The story of Raksha Bandhan, an auspicious brother–sister festival dates back to Mahabharata in which it is stated that once Lord Krishna cut his finger while using his Sudarshan Chakra against King Shishupal which started bleeding and came into Draupadi’s notice. She then tied a piece of cloth from her saree to stop the bleeding. Considering, the cloth as a sacred thread, Lord Krishna then promised her to save from all evils throughout his life.
Image by Shantanu Kashyap from Pixabay
There are many other stories associated with Raksha Bandhan. Here’s more!
The act of tying a piece of cloth by Draupadi in synonymous with Raksha bandhan – a girl tying Rakhi on her brother’s wrist and he, in turn, promising to protect her! On this auspicious day, the brothers and sisters shower unconditional love and faith. Sisters apply tilak on her brother’s forehead as a symbol of soul consciousness. Apart from promise to protect the sister, the brother also offers sweets and gifts. The family member dress up in new clothes and enjoy delicious feast.
The festival of promise to protect falls in the month of August on the last day of the Hindu Lunar Calendar month of Shravana.
There are numerous legends associated with this festival.
According to Bhavishya Puran, Lord Indra sought the advice of Brihaspati Dev to vanquish Demons during a fierce battle. Indra was adviced to tie a sacred thread powered by Mantra on his wrist on the day of Shravan Purnima. Lord Indra’s wife, Queen Sachi, also known as Indrani tied the thread and because of its power called Raksha, the Gods won the battle.
The auspicious festival is followed by Lord Yam and his sister Yamuna. Yamuna tied Rakhi to Yam and bestowed immortality to him. Yam was so overwhelmed by the serenity that he declared that whoever gets a Rakhi tied from his sister and promised her protection will become immortal.
Here’s another interesting story of Raksha Bandhan. It is said that when Alexander invaded India, his wife Roxana sent a sacred thread to Porus asking him not to harm his husband in the battle. As per traditions, Porus gave full respect to the sacred thread and when he was about to deliver the final blow to Alexander, he restrained himself from attacking personally.
As per Historians, the Mughal King Humayun, showed his deference towards the significance of Rakhi by not taking any measures against the attack of Shershah Suri and went to save and help the widow Rajput Queen of Chittaur, Karnavati who had sent a Rakhi to Humayun.
It is believed that Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore started a mass Raksha Bandhan festival during Bengal Partition (1905) in which he encouraged Hindu and Muslim women to tie Rakhi on men from other community and make them their brothers. This exercise was designed to challenge British efforts to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims.
This festival has a celebration crossing the barriers of caste, creed and religion and is not celebrated in many other parts of the world and not just in India.
Raksha means Protection and Bandhan means Bound. It portrays pure love between siblings, but, apart from this festival having deeper meaning and spiritual significance, each individual is manifested with divine energy. On this day, frequencies of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Saraswati reach the earth in greater quantities and both the siblings benefit from this ritual.
Hope you found these stories associated with Raksha Bandhan interesting, if so, please share and spread the knowledge.
Shop some interesting Rakshi special combos from below, my personal favourites.
p.s. these are amazon affiliate links
Also read:
Happy Raksha Bandhan : An Open Letter to Brothers
Funny & Emotional Raksha Bandhan Quotes for Sister
7 Last Minute Raksha Bandhan Gifts for Your Sister
If you like reading novels, do check out my bestselling novels as well. Do follow me on my instagram and facebook and be a part of my social media fam to get realtime updates from me! And just in case you don’t know, I also have a Youtube Channel, subscribe me there for my travel vlogs and other interesting stuff. And lastly but most importantly, Subscribe to my NEWSLETTER to receive updates from this blog via email.
