About Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan is the Hindu festival of the protective thread, tied by a sister on her brother's wrist on Shravana Purnima, the full moon of the month of Shravan. In 2027 it falls on Tuesday, 17 August 2027. The same full moon carries other names across India, from Narali Purnima on the Konkan coast to Avani Avittam in the south, and the tying time is set by a panchang rather than by the clock.
The thread is called a rakhi, from raksha, protection. Everything about the day follows from that word. The sister ties, prays and asks for nothing. The brother accepts, and owes something afterwards.
When is Raksha Bandhan celebrated?
Raksha Bandhan falls on Purnima, the full moon, of Shravan. It is fixed to a tithi, not to a calendar date. Because a Hindu lunar month runs about 29.5 days, the Gregorian date slides back by roughly eleven days each year, then jumps forward when an extra month, adhik maas, is inserted to keep the calendar with the seasons.
A tithi also does not start at midnight. Purnima begins at whatever hour the moon reaches the right angular distance from the sun, so panchangs often show the full moon straddling two calendar days. That is the source of the "so is rakhi on Thursday or Friday" argument that recurs in families every few years. Most panchangs resolve it the same way: the festival is kept on the day when Purnima is running during aparahna, the late afternoon.
Bhadra, and why families wait for a muhurat
The other half of the timing question is Bhadra, also called Vishti Karana. A karana is half a tithi, and Vishti is the one the panchang treats as unfit for starting anything important. Bhadra frequently sits in the first half of Shravana Purnima, which is exactly when most north Indian households would otherwise tie the rakhi.
Drik Panchang states the convention plainly: Bhadra is to be avoided for all auspicious work, and Raksha Bandhan rituals belong in aparahna, with pradosh, the early evening, as the fallback if aparahna is unavailable. The reason usually given for the taboo comes from the Ramayana tradition, in which Shurpanakha ties a rakhi to Ravana during Bhadra and his destruction follows. Some almanacs allow a compromise, splitting Bhadra into Bhadra Mukha, the face, and Bhadra Punchha, the tail, and permitting the ritual during the tail. Drik Panchang notes that it could find no authority to support that split. Worth knowing before someone in the family quotes it at you.
What is the origin of Raksha Bandhan?
Scholars describe Raksha Bandhan as two strands that merged. The older one, reflected in the Bhavishya Purana, is priestly: a Brahmin ties a protective thread on a patron's wrist on this full moon and receives a gift in return. The sibling festival most people mean today is the second strand, and it grew steadily through the twentieth century as cinema, the post office and migration carried it well beyond its north Indian base.
Two stories get repeated as history and deserve separating.
The Rani Karnavati and Humayun rakhi, in which the widowed queen of Mewar sends a thread to the Mughal emperor asking for help against Bahadur Shah, appears in no contemporary Mughal or Rajput chronicle. It enters the record through James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan in the 1820s, compiled from bardic accounts, and the historian Satish Chandra treats it as a fable. Karnavati died at Chittor in 1535. The rakhi is not part of that record.
The other is documented. On 16 October 1905, the day Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal took effect, Rabindranath Tagore turned the festival into a protest. He called for arandhan, kitchens shut in mourning, took a dip in the Ganga, and walked through Kolkata tying rakhis on Hindus and Muslims alike while a song he had written for the occasion was sung around him. He went into a mosque to tie threads on the maulvis. His companions thought he had overstepped; the maulvis did not object. The partition was annulled in 1911.
The same full moon, six other festivals
| Where | Name of the day | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Konkan coast, Mumbai, Thane, Palghar | Narali Purnima | Koli fishing families offer a coconut to the sea and to Varuna, decorate the boats and open the season after the monsoon. Naral is Marathi for coconut |
| Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka | Avani Avittam, Upakarma, Jandhyala Purnima | Yajurvedi Brahmin men change the sacred thread and formally restart Veda study. Rigvedis keep Upakarma on Shravana nakshatra instead, usually a different day |
| Gujarat | Pavitropana | Cotton threads or grass soaked in panchagavya are offered on the Shiva linga, closing the month of Shravan in Shiva temples |
| Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, eastern UP, Bihar | Kajari Purnima | Barley sown in leaf cups on Kajari Navami is carried out in procession by women and immersed, with prayers for the sowing season and for sons |
| West Bengal, Odisha | Rakhi Purnima | The thread is tied, and in Bengal the day carries the memory of 1905 as much as the sibling ritual |
| Jammu and Kashmir | Shravana Purnima | The Chhari Mubarak, the holy mace, reaches the Amarnath cave on this full moon and the yatra closes |
How is Raksha Bandhan celebrated at home?
At home, Raksha Bandhan follows a set order: the sister sets the thali, applies the tilak and does the aarti, ties the rakhi on her brother's right wrist and feeds him a sweet, and he gives a gift in return.
