Meera, Sanga and Mewar: The Remarkable Story of A Brave Rajput Princess and Her Legendary Devotion

Jyoti Jafa

Description

Meera Bai, one of India’s most well-known mystic poet is also a Rajput princess of the Rathor clan. Married to Mewar’s Crown Prince Bhoj Raj, son of Rana Sanga, the most chivalrous and powerful warrior king ruling medieval India’s largest and wealthiest Rajput kingdoms, her charmed life revolves around her love for Krishna. Passionate and devoted to her divine consort, this retelling of Meera’s story is a celebration of her life as a princess, a brave daughter-in-law of Mewar, a poet, and a seeker of divine union with her God. Steeped in Rajput traditions, customs and folklore, this novel explores the relationship between the physical and the metaphysical.

Sujets

• Fantastique
• Fantasy historique
• Médiéval-Fantastique
• Romans historiques
• Moyen-Age
• mysticism
• Histoire
• Religión
• Poet
• Bhoj Raj
• God
• Princess
• Metaphysical
• Meera
• Royalty
• Diplomat
• Writer
• Journalism
• Poetry
• Mewar
• Sanga
• Kingdom
• Dévotion
• History
• Divinity
• Mystic
• Empire
• Rajput
• Krishna
• Rajasthan

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 10 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788186939857
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

MEERA,
SANGA
and
MEWAR
 
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This digital edition published in India, 2021
First published in 2021 by
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© Jyoti Jafa, 2021
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‘Not by the Vedas, or an austere life, or gifts to the poor, or ritual offerings, can I be seen as you have seen me. Only by Love can people see me and come to me.’
The Bhagavad Gita
 
Author’s Note

Some of the Indian subcontinent’s greatest poets, musicians, and mystical saints lived in the sixteenth century CE. Among them was a Rajput princess of the Rathor clan, called Meera Bai. And by attempting to tell her rather incredible story, I was trapped by a self-created dilemma. How was I to create a plausible Meera character out of the fast-moving medley of disorder and divine benediction that was her strange life, while basing it largely on her own unverifiable claims, the legends surrounding her, and themes and incidents that contradicted normal perceptions of reality?
Let me start by saying that I believe in the ‘supernatural’, and the ‘paranormal’ – one strong reason why I was impelled so deeply and mysteriously into researching and writing this story. For me, these phenomena aren’t something beyond scientific and rational explanations. They are the inexplicable elements of our existence altered by forces that are not understood fully, if at all.
The Hindu belief in Hanuman who travelled thousands of miles in a single somersault, or the Christian belief in a virgin’s Immaculate Conception, and the ascension of her child to a place in the sky called heaven, sound equally implausible. But these are important elements in two of the world’s major living religions, and accepted as a testimony of faith by their followers. No Hindu believer in the Krishna cult doubts the honesty and authenticity of Meera Bai’s seances, her poetic utterances, and the strange events of her life. In fact, over the centuries, she has herself emerged as a cult figure in the Krishna Bhakti movement.
But my dilemma as a writer came to the fore when I began the process of fusing together my personal belief in her life story with the actual history of her era. It was necessary to put her in the historical context, when the context was such a solemn, commemorative and celebrative aspect of the Indian Bhakti movement and culture. My book about Meera Bai would seem to demand a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ as well as judgement. Coleridge had suggested that the writer could infuse ‘human interest and semblance of truth’ into a fantastic tale to help readers suspend judgement concerning the implausibility of any narrative. I have endeavoured to do just that – chapters in this book containing actual historical battles and intrigues are followed by others containing pure fantasy and surrealistic happenings! The historical part of this narrative is interspersed with the life of a person who is totally real in the historic sense. Meera herself, and some of her family members and contemporaries, talked and wrote about the miracles which her personal deity Krishna performed throughout her life.
Meera’s was a charmed life revolving around her great love for Krishna based on recurring past-life memories about their special relationship; and her determination to achieve reunion with this historic Krishna, worshipped in India as a reincarnation of God, moulded her personality and life choices.
Blessed with great beauty, intellect, poetic gifts, and a magical singing voice, Meera lived life on her own terms. But she still managed to secure the support and admiration of her grandfather Rao Duda of Merta, and her father-in-law, Rana Sanga of Mewar, the most chivalrous and powerful warrior king ruling medieval India’s largest and wealthiest Rajput kingdom. Though she believed Krishna to be her divine consort, Meera’s relationship with her truly evolved earthly husband, Crown Prince Bhoj Raj, points to a very poignant and unusual relationship in the annals of history. I have tried to handle this part of the story as deftly and sensitively as I could.
I began this book only because of my own fascination with Meera Bai due to our shared bloodline, my life-long immersion in Rajput history, traditions, customs, and folklore. Personal belief in reincarnation, past-life recall, Karmic requitals, miracles, and divine grace helped me complete it.
But no matter what one believes, Meera’s evocative bhajans and poems have endured, and are still sung after more than five hundred years wherever and whenever people of Indian origin gather to chant the glories of God.
 
