Yama Dwitiya Or Bhaiyya Dooj and the Relationship Between Yama and Yamuna

According to Puranas

Our Puranas narrate how Yama and Yamuna remained brother and sister. The mythological relationship established in the Puranas is that of Yama, considered the God of Death, or the God of or ruling something that is sure to happen and can never be denied at a certain point in life, and Yamuna, considered a river or a water body that is the cause of life and is also required to sustain life in any area. 

Physically, Yama Dwitiya may be seen as the celebration of the existence of a relation between separate-gender siblings, but that is only a physical interpretation of Yama Dwitiya. Philosophically, it indicates celebrating a balance between life and death, a balance between creating or sustaining life and death or the end of life.

Deepaawalee is a five-day festival and on the last or the fifth day Yama Dwitiya Or Bhaiyya Dooj is celebrated. On this day, girls worship god asking for their brother’s long life and establishing a relationship between opposite gender siblings having their role models as Yama and Yamuna. But that is just a physical interpretation our Hindu sacred texts are indicative in meanings and quite philosophical having deeper and multi-level or multi- -aspect meanings.    

Yama and Yamuna contrast each other as just two opposite ends. The message is how such opposing ends can be balanced properly in someone’s life. This balance is what one has to achieve. And everyone should work towards attaining this balance in practice.   

The Puranas describe what rituals need to be performed and how these have to be performed. As a key ritual sisters worship god doing aarati and offer sweets after making the mark of Vishnu or Shiva on the forehead of the brother. This way females tend to care for their brothers.

In numerous stories or historical descriptions in the Puranas, Yam had protected his sister, Yamuna, likewise, brothers take a vow or expressly commit or really protect their sisters in times of crisis thereby creating and improving a family bond conveying that the brother is always there for investing family love and doing his part of duty in the brother and sister relationship.

Just like a mother nurtures her child as per our Puranas Yamuna nurtures life and all living forms and bathing of such living forms in the River Yamuna is suggested to be a big help in attaining spiritual cleanliness by cleaning not only the sins but also all ailments and by considering this phenomenon we learn to see and treat River Yamuna just like a mother nurturing her children.

Yama and Yamuna are projected as spiritual characters and children are taught to follow their relationship as brothers and sisters thereby strengthening family member’s bonds through giving spiritual teachings.

Such teaching also has expressed morals which the children are expected to abide by in creating and enhancing their relationships as brothers and sisters. Such morals relate to life, death and also the cyclicity of both life and death in one’s life, in one’s particular yoni birth. As an essence, this means teaching children and elders to accept the good like life and the bad like death in life with great ease and grace.  

The local culture, customary beliefs and practices and folklore are blended to highlight the relationship between Yama and Yamuna as the model one.

Celebrating Yama Dwitiya as a festival ensures that children learn rights and values and are dutybound just like Yama and Yamuna are shown, exhibited or expressed in mythology.

According to Vedas

Vedas stress upon giving respect to natural elements for the functions they do. Likewise, Yamuna being a River is considered important for giving us and sustaining life on Earth where whereas Yam is considered important for acceptance of death as a natural happening of life.

For these reasons only Yamuna is considered important in various Hindu rituals, and it is considered sacred, purifier and blessing spiritual being especially on the occasion of Yama Dwitiya.

The opposing spiritual characters, Yamuna and Yama indicate that philosophically there is a need to bring harmony in one’s life as regards life and death or creation and destruction.

Vedic rituals stress worshipping spiritual characters like Yamuna and Yama thereby symbolically indicating and explaining the relationship between the Divine (Yamuna or Creation) and the Natural Elements (Yama or Death or Destruction).

Through Vedic texts an understanding of mutually protective relationships is developed between spiritual characters Yamuna and Yama, children and adults are often expected to build and sustain relationships as Yamuna and Yama did, fostering feelings for others and saving the other at the time of his or her crisis thereby creating and sustaining a safety bond.

Veda details Vedic rituals based on which our modern-day followed Yama Dwitiya celebration-related rituals might have developed to blend mythology into our modern everyday life.

Vedic philosophy is deeply executed through celebrating Yama Dwitiya as while making efforts to create more luxury and comfort one is told to face and remain prepared to face the materialistically (loss of wealth or money or loss of life) low time also in the same way as he or she faced the luxurious or comfortable days.

Vedic texts have given rituals to invocate many rivers and also Yamuna. In these Vedic texts, Yamuna is invocated and worshipped to have better health and longevity of life.

Veda's philosophy that everything in this world or universe is impermanent is portrayed by the spiritual character Yama and the eternal cyclicity or birth and death in this universe is portrayed by Yamuna.

Above all celebrating Yama Dwitiya is a way to celebrate family and community bonding though from a religious and spiritual perspective.

According to Upanishads

Upanishad’s philosophies of life and death are explained using Yamuna and Yama as metaphors for grasping the cyclicity of existence.

Upanishad’s explanation that every human is interconnected is expressed through Yamuna symbolizing the flow of life and Yam symbolizing the soul’s journey.

