Rakshabhandan is the Indian festival that celebrates the beautiful bond between brothers and sisters. Raksha means protection and bhandhan means bond. On this day, sisters tie a string (Rakhi) on their brothers wrists to remind them of this bond and to seek protection. In return Brothers send gifts to their sisters. It is more of a communal festival than a religious one, and spreads harmony and promotes brotherhood. History has it that the King Porus did not kill Alexander, the Great because the latter’s wife had tied a Rakhi on his hand, prior to the battle, requesting him not to hurt her husband.
However Rakhis were not always tied by sisters; Lord Rama wore it on his hand for strength during a battle and Lord Indra’s wife tied one on his hands for his victory at Amaravathi.
Though I personally have not celebrated Rakshabhandan in a long time as I a designer I am delighted to create new designs based on this festival. This Year Rakshabhandan falls on August 10th.
To celebrate this bond of love, I created 2 new designs in Rakhi – in sterling silver and Gold plated brass. These Rakhis are long (they can be used like wrap around bracelets), are unisex – brothers can tie them to sisters too and the center focals are resuable as charms or as pendants.
I have kept the threads, simple and colorful as a reminder of the embroidery thread Rakhis my friends and I used to tie in school to our classmates to “keep them from falling in love with us” (lol) and collect chocolates or cash for guys who were sweet enough to give it to us 😀
These are on their way to different cities to brothers and sisters who cherish one another. I made a lot of customised cards for Rakhi this year- from both brothers and sisters ( to their respective sisters or sister in laws) to accompany jewelry gifts and will share them soon.
Wishing everyone a very happy Rakshabhandan!!
I hope you find it interesting
cheers
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