Mira Bai Bhajans
मीरा बाई के प्रसिद्ध भजन
What are the most famous Mira Bai bhajans?
Mira Bai Bhajans The most loved Mira Bai bhajans include Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo, Mere To Girdhar Gopal Dusro Na Koi, and Pag Ghungroo Bandh Meera Nachi Re, all still sung in Rajasthani and Gujarati devotional gatherings today. Each one carries her single-minded devotion to Krishna as Girdhar Gopal, the mountain-lifting form of Krishna she considered her true husband.
Mira Bai, the 16th-century Rajasthani princess who left the royal court to live as a wandering Krishna devotee, left behind devotional poetry that has been sung across North and West India for five hundred years. This page brings together six of her most widely recognized bhajans, chosen for how often they turn up in classical and folk renditions from Rajasthan to Gujarat, not as one fixed composition but as a curated selection from a much larger body of orally transmitted work. Each card below carries the verse in Devanagari and Roman transliteration alongside a plain-language note on what it means.
Famous Mira Bai Bhajan Lyrics
Each card holds one bhajan in Roman and Devanagari script – tap Meaning to read what the verses say.
Payo ji maine Ram ratan dhan payo
Vastu amolak di mhare satguru, kirpa kar apnayo
Janam-janam ki punji payi, jag mein sabhi khowayo
Kharach na khoote, chor na loote, din-din badhat savayo
Sat ki naav khevatiya satguru, bhavsagar tar aayo
Meera ke Prabhu Girdhar Nagar, harakh-harakh jas payo //
पायो जी म्हें तो राम रतन धन पायो।
वस्तु अमोलक दी म्हारे सतगुरू, किरपा कर अपनायो॥
जनम-जनम की पूँजी पाई, जग में सभी खोवायो।
खरच न खूटै चोर न लूटै, दिन-दिन बढ़त सवायो॥
सत की नाँव खेवटिया सतगुरू, भवसागर तर आयो।
‘मीरा’ के प्रभु गिरिधर नागर, हरख-हरख जस पायो॥
Meaning
Mira sings that she has found the priceless wealth of the divine name, a gift her true guru gave her out of pure grace. Unlike worldly riches, this treasure cannot be stolen, never runs out with spending, and grows a little more each day. On the boat of truth, steered by her guru, she crosses the ocean of worldly life and rejoices again and again in what Girdhar Nagar, her name for Krishna, has given her.
Mere to Girdhar Gopal dusro na koi
Jake sir hai morpakha mero pati soi
Chhandi dai kul ki kaani kaha karihai koi
Santan dhig baithi baithi lokalaj khoi
Ansuvan jal sinchi-sinchi prem-beli boi
Ab to bel phail gai anand phal hoi
Dasi Meera Lal Girdhar taro ab mohi //
मेरे तो गिरधर गोपाल दूसरो न कोई।
जाके सिर है मोरपखा मेरो पति सोई॥
छांड़ि दई कुलकी कानि कहा करिहै कोई।
संतन ढिग बैठि बैठि लोकलाज खोई॥
अंसुवन जल सींचि-सींचि प्रेम-बेलि बोई।
अब तो बेल फैल गई आणंद फल होई॥
दासी मीरा लाल गिरधर तारो अब मोही॥
Meaning
This is Mira's clearest declaration of devotion: Krishna, crowned with a peacock feather, is her only lord, and she claims no other family. She says she gave up caring what people think, sat among saints, and let go of the honor a royal household expected of her. Watered by her own tears, the vine of her love for Krishna has now grown and borne the fruit of bliss, and she asks Girdhar, at the close, to carry his servant across.
Pag ghunghroo baandh Meera naachi re
Main to mere Narayan ki aap hi ho gai dasi re
Log kahai Meera bhai baawari nyaat kahai kulnaasi re
Vish ka pyaala Ranaji bhejya peevat Meera haansi re
Meera ke Prabhu Girdhar Nagar sahaj mile avinasi re //
पग घूँघरू बाँध मीरा नाची रे।
मैं तो मेरे नारायण की आपहि हो गई दासी रे।
लोग कहै मीरा भई बावरी न्यात कहै कुलनासी रे॥
विष का प्याला राणाजी भेज्या पीवत मीरा हाँसी रे।
‘मीरा’ के प्रभु गिरिधर नागर सहज मिले अविनासी रे॥
Meaning
Mira ties dancing bells to her feet and dances openly, having already given herself over entirely to Narayan (Krishna) in spirit. People call her mad and her in-laws call her a disgrace to the family name, but when the Rana is said to have sent her a cup of poison, she drinks it laughing, protected, she says, by her indestructible lord Girdhar Nagar. It is her best-known bhajan of open defiance.
