The Raksha Bandhan katha is really a handful of stories about one thing: a thread tied with love as a prayer for someone's protection. The oldest tells of Indrani tying a sacred thread on Indra's wrist before his battle with the asuras; the most famous tell of Lakshmi tying a rakhi to King Bali, and of Draupadi binding Krishna's bleeding finger with a strip torn from her sari.
The full moon of Shravana, the window for tying rakhi outside Bhadra, and how it is worked out for your city are on the Raksha Bandhan date page. This page is only the stories, retold in our own words.
Indrani's thread for Indra
Long ago the gods and the asuras fought a war that would not end. Year after year the asuras pressed harder, and in some tellings they were led by the mighty Vritra. Indra, king of the gods, grew weary and afraid that heaven would be lost.
His wife Shachi, also called Indrani, could not fight beside him, but she would not sit idle. She went to Brihaspati, teacher of the gods, and asked what she could do. He told her to prepare a raksha, a protective bundle tied in a thread, consecrated with prayers. On the full moon of Shravana, Indrani bathed, sat in prayer and made the thread with her own hands. Then, with Brihaspati chanting, she tied it on Indra's right wrist.
Indra went into battle with the thread on his arm, and this time the asuras gave way. The gods won back their home. In the Bhavishya Purana tradition, this is why a raksha is tied on the full moon of Shravana, and why, for centuries, priests tied such threads on the wrists of kings and patrons on this day.
Lakshmi's rakhi to King Bali
Bali was an asura king, the grandson of Prahlada, generous beyond measure. His power grew until he ruled the three worlds, and the gods turned to Vishnu. Vishnu came to Bali's sacrifice as Vamana, a small Brahmin boy, and asked for only as much land as he could cover in three steps. Bali laughed and agreed. Then the boy grew until one step covered the earth and a second the heavens. With nowhere left for the third, Bali bowed his head and offered it.
Vishnu was moved by that surrender. He sent Bali to rule the beautiful underworld of Sutala, and, as a mark of his grace, promised to stay with him and guard his gate.
In Vaikuntha, Lakshmi waited, and Vishnu did not come home. In the folk telling, she went down to Bali's kingdom dressed as a poor woman and asked for shelter. Bali welcomed her as a sister. When the full moon of Shravana came, she tied a thread on his wrist. Bali, delighted, asked what gift she wanted. Lakshmi revealed herself and pointed at the guard at the gate: let my husband come home with me. Bali, who had never gone back on a gift, released Vishnu at once. The disguise in the story is not a trick to be copied; it is a wife's shyness before a king, and once the thread is tied she tells him the truth. Many priests still recall King Bali in the short prayer they say while tying the raksha.
Draupadi and Krishna
The best-loved rakhi story is told about Krishna and Draupadi. One day Krishna cut his finger; in some tellings it happened as he released his discus at Shishupala, in others while cutting sugarcane. Blood ran from the wound. While others ran for cloth, Draupadi tore a strip from the edge of her silk sari and tied it round his finger. Krishna was touched, and told her that he would repay every thread of it.
Years later the Pandavas lost everything at the game of dice, Draupadi included, and in the Kaurava court Dushasana tried to pull away her sari. She called on Krishna. The sari did not end; however much was pulled, more remained, until Dushasana fell back exhausted. Families who tell the story say that this was the strip of cloth, returned a thousand times over.
Reading the story calmly
The scene in the dice hall is one of the most painful in the Mahabharata, and it is right to tell it to children simply. The Mahabharata itself does not contain the cut finger; that link is a folk telling, and a lovely one. What the story carries is not fear of what might happen to a sister without a brother, but the promise that a small act of care is never forgotten.
Yama and Yamuna
In some tellings the first rakhi was tied by Yamuna, the river goddess, on her brother Yama, lord of death. Yama had not visited her for a long time. When he came at last, she tied a thread on his wrist and fed him. Pleased, Yama blessed her and said that any brother to whom a sister ties a thread, and who promises to protect her, would be blessed with long life. The same brother and sister are remembered at Bhai Dooj, the other festival of siblings.
Rani Karnavati and Humayun
A later legend tells of Rani Karnavati of Mewar. When the Sultan of Gujarat marched on Chittor, she is said to have sent a rakhi to the Mughal emperor Humayun, asking him as a brother to come to her aid. Humayun set out, the story goes, but arrived too late. The tale is told in many books for children. Historians doubt it, because the writers of that time do not mention a rakhi, and it is best heard as a story about what the thread came to mean: that a bond of care can cross the lines of faith and kingdom.
How the stories are heard
There is no fixed katha reading on Raksha Bandhan as there is on many vrat days. In many homes, though, the sister sits with her thali, and before tying the rakhi an elder tells one of these stories, most often Draupadi's or Lakshmi's. In some families the Indra story is read at the morning puja, and in Brahmin homes Shravani, the changing of the sacred thread, is done the same day. The tilak, the rakhi, the aarti and the gift are on the Raksha Bandhan puja vidhi page.
What the story carries today
In every one of these stories the thread is tied by someone who cannot fight the battle herself, and given to someone who can: a wife to a king, a goddess to a demon king, a princess to her friend. Today sisters are as able as brothers, and the thread now runs both ways. Many sisters tie rakhi to each other, and brothers promise care in return for care.
The other siblings' festival is Bhai Dooj, and the festival that comes earlier in the bright half of Shravana is Nag Panchami. To find a calm slot outside Rahu Kaal, check the rahu kaal for your city and the choghadiya.