Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
Read more Show less
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
Nepal calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 11 November 2026
- Sunday, 31 October 2027
- Thursday, 19 October 2028
Where Bhai Tika 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 days of Tihar
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Nepal calendar
- Kag Tihar …
- Kukur Tihar …
- Laxmi Puja · Gai Tihar …
- Bhai Tika(this page) …
The dates, year by year
Nepal 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. Nepal keeps it as Bhai Tika, the close of Tihar, and the sister's worship is a shield against death itself: the ring of oil and water she pours round her brother is one Yama may not cross, and the makhamali garland she gives him does not wither, as she wishes him not to.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Bhai Tika: how it is kept
Keep ready
- makhamali (globe amaranth) garlands
- the seven-coloured tika powders
- a walnut
- dried fruit and sweets
- sel roti
- a copper jug of mustard oil and one of water
- a lamp, flowers and incense
- a mat for the brother
- gifts
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The sagun of walnut, dried fruit, sweets and sel roti goes to the brother first, and then the Tihar feast: meat curry, sel roti, achar and rice in most houses, and fruit, sweets and vegetables in vegetarian ones.
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, with the tika given in the morning at the saait, the auspicious hour the Nepali calendar committee announces for the year.
| 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. Nepal keeps it as Bhai Tika, the last of the five days of Tihar: a tika of seven colours down the forehead, a makhamali garland that does not wither, and a circle of mustard oil drawn round the brother to keep death outside it.
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
- Bengal keeps it as Bhai Phonta, the sister putting the phonta of sandal, curd and kajal on her brother's forehead to bar Yama's door.
- Punjab
- Punjabi Hindu families keep the tilak, the meal and the gift much as the Hindi belt does.
- Nepal (the dates above)
- Nepal keeps Bhai Tika as the last and greatest day of Tihar: sisters and brothers travel across the country for it, the tika is given at the announced saait, and the temple in the middle of Rani Pokhari in Kathmandu is opened on this one day of the year for those with no brother or sister to give or take the tika.
The dates above are the Nepal 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
भाइटीकाको हार्दिक शुभकामनाBhaitikako hardik shubhakamana
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.
Read more Show less
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.
Read more Show less
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.