Jo tum todo piya main nahi todoon
Tori preet todi Krishna kaun sang jodoon
Tum bhaye taruvar main bhai pankhiya
Tum bhaye sarovar main tori machhiya
Tum bhaye girivar main bhai chaara
Tum bhaye chandra hum bhaye chakora
Bai Meera kahe Prabhu Braj ke basi
Tum mere thakor main teri dasi //
जो तुम तोड़ो पियो मैं नही तोड़ूँ।
तोरी प्रीत तोड़ी कृष्ण कोन संग जोड़ूँ॥
तुम भये तरुवर मैं भई पखिया।
तुम भये सरोवर मैं तोरी मछिया॥
तुम भये गिरिवर मैं भई चारा।
तुम भये चंद्रा हम भये चकोरा॥
बाई मीरा कहे प्रभु ब्रजके बाशी।
तुम मेरे ठाकोर मैं तेरी दासी॥
Meaning
Mira tells Krishna that even if he were to break their bond, she would not break hers, since there is no one else she could turn her love toward. She strings together a chain of paired images, tree and bird, lake and fish, mountain and grazing deer, moon and the chakor bird said to live on moonlight, to describe how completely her existence depends on his. She closes by naming him her lord and herself simply his servant.
Barse badariya sawan ki
Sawan ki man bhavan ki
Sawan mein umangyo mero manwa
Jhanak suni Hari aavan ki
Nanhe nanhe boondan megha barse
Sheetal pawan suhavan ki
Meera ke Prabhu Girdhar Nagar
Anand mangal gavan ki //
बरसे बदरिया सावन की।
सावन की मन भावन की॥
सावन में उमंगयो मेरो मनवा।
झनक सुनी हरि आवन की॥
नन्हे नन्हे बूंदन मेघा बरसे।
शीतल पवन सुहावन की॥
मीरा के प्रभु गिरिधर नगर।
आनंद मंगल गावन की॥
Meaning
A monsoon-season bhajan: Mira describes the clouds bursting over the month of Sawan, and her own heart lifting at the sound, as if it were a sign of Krishna's approach. Small raindrops fall, the breeze turns cool, and she reads the whole scene as an invitation to sing songs of joyful welcome to Girdhar Nagar. It is one of the bhajans most often performed around Janmashtami, which falls in this same rainy season.
Mane chakar raakho ji, Girdhari Lala chakar raakho ji
Chakar rahsoon, baag lagasoon, nit uthi darshan pasoon
Brindavan ki kunj gali mein, Govind leela gaoon
Mor mukut pitambar sohe, gale baijanti-mala
Brindavan mein dhenu charave, Mohan murliwala
Meera ke Prabhu gahir gambhira, aadhi raat Prabhu darshan deenho, Jamuna ji ke teera //
मने चाकर राखो जी, गिरधारी लाला चाकर राखो जी।
चाकर रहसूँ, बाग लगासूँ, नित उठि दरसन पासूँ।
बृंदावन की कुंज गली में, गोविन्द लीला गाऊँ॥
मोर मुकुट पीताम्बर सोहे, गले बैजन्तीमाला।
बृंदावन में धेनु चरावे, मोहन मुरलीवाला॥
मीरा के प्रभु गहिर गंभीरा, आधी रात प्रभु दरसन दीन्हों, जमुना जी के तीरा॥
Meaning
Mira asks Krishna to keep her simply as his servant, nothing grander: she offers to tend a garden and wake each day for the sight of him, singing of his play in the lanes of Vrindavan. She describes him as she pictures him, peacock crown, yellow silk, a garland of forest flowers, grazing cows as the flute-playing cowherd. The bhajan ends on a personal note, recalling a midnight vision of her Lord by the banks of the Yamuna.
Mira's Message & Why These Bhajans Endure
What runs through every one of these bhajans is a refusal to compromise. Mira treated her devotion to Krishna as a marriage that outranked the one arranged for her at court, and several of these verses, especially Pag Ghungroo Bandh and Mere To Girdhar Gopal, describe the social cost of that choice directly: family shame, a poisoned cup, the loss of the propriety expected of a royal widow. She sang about it anyway, in public, with dancing bells on her feet.
The name she returns to again and again is Girdhar Gopal, Krishna as the boy who lifted Govardhan hill on his little finger to shelter his village from storm. It is a deliberately intimate name, not a royal or philosophical one, and it signals the kind of devotion her poetry models: personal, almost domestic, closer to a private conversation with a beloved than to formal worship.
Mira also matters as one of the few women whose voice survives from the Bhakti movement in her own words, or at least in words attributed directly to her, at a time when women’s religious expression was rarely recorded at all. That legacy comes with a complication worth stating plainly: because her bhajans were carried by memory and performance for generations before being written down, no two collections agree on every word, and historians think some verses credited to her were composed later by poets writing in her style. The versions on this page follow the wording most consistently found across major collections, not a single authoritative original, because for Mira’s poetry no such single original survives.
How Are Mira Bhajans Sung?
- Open with the refrain – Sing the tek (refrain line) slowly two or three times so the group can join in before the verses begin.
- Move through the verses at a steady pace – Let the harmonium or tanpura hold a drone underneath while each antara (verse) is sung in turn.
- Return to the refrain between verses – Repeat the tek after each verse, call-and-response style, which is how these bhajans are traditionally led in a group.
