Bhai duj or Bhaiya duj is the day when brothers and sisters meet to express their love and affection for each other.Diwali is not only a festival of lights, crackers, worship of Goddess Lakshmi, sharing sweets with your loved ones but it is also a perfect occasion for social gatherings to exchange diwali greetings. This lovely festival brings with it a chance to revive your relationships with each other. One such special relationship that we talk about during diwali celebrations is the Bhai-Dooj or the Bhaiya-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. Thus Bhayya Duj is the festival that marks the end of diwali celebrations. 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.

The legends have that Lord Yamraj, the God of Death, visited his sister Yamuna on the 'Shukla Paksha Dwitiya' day in the Hindi month of 'Kartik'. When Yamraj reached Yamuna's home she welcomed Him by performing His aarti, applying 'Tilak' on His forehead and by putting a garland around His neck. Yamuna also cooked varieties of dishes and prepared lots of sweets for her brother and offered all those to Him. Lord Yamraj ate all those delicious dishes and when He was finished 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. This is why this day of Bhayya Duj is also known by the name of 'Yam-Dwitiya'. And thus it has become a tradition that on the day of Bhai-Dooj brothers visit their sisters' home and offer them gifts. Sisters also make various dishes for their brothers and also give gifts to them.

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. Since then the women have been revered during this festival.

Bhai Duj Celebrations

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

On the auspicious day of 'Yam-Dwitiya' the people of 'Kayastha' community of Hindus celebrates the holy function of worshipping Lord Chitragupta who is the God, who maintains the records of life and death of the creatures. The 'Kayastha' community also worships the pen, paper and ink on this day in the honor of Lord Chitragupta.