- The thali is setA rakhi, roli or kumkum, unbroken rice, a diya and something sweet. In many homes the thali is shown to the family deity first.
- Tilak, then aartiThe sister applies the tilak and presses a few grains of rice onto it, then circles the lamp in front of her brother.
- The thread goes on the right wristThe right hand is the one used for giving and for ritual, which is why the rakhi is tied there.
- Sweets, then the giftHe is fed first, then hands over money, clothes or whatever was agreed. Elders in the room are touched for blessings.
Cousins count. Sisters tie to sisters. Chosen siblings, neighbours and sisters-in-law are tied to in plenty of families, and schools and welfare bodies post rakhis to soldiers every year. The thread marks a bond of protection, and it has always been flexible about whose.
Wishing people outside the sibling bond
Do
- Use the local name if you know it. "Happy Narali Purnima" to a Koli family says more than a forwarded rakhi image.
- Wish a Yajurvedi colleague on Avani Avittam rather than on rakhi if that is the ritual his family is doing that morning.
- Keep workplace wishes general: to you and your family, with no assumed sibling relationship.
Avoid
- Don't assume the day is observed everywhere. It is strongest in north, west and central India, and many households elsewhere do not mark it at all.
- Don't send a festive greeting to someone who lost a sibling this year. Say you are thinking of them and leave the wishes out.
Happy Raksha Bandhan to you and your family. Hope the house is full and the sweets last past lunch.
Narali Purnima chya hardik shubhechha. May the sea be kind this season and the boats come back full.
Wishing you and your family a peaceful Avani Avittam. Hope the morning went well and the lunch was worth the fasting.
Shubho Rakhi Purnima. Tagore's version of this day is still the best thing anyone has done with a piece of thread.
Rakhi tied, prayers done, your turn. Whatever you need this year, ask me first.
Thinking of you today. You have been more family to me than most people's actual relatives, so consider the thread tied.
Raksha Bandhan ki hardik shubhkamnayein to everyone at home. Wishing all of you good health through the year.
For wording you can copy and send, including Hindi lines, long-distance rakhis and what to write when a sibling has died, see the Raksha Bandhan wishes guide. The other sibling festival in the year is Bhai Dooj at the end of Diwali, and Krishna Janmashtami follows this full moon by about a week.
How to wish someone on Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandhan is built on a promise rather than a compliment, so the wish that lands is the one that names what you will actually do for the person. Outside the sibling bond, keep it general and warm. If the household you are writing to marks the day as Narali Purnima, Avani Avittam or Kajari Purnima, using that name shows you know whose festival it is.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is Raksha Bandhan in 2026 and 2027?
Raksha Bandhan is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 11 days earlier than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Raksha Bandhan in 2027?
Raksha Bandhan 2027 falls on Tuesday, 17 August 2027.
Why does the Raksha Bandhan date change every year?
Raksha Bandhan is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar rather than the Gregorian one. It falls on Purnima, the full moon of the month of Shravan, and because a lunar month is about 29.5 days the festival moves back roughly eleven days each year, then jumps forward when a leap month is added.
What is Bhadra, and why is rakhi not tied during it?
Bhadra, also called Vishti Karana, is a half-tithi period that panchangs treat as unsuitable for starting anything auspicious, and it often covers the first half of Shravana Purnima. The reason usually given is a story in which Shurpanakha tied a rakhi to Ravana during Bhadra and his ruin followed. Families that follow a panchang wait for Bhadra to end before tying the thread.
What time should rakhi be tied?
Panchangs place the ritual in aparahna, the late afternoon, and offer pradosh, the early evening, if aparahna is unavailable. The exact minutes depend on your city's sunrise and sunset, so take the window from a panchang set to your own location rather than from a national list.
Is the Rani Karnavati and Humayun rakhi story true?
No contemporary Mughal or Rajput chronicle mentions it. The episode enters the record through James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan in the 1820s, compiled from bardic accounts, and historians including Satish Chandra treat it as a fable rather than an event. The well-documented political use of rakhi is Rabindranath Tagore's in Bengal in 1905.
What else is celebrated on the same day as Raksha Bandhan?
The same full moon is Narali Purnima for Koli fishing families on the Konkan coast, Avani Avittam or Upakarma for Yajurvedi Brahmins in the south, Pavitropana in Gujarat's Shiva temples, Kajari Purnima for farming households in central India, and the day the Amarnath yatra closes in Kashmir.
Is Raksha Bandhan observed across all of India?
It is strongest in north, west and central India, and has spread widely through cinema, migration and the postal system. In much of the south the same full moon is kept as Avani Avittam instead, and many households in the north-east and the far south do not observe the sibling ritual at all.
Last verified by the Kehdoo team on .