रक्षाबन्धन

श्रावणातील पौर्णिमा म्हणजे "रक्षाबन्धन(Rakhi, Saluno,Silono,Rakri,Bhai Duj,Bhai Tika,Sama Chakeva) ! बहिणीने भावाला,शिष्याने गुरूला,आश्रिताने आश्रयदात्याला, स्वयंसेवकांनी बंधूंना रेशमी बंधनात बध्द करण्याचा सण ! या दिवशी इंद्रपत्नी इंद्राणीने देवगुरु बृहस्पति यांनी तयार केलेले "रक्षासूत्र" खालील मंत्र म्हणून इंद्राला बांधले असे पुराण सांगते :-

"येन बद्धो बलिराजा दानवेन्द्रो महाबल:।

तेन त्वामपि बध्नामि रक्षे मा चल मा चल" ॥

(जिस रक्षासूत्रसे महान शक्तिशाली दानवेन्द्र राजा बलिको बाँधा गया था, उसी सूत्रसे मैं तुझे बाँधता हूँ। हे रक्षे (राखी)! तुम अडिग रहना (तू अपने संकल्प से कभी भी विचलित न हो।)

उत्तरांचल प्रांतात "श्रावणी" म्हणून ओळखला जाणारा हा सण "ब्राह्मणां" साठी सर्वात मोठा सण मानला जातो.या दिवशी "यजुर्वेदी ब्राह्मण" नवीन यज्ञोपवीत(जानवे) धारण करतात.या दिवशी

"अमरनाथ" येथील "हिमानी शिवलिंग" पूर्णत्वाला जाते व अतिविख्यात अशा धार्मिक यात्रेचा प्रारंभ होतो. महाराष्ट्र राज्यात हा सण "नारळी पूर्णिमा/श्रावणी" या नावाने ओळखला जातो.वरुण राजाला प्रसन्न करण्यासाठी समुद्राला श्रीफल अर्पण केले जाते.तसेच जानवे बदलले जाते.राजस्थानमने या सणाला "रामराखी/चूड़ाराखी/लूंबा बंधन" या नावाने ओळखले जाते.पद्मसर,मिनकानाडी, गोमय,मृत्तिका व भस्म लावून स्नान केले जाते.

(रक्षिष्ये सर्वतोहं त्वां सानुगं सपरिच्छिदम्।

सदा सन्निहितं वीरं तत्र माँ दृक्ष्यते भवान्॥

-श्रीमद्भागवत 8 स्कन्ध 23 अध्याय 33 श्लोक)

अरुंधती,गणपति,दुर्गा,गोभिला व सप्तर्षिंचे पूजन व तर्पण करून पितृॠणमुक्ती साधण्यात येते.यज्ञोपवीतधारी दक्षिण भारतीय ब्राह्मण समाज या सणाला "अवनि अवित्तम" या नावाने ओळखतात.जुने जानवे समुद्राला अर्पण करून नवीन जानवे धारण करतात व वेद अध्ययनला(उपक्रमण) प्रारंभ करतात.

व्रज या प्रांतात "हरियाली तीज(श्रावण शुक्ल तृतीया)" या नावाने हा सण साजरा केला जातो.श्रीकृष्णाचे पूजन केले जाते.

राजस्थानात "रक्षाबन्धन" या सणाला ऐतिहासिक महत्व आहे.मेवाडची राजपूत राणी "कर्मावती" यांनी

बहादुरशाहपासून आपले रक्षण करण्यासाठी मुगल बादशाह हुमायूँला राखी पाठविली होती असे इतिहास सांगतो.त्याच प्रमाणे सिकन्दरची पत्नी रूक्सानाने पुरूवास या हिंदू राजाला राखी पाठवून सिकन्दरसाठी "अभयदान" मागितले होते असे इतिहास सांगतो.याच कारणास्तव सुभद्रेने कृष्णाला व कुन्तीने अभिमन्युला राखी बांधली होती.शिशुपाल वध करताना श्रीकृष्णाच्या बोटाला झालेली जखम बांधण्रण्यासाठी द्रोपदीने आपले भरजरी वस्त्र फाडून चिंधी बांधली होती.त्याचे स्मरण ठेवून

श्रीकृष्णाने द्रोपदीला वस्त्रहरण प्रसंगी वस्त्रे पुरविली होती असे महाभारतकालीन इतिहास सांगतो.

"रक्षाबन्धन" हा सण संपूर्ण भारतात साजरा केला जात असल्याने या काळात टपाल खात्याने फक्त दहा रूपयात भारतात कुठेही पन्नास ग्रॅम वजनाची राखी सुरक्षिक्तपणे पाठविण्याची सोय उपलब्ध करून दिलेली आहे.अनेक कंपन्यांनी "ऑनलाइन राखी" ची सोय देखील उपलब्ध करून दिलेली आहे.

जैन मतानुसार "रक्षाबंधन" या सणाच्या वेळी "बिष्णुकुमार नामक मुनिराजांनी ७०० जैन मुनिंच्या प्राणाचे रक्षण केले होते.

