Rakshabandhan is a festival associated with the bond of mutual affection, love, and commitment of brothers and sisters. It’s a festival that flows new energy and strength into the relationship of a brother-sister. Sisters are eager to tie Rakhi on their brother’s wrist with great enthusiasm on this day. This festival shows the affection for the brother from the sister, while it makes the brother realize his duties as well.
This sacred bond, bound by colorful threads, dates back centuries, with its roots very deeply linked to our culture. This festival is a bond of sattvic emotions that commits a brother to protect his sister and every girl in the world.
This festival has a distinct golden history of its own, but with the changing times, it has also undergone a lot of changes. Today, modernity is dominating our values and relationships. Pretensions have taken the place of strength and love in relationships. Let’s take a look at what we inherited and what we saved in the changing times.
This festival associated with the love of brother and sister is very unique, it not only strengthens the relationship of brother and sister and infuses new energy, but it is also a festival of social and ecological commitment and uniting everyone. This festival is a festival of connecting emotions with emotions beyond the walls of caste and religion that we have inherited from our ancestors.
These festivals are mainly associated with protection, which commits to protecting anyone. If you take a pledge to protect every girl in the world and your sister, then the purpose of this festival will be fulfilled in the true sense.
Stories of Rakshabandhan beyond the wall of religions
Mythological stories are also associated with this festival – Draupadi had once tied the pallu of her saree on Lord Krishna’s hand to stop the blood flowing through his hand. And in return, Lord Krishna kept his word by protecting her when she was being humiliated in a packed gathering. Mythological stories also tell that Parvati was considered by Lord Vishnu as his sister and performed all the duties as a brother in marriage with Shiva.
A story comes out of history – When Alexander went out to conquer the world, his wife tied a thread on the wrist of the Hindu king Puru and made him a mouthful brother, and took a pledge not to kill Alexander. King Puru obeying the promise didn’t kill Alexander.
Similarly, there is another popular story according to which the widow of Mewar, Maharani Karmavati, was alarmed when she was informed of Bahadur Shah’s invasion, and she sent a rakhi to the Mughal king Humayun and pleaded for protection. Humayun also followed his word and defended his kingdom by fighting a war with Bahadur Shah.
The roots of Rakshabandhan are very deeply connected to our culture. The brother protects the sister, but at the same time, the sister also prays for the protection of her brother from every adversity.
Rakhis And Changing Values
These colorful threads may be raw, but the love and trust tied in them are very strong that protect in every adversity. In our culture, there has been a tradition of tying rakhis for a long time.
The Raksha sutra of the host is tied with the chanting of mantras by the pandit, while in the earlier times when the king used to go to war, the Raksha sutra was tied with the desire for his protection and victory.
All the stories related to Raksha Bandhan show that people kept their promise by respecting Rakhi even in adverse circumstances and were always ready to protect their sister. This festival reflects our culture and heritage, but in today’s changing times, modernity has started dominating this festival also, since then this tradition has been going on till today, but somewhere we are losing our values.
This tradition of the old times continues even today, but now the feeling of belongingness and the warmth of love in these colorful threads have started to decrease. At one time, the kind of excitement and sensibility that was about Rakhi, perhaps now they have started to feel the termites of the name of money, who have gradually started taking money in place of love in relationships.
In today’s time, the colorful threads have been replaced by silver and gold rakhis, in return for which the brother also has to give gifts to the sister by following the social practice accordingly, so the brother also thinks it is more correct to fulfill this ritual than to understand his duties. So, if you’re among brothers who are searching for return gifts for sisters, finding them in your nearby store or online websites would help you. In today’s era of modernity, more pretensions than love and goodwill have taken place.
