Rakshabhandhan- A Bond Above Religion, Caste And Creed

Today India is celebrating Rakshabhandhan! A festival which celebrates the bond between brother and sisters! There are two words in “Rakshabhandhan”. Raksha means “protect” and bhandhan means “bond” so basically it means bond of protection. On this day sisters tie Rakhi to their brothers praying for their good health, long lives and prosperity in return brother vows to protect his sister from any untoward situation.
It is a nice gesture but ironically girls out on the street who get attacked by some perverts are also somebody’s sisters. Why pledge to protect your own sister only. There are other girls who are somebody’s sister who needs to be protected. So why not take an oath to curb the crime against women and make sure that every girl, every women out there feels safe and protected.

Photo credit:
https://goo.gl/images/FtSFcR

If we see the history of Rakshabhandan it is necessarily not related to real brother sister relation.
There are many legends which shows this festival being invoked.
The popular stories are that Lord Krishna cut his finger while cutting sugarcane. His wife Rukmini sent her maids to get a bandage. Draupadi who was present there when saw Krishna’s finger bleeding. She tears a corner of her saree and ties it on Krishna’s little finger. Krishna promises to help her when needed. That explains the never ending saree protecting the dignity of Draupadi when Dushasna( one of the Kaurav’s brother) tried to disrobe her.
Another legend is of Queen Karnavati and Emperor Humayun . After the death of her husband King Rana Sanga, Queen Karnavati was ruling Mewar, when she came to know of attack on her kimgodm by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat , she tried to get support from other kings. It is then that she sent Rakhi to Humayun seeking his help. As soon as Humayun got the Rakhi he immediately turned towards Mewar to help Queen.
Though he could not reach in time. The Rajput army was defeated. Queen Karnavati set herself on fire to protect her dignity, to avoid falling on hands of Bahadur Shah.
However, Humayun on reaching Mewar, faught with Bahadur Shah and restored the kingdom and gave it to Queen’s son Vikramjeet. Thus paying respect to the thread which queen sent to him.
The interesting thing about this legend is that it is a good example of humanity irrespective of religion and blood relation.
It would be nice if we celebrate this festival with same faith and intentions.