RAS question
Meerabai's devotional poetry (padavali) is dedicated to:
Correct answer: (B) Lord Krishna.
Meerabai's devotional poetry, or padavali, is dedicated to Lord Krishna.
Explanation
Meerabai belongs to the North Indian bhakti tradition in which devotion to a chosen deity was expressed through songs that ordinary people could sing and remember. She was a Rajput princess of Mewar and an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna, whose padavali in Rajasthani and Braj Bhasha expresses love and longing for Krishna as her divine husband. NCERT supports the same point: it places Mirabai among saints such as Dadu Dayal and Ravidas, notes that she was married into the royal family of Mewar, and states that she was devoted to Krishna and composed innumerable songs expressing intense devotion. That is why the substantive answer is Krishna, not merely bhakti in general.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Lord Rama is associated in the NCERT passage with Tulsidas, while Mirabai is specifically described as devoted to Krishna.
- (C) Lord Shiva appears in the wider bhakti context, but the question asks about Mirabai's padavali, which NCERT links to Krishna.
- (D) Goddess Durga is listed among deities worshipped through bhakti, but Mirabai's devotional poetry is dedicated to Krishna, not Durga.
Concept
This tests the medieval bhakti movement, especially the link between saint-poets and their chosen deity. It recurs in RAS because Rajasthan's own Mirabai connects regional history with broader North Indian devotional traditions.