Bhai Dooj Date 2024: Puja Timings and Tilak Shubh Muhurat

Bhai Dooj is a Hindu festival celebrated to honour the bond between brothers and sisters. It holds great significance in Hindu traditions and is observed with great enthusiasm. People celebrate this auspicious day by performing various rituals, such as applying tilak on the foreheads of the brothers, offering sweets, and exchanging gifts. Bhai Dooj is also known as Bhatri Dwitiya, Bhau Beej, and Tikka. It is celebrated on the fifth day of Diwali, which marks the end of the Diwali festival.

Bhai Dooj 2024: Date, Time and Tilak Shubh Muhurat

The festival of Bhai Dooj is celebrated on the Dwitiya tithi, or the second day of the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) in the Hindu month of Kartik. This year, the festival will be celebrated on: 

Bhai Dooj in 2024 is on Sunday, November 3rd. 

• Shubh Muhurat for Bhai Dooj Tilak: from 01:30 PM to 03:47 PM, lasting for 2 hours and 17 minutes. 
• Dwitiya Tithi begins at 08:20 PM on November 2nd, 2024, and ends at 10:07 PM on November 3rd, 2024.

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Bhai Dooj Significance

Bhai Dooj is a special occasion for brothers and sisters to express love and respect towards each other. Sisters use red and yellow coloured vermillion to put a tilak on their brothers' foreheads. This tilak on their forehead signifies their prayer for their brothers' happiness and long life. In return, brothers give gifts to their sisters to show their affection.

How to celebrate Bhai Dooj?

Bhai Dooj is a festival celebrated in India and Nepal to honour the bond between siblings. In West Bengal, it is known as the Phota festival, where sisters fast on this day and perform the tilak ceremony on their brother's forehead. After the tilak, the brother gives a gift to his sister. In Maharashtra and Goa, it is called Bhao Beej, and sisters perform the tilak ceremony in the evening, praying for their brother's long life. In Uttar Pradesh, sisters give their brothers dried coconuts after the tilak ceremony. In Nepal, Bhai Dooj is known as Bhai Tihar, where sisters apply tilak to their brothers, which signifies their love and respect for them.

Bhai Dooj Stories

• Subhadra and Lord Krishna

Bhai Dooj is a festival that celebrates Lord Krishna's brotherly love for his sister, Subhadra. After Lord Krishna defeated the demon King Narakasura in a fierce battle, he went to visit his sister, who greeted him with warmth. She applied a saffron and turmeric tilak to his forehead and offered him a dry coconut, sweets, and flowers. These offerings represent good luck and prosperity. Since then, the day has been celebrated as Bhai Dooj.

• Yamuna and Lord Yama 

Once upon a time, the God of Death, Yama, went to visit his sister Yamuna on the occasion of Bhai Dooj. She welcomed him warmly, applied a tilak made of yellow turmeric and kumkum as a mark of respect on his forehead, and cooked delicious food for him. They hadn't seen each other in a long time, so they ate together, talked, and exchanged gifts. Yama was happy to see his sister's love and hospitality, so he asked her for a favour. She wished that he visit her every year on the same day so she could show him the same hospitality. Yama granted her wish, saying that whoever receives a mark of respect from their sister on this day will be blessed with a long and prosperous life. That's why Bhai Dooj is also known as Yama Dwitiya in southern India.

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Puja Rituals on Bhai Dooj

1. Every Bhai Dooj, siblings wake up early and dress in their best traditional attire.
2. Those who consider Laddoo Gopal Ji or Lord Ganesha as their brothers start the day by applying tilak to them.
3. Sisters lovingly prepare delicious snacks, meals, and sweets for their brothers.
4. Either the sister visits her brother or the brother goes to his sister's house to celebrate Bhai Dooj together.
5. Sisters decorate a plate with roli, unbroken rice, dried coconut, sweets, and a thoughtful gift for their brother.
6. First, they apply tilak and then offer akshat. The sister also applies tilak to the dried coconut and gives it to her brother, wishing him good health and a long life.
7. In return, brothers respectfully touch their sister's feet and seek her blessings.
8. Brothers express their love and respect by presenting their sisters with either money or a gift of their choice.
9. Sisters lovingly serve food to their brothers, making the celebration of Bhai Dooj even more special and memorable.