Raksha Bandhan

Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi (???i ) is a Hindu festival and also Sikh festival, which celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters. It is celebrated on the full moon of the month of Shraavana and in 2009 it falls on August 5 .As we all know that Raksha Bandhan is the celebration of bond of love among brothers and sisters. But there are numerous legends associated with the origin of Rakhi. If we try to find out the origin behind Rakhi we will have to refer

Hindu mythology as most of the roots of Hindu festival can be traced from Hindu mythology. The festival nurtures a varied and rich heritage of legendry epics. According to Bhavishya Purana there was a battle between gods and demons, and Indra (the king of the gods) was defeated by the demons and he was totally shattered. At that time on advice of Guru Brihaspati, (the guru of Devtas) Indra's wife Sachi took a silken thread, popularly known as 'Raksha' and charged it with sacred verses for protection and tied it on Indra's wrist. As a result the strength of the sacred thread helped Indra conquered his enemies. Since then till today this festival is celebrated. It is considered as gesture of goodwill and protection.

There are various other legends also associated with Rakhi. In the pages of history also we have seen Rakhi had played an important and significant roles in building strong relations and bonds among two rulers and kingdoms. For instance Alexander's wife believed to have tied rakhi to King Porus during that time due to which in battlefields he had to restrain himself from attacking Alexander inspite of having numerous opportunities. Even history evidences show that during Mughal period the custom of tying rakhis helped bind the Hindu Rajputs and Mughal rulers together. According to legend, when Bahadur Shah of Gujarat attacked Rani Karnavati of Chittor, she sent a rakhi to Humayun as bond of love and requested him to help. So all of these legends associated with the festival teaches us one thing that there is nothing above true love and affection. It is this bond of togetherness that binds us. So these are the few legends associated with the festival of Rakhi, which signifies the importance of Raksha Bandhan celebration in India.

http://holidays.vgreets.com/Rakhi/history/