JAGDISH CHANDER RAINA
Raksha Bandhan is holistically dedicated to the love & affection shared between a brother and sister. Here on this day, sisters tie a holy thread around the wrist of their brothers and pray for their long life and wellbeing. It means a bond of protection. The ritual takes place on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Shravan. Raksha Bandhan is not just a festival it also signifies the everlasting love, emotions and eternal bonding between brother and sister. Not just Rakhis and gifts the ritual is about a sacrosanct relationship with many dimensions.
A thread which sisters’ tie is rightly called Rakhi & pulsates with sisterly love and transcendent sentiments. This ritual doesn’t only strengthen the cemented bond of love and care between siblings but also surpasses the precincts of the family. While a sister ties Rakhi around the wrist of brothers, brothers in return concede the love with a promise to stand-by his sister during all good and bad phases of life. The below mentioned mantra is recited while tying the Rakhi or the Sacred Raksha Sutra, ‘Yena Baddho Baliraja Daanavendro Mahaabala, Tena Twaamabhi Bandh Naami Rakshe Maa Chala Maa Chala’ which means, ‘I tie on you (the brother or devotee) the Raksha Sutra which was tied on Bali, the King of demons. Therefore O Raksha! Don’t ever fail to protect this devotee, do not ever fail.’
India is a country widely known for its strong family culture system. Therefore, every year, Rakhi is celebrated with lots of anticipation & zeal. The auspicious festival of Rakhi symbolizes the sacred bond of love and affection that is strengthened by Raksha Sutra for brothers. The festival of Raksha Bandhan is been considered as a dedicated occasion for celebrating wonderful bond of siblinghood with the brothers. Raksha Bandhan stands for the celebration of siblinghood and is also known as Rakhi “the knot of commitment”. People have a traditional belief that the sacred thread of Rakhi has a strong power to bring closer the lovely relationship of a brother and sister. He pledges to protect her from all miseries & dangers under all circumstances. Sister performs Religious Puja and Tilak Ceremony by applying Kumkum Powder on the forehead of her brother. She also does Aarti and prays for her brother’s long life, good health & prosperity. In other words, Rakhi festival is synonym of pious love and cherished emotions shared amongst siblings. Since time immemorial, this festival is being marked as a day to cherish the most pious relation on this planet. The festival of Raksha Bandhan is widely celebrated all across India and its name changes from different place to place.
This unique festival is celebrated with loads of love and frolic in India. In addition to tying Rakhis on the wrist of dear brothers, savoring tempting and gourmet delicacies, exchange of exciting gift items are also been part of this festival. All these events cumulatively make the vibrant festival of Rakhi more joyful. Thus, Rakhi is the most awaited & exciting festival among sisters & brothers. This festival falls on Shravan Purnima i.e., lunar day in the month of August. Brothers and sisters staying all across the world indulge into joyful and happy moments of festivals by tying attractive Rakhi and exchange of impressive gifts. This festival actually unites the whole family by bringing all near & dear ones together. This occasion is considered as the perfect time to enjoy with all by gorging on sweet delicacies & finger-licking dishes. This day is also marked by showering of blessings by elders on their young ones in form of wonderful Rakhi gifts wrapped with heartfelt sentiments. All those sisters who stay away from their brother and can’t meet their brothers on the festival, like to send Rakhi along with their heartily wishes via courier services or e-stores. Thus, long distances and physical barrier cannot spoil the essence of Raksha Bandhan. This wonderful festival successfully reunites people by transcending borders, castes & creed and religious differences. There are numerous legends associated with Raksha Bandhan. As per Bhavishya Puran once there was fierce battle between the Devtas and Danavas (Demons) for twelve years. The Devtas including mighty Indra lost and prepared to fight again. Indra sought advice of Brihaspati Dev to vanquish the Demons. Brihaspati Dev advised Indra to tie a sacred thread powered by mantras on his wrist on the day of Shravan Purnima. Lord Indras wife Queen Shachi also called Indrani; tied the thread on wrist of Brihaspati Dev and Indra. The power of the sacred thread called Raksha Sutra helped the gods to attain victory in the battle over Asuras. As per another legend Lord Vishnu as Vaman Avtar, pleased by Bali’s commitment to donate him three steps of land, granted him boon in return of fulfillment of his words. As Demon King Bali was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, he prayed him to stay before him day and night. Agreeing on this, Lord Vishnu became the doorkeeper of King leaving his own about in Vaikunth. Goddess Lakshmi wanted to bring back Lord Vishnu to Vaikunth. Thus on the advice of Narad Rishi, Godess Lakshmi went to Bali disguised as Brahmin Woman to seek refuge till her husband came back. On Shravan Purnima, Laxmi tied the sacred thread on the wrist of King Bali and requested him to allow Lord Vishnu to return back to his abode. Thus the festival is also called Baleva. The Ritual of Raksha Bandhan is also followed by Lord Yama (The Lord of Death) and his sister Yamuna. Yamuna tied rakhi to Yama and bestowed immortality and the Yama was so moved by the serenity of the occasion that he declared that whoever gets a rakhi tied from his sister and promised her protection will become immortal. Raksha Bandhan finds a mention in epic Mahabharata also. While killing Shishupal, Lord Krishna got his finger hurt and Queen Draupadi tied a strip of her saree on the finger of Lord Krishna. When Draupadi was being stripped before others, Lord Krishna saved her honour intact by throwing a never ending cloth around her. This incident is said to to have happened at Purnima of the Shravan month. During the war of Kouravas and Pandvas at Krukheshetra, Lord Krishna advised Yudhishther to perform the Raksha Suter Ceremony to protect himself and his army. It is said that Kunti, the mother of Pandavas, tied Rakhi to her grandson Abhimanyu.
