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Bhai Duj

Bhaiya Duj is the festival that is celebrated on the fifth day of diwali and it falls on second day after diwali that is on ' Shukla Paksha Dwitiya ' in the Hindi month of 'Kartik'. ' Dwitiya ' means ' Duj ' or the second day after the new moon. This festival is popular in different regions with different names such as ' Bhai-Dooj ' in north India, ' Bhav-Bij ' in Maharashtra, ' Bhai-Phota ' in Bengal and ' Bhai-Teeka ' in Nepal.

On the auspicious day of Bhaiya-Dooj brothers and sisters get up early in the morning. The sisters perform 'aarti' of their brothers and apply a 'Tilak' or 'Teeka' on their forehead. Then they sweeten their mouths. Then the brothers and the sisters exchange gifts with each other.

Legends:
The legends have that Lord Yamraj, the God of Death, visited his sister Yamuna on the 'Shukla Paksha Dwitiya' day in the Hindi month. When Yamraj reached Yamuna's home she welcomed Him by performing His aarti, applying 'Tilak' on His forehead and by putting a garland. Yamuna cooked varieties of dishes and prepared lots of sweets for her brother and offered all those to Him. In-return he showered blessings on Yamuna and gave her a boon as a gift that if a brother visits his sister on this day he would be blessed with health and wealth. That is why Bhayya Duj is also called 'Yam-Dwitiya'.

Another legend is that after Narakasur was destroyed, Lord Krishna went to his sister, Subhadra. Subhadra welcomed her winner brother in the traditional way by performing His 'aarti' and applying 'Tilak' on His forehead.

One more story behind the celebrations of Bhai-Duj is that when Bhagwaan Mahavir attained 'Nirvana', his brother Raja Nandi-Vardhan became very sad. He missed Bhagwaan Mahavir very badly then it was his sister Sudarshana, who comforted him.