As we all know that Raksha Bandhan is the celebration
of bond of love among brothers and sisters. But there are numerous
legends associated with the origin of Rakhi. If we try to find out the
origin behind Rakhi we will have to refer Hindu mythology as most of the
roots of Hindu festival can be traced from Hindu mythology. The festival
nurtures a varied and rich heritage of legendry epics. According to
Bhavishya Purana there was a battle between gods and demons, and Indra
(the king of the gods) was defeated by the demons and he was totally
shattered. At that time on advice of Guru Brihaspati, (the guru of
Devtas) Indra's wife Sachi took a silken thread, popularly known as
'Raksha' and charged it with sacred verses for protection and tied it on
Indra's wrist. As a result the strength of the sacred thread helped
Indra conquered his enemies. Since then till today this festival is
celebrated. It is considered as gesture of goodwill and protection.
There are various other legends also associated with Rakhi. In the
pages of history also we have seen Rakhi had played an important and
significant roles in building strong relations and bonds among two
rulers and kingdoms. For instance Alexander's wife believed to have tied
rakhi to King Porus during that time due to which in battlefields he had
to restrain himself from attacking Alexander inspite of having numerous
opportunities. Even history evidences show that during Mughal period the
custom of tying rakhis helped bind the Hindu Rajputs and Mughal rulers
together. According to legend, when Bahadur Shah of Gujarat attacked
Rani Karnavati of Chittor, she sent a rakhi to Humayun as bond of love
and requested him to help. So all of these legends associated with the
festival teaches us one thing that there is nothing above true love and
affection. It is this bond of togetherness that binds us. So these are
the few legends associated with the festival of Rakhi, which signifies
the importance of Raksha Bandhan celebration in India.
