Rakshabandhan is probably the popular version of a ceremony called Pavitraropana, which also used to be observed on full moon day, but is now more or less outdated. A required number of rings, bracelets or necklets of twisted strands of cotton thread, with a varying number of knots, were made. These, called pavitras or ponvates, were sprinkled with panchgava, the five products of the cow (milk, curd, clarified butter, dung and urine), washed, consecrated and worshipped. They were then offered to different gods, wound around the Shiva lingam (the phallic symbol of the deity), laid at Lord Vishnu’s feet, given to the family priest and so on. The best ponvate was nine-stranded, with 108 twists and 24 knots and reached down to the knees.

Folklore traces thread ceremonies back to the fear of evil spirits. The sacred thread, like the magic circle known to many primitive people, is believed to form a barrier which demons cannot cross. Knots are tied in the thread for the same purpose, as a knot is circular in shape.

When the Kayats, an upper caste of Khandesh in western India, wish to get drunk, they take off their sacred chords and wear them back only when they are sober again. Thus, the spirit inhabiting the intoxicating drink is not prevented from entering their bodies, or leaving it afterwards.

Again, since ghosts of young Brahmin boys are believed to live on the peepul or bo tree, threads are tied around the peepul to prevent the spirits from leaving the tree to chase women. It is out of this belief that the mangalsutra is broken when a woman’s husband dies , not so much to signify the breaking of the marriage than to enable her husband’s spirit to visit her.

Around the same time as Rakshabandhan and Pavitraropana are celebrated, Brahmins renew the sacred chord which they wear constantly from the day of their initiation. The ceremony usually takes place in a temple courtyard, where, amid prayers, incantations and ceremonial eating, the old chords are taken off and cast into the sacrificial fire. Then new chords of cotton with a three-fold twist are blessed by the priest and put on. Then follows the worship of Lord Brahma, the Creator, the casting of scented flowers and sacred rice into the fire and the giving of presents to priests. The sacred chord is worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm, except during ceremonies for the dead, when it is shifted to the right shoulder.

The end of the rains too sees a spurt in thread ceremonies in India. For, in Bhadra, or sometimes in the following lunar month of Asvina, Gauri, wife of Lord Shiva and mother of the elephant-headed God, Ganesha, is worshipped in a three-day festival, celebrated mainly in western India. Gauri is the Goddess of Harvest and the protector of women. On the second day of this festival, women take lengths of cotton 16 times their own height and fold them into skeins, which are laid before the Goddess’ image to be blessed by her. Next day, the skeins are folded into shorter lengths, knotted with either seven or 16 knots, worshipped and fastened by the women around their necks to invoke Gauri’s protection for the year. These knotted cotton necklets are taken off only when the next auspicious occasion arrives.

The vat or banyan tree is worshipped and a thread is tied around it in a commemorative festival observed only by married women called Vat Purnima, which celebrates Savitri’s love for her husband, Satyavan. So devoted was Savitri to her spouse that she followed Satyavan’s spirit when Yama, the God of Death, was taking it away.

Yama finally allowed her husband to return to life. The vat tree acquired significance because Savitri left Satyavan’s body under this majestic tree. Some believe the tale to be a myth, symbolising the annual marriage of Earth (Satyavan) and Nature (Savitri). It is believed that Earth dies every year and is renewed by the power of Nature.

Another legend has it that a woman once stole food in her father-in-law’s house and blamed it on the cat. The cat, in revenge, carried off all her children as soon as they were born, to Shashthi, a malevolent female deity who injures newborn infants and their mothers unless propitiated soon after a birth. The woman appealed to Shashthi for mercy when her latest baby was born. She was told to make an image of the cat with rice-flour and water, and use a twisted thread as a charm. The cat’s image and the Goddess were to be worshipped, and the thread to be bound on the child’s wrists to keep him safe.

The Pandavas also observed a ritual before the great battle of Mahabharata which is believed to have ensured their victory over the Kauravas. Though it is a ritual now observed only by men, legend traces it to a woman, Sushila. The ritual, through which any desire of hers could be fulfilled, entailed dressing in red garments and worshipping pitchers of water, and afterwards tying a chord made of red silken thread around her wrists.