SOURCE: Schelling, Andrew. “‘Where's My Beloved?’: Mirabai's Prem Bhakti Marg.” In Vaisnavi: Women and the Worship of Krishna, edited by Steven J. Rosen, pp. 47-58. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1996.

In the following essay, both academic and personal in tone, Schelling identifies Sanskrit influences on Mirabai's work, reflects on why Mira's songs are so compelling to modern North American audiences, and finds the reasons partly in the prem bhakti marg of the title, the path of romance and worship.

I.

Two poets linked across centuries by the act of translation develop a perilous intimacy. I want to speak a word about this intimacy, about the intricate wildness, about the unpredictable responses poets provoke from each other. I want to consider why the song of a poet from a far distant time or culture sings to contemporary ears, and how this kinship called translation, forged across centuries, can only...