Raksha Bandhan


Raksha Bandhan is a popular and traditionally Hindu annual rite or ceremony that is central to a festival of the same name celebrated in South Asia, and among people around the world influenced by Hindu culture. On this day, sisters of all ages tie a talisman or amulet, called the rakhi, around the wrists of their brothers. The sisters symbolically protect the brothers, receive a gift in return, and traditionally invest the brothers with a share of the responsibility of their potential care.
Raksha Bandhan is observed on the last day of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Shravana, which typically falls in August. The expression "Raksha Bandhan" is now principally applied to this ritual. Until the mid-20th century, the expression was more commonly applied to a similar ritual, held on the same day, with precedence in ancient Hindu texts. In that ritual, a domestic priest ties amulets, charms, or threads on the wrists of his patrons, or changes their sacred thread, and receives gifts of money. This is still the case in some places. By contrast, the sister-brother festival, with origins in folk culture, had names which varied with location. Some were rendered as saluno, silono, and rakri. A ritual associated with saluno included the sisters placing shoots of barley behind the ears of their brothers.
Of special significance to married women, Raksha Bandhan is rooted in the practice of territorial or village exogamy. The bride marries out of her natal village or town, and her parents by custom do not visit her in her married home. In rural north India, where village exogamy is strongly prevalent, large numbers of married Hindu women travel back to their parents' homes every year for the ceremony. Their brothers, who typically live with their parents or nearby, sometimes travel to their sisters' married home to escort them back. Many younger married women arrive a few weeks earlier at their natal homes and stay until the ceremony. The brothers serve as lifelong intermediaries between their sisters' married and parental homes, as well as potential stewards of their security.
In urban India, where families are increasingly nuclear, the festival has become more symbolic but continues to be highly popular. The rituals associated with this festival have spread beyond their traditional regions and have been transformed through technology and migration. Other factors that have played a role are: the movies, social interaction, and promotion by politicized Hinduism, as well as by the nation state. Among females and males who are not blood relatives, the act of tying the rakhi amulets has given rise to the tradition of voluntary kin relations, which has sometimes cut across lines of caste, class, and religion. Authority figures have been included in such a ceremony.

Etymology, meaning, and usage

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition, 2008, the Hindi word, rākhī derives from the Sanskrit rakṣikā, a join: rakṣā protection, amulet
  • 1829 The first attested use in the English language dates to 1829, in James Tod's, Ann. & Antiq. Rajasthan I. p. 312, "The festival of the bracelet is in Spring... The Rajpoot dame bestows with the Rakhi the title of adopted brother; and while its acceptance secures to her all the protection of a 'cavaliere servente', scandal itself never suggests any other tie to his devotion."
  • 1857, Forbes: Dictionary of Hindustani and English ''Saluno: the full moon in Sawan at which time the ornament called rakhi is tied around the wrist.
  • 1884, Platts: Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English راکهي राखी rākhī H راکهي राखी rākhī , s.f. A piece of thread or silk bound round the wrist on the festival of Salūno or the full moon of Sāvan, either as an amulet and preservative against misfortune, or as a symbol of mutual dependence, or as a mark of respect; the festival on which such a thread is tied—rākhī-bandhan, s.f. The festival called rākhī.
  • *1899 Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit–English dictionary Rakshā: "a sort of bracelet or amulet, any mysterious token used as a charm,... a piece of thread or silk bound round the wrist on partic occasions : कष्ट, नाश, या आपत्ति से अनिष्ट निवारण के लिए हाथ में बंधा हुआ एक सूत्र; -बंधन श्रावण शुक्ला पूर्णिमा को होनेवाला हिंदुओं का एक त्यौहार जिसमे हाथ की कलाई पर एक रक्षा सूत्र बाँधा जाता है.
  • 1993, Oxford Hindi–English Dictionary रक्षा बंधन: m. Hindi, the festival of Rakshabandhan held on the full moon of the month of Savan, when sisters tie a talisman on the arms of their brothers and receive small gifts of money from them.
  • 2000, Samsad Bengali–English Dictionary রাখি rākhi: a piece of thread which one ties round the wrist of another in order to safeguard the latter from all evils. ̃পূর্ণিমা n. the full moon day of the month of Shravan when a rakhi is tied round the wrist of another. ̃বন্ধন n. act or the festival of tying a rakhi round the wrist of another.
  • 2013, Oxford Urdu–English Dictionary'' راکھے ra:khi: 1. rakhi, bracelet of red or yellow strings tied by a woman round the wrist of a man on a Hindu festival to set up brotherly relations. بندھن- – bandhan: festival of rakhi.

