Raksha Bandhan - An Age-old Indian Tradition

By Author: Aman Roy
Total Articles: 43
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Since time immemorial, Rakhi has been a festival deep-rooted into the socio-cultural life of the Indians as a whole. Irrespective of being the home to different castes and creed, the celebrations of the Rakhi festival in India truly marks this country's unity and tradition. More than being just a mere festival, Rakhi to India encapsulates the glory of a sacred human relationship - the relationship between a brother and a sister.

The festival of Rakhi has a rich Hindu cultural platform as its base. The commencement and subsequent developments of many historically significant epics relate to this festival. The origin of this sacrosanct festival of Raksha Bandhan, thereby can be traced far back to the Vedic times. One such a mythological implication is of Indrani tying a rakhi to Indra when the latter raged a war against the demons. It is because of the healing abilities of this protective thread that Indra returned victorious. There is another story that relates of Yama, the Hindu god of Death, and his sister Yamuna. Yama was so overwhelmed by the serenity of the occasion that he declared that if anyone gets a rakhi tied ...
... by his sister and promises to protect her all lifelong, he will be conferred immortality.

Coming back to reality, this festival of Rakhi also rings large with historical connections. Once, Rani Karnawati of Chittor, realizing that she could not defend the impending onslaught of the Sultan of Gujarat, sent a rakhi to emperor Humayun. The Delhi sultanate was so touched by this noble gesture that he immediate set off his troops to defend the honor of Chittor. Then there is another saga which states that Roxana, the Indian wife of Alexander the Great, sent a sacred rakhi thread to Porus, asking him not to harm her husband in battle. In accordance with Hindu traditions, Porus paid full respect to the rakhi. On the battlefield, when Porus was about to deliver a final blow to Alexander, restrained himself when he saw the rakhi tied on his wrist.

So, right from the chronicled times to the age of computers and internet, the celebration of Raksha Bandhan has proved to be an adept mechanism in strengthening the country's social bondage with its age-old traditions and beliefs. The pujas and the rituals that are performed on this very day aptly upholds the sacrosanct values and norms in a righteous manner. Girls tying Rakhis to their brothers and praying for their success in every endeavors is the main theme of this holy day. But in recent times, the tying of this thread of protection is no more limited in between a brother and a sister. These days also mark girls tying rakhis to their sisters-in-law, commonly known as lumbas in India.

But, the affect of globalization has led a good many Indians to settle abroad. And the US, being one of the most favorite offshore destination, Indians today eye for some reliable avenues to send rakhi to USA. This desire has been made easy with the advent of some ground-breaking inventions in the fields of computers and internet. With this progress, the term e-gifting become a global lingo to avid shoppers, thereby mitigating the obnoxious barriers of time and distance. To facilitate in sending Rakhi to USA, nowadays many a e-gifting companies have ushered in. With this recent developments now it has been a lot easier to send rakhi to USA from anywhere of India to let someone feel the beauty of the festival to the hilt.

Even when the day of rakhi is over in India, the new dawn in the US vows to vibrate with the fresh essence of this sacrosanct festival. So end of the day of raksha bandhan in this part of the world never restricts one from sending rakhi to USA and celebrate it with full gusto. A large number of online sites with a plethora of rakhis and rakhi gifts will definitely come handy in making this latent desire to fructify. So opting for this trendy avenue to send rakhi gifts will not only assure you to send the same right on time, but also enable you to lend this upcoming festival of rakhi 2012 a better and brighter prospect.

It is this sacred thread of protection that intertwines a brother and a sister in tandem even if they are settled much far from each other. So, if you know when is Rakhi in 2012 then you can send your unblemished affections with a rakhi to India.

About the Author:

The author writes for GiftstoIndia24x7.com, an online gifting portal. This site aims to connect the global NRIs by enabling them to send Rakhi to India. Rakhi 2012 is on 2nd August. Send Rakhi to India through us and experience the difference.