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Rakhi
or Raksha Bandhan is the sweetest of festival –
solemn, sacred and simple that registers and
testifies the chaste bond between brother and
sister, and perhaps found nowhere in any other
human civilization the world. This is a great
Indian social bonding and a very special
occasion. The thread is symbolic, but the love
it carries is noble and deep. The meaning of
protection lies in the true love and bonding a
brother feels for his sister, not on this day
only but for the whole of life. It signifies,
without doubt, that a brother must protect his
sister from all the evils. It demands that the
stronger must protect the weaker.
As a child I admired and cherished when I used
to see all my friends running in ecstasy with
colourful Rakhi tied on their wrists. It was
indeed a wonderful sight. Later on, when I read
how Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore
popularized Rakhi Utsavas. During the tragic
partition of Bengal, by the British authorities,
in the year 1905 Tagore had experienced a great
setback to his idea of a united India. In order
to create a real sense of brotherhood among the
people, he suggested the use of "Rakhi Bandan,"
the tying of the ancient ochre-coloured thread
around the wrist.
 Rakhi
is observed on the full moon day of the month of
Shravan, on which sisters tie the sacred Rakhi
string on their brothers' right wrists, and pray
for their long life. Rakhis are ideally made of
silk with gold and silver threads, beautifully
crafted embroidered sequins, and studded with
semi precious stones.
In Northern India, Rakhi Purnima is also called
Kajri Purnima or Kajri Navami, when wheat or
barley is sown, and goddess Bhagwati is
worshipped. In Western states, the festival is
called Nariyal Purnima or the Coconut Full Moon.
In Southern India, Shravan Purnima is an
important religious occasion, especially for the
Brahmins.
Raksha Bandhan is known by various names: Vish
Tarak - the destroyer of venom, Punya Pradayak -
the bestower of boons, and Pap Nashak - the
destroyer of sins. Though Rakhsa Bandhan as
Punya Pradayak or the bestower of boons seems a
little understandable because of the festivity
or exchange of gifts, the other names need
research and exploration. If Rakhsa Bandhan is
Vish Tarak or the destroyer of venom, then whose
venom is it talking about? And what exactly is
the venom? If Rakhsa Bndhan is Pap Nashak or
destroyer of sin, then whose sin is it talking
about? And what exactly is the sin? Are both the
connotations meant to exorcise the venom and sin
from the person of a brother who ties the
thread? These are absolute questions that need
scholarly study. When a brother (of a sister)
rapes a sister (of a brother) the essence of
Rakhsa Bandhan gets a big jolt. Loving ones own
sister is great, but greater is respecting other
sisters.
On the other hand, hating the sisters of other
brothers, as we have experienced in countless
wars, conflicts and riots over the centuries, to
such extremes that helpless and hapless girls
become the target of mass rapes is against the
grand ethos of Raksha Bandhan. So why do
brothers become ruthless monsters when it comes
to treat with an enemy’s sister? Why don’t
brothers remember the sacred Rakhi when they are
busy committing the heinous crime of rape?
 Rakhsa
Bandhan is not a celebration, in fact; it is a
bond that reminds every brother to refresh his
commitment as to how strong or weak he is when
he deals with girls (sisters) in the social
spectrum, and what more he should do to bolster
that commitment.
If the strong bond of Rakhsa Bandhan could
result in innumerable political ties among
kingdoms and princely states in yester years,
then it can do the same magical effect in modern
times as well. If the Rajput and Maratha queens
had sent Rakhis to Mughal kings who, despite
their differences, have assuaged their Rakhi-sisters
by offering help and protection at critical
moments and honoured the fraternal bond, then
the same could be accomplished in this turbulent
times between Muslims and Hindus. If Rakhi could
help establish matrimonial alliances between
kingdoms, then it can bring different
communities nearer.
Legend has it that the great Hindu King Porus
refrained from striking Alexander, the Great
because the latter’s wife had approached this
mighty adversary and tied a Rakhi on his hand,
prior to the battle, urging him not to hurt her
husband.
The culture of brother-sister relationship needs
to be strengthened with renewed commitment in
order to safeguard the honour and modesty of
women in view of the growing atrocities being
unleashed on them in modern culture. This Rakhi
can be more joyous if the brothers make a new
resolution to bestow the boon of true love upon
sisters.
If we look at the crimes committed against our
sisters, we will be ashamed of ourselves as
brothers. For example, a total of 1,54,333
incidents of crime were reported against women
in India in 2004 as compared to 1,401,601 in
2003, according to National Crime Records
Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs. Major crimes
against women include: rape, kidnapping,
homicide for dowry, dowry deaths, molestation,
sexual harassment, importation and eve teasing
of girls, etc. There were 18,233 cases of rapes,
15578 cases of kidnapping, and 7026 cases of
dowry deaths apart from 34567 molestation cases
and 10001 cases of sexual harassment in 2004
bears testimony to the ground reality how women
are ill-treated in our country. Moreover, out of
the total victims of rape in 2004, about 8.9%
(1,622) were teenaged girls of 15-18 years of
age.
Recently, the Minister of State for Law and
Justice K Venkatapathy told the Lok Sabha in a
written reply, "58,310 cases relating to rape
were pending trial in various courts of the
country as on December 31, 2005".
So this time, when we tie the bond of Rakhi, we
need to pledge for protecting not only our own
sisters, but also those who belong to others.
The ultimate objective of Rakhi dies down when a
brother loves and adores his own sister and
thinks just the opposite for all the other
sisters in the country. A solemn vow to protect
our own sister or sisters is a personal
responsibility fulfilled; our social
responsibility remains incomplete unless we feel
a sense of protecting other sisters as well.
This is not easy to feel the same feeling for
the sisters of other brothers, but at least
every brother could share the feeling of love
and respect for girls as sisters.
It won’t be wrong to say the fashionable
friendship band in vogue today is an extension
of the Rakhi custom. When a girl feels a friend
of the opposite sex has developed a kind of love
too strong for her to reciprocate, she sends the
guy a Rakhi and turns the relationship into a
sisterly one. This is one way of saying, "let’s
just be friends", without hurting the other
person's soft feelings for her.
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