Any festival that is embodied with the fabric of underestimating the principles of rationality, at the cost of individuality, does not deserve to be celebrated. It should be circumvented because it hallucinates the personal culture of all the individuals and of the society as a whole. Before you tag me “marxist”, “liberal” or “feminist”, let me inform you that I am neither a leftist nor a rightist. I am an individualist or an autarchist, who is benevolent enough to not shame you back for your straw man arguments against me. This article must be read by you with an open mind because Raksha Bandhan needs a rejuvenation before it hallucinates and degenerates the social cognition of all the individuals. You’re free to ignore reading this article because I’m not imposing my opinion on you.
Coming to the point, Raksha Bandhan is a festival of “bond of protection”. Sister (can also be non-biologically related) ties a silk thread called rakhi on their brothers’ wrists and “pray” to God for their health and well-being. Brothers make a “promise” to “protect” their sisters from all harms and troubles. This patriarchal activity is likely to systematically transform the sister’s cognition by making her more “dependent” on her brother. It undermines the principles of autarchy, which is nothing but the features of self-government. Autarchy rejects compulsory culturalization, and supports the elimination of collective pressure in favor of ruling oneself, to the exclusion of rule by others. Raksha Bandhan, on primary level, doesn’t promote the principles of individualism; the moral ideology of individual liberty and self-reliance. It ends up generating and sustaining a conventional culture of dependency (not inter-dependency, in our current scenario), and facilitates women to be dependent on men. Men, under peer pressure, also face the flak if he fails to bid for the tangible gifts on par with others. Overall, the unseen effect of Raksha Bandhan tells us that it does more harm to the economy of individuation process.
Autarchism supports the individualism of all gender, philosophically. The premises of autarchy can be used – as a tool – to “smash” the cultural authoritarians, government, etc. In the context of Raksha Bandhan, autarchy helps us to “assess” the nature of the festival, etc. The subconscious features of Raksha Bandhan tells us that men are more “capable” to guard their sisters, and are also economically superior. This belief undermines the individuality of men and women or both. The attitude of dependency which Raksha Bandhan places on the social aptitude determines the altitude of power and dependency. Installation of power (Raksha Bandhan) does not come for free here. It comes with submission, dominance and obedience. The spillover effects of Raksha Bandhan “perpetuates” the notion that one must not be self-dependent for the choices one can cognitively make to advance the cause of self-defense. Therefore, the festival underestimates the individuality of the people. No matter you can disguise that it’s a “personal” choice to do so.