Mughal History: Was Rakshabandhan celebrated during the time of Mughals? Who used to tie Rakhi to Akbar-Jahangir?

Humayun was the first Mughal emperor who started celebrating Rakshabandhan festival, during the time of Akbar and Jahangir, the festival of Rakshabandhan was also celebrated in the royal court, it decreased in the era of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb started celebrating Rakshabandhan in the Mughal court. The tradition itself had ended.

In Mughal history, there is mention of sending rakhi to Emperor Humayun on behalf of Rajput queen Karnavati. It is said that Humayun kept the honor of Rajput sister's Rakhi. Even before Humayun reached Chittorgarh, Rani Karnavati had committed Jauhar, but Humayun had given freedom to the fort by defeating Chittorgarh's enemy Bahadur Shah in the war.

Historians believe that Rakshabandhan was celebrated in the Mughal Empire with the rakhi of Rajput queen Karnavati who came to Humayun. Not only Humayun, but Emperor Akbar and then Mughal Emperor Jahangir also used to celebrate Rakshabandhan with great pomp and also tied Rakhi on the wrist.

This is how Akbar's day was spent on Raksha Bandhan

Like his father Humayun, Akbar used to celebrate Rakshabandhan festival. The first reason for this was Akbar's relation with the Rajput family and the second reason was that many courtiers in Akbar's court were Hindus. Famous historian Irfan Habib has mentioned in his book that Abkar had started the tradition of tying Rakhi in the court itself on the day of Raksha Bandhan. So many people used to reach to tie Rakhi to Akbar that the whole day used to pass in getting the Rakhi tied.

Jahangir used to tie rakhi to common people

Jahangir also carried forward the tradition of tying rakhi in the court on behalf of Akbar. The special thing was that Akbar used to tie rakhi only to the family members of the courtiers, while Jahangir started the tradition of tying rakhi to the common people as well. In this era too, like in the time of Akbar, the festival of Raksha Bandhan was celebrated in the royal court.

Aurangzeb had imposed a ban on celebrating the festival

After Jahangir, during the time of Shah Jahan, the tradition of celebrating Rakshabandhan in the court decreased. It was completely banned during the reign of Aurangzeb. On 8 April 1969, Aurangzeb issued an order banning the celebration of all Hindu festivals. This order was applicable to all the 21 provinces ruled by Aurangzeb at that time. Saki Mustaid Khan, associated with Aurangzeb's court, has mentioned this order in Maasir-e-Alamgiri.