Raksha Bandhan 2027
17 August 2027

Raksha Bandhan is kept on Shravan Shukla Purnima, when a sister ties a rakhi, a thread tied for protection, on her brother’s wrist, asking for his protection and wellbeing in return for her own blessing. The thread is tied only once Bhadra, an inauspicious part of the tithi, has passed, as elders check before the family’s puja. Many households also tie a rakhi first to Krishna’s idol or to the family deity, before it is tied on a brother.

The custom is not kept only between a sister and a brother: a daughter sometimes ties a rakhi to her father, and a rakhi is tied to a priest or a close friend too, as a bond of protection that reaches beyond blood. What matters in tradition is the prayer said while tying it, not the gift that follows; the thread itself is only a sign of that promise.

• Rakhi (the protection thread)
• Roli, akshat and kalava
• Diya and ghee
• Puja thali
• Sweets
• Coconut or dry fruits, if given with the rakhi

Source: Bhavishya Purana, the story of Indra and Indrani

When the devas were losing their long war against the asuras led by Vritra, Indra despaired of ever regaining his throne. His wife Shachi, also called Indrani, asked the guru Brihaspati how he could be protected, and on his word she tied a thread, sanctified with mantras, around Indra’s wrist on the full moon of Shravan.

Protected by the thread Shachi had tied with her own faith, Indra went back into battle and defeated Vritra’s army, winning back heaven for the devas. The Bhavishya Purana tells this as the first rakshabandhan, the binding of protection, which is why the thread is still tied with a prayer rather than treated as a mere gift.

What to do

• Tie the rakhi once Bhadra has passed, since tradition holds this part of the tithi inauspicious for the thread; an elder or a panchang can confirm the time for your own city.
• If your brother lives far away, many families post the rakhi ahead so it reaches him in time, or tie it over a video call and send it after; distance need not break the bond.
• Keep a sweet ready to feed him after tying the rakhi, as the first taste he takes from your hand on the day.
• If you have no brother by blood, tying a rakhi to a cousin, a close friend or the family deity is just as much a part of the custom.

What to avoid

• Avoid tying the rakhi before Bhadra has passed, since that is the one thing the day’s own tradition warns against.
• The thread is not treated as the main thing: tradition sets greater store by the prayer and the bond than by the gift that follows, so the giving need not be lavish.

The same day is known elsewhere by other names: Rakhi Purnima in common speech, and Narali Purnima along the Maharashtra and Gujarat coast, where fishing families worship the sea and offer coconuts before the season’s fishing reopens. Many Brahmin families keep Shravani Upakarma, or Jandhyala Purnima, on the same tithi, when the sacred thread (janeu) is changed.