Raksha Bandhan

India is a country of festivals and Raksha Bandhan is one of them. Raksha Bandhan is a festival of Hindu’s celebrated with unconditional love and affection between brothers and sisters. The word ‘Raksha Bandhan has been derived from Hindi, in which the meaning of Raksha is ‘Protection’ and Bandhan means ‘Bond’. Therefore, Raksha Bandhan is a pious bond of protection of sisters by their brothers. On this day, the sisters tie the pious thread, the ‘Rakhi’ on the wrist of their brothers. The Rakhi symbolizes the sister’s love.

On this occasion the sisters prayer for the well-being and good future of their brothers. The prayer is also performed for the long life of brothers. On this day brothers renew their pledge to come to their sisters’ help in times of need (Yash Garg). In this way an unspoken pledge is exchanged between, a brother and sister cementing their fraternal relationship.

This frail thread of Rakhi is considered stronger than iron chains as it binds the most beautiful relationship in an inseparable bond of love and trust. It underlines mental apprehension that everybody should live in harmonious coexistence with each other.

Among Hindu’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’ has indeed assumed all aspects of protection of the forces of righteousness from the forces of evil (ABRAHAM, 2007). This festival produce a most auspicious occasion to recharge Hindus every year with the true spirit of service and sacrifice for the welfare of the society, and find there in the highest spiritual fulfilment of human life (Kanitkar 1989,).

According to Panchang Raksha Bandhan falls on the full moon day i.e. Purnima of Shravana month, generally in the month of August every year.

On this day of Sharavan Purnima, while the entire country celebrates 'Raksha Bandhan' the world famous pilgrimage to Amarnath cave organized in Kashmir for the glimpse of the Ice-Lingam, which waxes and wanes along with the growth and decline of the moon. On this day the Kashmiri Pandits collect the holy clay from the Shankaracharya hill, mix mercury with it and make the required number of 'Partheshwaras' for a personnel pooja. They keep fast on this day and immerse the Partheshwara in the river waters in the evening (Mudasir & Umar, 2013).

In ancient times sages and priests used to tie a thread around the wrist of peoples to protect them from bad omens. But later on this thread took the shape of Rakhi and began to be used on the festival of Raksha Bandhan.

There are various stories associated with this festival. According to one story, Lord Indra was fighting with demons in which he was nearly got defeated. To save himself, Indra along with his wife, Saachi Devi, got the help of Guru Brihspati. Guru Brihspati tied a pious thread on his wrist on this day and thereafter, Lord Indra defeated the demons (Priyanka Verma, 2012).

According to another Hinduism, when Indra, the king of gods, began to lose in the war against demons, his wife Indrani tied the sacred thread to Indra’s right-hand wrist, and consequently, turned the battle in Indra’s favor (Yash Garg).

Once Draupadi, the wife Pandvas, tied a piece of her saree on the bleeding wound of Lord Krishna. After that Krishna considered her as a sister and promised to protect her from evils (Priyanka Verma, 2012).

Since those days, Raksha Bandhan is festive every year on the full moon day i.e. Purnima of Shravana, by tieing the pious thread of love and trust.

There is a correlation between heavy rains and the Hindu calendar dates of festivals like ‘Raksha Bandhan’, ‘Janmasthami’ and ‘Ganesh mahotsav’ in Maharashtra needs to be investigated scientifically (V. M. Meher Homji, 2002). On this occasion, the peoples also tie the “Rakhi’ to trees, promising to protect each one of them. (Sharma, 2013).

Corresponding to ‘Raksha Bandhan’ there is “Mun-bola-bahi/behn” tradition among the Muslims according to which a person can name another as his or her sibling (Masood, 2006).

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