Bhai Dooj 2026: Date, Tilak Muhurat, and Why Abroad Is a Day Early

Bhai Dooj 2026 is on Wednesday 11 November in India. In Delhi the tilak muhurat, the Aparahna window in the early afternoon, runs from 1:10 PM to 3:20 PM. In London and New York, Bhai Dooj falls a day earlier, on Tuesday 10 November.

That one-day gap is the thing to check first if a brother and sister live in different countries. A video call planned for Wednesday afternoon in Jaipur lands in the small hours of Wednesday in New York, after Bhai Dooj there is already over.

Tilak muhurat by city

In India the date is Wednesday 11 November everywhere we checked. Delhi's window is 1:10 PM to 3:20 PM. Jaipur's is 1:16 PM to 3:27 PM. Pune's is 1:26 PM to 3:42 PM, and Mumbai's is 1:30 PM to 3:46 PM.

In London the date is Tuesday 10 November, and the window is 12:39 PM to 2:29 PM local time. New York is also on Tuesday 10 November, from 12:40 PM to 2:41 PM local time.

The Dwitiya tithi begins at 2:00 PM on Tuesday 10 November and ends at 3:53 PM on Wednesday the 11th, Indian time. Bhai Dooj is kept in the afternoon of the day when Dwitiya covers it. In India that afternoon is Wednesday's. In London and New York the clock runs far enough behind that Tuesday afternoon already falls inside the tithi.

For siblings in two countries

If the sister is in India and the brother in America, there are two ways to handle it. Do the tilak on the Indian date with the brother on a call, which means the middle of the night for him. Or let each household follow its own calendar and talk on both days.

A sister in New Jersey who sends a photo of her tilak thali on Tuesday afternoon has the right day for New Jersey.

What happens on the day

The sister invites her brother home for a meal. She does an aarti, puts a red tilak on his forehead and prays for his long life. He gives her a gift or money in return. In Nepal, where the day is Bhai Tika, the tilak has seven colours and the sister makes a garland of gomphrena flowers for him.

The day goes by other names across India. It is Bhau Beej or Bhai Beej for Marathi, Gujarati and Konkani speakers, Bhai Phonta in Bengal, Bhai Jiuntia in western Odisha, and Yama Dwitiya in the south.

The two stories

The name Yama Dwitiya comes from the meeting of Yama, the god of death, and his sister Yamuna, the river, on the second day after the new moon. The other story is about Krishna. After he killed the demon Narakasura, he went to see his sister Subhadra, who welcomed him with sweets and flowers and put a tilak on his forehead.

DrikPanchang also lists Chitragupta Puja on the same day.

The end of the festival week

Bhai Dooj closes the five days of Diwali. Govardhan Puja falls on Tuesday 10 November in Delhi and on Monday the 9th in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur. If you are writing messages for the week, our Diwali wishes are sorted by who you are sending them to.

Two days after Bhai Dooj, on Friday 13 November, Chhath Puja begins with Nahay Khay.