Geetajayanti was celebrated on 25 th Dec. 2020. It's an unique example in the world, where birthday of a book is celebrated. When the Krishna devotion is in the air, I would like to write about Lord Krishna's great devotee Meerabai's native place.
The Great poetess and Krishna's devotee Meerabai's native place is Merta in Rajasthan. Her birthplace is a small village near Merta and she stayed in Merta for first few years of her life.
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| Young Meerabai Raja Ravi Varma's painting 📷 wikipedia |
Merta is situated in Nagaur District of Rajasthan in India. It is near to Pushkar. Pushkar is famous for the Pushkar lake and Bramha mandir. You can take a day tour from Pushkar to Merta and Nagaur. Merta is only 61 km from Pushkar. Merta -Jodhpur distance is 125 km and Merta Jaipur distance is 210 km.
We had visited Merta while going to Bikaner from Pushkar by road. The roads in Rajasthan are really good. There will be occasional sightings of Nilgais on the highways in Rajasthan!!
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| Pushkar Lake |
Meerabai was born in 1498 in the family of Rao Jodhamal, the founder of Jodhpur empire. He was great grandfather of Meerabai. In her childhood she had stayed at her grandfather Rao Duda's palace in Merta. Rao Duda was the founder of Merta rajput clan.
She was educated at home in music, religion, politics and war craft. She was a great devotee of Krishna and had dedicated her life to Krishna.
She was married to Yuvraj Bhojraj of Chittor. She was a great poet saint and a famous bhakti marg poet. Her verses are well known. She had travelled to many places like Pushkar, Vrindavan, Dwarka and in 1546 she died in Dwarka. There are mysterious stories about her death that she disappeared in the Krishna idol in Dwarka.
In Merta we can see her ancestral house where she had stayed till her marriage and the temple where she used to worship Krishna Bhagwan.
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| Krishna Mandir, Merta. |
This is the Krishna mandir where Krushna Bhagwan is in the form of Chaturbhujnath i.e. having four hands.
There is an idol of Meerabai facing the idol of Chaturbhujnath. It seems that both of them are looking at each other.
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| Meerabai Idol in the temple. 📷 Commons Wikimedia |
This is the temple which is built by Meerabai's grandfather Rao Duda and where Meerabai used to worship Krushn! There is one more small metal idol which is said to be the idol to which Meerabai used to pray when she was a child.
The inside of the temple has lots of mirror work and there are scenes from Meerabai's life either in the form of paintings or etched glass. The temple is in the main market area of Merta, at the heart of the city. So you can see the glimpse of local life here. The parking of the vehicle has to be done on parallel street as there is no specific parking area designated for the temple visitors.
The temple is a must visit place not only for it's beauty but because it's a slice of India's cultural and spiritual history. Though it is not included in tourism list, we must visit this place. The temple is a live prayer site. You can see devotees visiting the temple. Many of the Merta residents visit this temple everyday.
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| Residence of Meerabai |
This is the palace of Rao Duda who was grandfather of Meerabai. Meerabai stayed here till her marriage with Yuvraj Bhoj. Here you can see the paintings and plaques depicting various incidents from Meerabai's life. There is a Meerabai's idol and there is a small museum as well.
It seems that in 19th century, for some years, this place was used as a girls school. In the courtyard there is a small garden and there is Radhakrishn idol.
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| Radha Krishna |
Many other Rajput kingdoms were submissive and have done treaties with Mughals by giving them daughters. Merta and Mewar specially Chittor were the only two clans which refused to give their daughters to Mughal kings.
Near to Merta, at approximately 90 kms distance, is the Nagaur fort. The original name of the fort is Ahhichatragarh Fort. Nagaur area used to be called as Jungladesh in Mahabharat period. Meaning of Ahhichatragarh is the fort of the hooded cobra. It was built by Naagvanshi Kshatriyas in ancient times. Since 12th century, Nagaur fort was majorly under Muslim control. The present day fort architecture is an example of Jat Mughal architecture.
In last 40 years a lot of restoration work has been done in the fort. so now it is in good condition. The area is vast, nearly 36 acres. There are many beautiful historical buildings. There are many courtyards, gardens and fountains. Though when we had visited in November 2016, many of the tanks had dried with no fountains working in them.
Some of the buildings are having beautiful paintings on the walls and even on the ceiling. Some of the rooms and even bathrooms can tell you the stories of the extravagant lifestyle of the resident rulers of the fort.
The arches and Jali work make the architecture more interesting and add to the beauty of the place. It has received UNESCO award for excellence in cultural heritage conservation. Nagaur is the city where a disciple of Kwaja Moinuddin Chisti had resided and his Dargah- Dargah of Haminnuddin Chisti is still there. Every year world Sufi Music festival is held in Nagaur Fort in the month of January or February.
From Nagaur, Bikaner is at approximately 120 kms distance. So once you are in Rajasthan there are many forts and Havelis to see. Rajasthan is famous for the vegetarian food. So vegetarians won't have any problem, they will easily get vegetarian food anywhere. Many of the establishments use pure ghee while cooking vegetables, Vegans have to specifically ask about it. Of course they will make the vegetables and even some of the desserts in oil for the vegan customers.
There are many good hotels in Rajasthan. If you want to experience the historical times, you can stay in some haveli or palace turned into hotels. In our Rajasthan trip, we could stay in some of such hotels.
#MeerabaiResidence #MereToGirdharGopal #SufiMusicFestival #MartiaRathors #Chittorgadh
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