In Upanishads, the focus is on worshipping Yama and Yamuna in a spiritual way, full of devotion, focusing on life and its relationships.

Various meditative practices as per various Upanishads are based upon a feeling of duty and protection for each other thereby fostering familial bonds.

Through focusing on Yama and Yamuna Upanishads are actually giving moral or ethical teachings to siblings for each other.

As per the Upanishads both Yama & Yamuna symbolize spiritual rejuvenation, similar are the beliefs on purity & enlightenment that one has based on the knowledge of the Upanishads.

In Upanishads life is symbolized by Yamuna and death is symbolized by Yama, the duality of the two explains that matter is mortal but the soul is immortal & eternal.

Upanishads promote community and celebrating Yama Dwitiya helps improve social ties and spiritual growth.

 Devotion acts on Yama Dwitiya in line with Upanishad texts help one in knowing thyself and in understanding relations in a much better way.

Just like the relation of Yama and Yamuna needs harmony and balance, according to Upanishads one needs cosmic harmony and maintaining balance in life in terms of opposing things.

According to Ashtakshara

As per Ashtakshara one must express his or her devotion to various deities and respect them, including Yam and Yamuna on Yama Dwitiya.

For care of one’s family and to be rightly dutiful successfully one chants Mantras asking or requesting Yam and Yamuna to protect. Such Mantras are taken from our sacred texts.

Ashtakshara describes certain rituals and offerings to be made to river deities including Yamuna for enhancing harmony with a community and helping in one’s spiritual growth.

Yamuna and water symbolize purity and divinity, it is more so on Yama Dwitiya.

Ashtakshara describes certain rituals to be practised by siblings on Yama Dwitiya to honour each other.

It teaches that life is interconnected, so one who faces death (Yama) takes birth (Yamuna) and one who takes birth (Yamuna) faces death (Yama) someday.

By celebrating Yama Dwitiya we teach siblings to relate to each other lovingly and respectfully thereby paving the way for spiritual awakening.

Ashtakshara stresses the need for familial relationships within morally and ethically right practices.

By celebrating Yama Dwitiya one shares joy, and love in life and together with each other celebrates life itself.

Ashtakshara explains that by understanding one’s duty and being dutiful only one can be liberated.

As per Panchakam

Panchakam stresses fivefold worship and promoting devotion towards Yama and Yamuna, particularly on Yama Dwitiya.

It describes certain rituals to be followed intended to develop affection like Yama had for Yamuna by giving fruits and flowers thereby expressing gratitude and love towards siblings.

It sees bathing in Yamuna on Yama Dwitiya Day as a purifying, spiritually cleansing act.

It stresses the spiritual bond between siblings, just like the spiritual divine bond between Yama and Yamuna.

It sees community participation in rituals on Yama Dwitiya as a great help in improving social ties.

It echoes the bond of Yama and Yamuna promoting familial ties ethically or morally.

                              YAMUNA DEVI IDOL AT VISHRAM GHAT, MATHURA

It describes prayers made to Yama to seek protection and safety.

It describes certain rituals for cleansing with water bodies, especially on Yama Dwitiya.

It says that when one gets to see such rituals only then can someone understand the dualities of life and then only can one grow spiritually.

It celebrates the feelings of love and care that bonded Yama and Yamuna.

As per Stotram

These express great devotion towards Yama and Yamuna, requesting them to bless the devotees, especially on Yama Dwitiya.

The stotram often praises the divinity of Yama and Yamuna and celebrates their sibling bonding.

Stotram prays to be protected and well off and often says like Yama and Yamuna are caring for each other we siblings shall also be caring enough for each other.

 Stotram highlights the importance of constructing rituals, especially on Yama Dwitiya. These promote devotion from devotees and their community initiatives.

Stotram largely describes life and death concepts philosophically, with life or continuity being symbolized by Yamuna and death or end being symbolized by Yama.

Recitation of Stotram is considered a way of inviting and uniting with the divine energies including Yama and Yamuna.

Strotram morally teaches one to stress familial bonds and duties towards one’s own family, to some extent celebration of Yama Dwitiya is the same thing but from a sibling’s perspective.

Community Recital of Stotram on Yama Dwitiya unites people and makes them committed and devoted to their families and communities.

Stotram requests Yamuna to come and purify us spiritually, this highlights the role of Yamuna in one’s spiritual upliftment.

Stotrams often celebrate love and emotion whether it bonds humans or Yama and Yamuna to each other.

As per Commentaries

Commentaries highlight the important role Yama and Yamuna play as siblings.

These describe various ritual practices related to Yama and Yamuna or Yam Dwitiya impliedly or expressly highlighting their spiritual significance.

These describe moral-giving incidents, events or stories involving Yama and Yamuna.

Through focusing on spiritual characters like Yama and Yamuna difficult philosophical teachings are dealt with quite easily and gracefully.

These relate conventional beliefs to contemporary practices, often exploring their relevance in today’s times with the relation of Yama and Yamuna or Yama Dwitiya.

