The Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore used the occasion of the Raksha Bandhan as a community festival to spread the nationalist spirit among people from different ethnic backgrounds.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is the most eminent Bengali renaissance poet, philosopher, essayist, critic, composer and educator who dreamt of a harmony of universal humanity among the people of different origin through freedom of mind and spiritual sovereignty. He became the first-ever Asian writer to be awarded a Nobel Prize in 1913 for translated version of his cycle of song-poems, Gitanjali. His literary works transcend race, gender, religion, politics and geographic territory. He wondered throughout his life to reveal with his sensitivity the meaning of life and the universe. He felt, the most important need for humanity in the world, was freedom of mind regardless of nature, culture and race. 

His unity of thought and action, which he foreshadowed in his writing before the turn of the century, became real during the tragic partition of Bengal, by the British authorities, in the year 1905. In order to create a real sense of brotherhood among the people, he suggested the use of "Rakhi Bandhan," the tying of the ancient ochre-colored thread round the wrist. This simple ceremony spread everywhere, and the poor and the rich joined together, not only in their hearts but in the stoppage of all work, as a protest against authority.

At this Rakhi Utsav, he received the rakhi (bracelet) from his aging older sister Barnakumari, and wrote the famous song 

"Banglar mati Banglar jal (May the Earth and Water of Bengal be blessed, O Lord)".