By: Priyanka Saurabh
Brother-sister relationship is at the top of all the relationships in the world. Be that as it may, brothers and sisters are true friends of the world and guides of each other. When the sister gets married and goes to her in-law’s house and the brother leaves home for a job and goes to another city, then it is felt how precious this best brother-sister relationship is. There is no word for how much a soldier brother standing on the border misses his sister and what is the condition of the sisters at such times. This holy bond tied with colourful threads has been deeply connected to our culture since centuries ago. This festival is the bond of that priceless love, which binds the brother to protect not only his sister but every girl in the world. The festival associated with the bond of mutual affection, affection, and duty between brothers and sisters, infuses new energy and strength in the brother-sister relationship. Sisters are eager to tie rakhi on their brother’s wrist with great enthusiasm on this day. While this festival shows the affection of the sister towards the brother, it also makes the brother aware of his duties.
Raksha Bandhan is a festival of brother-sister relationship, Raksha means protection and Bandhan means bound. On the day of Raksha Bandhan, sisters pray to God for the progress of their brothers. Rakhi is generally tied by the sisters to the brother but it is also tied to the Brahmins, Gurus, and respected relatives (such as the father by the daughter) by the younger girls in the family. This festival is associated with Raksha, which commits to protecting anyone. If on this auspicious day, a promise is taken to protect every girl child in the world along with his sister, then the purpose of this festival will be fulfilled in the true sense. This auspicious festival has its unique golden history, but with the changing times, like other relationships, it has also undergone many changes. Modernity is dominating our values and relationships. As a result of the decline in culture, show-off has taken the place of strength and love in relationships. In today’s changing times, modernity has started dominating this festival as well, since then till today this tradition is going on, but somewhere we are losing our values.
The feeling of belongingness and the warmth of love in the colourful threads have started diminishing. Once upon a time, the kind of principle and sensitivity that was regarding Rakhi, perhaps now termites in the name of rupees have started appearing in them, as a result, they have started taking money in place of love in relationships. In such a situation, to save the culture and values, today there is a great need to respect Rakhi tied with obligations. Because this precious relationship of Rakhi is not just a tradition of raw threads. There is no value of love in the tradition of transaction. Rather, where there is a tradition of exchange, love cannot last, how can unbreakable relationships be formed? The story of Krishna and Draupadi is famous in history, Shri Krishna’s finger was injured during the war, and Draupadi tied a piece of her saree to Shri Krishna’s injured finger, and in return for this favour, Shri Krishna gave Draupadi Had promise to help Draupadi in any crisis. The stories of Raksha Bandhan tell that earlier whenever the shadow of a sister trapped amid danger used to call her brother, even after fighting with every force in the world, the brother used to rush to protect her and respected her rakhi.
It is said that Karmavati, the queen of Mewar, received advance information about Bahadur Shah’s attack on Mewar. The queen was unable to fight, so she sent Rakhi to the Mughal emperor Humayun and requested protection. Despite being a Muslim, Humayun kept the honour of Rakhi and after reaching Mewar fought against Bahadur Shah on behalf of Mewar and protected Karmavati and its kingdom. When Krishna killed Shishupala with the Sudarshan Chakra, his index finger got hurt. At that time Draupadi tore her sari and tied a bandage on his finger. It was the full moon day of the month of Shravan. Krishna later repaid this favour by lengthening her sari at the time of ripping. It is said that the feeling of mutual protection and cooperation started from here in the festival of Raksha Bandhan. Today, once again the sister is challenging the boundaries of fraternity, because at every stage of her age is insecure, and her honour and dignity are being repeatedly snatched away.
Despite having more intellectual talent than boys, she is denied higher education, because after all she has to take care of the house. He is kept ignorant of the new civilization and new culture so that he does not rebel against Indian ideals and principles. In these adverse circumstances, his ability, authority, contemplation, and every dream of life keep on swearing. That’s why I believe that on this auspicious festival of Rakhi, there is an important need for the brothers to take an oath to protect and respect not only their sister but the entire women’s world. Only then this holy festival of Rakhi will become meaningful and the love of brother and sister will remain eternal on earth. This festival is so widely and deeply embedded in Indian society that it has social significance, religion, mythology, history, literature, and films are also not untouched by it. The festival of Raksha Bandhan has been a cultural measure of social and family integration or solidarity.
But now silver and gold rakhis have replaced colourful threads drowned in love juice, so instead of understanding the duties in social behaviour, it has come to fulfill the custom. Show-off has taken the place of love and goodwill. That’s why as soon as everyone wakes up in the morning on the day of Raksha Bandhan, everyone’s status is full of pictures and videos of Raksha Bandhan, now Instead of sisters, e-commerce sites take online orders and deliver Rakhi to the given address. If we irrigate these relationships with the water of love in real life instead of showing off on social media, then there will always be strength in the family. The festival of Rakhi does not only mean protecting the sister from others, but the brother also must protect her rights and dreams, can the sister be protected in the true sense? In today’s time, it has become extremely necessary to protect the obligations of Rakhi.
On the day of Rakhi, one should not only take a pledge to protect his sister but also take a pledge to protect the honour and rights of the entire women’s world, so that the obligations of Rakhi can be discharged in the true sense. On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, we should also take a pledge to protect the country and religion. (The author is a Research Scholar in Political Science, a poetess, independent journalist and columnist)