Main Historical Characters

Princess Meera Bai: Grandaughter of Merta’s ruler Duda, daughter of Ruttan Si, wife of Mewar’s Crown Prince Bhoj Raj, and Rana Sanga’s daughter-in-law
Rao Duda Mal Rathor: Fourth son of Marwar’s king Jodha, Merta’s founder and clan patriarch
Biram Deo: Rao Duda’s eldest son and heir
Princess Girija De of Mewar: His third wife and Rana Sanga’s sister
Princess Phool: Their daughter, Rana Sanga’s niece, and wife of Prince Ajay Jhala of Halwad
Prince Pratab: Girija De’s first son, and Rana Sanga’s nephew
Prince Bhanwar: Biram Deo’s eldest son, and Rao Duda’s eldest grandson
Prince Raysal: Rao Duda’s third son
Princess Kusum: His daughter, Meera’s favourite cousin, and wife of Prince Sajay Jhala of Halwad
Prince Ruttan Si of Merta: Rao Duda’s youngest son, and Meera’s father
Sant Beniji: A famous fifteenth-sixteenth century saint, and mystical poet
Rana Sanga of Mewar: Fourth son and heir of Mewar’s king Rai Mull, whose chivalry, valour, and administrative skills made him a living legend
Maharani Jhaliji: Princess of Halwad, and Sanga’s senior consort
Crown Prince Bhoj Raj: Their only son, and Meera Bai’s husband
Maharani Rathoriji: Princess of Marwar, and Sanga’s second wife, mother of their son Ratan Singh, and kinswoman to the Merta princesses
Prince Ratan Singh of Mewar: Sanga’s second son, who succeeded him as Rana
Rani Karnavati: Bundi’s Hada-Chauhan Princess who was Rana Sanga’s third wife, and mother of his daughter Uda, sons Bikramjeet and Udai Singh
Princess Uda: Their daughter, Meera Bai’s sister-in-law, and wife of Edur’s Rathor Prince Raimal
Prince Bikramjeet: Sanga’s third son, who succeeded his half-brother Ratan Singh as Rana
Prince Udai Singh: Sanga’s fourth son, who succeeded his brother Bikramjeet, and through whom Mewar’s ruling Sisodia dynasty descends
Kanhji, the Chundawat Rao Saheb of Salumbar: Mewar’s premier hereditary chief, and Sanga’s closest kinsman and military advisor
The Jhala Princes Ajay and Sajay: Nephews and wards of Maharani Jhaliji, husbands of the Merta Princesses Phool and Kusum. Cousins and friends of Prince Bhoj Raj
Prince Raimal Rathor of Edur: Husband of Princess Uda, and son-in-law of Rana Sanga
Sultan Muzzafar Shah of Gujarat
Sultan Mahmud Khilji of Malwa
The Lodi Afghan Prince Mahmud: Younger brother of Delhi’s Sultan Ibrahim Lodi
Babur: Founder of the Mughal empire in India
 

 
One

PRINCESS MEERA BAI HAD DISAPPEARED . A THOROUGH SEARCH by various maids, cousins, and aunts through the Merta fort’s interconnected Rawla apartments, rooftop terraces, garden pavilion, and park had proved futile. The messengers sent to fetch the child from her well-known haunts in the male domain like her grandfather’s private apartments, the music chamber, and book room, had failed to find her.
The burnished saffron sun disk was already low on the desert horizon. And the dusty haze raised by all the horses, camels, and cattle returning from their jungle grazing grounds beyond the s