The story behind Raksha Bandhan
The legends are many and beautiful. The Bhagavata Purana records that Indrani tied a sacred thread around Indra's wrist before the war between devas and asuras, and Indra returned victorious — the thr…
The legends are many and beautiful. The Bhagavata Purana records that Indrani tied a sacred thread around Indra's wrist before the war between devas and asuras, and Indra returned victorious — the thread itself was the protection. The Mahabharata recounts how Draupadi tore a strip from her sari to bandage Krishna's bleeding finger; Krishna took on her protection thereafter, and the cloth she tied is remembered as the first rakhi. History records Rani Karnavati of Mewar sending a rakhi to Mughal emperor Humayun to seek his protection from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat — establishing rakhi as a cross-community bond of duty. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore turned Rakhi into a symbol of unity during the 1905 Partition of Bengal, with Hindus and Muslims tying rakhis to one another as an act of brotherhood.
The ritual itself is simple and deeply moving. The sister performs aarti for the brother, applies tilak on his forehead, ties the rakhi on his right wrist, and feeds him sweets. The brother offers a gift in return — traditionally money or jewellery, today often more elaborate — and pledges his lifelong duty. Many homes also tie rakhis on family deities, on ancestral photos, on the wrists of close cousins, and on community members who hold the bond of brotherhood by choice.