Raksha Bandhan Festival Information/History and traditions

Basically Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival, but peoples of every religion celebrates this with same affection & warmth. This festival is celebration of relationship between brothers and sisters. According to Hindu calender Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on the full moon of the month of Shraavana (also known as Shravan Poornima).

In this festival Sister ties a Rakhi(or holy thread) on the wrist of her Brother, The brother in return vows to that he will look after her & protect her from every problem & also offers a gift to his sister. It's not necessary that a girl will tie a rakhi to the boy who is blood brother, She can adopt any boy irrespective of whether he is cousin or a good friend & tie a rakhi on the person.

History
There are many stories behind this festival, i would like to discuss some of them:

->Krishna and Draupadi:-Once Krishna's index finger was injured, when Draupadi saw this she strip of her sari and tied it around Krishna's finger to stop the flow of blood. By this Krishna was so touched that he promised to repay the debt and took vow that he will protect her from every problem. And he full filled his vow during "Vastra-Haran" of Draupadi by extending her saree, so it could not be removed, to save her pride. This is how He paid his debt towards rakhi tied to Him by Draupadi.

->Alexander the Great and King Puru:-In 326 B.C. the king of Greece, Alexander the Great married an Indian lady, Roxana(Roshanak). To make relations of Alexander strong with the new Central Asian regions, Alexander's wife sent a rakhi to Porus. And requested not to harm her husband in battle. Porus gave full respect to the rakhi, & didn't tried to attack Alexander personally.

->Rani Karnawati and Emperor HumayunThe most popular Story that come to our mind when we think of Raksha Bandhan is of Rani Karnawati and Emperor Humayun. Rani Karnawati was widowed queen of the king of Chittor. That time Rajputs were fighting Muslim invasions. When Rani Karnawati realized that they could not defend the invasion by the Sultan of Gujarat, Bahadur Shah, she sent a Rakhi to Emperor Humayun. And Humayun, gave respect to that Rakhi & immediately set off with his troops to defend Chittor's honour.

There are many more stories but i think this much was enough to explain the holiness of this festival.

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Raksha Bandhan Festival Information/History and traditions

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