    Traditional regions of observance

Scholars who have written about the ritual have usually described the traditional region of its observance as north India; however, also included are central India, western India and Nepal, as well as other regions of India and overseas Hindu communities such as Fiji. It is essentially a Hindu festival; however, in addition to India and Nepal, Pakistan and Mauritius are two other countries where Hindus celebrate this occasion. Anthropologist Jack Goody, whose field study was conducted in Nandol, in Gujarat, describes Rakshabandhan as an "annual ceremony... of northern and western India". Anthropologist Michael Jackson writes, "While traditional North Indian families do not have a Father's or Mother's Day, or even the equivalent of Valentine's Day, there is a Sister's Day, called Raksha Bandhan,..." Religious scholar J. Gordon Melton describes it as "primarily a North Indian festival". Leona M. Anderson and Pamela D. Young describe it as "one of the most popular festivals of North India". Anthropologist David G. Mandelbaum has described it as "an annual rite observed in northern and western India". Other descriptions of primary regions are of development economist Bina Agarwal, scholar and activist Ruth Vanita, anthropologist James D. Faubion, and social scientist Prem Chowdhry.

Evolution of Raksha Bandhan

Sociologist Yogendra Singh has noted the contribution of American anthropologist McKim Marriott to an understanding of the origins of the Raksha Bandhan festival. In rural society, according to Marriott, there is steady interplay between two cultural traditions, the elite or "great" tradition based in texts, such as the Vedas in Indian society, and the local or "little", based in folk art and literature. According to Singh, Marriott has shown that the Raksha Bandhan festival has its "origin in the 'little tradition'". Anthropologist Onkar Prasad has further suggested that Marriott was the first to consider the limitations within which each village tradition "operates to retain its essence".
In his village study, Marriott described two concurrently observed traditions on the full moon day of Shravana: a "little tradition" festival called "Saluno", and a "great tradition" festival, Raksha Bandhan, but which Marriott calls, "Charm Tying":
On Saluno day, many husbands arrive at their wives' villages, ready to carry them off again to their villages of marriage. But, before going off with their husbands, the wives as well as their unmarried village sisters express their concern for and devotion to their brothers by placing young shoots of barley, the locally sacred grain, on the heads and ears of their brothers. reciprocate with small coins. On the same day, along with the ceremonies of Saluno, and according to the literary precedent of the Bhavisyottara Purana,... the ceremonies of Charm Tying are also held. The Brahman domestic priests of Kishan Garhi go to each patron and tie upon his wrist a charm in the form of a polychrome thread, bearing tassel "plums." Each priest utters a vernacular blessing and is rewarded by his patron with cash,... The ceremonies of both now exist side by side, as if they were two ends of a process of primary transformation.

Norwegian anthropologist Øyvind Jaer, who did his fieldwork in eastern Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s, noted that the "great tradition" festival was in retreat and the "little tradition" one, involving sisters and brothers, now more important.

Precedence in Hindu texts

In chapter 137 of the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, the Hindu god Krishna describes to Yudhishthira the ritual of having a raksha tied to his right wrist by the royal priest on the purnima of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Shravana. In one passage, Krishna says,
"Partha : When the sky is covered with clouds, and the earth dark with new, tender, grass, in that very Shravana month's full moon day, at the time of sunrise, according to remembered convention, a Brahmin should take a bath with perfectly pure water. He should also according to his ability, offer libations of water to the gods, to the paternal ancestors, as prescribed by the Vedas for the task required to be accomplished before the study of the Vedas, to the sages, and as directed by the gods carry out and bring to a satisfactory conclusion the shraddha ceremony to honor the deceased. It is commended that a Shudra should also make a charitable offering, and take a bath accompanied by the mantras. That very day, in the early afternoon it is commended that a small parcel be prepared from a new cotton or silk cloth and adorned with whole grains of rice or barley, small mustard seeds, and red ocher powder, and made exceedingly wondrous, be placed in a suitable dish or receptacle.... the purohita should bind this packet on the king's wrist with the words,'I am binding raksha to you with the same true words with which I bound Mahabali King of the Asuras. Always stay firm in resolve.' In
the same manner as the king, after offering prayers to the Brahmins, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras should conclude their Raksha Bandhan ceremony."