Rakhi - The Chaste Bond Of Love

By Author: Chris Perez
Total Articles: 3
Comment this article

With Raksha Bandhan just around the corner, Indians across the globe are gearing up for the festivities. This is one Indian festival that transcends the confines of cultural, religious and border boundaries and unites people in harmony regardless of their genre. The hypnotic charm of Rakshabandhan also lies in its subtle yet magnanimous personality, which speechlessly urges brothers and sisters to walk past petty differences and get into the realms of sublimity and selfless love. The walk through this day is so surreal that one tends to forget the basic traits of human nature that are responsible for having ushered humanity into a mapped world. The funny thing here though is that a delicate piece of thread called ‘Rakhi' makes this possible. It induces benevolence in Indians who so often have indulged in cultural and religious outrages.

This divine thread, Rakhi, means ‘the chaste bond of love'. On this day, a sister, holding a ‘Thali' - usually large circular plate ideally made of silver, which normally carries a ‘diya' - a candle like traditional Indian lamp, rice, ‘Roli' - vermillion ...
... like substance and sweets placed in small and graceful silver containers, and finally a Rakhi, performs an ‘Aarti' - prays for his health, wealth and happiness, applies Roli and rice on his forehead, ties the Rakhi on his wrist, offers sweets to him and seeks his blessings. The brother in turn wearing an affectionate smile blesses her, vows to stand by her during turbulent times and showers lots of Rakhi gifts on her.

History books too have a lot to say on this auspicious Indian festival, Rakshabandhan. According to these books, this divine thread, Rakhi, has resulted into countless ties between different kingdoms and empires. Even those kingdoms which were at loggerheads on account of ideological and religious differences finally gave way to peace in order to honour the Rakhi. One famous example that exhibits the divine power of Rakhi is that of the power Indian king Porus. After Alexander's juggernaut was halted by this mighty Indian King; the former's execution at the hands of Porus was imminent. In the meantime, Alexander's wife in order to protect her husband tied a Rakhi on the wrist of Porus, who then went on to pardon his adopted sister's husband and principal enemy, Alexander.

With countless number of Indians residing abroad, Rakshabandhan has in a way garnered global eyeballs. However, the festival's popularity not being strong in countries other than US and UK, majority of these expatriates don't get a chance to engage in traditional Rakhi celebrations. Getting traditional Rakhis, Rakhi gifts, Rakhi Thalis other related products too is difficult because of unavailability there. So, websites like BuyRakhiOnline.com have come with a concept that makes Rakhi shopping possible for them. The shopping mode, however, will be online but is guaranteed to give them the same experience as they get while shopping from carts and bazaars back in India