Written piece
The 'Raksha' Thread
SNIGDHA AGRAWAL
India
About this piece
The sacred ‘raksha’ thread from the Indian sub-continent meets others to weave a shared future, where diversity is preserved, differences embraced, and unity built through understanding, not uniformity. So, together, we may create a fabric strong enough to hold us all.
I come to this call
carrying a thread
from an ancient civilisation
One that has endured many
trials and tribulations,
centuries of invasions,
leaving the subcontinent
in an impoverished state
Yet, rising like a phoenix
from the ashes,
this thread has passed several tests,
emerging stronger, tighter
like the Kalava in Hinduism,
the sacred thread tied on wrists,
symbolising commitment to righteousness
and protection. The ‘raksha' thread.
In my hand, this thread seeks others,
like dancers who find meaning
in shared movement,
or musicians who carry melody
across rhythms
My thread is one of connection
It listens, overlaps, and learns.
It does not erase differences,
but leans into them,
knowing strength lies
in the crossing of paths,
in the deliberate weaving of stories
that do not begin in the same place
Yet meet with purpose.
This thread makes no claim
to perfection, only clarity,
a willingness to reflect,
to hold space, to belong
without demanding sameness,
choosing understanding over judgment
For the Commonwealth,
I offer this as one piece
in a larger quilt,
where colours speak to one another
instead of standing at odds,
and where every strand
helps hold the others up
Where staying together
is grounded in the belief
that unity does not require
the surrender of identity.
If we are to stitch this quilt,
perhaps my thread can cross with yours
Woven not as a statement
of who I am alone,
but as a commitment
to what we can become together
And how beautifully we might integrate
in the warp and weft of this cloth,
forming the living fabric
of the Commonwealth.
(*raksha means protection. Kalava means sacred thread)