Bina Agarwal या संशोधिका आपल्या "A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia (1994), quoting Adrian C. Mayer, Caste and kinship in Central India (1960)" या लेखात रक्षाबंधनाबद्दल काय म्हणतात ते पहा :-

"Raksha Bandhan is observed on the last day of the Hindu lunar calendar month of Shraavana, which typically falls in August. The expression "Raksha Bandhan," Sanskrit, literally, "the bond of protection, obligation, or care," is now principally applied to this ritual. Until the mid-20th-century, the expression was more commonly applied to a similar ritual, also held on the same day, with precedence in ancient Hindu texts, in which a domestic priest ties amulets, charms, or threads on the wrists of his patrons, or changes their sacred thread, and receives gifts of money; in some places, this is still the case. In contrast, the sister-brother festival, with origins in folk culture, had names which varied with location, with some rendered as Saluno,Silono,and Rakri.A ritual associated with Saluno included the sisters placing shoots of barley behind the ears of their brothers.Of special significance to married women, Raksha Bandhan is rooted in the practice of territorial or village exogamy, in which a bride marries out of her natal village or town, and her parents, by custom, do not visit her in her married home.In rural north India, where village exogamy is strongly prevalent, large numbers of married Hindu women travel back to their parents' homes every year for the ceremony.Their brothers, who typically live with the parents or nearby, sometimes travel to their sisters' married home to escort them back. Many younger married women arrive a few weeks earlier at their natal homes and stay until the ceremony.The brothers serve as lifelong intermediaries between their sisters' married and parental homes,as well as potential stewards of their security.In urban India, where families are increasingly nuclear, the festival has become more symbolic, but continues to be highly popular. The rituals associated with this festival have spread beyond their traditional regions and have been transformed through technology and migration,the movies, social interaction,and promotion by politicized Hinduism,as well as by the nation state.

Among women and men who are not blood relatives, there is also a transformed tradition of voluntary kin relations, achieved through the tying of rakhi amulets, which have cut across caste and class lines,and Hindu and Muslim divisions.In some communities or contexts, other figures, such as a matriarch, or a person in authority, can be included in the ceremony in ritual acknowledgement of their benefaction."

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition, 2008, the Hindi word, rākhī derives from the Sanskrit rakṣikā, a join: rakṣā protection, amulet ( < rakṣ- to protect + -ikā, diminutive suffix.)The first attested use in the English language dates to 1829, in James Tod's, Ann. & Antiq. Rajasthan I. p. 312, "The festival of the bracelet (Rakhi) is in Spring ... The Rajpoot dame bestows with the Rakhi the title of adopted brother; and while its acceptance secures to her all the protection of a ‘cavaliere servente’, scandal itself never suggests any other tie to his devotion." Forbes: Dictionary of Hindustani and English Saluno: the full moon in Sawan at which time the ornament called rakhi is tied around the wrist.Platts: Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English راکهي राखी rākhī (p. 582) H راکهي राखी rākhī [S. रक्षिका], s.f. A piece of thread or silk bound round the wrist on the festival of Salūno or the full moon of Sāvan, either as an amulet and preservative against misfortune, or as a symbol of mutual dependence, or as a mark of respect; the festival on which such a thread is tied—rākhī-bandhan, s.f. The festival called rākhī.

1899 Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit–English dictionary Rakshā: "a sort of bracelet or amulet,any mysterious token used as a charm, ... a piece of thread or silk bound round the wrist on partic occasions (esp. on the full moon of Śrāvaņa, either as an amulet and preservative against misfortune, or as a symbol of mutual dependence, or as a mark of respect".

1990, Jack Goody "The ceremony itself involves the visit of women to their brothers ... on a specific day of the year when they tie a gaudy decoration on the right wrists of their brothers, which is at once "a defence against misfortune, a symbol of dependence, and a mark of respect."

1965–1975, Hindi Sabd Sagara: राखी १ "राखी १— संज्ञा स्त्री० [सं० रक्षा] वह मंगलसूत्र जो कुछ विशिष्ट अवसरों पर, विशेपतः श्रावणी पूर्णिमा के दिन ब्राह्मण या और लोग अपने यजमानों अथवा आत्मीयों के दाहिने हाथ की कलाई पर बाँधते हैं। (That Mangalsutra (lucky or auspicious thread) which on special occasions, especially the full moon day of the month of Shravani, Brahmins or others tie around the right wrist of their patrons or intimates.) From: Dasa, Syamasundara. Hindi sabdasagara. Navina samskarana. Kasi: Nagari Pracarini Sabha, 1965–1975. 4332 pp.

1976, Adarsh Hindi Shabdkosh रक्षा (संज्ञा स्त्रीलिंग): कष्ट, नाश, या आपत्ति से अनिष्ट निवारण के लिए हाथ में बंधा हुआ एक सूत्र; -बंधन (पुलिंग) श्रावण शुक्ला पूर्णिमा को होनेवाला हिंदुओं का एक त्यौहार जिसमे हाथ की कलाई पर एक रक्षा सूत्र बाँधा जाता है. (transl. raksha (feminine noun): A thread worn around the wrist for the prevention of distress, destruction, tribulation, or misfortune; -bandhan (masculine): "a Hindu festival held on the day of the full moon in the month of Shravana in which a raksha thread is tied around the wrist.)

jतर असा आहे हा राखी पौर्णिमेचा इतिहास !