Raksha Bandhan 2024: Tomorrow the festival of Rakshabandhan will be celebrated across the country. On this day, sisters tie Rakhi on their brother’s wrist and take a promise from him to protect them. In Sanatan culture, the festival of Rakhi is a sacred expression of the sacred love between brother and sister. The tradition and history of the festival of Rakshabandhan is centuries old. Even in Treta Yuga, there is a description of a very touching story regarding Raksha Sutra. This is the story of Shravan Kumar and King Dashrath, who dedicated their lives to their blind parents.
According to a legend, in Treta Yuga, obedient son Shravan Kumar reached Ayodhya while keeping his blind parents in a Kavad on a pilgrimage. When mother and father felt thirsty, Shravan Kumar kept Kavad at a place and went towards Yamuna river with Tumba. From the place where Shravan Kumar had gone to draw water, King Dashrath had already reached there for hunting.
As soon as Shravan Kumar dipped his trumpet in the Yamuna river to fill the water, King Dasharatha, who was hunting, thinking him to be a deer, fired a piercing arrow at him. The arrow that came from the bow of King Dasharatha went straight to Shravan Kumar. When King Dasharatha came to see the hunt, he found Shravan Kumar breathing his last. King Dasharatha regretted his mistake very much.
King Dasharatha was cursed with the loss of his son.
But before dying, he told the whole story of his blind parents to King Dasharatha. Then Dasharatha, filled with guilt, went to Shravan Kumar and gave the sad news of his son’s loss to his blind parents. Due to the loss of their son, Shravan Kumar’s parents sacrificed their lives in tears. But before sacrificing their lives, Shravan Kumar’s parents had cursed the son of King Dashrath for separation.
King Dashrath was aware of his mistake, but now he could not do anything. Then King Dasharatha had offered a Raksha Sutra in the name of Shravan Kumar in the Yamuna River for the afterlife welfare of Shravan Kumar. Coincidentally, that day was also the full moon day of Shukla Paksha of Shravan month. It is believed that since then the tradition of offering a Raksha Sutra in the name of Shravan Kumar on the day of Rakshabandhan started. That is why in many places there is a tradition of worshiping Shravan Kumar before celebrating Rakshabandhan.