Raksha Bandhan

Overview

Raksha Bandhan — “the tying of protection” — is Shravana Purnima, the full moon of the monsoon month. A sister ties a thread (rakhi) on her brother’s wrist, applies a tilak and offers him something sweet; he gives a gift and, in the sense the thread carries, his protection. The day has older layers under the family one: the same full moon is the Shravani Upakarma, when the sacred thread is renewed, and Narali Purnima on the western coast. Because the tying should avoid Bhadra, its hour is the year’s most-consulted muhurat.

The stories

Indra and Shachi. The Bhavishya Purana’s Uttara Parva has Indra, losing a war against the asuras, saved by a thread his wife Shachi ties on his wrist on Shravana Purnima after Brihaspati’s counsel — the thread as raksha, protection, before it was a sibling custom.

Bali and Vamana. The verse said when the rakhi is tied names King Bali, whom Vishnu as Vamana bound with three steps (Bhagavata Purana, eighth canto); a later story has Lakshmi tie a thread on Bali to win Vishnu’s release from his service as Bali’s gatekeeper.

Draupadi and Krishna. In the Mahabharata’s Sabha Parva, Draupadi tears a strip from her sari to bind Krishna’s cut finger; the popular tradition reads his protection of her in the dice-hall as the debt repaid, and this is the story most often told to children on the day.

How the day is kept

Tying the rakhi. The sister prepares a thali — rakhi, roli, rice, a lamp, sweets. She applies the tilak, ties the thread on the brother’s right wrist while the verse is said (or a simpler blessing), performs aarti and feeds him; he touches her feet or she his, by age, and gives the gift. Brothers who are away receive the rakhi by post — a large part of the postal traffic of the week. The thread is kept on until it frays, or in some families until Krishna Janmashtami or Dussehra.

Timing. The tithi rule this site uses is Purnima current in aparahna, the fourth fifth of the day; local calendars refine it by Bhadra, which can push the tying to evening or, rarely, to the next morning while Purnima still prevails.

Jaap. No fixed count. Households that keep one keep their usual mantra; the day’s Krishna connection makes the mahamantra common. This site links no aarti or chalisa for the day because none is specific to it.

Regional forms

• North India: Raksha Bandhan as described; in Rajasthan the lumba rakhi is tied on the sister-in-law’s bangle as well.
• Maharashtra, Goa, Konkan: Narali Purnima — fishing communities offer a coconut to the sea and begin the fishing season; the rakhi is tied the same day.
• South India and Maharashtra (Brahmin communities): Avani Avittam / Shravani Upakarma — the sacred thread renewed with the Gayatri, the year’s Vedic study formally begun; the Yajurvedic Upakarma is on this Purnima, the Rigvedic on the Shravana nakshatra day nearby.
• Bundelkhand and Chhattisgarh: Kajari Purnima, kept by farmers and by mothers of sons, with the sowing of wheat in leaf cups a week earlier.
• Odisha: Gamha Purnima, Balarama’s birthday, with the worship of cattle.

The date

Purnima in aparahna, for one’s own city; the table gives New Delhi. Bhadra is not computed here; the hour of tying should come from a local panchang.