ruler, she considered Krishna to be her
true husband. After extended conflict
with her in-laws—in which they report-
edly attempted to poison her—her
release came with the death of her hus-
band, after which she was allowed to
leave her marital home. She spent her
later years visiting places associated
with Krishna and sharing in the “good
company” (satsang) of other devotees.
She went to Dwaraka, the city over
which Krishna is said to have ruled, and
met her end by being absorbed into the
image of Krishna at his temple there.
Mirabai’s poetry is marked by her
expressions of longing for Krishna. She
often speaks of herself either as his wife
or his waiting lover, seeking physical and
mystical union with him. Her poetry is
an intensely personal expression of her
religious fervor; the power of this long-
ing has made her a symbol of religious
devotion. For scholars, Mirabai’s poetry
raises perplexing questions of author-
ship, for the earliest manuscripts are
several hundred years older than when
she is supposed to have lived, but for
common people the songs bearing her
name are widely popular even today.
She has also been featured in at least ten
feature films, showing the staying power
of devotion even in the modern age. For
further information see A. J. Alston
(trans.), The Devotional Poems of
Mirabai, 1980; and John Stratton Hawley
and Mark Juergensmeyer (trans.), Songs
of the Saints of India, 1988.
Mitakshara
A voluminous commentary on the
Yajnavalkya Smrti, written early in the
twelfth century by the scholar
Vijnaneshvara. This particular com-
mentary played a pivotal role in the
British colonial administration of India.
The British were content to have their
Indian subjects governed by their tradi-
tional religious laws, but to do so they
needed to know what these laws were.
For large sections of British India, the
Mitaksharawas given the status of tradi-
tional law, functioning as a legal code.
The only major part of India in which
the Mitaksharadid not hold sway was in
Bengal, where the legal authority was
the Dayabhaga. One of the major differ-
ences between the two was in matters of
inheritance. The Mitaksharastresses
inheritance by survivorship, in which
only living males can inherit property,
whereas the Dayabhagastresses inheri-
tance by succession, in which a dead
man’s heirs can inherit in his name.Mithila
In the Ramayana, the earlier of the two
great Indian epics, Mithila is the king-
dom ruled by King Janaka, foster father
of Sita, the goddess. The region is
known for its wealth, as well as for the
righteousness of its rulers; it is identified
with the Mithila region in the northern
part of the state of modern Bihar.Mithuna
(“pair”) In architecture, the name for
what has been described as a “loving
couple.” A more candid characterization
is that of sculptures of men and women
engaged in sexual activity, either as a
pair or a larger group, with the occasion-
al animal thrown in for variety. The most
famous examples of such sculptures
are at the temples at Konarakin the
state ofOrissa, and at Khajuraho in
the state of Madhya Pradesh. The
meaning behind such explicit sculp-
tures has been variously interpreted.
Some people claim that they sanction
carnal pleasure as a religious path,
some interpret them as representing
human union with the divine, and still
others view them as teaching that the
desire for pleasure must ultimately be
transcended to attain the divine. Any
of these may be true, or the sculptures
may simply reflect an affirmation of life
on all its levels.Mitra Mishra
(early 17th c.) Author of the Viramitrodaya,
a compendium of Hindu lore. The
Viramitrodayais an example of a class ofMitakshara