When Alexander invaded India in 326 BC his wife Roxana (or Roshnak) sent sacred thread to Porus, asking him not to harm her husband in battle. In accordance with the tradition Porus gave full respect to Rakhi. On the battlefield, when Porus was about to deliver a final blow to Alexander, he restrained himself from attacking Alexander personally. As per historians Mughal King Humayun also showed his respect towards the significance of Rakhi. He didn’t take measures against attack of Shershah Suri and went away to save and help the widow Rajput queen of Chittaur, Karnavati who had sent a Rakhi to Humayun. It is thus a celebration crossing the barriers of religion, caste and creed. ‘Raksha’ means protection and ‘Bandhan’ means bound or binding. It portrays pure love between brothers and sisters. Popularly this festival is marked by the tying of Rakhi or Holy Thread (Raksha Suter) by the sister on the wrist of her brother. On this day frequencies of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Saraswati reach the earth in greater quantities and both the siblings benefit from this ritual to maximum extent. The spiritual energies in both get greater boost. Just as brother is bound by apromise to protect the sister after getting the sacred string tied onto his wrist so also the sister p rays to god for his protection and blesses him. The application of ‘Tilak’ on forehead of brother by the sister is a symbol of awakening of soul-consciousness and signifies victory against vices of anger, lust, greed, attachment, ego, pain etc. Praying for her brother’s long life sister puts a sweet in Bhaiya’s mouth. Brother reciprocates by presenting Rakhi Return Gifts to sister and promises to guard her against all hardships in life. This simple Rakhi ceremony symbolizes and strengthens the eternal bond of love between a brother and sister. The festival of Raksha Bandhan assumes all forms of Raksha or protection, of righteousness and destroyer of all sin. The ritual of Rakhi tying has become so important that come what may, brothers and sisters try to visit each other place on this particular day in order to bring back the oneness of the family, binding the family together in an emotional bond of love. The Raksh Bandhan is celebrated in different ways and in different names in various states across the country:
Lumba Rakhi: Traditionally followed as custom among Rajasthani and Marwari community where sisters tie Rakhis on the Bangle of the brother’s wife (Sister-in-Law). Bangle in Marwari is called as Lumba and thus the Rakhi tied to the bangle is called the Lumba Rakhi. These days most of the communities are adopting this tradition.
Gamha Purnima: Raksha Bandhan is celebrated as Gamha Purnima in Odisha. On this day domesticated cows and bullocks are decorated and worshipped. Different kinds of country made cakes called Pitha and sweets are made and distributed among families, relatives and friends. Narali Purnima: In coastal areas of Gujrat, Maharashtra and Goa this day is celebrated as Narali Purnima. On this day people make offerings of Coconut to the sea as a mark of respect to the Lord Varuna, the God of the sea. This day also marks as the beginning of the fishing season for the fishermen.
Shravani or Jandhyam Purnima: Jandhyam in Sanskrit is for sacred thread and the people of Kumaon region of Uttrakhand celebrate Raksha Bandhan and Janopunyu on the Shravani Purnima. It is the day on which people change their Yagnopavit (Sacred Thread)
Kajari Purnima: In central Indian states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand the day is celebrated as Kajari Purnima which is an important festival for the farmers as the day marks the beginning of the New Agricultural Season. Sowing of Barley and Wheat on this day is considered auspicious.
Jhulan Purnima: In Bengal, this day is also called Purnima and apart from celebration of Raksha Bandhan on this day people pray to Lord Krishna and Radha Rani.
Pavitropana: In Gujrat this day is celebrated as Pavitropana. On this auspicious day most of the people offer water to the Shivlangam in the nearby temples and offer prayers to Lord Shiva and seek his blessings. Thus Raksha Bandhan is a day of brotherhood, well being, happiness and prosperity in life and in today’s scenario, the day has a different perspective. The occasion involves a pledge of life-time practice of moral, cultural and spiritual values. The values and the sentiments attached to the rituals of this festival are worth inculcating by the whole human race, the sentiments of harmony and peaceful coexistence.
(The author is working as
Deputy Director, Vegetable
Improvement Scheme, Jammu).