Raksha Bandhan 2024: Whom did Shravan’s parents curse to die in the separation of their son? Read this story on Raksha Bandhan

Rakhi 2024: Tomorrow, the festival of Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated across the country. On this day, sisters tie a rakhi on their brother’s wrist and take a promise from them to protect them. In Sanatan culture, the festival of Rakhi is a sacred expression of the pure love between brothers and sisters. The tradition and history of the festival of Raksha Bandhan is centuries old. Even in the Treta Yug, a very touching story is described about the Raksha Sutra. This is the story of Shravan Kumar and King Dasharath, who devoted their lives to their blind parents.

According to a legend, in Treta Yuga, the obedient son Shravan Kumar reached Ayodhya carrying his blind parents on a pilgrimage by keeping them in a Kaavad. When his mother and father felt thirsty, Shravan Kumar put the Kaavad at one place and went towards the Yamuna river with a pot. King Dasharath had already reached the place where Shravan Kumar had gone to fetch water for hunting.

As soon as Shravan Kumar dipped his pot in the Yamuna river to fill water, King Dasharath, who was waiting for prey, mistook him for a deer and shot an arrow at him. The arrow shot from King Dasharath’s bow hit Shravan Kumar directly. When King Dasharath reached there to see the prey, he found Shravan Kumar breathing his last. King Dasharath regretted his mistake a lot.

But before dying, he told King Dasharath the whole story of his blind parents. Then Dasharath, filled with remorse, went to Shravan Kumar and gave the sad news of the loss of their son to his blind parents. Shravan Kumar’s parents died inconsolably in grief over the loss of their son. But before dying, Shravan Kumar’s parents cursed King Dasharath with the loss of their son.

King Dasharath was aware of his mistake, but now he could not do anything. Then King Dasharath offered a Raksha Sutra in the name of Shravan Kumar in the Yamuna river for his well-being in the afterlife. Coincidentally, that day was also the full moon day of the Shukla Paksha of Shravan month. It is believed that since then the tradition of offering a Raksha Sutra in the name of Shravan Kumar on the day of Raksha Bandhan started. That is why in many places there is a ritual of worshipping Shravan Kumar before celebrating Raksha Bandhan.