 Commentaries discuss in much detail the divine characteristics of Yama and Yamuna, creating and maintaining Yama and Yamuna as sibling’s role models thereby developing deeper feelings, devotion and commitments among siblings.

These highlight the role that community involvement plays in various rituals thereby helping in creating and enhancing social harmony.

Commentaries suggest the way one should take for spiritual upliftment and ask such people to reflect on familial ties and duties to create strong bonds like Yama and Yamuna had in various mythological tales.

These focus on rituals to know if some practitioner is serious about ceremonies on Yama Dwitiya and for his or her spiritual growth.

These say that any celebration including Yama Dwitiya cannot be complete without sharing love, protection and duties.

Earlier Practices and Beliefs Regarding Yama Dwitiya

On Yama Dwitiya, families worshipped God and initiated many rituals at home and temples, prayed for their brother’s well-being and offered sweets.

On Yama Dwitiya familial or communal lunch or dinner were arranged that ensured familial and communal unity.

People visited the Yamuna River to offer various rituals and requests to be purified and blessed.

Sisters dressed in a festive way exhibiting how much they loved and were devoted to their brothers.

To acknowledge familial ties & to request to be blessed, people offered various rituals.

On Yama Dwitiya, various sacred verses and mantras related to Yama and Yamuna were chanted.

Some people kept fast on Yama Dwitiya, honouring Yama, requesting to ensure good health and prosperity of their brothers.

Sisters gave gifts out of love and care to their brothers.

On Yama Dwitiya, various legends related to Yama and Yamuna were told, enriching the festival and thereby keeping up the cultural heritage.

As people were spiritually dedicated, they took care to maintain purity & cleanliness in the course of rituals and also at home.

Contemporary Practices and Beliefs Regarding Yama Dwitiya

Modern-day celebrations have fewer offers & rituals and primarily focus on devotion at a personal level.

Today, people share their photos, videos and experiences on Yama Dwitiya Day on various social media websites.

 Nowadays, rituals are limited to eco-friendly ones largely, where plastic & other non-biodegradable materials are used the least.

Today celebrations and festivities involve diverse communities and familial involvement.

People often realize the health benefits that they realize by having a nutrient-rich diet and conducting outdoor activities in groups.

Certain temples and religious or spiritual organizations often educated youngsters about Yama Dwitiya.

Today interfaith celebrations where other communities also join you in your celebrations out of love and protection is becoming quite common.

People today participate in online meets at home or within familial connections and in other social groups from a far-off place to celebrate Yama Dwitiya.

Today celebrations of Yama Dwitiya also include charitable works & community service.

Certain people also focus on meditation and try to explore themselves in their spiritual journey.

Earlier Practices Regarding Bathing in Yamuna on Yama Dwitiya

In earlier times it was a must to bathe in Yamuna at least on the day of Yama Dwitiya for one’s spiritual purity.

People bathe early morning in Yamuna to get rid of their sins & unfortunate circumstances.

While bathing in Yamuna people earlier acknowledged the sacred and life-giving qualities of Yamuna and also made offerings to Yamuna.

 Out of familial & community bonding often families bathed together in Yamuna.

Some people visited pilgrimage sites in Mathura and bathed in Yamuna within Mathura on the day of Yama Dwitiya.

Paying due respect to the sacred festival, people and devotees wore traditional dresses.

Certain people used to take a vow or Sankalpa when they bathed in Yamuna.

While bathing in Yamuna people sang hymns or chanted the mantras related to Yama and Yamuna thereby improving the spiritual atmosphere.

 While bathing in Yamuna people often retold stories and incidents related to Yama and Yamuna.

Contemporary Practices Regarding Bathing in Yamuna on Yama Dwitiya

Today, people stress cleanliness and engage in eco-friendly practices when they take a bath.

Even today community gather at Yamuna with a sense of togetherness.

People take photos the moment they bathe in Yamuna and share these on their social media or networking websites.

Today bathing in Yamuna is often followed by doing yoga or meditation on the bank of the river itself.

Certain people from quite distant places join in festivities online showcasing the importance Yama and Yamuna still have in today’s times and amongst today’s youth.

Environmental awareness causes people to protect Yamuna during festivities.

Today bathing is more related to wellness, this is how today’s youth perceive it. So today more people bathe in Yamuna from a wellness point of view.

Often on the banks of river Yamuna, certain cultural programmes are conducted to entertain the people participating in the festival.

Today various groups are engaged in cleaning rivers like Yamuna whereby spiritual practices couple up with one’s responsibility towards the environment.

Even today people reason out the conventional importance of their practices thereby improving their spiritual journey.

Concluding Remark

On of my friends was searching for suitable gifts for Bhaiyya Dooj then I realized that even I had to buy a Bhaiyya Dooj Gift. Such great are the preparations ongoing many days in advance for Yama Dwitya or Bhaiyya Dooj, so much is the importance of Yama Dwitiya or Bhaiyya Dooj.

Yamuna Aarati, Vishram Ghat, Mathura