Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 11 November 2026
- Sunday, 31 October 2027
- Thursday, 19 October 2028
Where Bhai Phonta falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 11 Nov
- 2027: 31 Oct, 11 days earlier
- 2028: 19 Oct, 11 days earlier
The five days of Diwali
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Bengal calendar
The dates, year by year
Bengal calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The second day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, the last of the five Diwali days, kept between brother and sister. Yama went to his sister Yamuna on this day and she put a tilak on his forehead and fed him, and he gave her the boon that whoever is fed by his sister on it will not fear him; sisters repeat the tilak and the meal.
- Deity
- Yama, Yamuna
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Another telling says that Krishna, coming home after killing Narakasura, went first to his sister Subhadra, who met him with a lamp, a tilak and sweets, and the day has belonged to brothers and sisters since. The custom is that the brother goes to the sister and eats at her house, not she at his, so that the married sister's home is honoured and her brother sees for himself how she lives. At Mathura brothers and sisters bathe together in the Yamuna at Vishram Ghat, since the river is Yama's own sister, and the Kayastha families keep the same day as Chitragupta Puja, worshipping Yama's record keeper with a pen, an inkpot and their account books. In Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh the sisters first make a figure of Godhan from cow dung and pound it with a pestle, cursing their brothers in play, and then prick their own tongues with a thorn in penance, so that the brothers, cursed and then blessed, are held to be safe from Yama for the year. Bengal keeps it as Bhai Phonta, and the sister's phonta of sandal, curd and kajal on her brother's forehead is put on with the old rhyme that bars Yama's door against him, to the sound of the conch and the women's ululation.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Bhai Phonta: how it is kept
Keep ready
- sandal paste
- curd
- kajal from the soot of a ghee lamp
- dhaan (paddy) and durba grass
- a ghee lamp and incense
- a conch
- a piri or an asan
- rasgulla, sandesh and mishti doi
- gifts for the brother
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
Sweets come first, from the sister's hand: rasgulla, sandesh, mishti doi and narkel naru; then the feast of luchi, kosha mangsho or fish, pulao, chutney and payesh.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 11 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartika Shukla Dwitiya at sunrise; the tilak is done during the day, before the meal.
The main rite. Kartik Shukla Dwitiya; the tilak is put on during the day, in the aparahna, the early afternoon, by many almanacs, and always before the brother eats.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:06 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:06, sunset 17:40, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Dwitiyai from previous day 14:01 until 15:54 | then Shukla Thritiyai until next day 18:10 |
| Nakshatra | Anuradha until 11:38 | then Jyeshtha until next day 14:19 |
| Rahu kaal | 11:53 to 13:20 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:33 to 08:59 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:26 to 11:53 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:16 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 07:41 | moonset 19:09 |
For Wednesday, 11 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Many sisters eat only after the tilak. The meal is the point of the day, not a fast.
What is avoided
The sister does not eat until the tilak is done, and the brother does not eat at his own table that day if he can reach his sister's. No quarrel between brother and sister is allowed to stand past the day.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Bhai Dooj in the north, Bhau Beej in Maharashtra, Bhai Phonta in Bengal and Yama Dwitiya elsewhere. Tamil Nadu keeps the sister and brother day as Kaanum Pongal in January instead. Bengal calls it Bhai Phonta: the phonta of sandal, kajal and curd is put on the brother's forehead with the ring finger while the sister says the rhyme that asks Yama's door to stay shut to him.
In other regions
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps the same Dwitiya as Bhagini Hasta Bhojanam, the brother eating from his sister's hand.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps the same day as Bhagini Dwitiya or Yama Dwitiya in many families, with the sister's arati and meal.
- North India
- The Hindi belt keeps Bhai Dooj or Bhaiya Dooj: brothers and sisters bathe together at Vishram Ghat in Mathura, the Kayastha families keep the day as Chitragupta Puja, and Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh keep the Godhan rite in the courtyard.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps it as Bhau Beej, with the ovalne, the arati for the brother, and a girl without a brother doing it to the moon.
- Bengal (the dates above)
- Bengal keeps Bhai Phonta two days after Kali Puja; brothers travel home for it from wherever they work, the elder sister blesses with dhaan and durba, and the afternoon is a feast.
- Punjab
- Punjabi Hindu families keep the tilak, the meal and the gift much as the Hindi belt does.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps it as Bhai Tika, the last day of Tihar, with the tika of seven colours and the garland of makhamali.
The dates above are the Bengal reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
শুভ ভাইফোঁটাShubho Bhaiphonta
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Madhyamaheshwar Temple 1,956 kmRudraprayag, Uttarakhand
The gazetteer line names the day as the edge of this temple’s open season. Open about Akshaya Tritiya to Bhai Dooj.
- Kedarnath Jyotirlinga 1,966 kmRudraprayag, Uttarakhand
The gazetteer line names the day as the edge of this temple’s open season. A Jyotirlinga and a Char Dham, reached on a sixteen-kilometre walk, open from Akshaya Tritiya to Bhai Dooj.
1 more temple in this gazetteer is recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.