- Keep rhythm with manjira – Hand cymbals mark the beat, especially for livelier bhajans like Pag Ghungroo Bandh Meera Nachi Re.
- Let the tempo build if it is danced – Some renditions, echoing the lyrics of Pag Ghungroo Bandh itself, speed up toward the end as dancers join in.
- Close on the signature line – Most bhajans end by naming Girdhar Gopal or Girdhar Nagar; this line is often repeated and drawn out to close the song.
What Do These Bhajans Give the Listener?
Listeners and singers describe a mix of emotional and devotional effects from returning to these bhajans regularly, though none of this is a substitute for medical or professional care.
- A sense of surrendered devotion: The lyrics model complete trust in a chosen deity, which many listeners find settling in moments of stress or uncertainty.
- A model for quiet defiance: Mira's refusal to bow to court pressure gives several of these bhajans an undertone of calm resistance that still resonates, especially for listeners navigating family or social expectation.
- An entry point into classical raga singing: Bhajans like Barse Badariya and Pag Ghungroo Bandh are commonly set to specific ragas (Bhairavi, Jhinjhoti), making them a gentle way into Hindustani classical vocal music.
- Shared group singing: The call-and-response structure of the refrain makes these bhajans easy to sing in a group, even for people without formal musical training.
- A connection to regional identity: For listeners from Rajasthan and Gujarat in particular, these bhajans carry the sound of Rajasthani and Braj-inflected Hindi, tying devotion to a specific regional heritage.
- A way to mark Janmashtami and daily Krishna worship alike: Because Mira's bhajans are woven into both festival and everyday practice, they give a small, repeatable devotional habit rather than a once-a-year ritual.
Who Was Mira Bai?
Mira Bai was born around 1498 into a Rajput family in Merta, in present-day Rajasthan, and was married into the royal house of Mewar around 1516. From childhood she is said to have regarded Krishna as her chosen husband, and after she was widowed young she devoted herself openly to his worship, a choice that put her at odds with the conduct expected of a royal household.
She belongs to the Bhakti movement, the wave of medieval devotional poet-saints across India who composed and sang in regional languages rather than Sanskrit, opening devotion up outside formal temple ritual and caste restriction. Mira’s own poetry mixes Rajasthani, Braj, and Gujarati idiom, and tradition places her later years in Vrindavan and finally in Dwarka, Gujarat, where she is remembered to have spent her final years.
Much of what is popularly told about her life, including several of the more dramatic episodes referenced in her bhajans, was written down generations after she lived and blends documented fact with devotional legend that historians cannot fully verify. What is well established is the scale of her influence: her poetry has been sung continuously since the 16th century and remains part of everyday Krishna bhakti practice across North and West India today.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many bhajans did Mira Bai write?
Hundreds of padas are attributed to her across various regional collections, but because her work was passed down by memory and performance for generations before being written down, no single verified corpus exists, and scholars agree some attributed verses were likely composed later by other poets in her style. This page presents a curated selection of six bhajans most consistently traced to her and most widely sung today, not her complete body of work.
Who is Girdhar Gopal in Mira's bhajans?
Girdhar Gopal is a name for Krishna in his form as the lifter of Govardhan hill, and it appears in nearly every bhajan attributed to Mira. She addressed Krishna by this name as her chosen husband and the sole focus of her devotion.
What language are Mira Bai's bhajans in?
Most are a blend of Rajasthani and Braj Bhasha, with some Gujarati influence depending on which regional tradition a version comes from. Because these bhajans were sung and passed down orally, spelling and word choice vary between printed collections.
Why did Mira Bai's in-laws oppose her devotion?
As a member of Mewar's royal family, Mira's public singing and dancing before Krishna were seen as breaking the codes of conduct expected of a woman of her rank. Several of her bhajans reference this conflict directly, including the poison-cup episode described in Pag Ghungroo Bandh Meera Nachi Re.
Are Mira Bai bhajans the same in every collection?
No two printed collections agree word for word. Because these bhajans were carried by memory and performance for centuries before being written down, small variations in wording exist between regional and published versions; this page follows the recension most commonly found across major sources for each bhajan.
When are Mira Bai bhajans traditionally sung?
They are sung at Janmashtami, in daily Krishna bhakti gatherings, and in classical vocal recitals set to ragas such as Bhairavi and Jhinjhoti. There is no single festival exclusive to Mira; her bhajans are part of everyday devotional repertoire.
Is Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo about Krishna or Ram?
Even though the bhajan names Ram, it sits within Mira's body of work devoted almost entirely to Krishna; Ram is used here in the generic sense of the divine, a common convention in Bhakti-era poetry, and the bhajan itself closes by naming Girdhar Nagar, her name for Krishna.
Where can I hear these bhajans performed?
They are widely recorded by classical and devotional vocalists across India. Recordings vary in tune, tempo, and even verse order, since each performer draws on regional and oral variants passed down through their own gharana or teacher.
॥ मेरे तो गिरधर गोपाल दूसरो न कोई ॥