Rakshabandhan

Yen baddho Bali raja, danavendra mahabalah ।
Ten tvaam abhibaddhanami rakshe ma chala ma chala ॥

This mantra is to be recited when tying a rakhi. The occasion of Rakshabandhan falls on Thursday the 11th of August this year.

It says, “I bind you with the very protective thread that tied the demon King Bali to dharma, and request you to adhere to dharma and protect me.”

This festival celebrates the brother-sister relationship; if not siblings then cousins, or even a rakhi-brother, wherein a woman honours a man with the sacred thread considering him as her brother. But there have been cases in our history wherein a wife ties it to her husband or friends tie it to each other as a promise of protection.

One such story is that of Indra and Shachi (alternatively known as Indrani). In the Puranic tales, it is believed that the first rakhi must be tied to one’s husband instead of the brother. During a battle between the Devas and Daityas, Shachi asked Krishna for counsel regarding her husband’s safety. He gave her a sacred thread to fasten around Indra’s wrist that would guard him from any calamity.

A tale in the Mahabharata shows the bond between two friends Krishna and Draupadi. Once, he cut his finger, and Draupadi promptly tore a piece of her saree to bind the wound. To appreciate his friend’s caring gesture, he promised to safeguard her. We’re reminded of this promise when Draupadi was dragged to Dhritrashtra’s court by Dushasan, and Krishna shielded her honour.

Per the Vishnu Puran, King Bali (the aforementioned demon King and Prahlad’s grandson) requested him to provide protection. He travelled to his kingdom in the guise of a doorkeeper. Goddess Laxmi soon began worrying about her husband, and hoped for his safe return. She had a plan; in the holy month of Shravan, she tied a coloured thread on Bali’s wrist and honoured him as her brother. He gave her the gift of fulfilling one wish, which was to free her husband from his oath.

Similarly, Alexander the Great’s Bactrian wife Roxana had sent King Puru a rakhi with a request that he should not harm her husband. Humayun was sent a rakhi from Rana Sanga’s widow for providing defense against Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. The Sikh Queen Jindan, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s wife, had sent a rakhi to the Nepali King Jung Bahadur. After the accession of Ranjit Singh’s empire to the British, Jung Bahadur gave her shelter as a part of his brotherly promise.

All these tales impart the same knowledge, the calibre of this sacred thread tied on the pure full moon of Shravan- an individual requesting the other to provide security and the other fulfilling their oath.