Bhaubeej looks to strengthen the bonds

mumbai: after the festival of lights, the spotlight turns to the eternal brother-sister bonding. bhaubeej or bhai dooj will be celebrated across the country on friday, and with some special warmth in maharashtra as well. broadly akin to raksha bandhan, bhaubeej seeks to strengthen the love between brothers and sisters. ``the sister asks the lord for the well-being of her brother and, in return, the brother bestows the sister with gifts,'' says m.b.gupte, an elderly maharashtrian. each of the four days of diwali have a particular significance. the first day is ashwin krishna chaturdashi, also known as narka chaturdashi. the second day is ashwin amavasya or lakshmi pujan, the third day being balipratipada and padwa and the fourth reserved for bhaubeej or bhai dooj. different parts of the country celebrate it under different names. in bengal, for instance, the festival is called bhai phota and in bihar it is celebrated as bhaiya dooj. there are several mythological stories which trace the festival's origin. according to one legend, lord krishna visited his sister subhadra after slaying narakasura demon. there is another belief that when lord mahavira, the founder of jainism, attained `nirvana' (moksha), his brother king nandivardhan was lonely when his sister sudarshana comforted him. according to another legend, yamaraj, the lord of death and the custodian of hell, visited his sister yami on bhai dooj. yami put the auspicious mark on his forehead and prayed for her brother's well-being. so it's held that anyone who receives a tilak from his sister on this day would never be hurled into hell. ``sisters all over india look forward to this festival,'' says a.s. phadke, another community elder, adding that sisters ceremonise their love by putting an auspicious tilak or a vermilion mark on the forehead of their brothers and perform an `aarti' of him by showing him the light of the holy flame as a mark of love and protection from evil forces. sisters are lavished with gifts, goodies and blessings from their brothers. he adds that the festival is also regarded as a day for the brother and sister to meet and generally reestablish and reinstate the love in their relationship. with rapid urbanisation and mass migration, sisters have resorted to sending brothers their tilak by post. virtual tilaks and bhai dooj e-cards, too, have made it easier for brothers and sisters, who're far away from each other, to remember their siblings on this auspicious occasion.