Rakṣā means protection, and the thread tied on Śrāvaṇa Pūrṇimā began as a warrior's safeguard. The Bhaviṣya Purāṇa tells how Śacī, Indra's wife, tied a mantra-charged thread on his wrist at Bṛhaspati's instruction before his battle with the asuras. Only later did the custom settle into a bond between sister and brother. The story most often told for that bond comes from the Mahābhārata, where Draupadī tore her sari to bind Kṛṣṇa's cut finger and Kṛṣṇa later protected her honour in the Kaurava court. How the day is fixed: Rakṣābandhana is kept on the day when the Śrāvaṇa full moon prevails at local sunrise. Keep in mind: Because the day is the full moon itself, calendars that end the month at the new moon and those that end it at the full moon give it the same name. The full moon is read at local sunrise, so the date can differ by one day between places. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Tying the rākhi: In the morning a sister marks her brother's forehead with a tilaka, ties the rākhi on his wrist and feeds him a sweet. The brother gives her a gift and his promise to stand by her. Beyond the family: Rākhis are posted to brothers who live far away and tied on those one regards as a brother, and schoolchildren tie them on one another. A popular tale has Rāṇī Karṇāvatī of Mewar sending a rākhi to the emperor Humāyūn for protection, though historians debate how those events unfolded. Worth remembering: The same full moon is kept by Yajurvedi Brahmins as Upākarma, known in Tamil Nadu as Āvaṇi Aviṭṭam, when the sacred thread is renewed and the year's Vedic study begins. The two fall together but remain separate observances, and regional days such as Nāraḷī Pūrṇimā and Gahmā Pūrṇimā are distinct again. Rākhi-tying began in the North and has spread into homes and schools everywhere, while many houses keep the same full moon first as Upākarma, Nāraḷī Pūrṇimā or Gahmā Pūrṇimā. Which of these a family observes, and in what order, is a matter of kulācāra and deśācāra. The surest guide is what the elders of one's own house have followed.
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