In the Dark of the Heart: Songs of Meera

Meera was a sixteenth-century Rajput princess who renounced her privileged life and royal family to live as a mendicant wandering, dancing and singing the praises of God. A devotee of Krishna, she was part of an influential religious movement (bhakti) that rejected distinctions of caste and creed, shunned the stultifying rituals and inaccessible scripture of conservative religion, and believed that direct union with God was possible for all -- men and women, highborn and lowborn.

Mystical, celebratory, and frankly feminine, the songs of Meera embrace and evoke all of life -- the ordinary, lowly, and humble; the natural world and all creatures; love and longing. They express a passionate faith that liberates and breaks down barriers, merging the human and the divine and challenging all notions of rank and hierarchy. Both poetry and prayer, these extraordinary songs reflect an all-encompassing spirituality and ardent devotion that remains part of the living folk tradition of India.