Raksha Bandhan 2022 – Celebration of the bond of protection

Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan is one of the most widespread festivals that are celebrated in India. Although the origin of the Raksha Bandhan festival varies, but overall this Rakhi festival signifies a bond of safeguard between brother and sister. On this auspicious day sisters tie a thread (called Rakhi) around the right wrist of their dear brothers, praying to god for their long life and at the same time when brothers take an oath to safeguard their sisters. In modern days, Rakhi has also come to denote a bond of friendship and good spirit towards all.

Meaning of the term Raksha Bandhan

The name of the festival is made up by combining two words, precisely "Raksha" and "Bandhan." As indicated by the Sanskrit terminology, occasion of Raksha Bandhan means " knot of protection or the tie" and in this individually "Raksha" signifies the protection and whereas "Bandhan" symbolizes the verb to tie. Collectively, the festival signifies the eternal love of sister and brother relationship which does not mean only the blood relationships only between two. Rakhi is also celebrated among fraternal aunt (Bua), cousins, sister-in-law (Bhabhi) and sister and nephew (Bhatija) and such other kind of relations.

Importance of the festival of the Raksha Bandhan among several religions in India

• Hinduism- The festival of the Raksha Bandhan is mainly celebrated by Hindus in the western and northern parts of India along with countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Mauritius.

• Jainism- The occasion is also respected by the Jain community where the Jain priests give traditional threads to the devotees.

• Sikhism- This festival of Rakhi is devoted to the brother and sister love is observed by Sikhs as “Rakhari” and "Rakhardi".

The auspicious of Raksha Bandhan in the year 2022 is on 11th of August, Sunday

Shubh Muhurat and Significant timing on Raksha Bandhan 2022
 

Best timing or Shubh muhurat for rakhi tying is - 6:07 AM to 5:59 PM
Auspicious timing of Aparahan is - 1:48 PM to 4:22 PM
Timing of Purnima tithi is - 6:55 PM to 9:10 PM

The Origin of Raksha Bandhan

There is several numbers of legends that explains the festival of Raksha Bandhan and tin this case where some put forward some kind of mythological stories and on the other hand some other historical stories come into picture.

As per the Hindu scriptures, when the demons or the Asuras overpowered the king of gods, the almighty Indra, his wife Indrani tied a holy yellow thread around Lord Indra’s wrist. Equipped by its protection, Lord Indra went on to fight further and won the war.

Consequent story is that Goddess Lakshmi tied a rakhi around the wrist of demon king Bali making a request for the return of her lord Vishnu, meanwhile who was guarding door of Bali.

Consequent story goes like in Mahabharata, queen Draupadi on one occasion tied a piece of yellow fabric ragged from her own dress around the wrist of Krishna in order to heal his injury. Krishna was so much touched by this action of Draupadi that he proclaimed this act made him her brother and he now had the duty to protect her which he did constantly in spite of her 5 powerful husbands.

So the festival of Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan signifies brotherhood and friendship.

Rakhi has been taken in use in India since historical times to denote brotherhood and friendship. In ancient times Rajput queens used to send rakhi to bordering kings as tokens of friendship. The Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore used this festival of Raksha Bandhan as symbol of unity in the face of British policy to partition the Bengal along the communal lines.

When is Raksha Bandhan 2022 celebrated?

Festival of Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on the day full moon in the month of Shravana.

Raksha Bandhan actually means bond of protection. As stated earlier this festival is also known as Rakhi in several parts of India. Rakhi is called Narali Purnima in western India, Gamha Purnima in Orissa, Kajari purnima in Central India, Jandhyam Purnima in Uttarakhand and Jhulan Purnima in Bengal.

Rituals of Raksha Bandhan

The main rituals of Raksha bandhan are as following:

The universal ritual is the bond between sisters and brothers. Women bathe in morning and observe a fast. Women’s perform puja. Afterward they tie rakhi around the right wrist of their cousin brothers, brothers and unrelated males whom these women regard as their brothers. They put a mark of haldi and rice on the forehead of their brother and then perform aarti. Now brothers offer gifts to the sisters, thereafter they feed sweets to each other.

In Orissa, the Gamha Purnima is observed where bulls and cows are adorned and worshipped this day.

Western India celebrates the Narali purnima where a coconut or Nariel is offered to sea god Varuna. It marks the starting of the fishing season.

The Jandhyam Purnima is celebrated in the Uttarakhand where the holy thread is changed.

Jhulan purnima is celebrated in the Bengal where Radha and Krishna are worshipped.

Important Timings of the Raksha Bandhan festival

The Rakhi festival dates from 2018 and 2028