Festival story · 1 telling · West India

The thread on Bali's wrist: Lakshmi at Sutala

Vishnu keeps his promise to stand at Bali's door in Sutala and does not come home. On the full moon of Shravana Lakshmi goes down herself, ties a thread on Bali's wrist, takes him for her brother, and asks for her husband back.

Who is in it

Lakshmi ties the thread and asks for her husband
Bali the king at whose door Vishnu stands; her brother from that day
Vishnu bound by his promise
Brahma takes four months of the guard
Shiva takes four months of the guard
Sutala Bali's realm

Places: Sutala · Texts: Bhagavata Purana

The story, beat by beat

Bali's devotion moves Vishnu to promise to stand at his door; he leaves Vaikuntha for Sutala and stays.
He does not come back; Lakshmi, alone in Vaikuntha, goes down to Sutala on the full moon of Shravana.
She ties a thread on Bali's wrist and takes him as her brother.
Bali offers her a boon; she asks for her husband's return, saying his absence has left her like a widow.
Vishnu cannot break his word; Brahma and Shiva each take four months of the guard, and Vishnu keeps the four months of the rains.
Gujarat calls the day Baleva, for Bali's giving of everything; the thread is tied in his name.

thread brother promise chaturmas

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Popular retelling

Raksha Bandhan festival tradition (Gujarat's Baleva; Vaishnava retellings)

West India · Gujarat; told across India Vaishnava 🪔 Raksha Bandhan

Bali's devotion moved Vishnu so far that he promised to be the king's doorkeeper, and he left Vaikuntha and stood at Bali's gate in Sutala. He did not come home. On the full moon of Shravana Lakshmi went down to Sutala herself. She tied a thread on Bali's wrist and called him brother, and Bali, as a brother must, offered her whatever she asked. She asked for her husband: without him, she said, she was living like a widow. Bali could not refuse and Vishnu could not break his word, so the three gods divided the guard: Brahma stands at Bali's door four months, Shiva four, and Vishnu the four months of the rains, the Chaturmas. Gujarat keeps the day as Baleva, for Bali who gave everything, and the priests still tie the raksha with the words that bound Mahabali, king of the asuras.

Swaminarayan (Bhuj): Raksha Bandhan, the stories of Indrani and of Bali and Lakshmi; ISKCON Educational Services: Stories connected with Raksha Bandhan; Wikipedia: Raksha Bandhan (the Bhavishya Purana Uttara 137 passage)

Sources: Swaminarayan (Bhuj): Raksha Bandhan, the stories of Indrani and of Bali and Lakshmi; ISKCON Educational Services: Stories connected with Raksha Bandhan; Wikipedia: Raksha Bandhan (the Bhavishya Purana Uttara 137 passage)

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