Raksha Bandhan History In English – Raksha Bandhan, or Rakhi, is a bond of unbreakable love between brothers and sisters, which is known to symbolize the undying love between brother and sister. Raksha Bandhan, or Rakhi, is a festival celebrated every year on the full moon date of Shravan month. On this day, sisters perform puja and tie Rakhi on the wrists of their brothers and also wish for their health and success in life. The same brothers also promise to protect, love and help their sisters in adverse situations.
Raksha Bandhan History In English (History Of Raksha Bandhan)
There are many stories related to Raksha Bandhan, the main ones of which are as follows –
Story of Lakshmi ji and King Bali
According to the story of Skanda Purana, Padma Purana and Shrimad Bhagwat Purana, demon king Danveer Raja Bali was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Once he was performing a yagya to please God. To test his devotee, Lord Vishnu took the incarnation of Vaman and in the guise of a Brahmin reached the door of King Bali to beg for alms. Lord Vaman asked for three steps of land as donation. The king accepted the Brahmin’s demand. The Brahmin measured the entire land with his first step and the entire sky with his second step. Then God asked where to take his third step. Then King Bali put his head forward and said that you take the third step on my head.
Seeing this devotion of the king, Lord Vaman made him the king of the underworld. King Bali also asked for a boon that you should stay with him in the underworld. On the other hand, Goddess Lakshmi became worried due to Lord Vishnu not returning. She disguised herself as a poor woman and reached King Bali and tied Rakhi to him. The king asked to ask for anything in exchange for Rakhi. So Goddess Lakshmi came in her real form and demanded the return of Lord Vishnu. Keeping the respect of Rakhi, the king sent Lord Vishnu back with Mother Lakshmi.
Story of Draupadi and Lord Krishna
It is believed that before the war of Mahabharata, Lord Shri Krishna had killed King Shishupal with Sudarshan Chakra after abusing him 100 times. Due to which his finger started bleeding and Draupadi present there tore a piece of her saree and tied it on his finger. After which Lord Krishna promised to save Draupadi from every trouble. Keeping his promise, Lord Krishna protected Draupadi during her disrobing. Since then, on the day of Rakshabandhan, sisters tie Rakhi on their brother’s wrist.
Story of soldiers and Yudhishthir
There is another story prevalent in the Mahabharata period related to Rakshabandhan. According to which, during the war of Mahabharata, when Yudhishthir asked Lord Krishna how he can overcome all the troubles, then Shri Krishna asked Yudhishthir to tie Raksha Sutra to all his soldiers. Yudhishthir did the same and tied the thread of protection to everyone in his entire army.
Story of Indra and Indrani
There was a fierce war going on between the gods and the demons and the army of the gods was facing defeat from the demons. Seeing this, Indradev’s wife Shachi started worrying about her husband and the gods. He performed rigorous chanting and penance and composed a Rakshasutra. Religious belief is that Shachi tied this Rakshasutra on the wrist of her husband Indra, after which she gained the power to defeat the demons. Indradev’s wife Shachi had tied Rakhi to him on the day of Rakshabandhan, hence the tradition of tying Rakhi started on this day.
Story of Queen Karnavati and Humayun
The history of the major festival of Hinduism is linked to a Mughal ruler. This historical story of Rakshabandhan is related to Queen Karnavati and Mughal Emperor Humayun. It is believed that Queen Karnavati had sent Rakhi to Humayun. After this the tradition of celebrating this festival started. The queen had sent Rakhi to the Mughal emperor and requested for help, after which Humayun decided to help Karnavati.
Actually, Rani Karnavati, the widow of Rana Sangram Singh alias Rana Sanga, had sent Rakhi to the Mughal Emperor when Gujarat’s Emperor Bahadur Shah attacked Chittor. During that time, the queen’s son was holding the throne of Chittor, but he did not have enough army to protect his principality. In such a situation, in the hope of help, Karnavati sent Rakhi to Humayun, which the emperor accepted and helped her.
To help Rani Karnavati, Humayun set out for Chittor with his huge army, but due to the long distance, by the time he reached Chittor, Rani Karnavati had committed Jauhar (committing her life by jumping into the fire). After the queen’s Jauhar, Bahadur Shah captured Chittor. Hearing about this, Humayun became enraged and attacked Chittor to take revenge. In this war between Bahadur Shah and Humayun, Humayun won and again handed over the rule of Chittor to Rani Karnavati’s son Vikramjit Singh and thus this brother-sister relationship was recorded forever in the pages of history.