My India   History   Festivals   Ramayan   Mahabharata   Health
Hindu Philosophy   Hindu Culture   Hidu Life Rituals   Gods and Heroes of Hinduism  Comparing Religions
My resume   Poems   Travel-logs   Music   Bhajans   Videos   Links   Mahabharata katha London 2012

RAKSHA-BANDHAN
Festival of love between Siblings

 

Raksha bandhan reverses the normal expectation of a brother protecting his sister.  On this day, the sister ties a rakhi on her brother's wrist to proclaim that she, not he, is the protector of the sibling !  

How does a girl hope to do this by tying a cotton yarn to her brother's wrist ?  Why has this idea persisted in our culture for so many millenniums ?

If ever you want to test the strength of bond between siblings, try teasing a brother in front of his sister.  No one will rise to the defence of a man like his sister.  She will do anything and everything in her power to protect and defend the good name of her brother.  Sisters love their brothers more dearly than they love anyone else in their lives.  

This loving bond between siblings is created by countless memories of times they have played, fought, argued, hugged, talked and discussed all of life's little pleasures and pains together as children.  Each incidence by itself is as fleeting and insubstantial as a single thread of cotton.  But, when countless cotton threads combine, they create a yarn that is unbreakable.  Similarly, all those memories, insubstantial though they maybe, create a bond of innocent love that is truly unbreakable.

Siblings remind each other of that love and everlasting bond by tying rakhi on this day.

 

© Bhagwat    [email protected]

Return to Index

Return to Bhagwat's main page

Return to ShriNathji's Haveli