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OF THE HINDUS.
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from the followers of VALLABHA: at the same time it is chiefly amongst those sectarians, that Mirá Bái and her deity, RANACHHOŘ, are held in high veneration, and, except in the west of India, it does not appear that she has many immediate and exclusive adherents.
Mirá Bái is the heroine of a prolix legend in the Bhakta Málá, which is a proof at least of her popularity: as the author of sacred poems addressed to the deity, as Vishnu, she also enjoys a classical celebrity, and some of her odes are to be found in the collections which constitute the ritual of the deistical sects, especially those of Nának and Kabír: according to the authority cited, she flourished in the time of Akbar, who was induced by her reputation to pay her a visit, accompanied by the famous musician Tán Sen, and it is said, that they both acknowledged the justice of her claim to celebrity.
Mirá was the daughter of a petty Rájá, the sovereign of a place called Mertá; she was married to the Ráńá of Udayapur, but soon after being taken home by him quarrelled with her mother-in-law, a worshipper of Deví, respecting compliance with the family adoration of that goddess, and was, in consequence of her persevering refusal to desert the worship of KŘISHŇA, expelled the Ráñá's bed and palace: she appears to have been treated, however, with consideration, and to have been allowed an independent establishment, owing, probably, rather to the respect paid to her abilities, than a notion of her personal sanctity, although
