Bhajan: Mira bhajan, "Meware Rana Koi Karate"

Selected Performance
Mira bhajan sung by an unidentified jogi who accompanies himself on a tandura (a spiked, long-necked lute) and khartal (small cymbals set in rectangular wooden frames), and is accompanied by another jogi who plays mañjira (small, hand-held cymbals) and a man who joins in the singing on repeats as a congregation would if it were performed communally. Inde, Rajasthan: Musiciens professionnels populaires (OCORA OCR 81).
Mirabai (fl. 16th century) was a Rajput (popularly described as the daughter of the Rana of Udaipur) who devoted her life to the worship of Krishna. Abandoning her family and husband, she dwelled in temples and religious ashrams with other devotees, becoming famous for her bhajans and her moving performances.
Such behavior was a great embarrassment for the martial Rajputs, the dominant indigenous rulers of western India. Her father and husband are commonly described in the bhajans as trying in various ways to murder her . . . , or at least arrange for her serendipitous (for them) demise. Each time, however, they fail.
Would Mira have written about attempts on her own life? Probably not. A more likely answer is that Mira became the subject of devotional song genre, other composers seeing in her an example of true devotion.
The following is an extract of a translation of a Mirabai bhajan.