation as if they were not real, and her verses still carry that scent of freedom.