Dwitiya Tithi: The Second Day of the Lunar Fortnight

Dwitiya means the second. It is the second tithi of the lunar fortnight, the day on which the Moon has moved between twelve and twenty-four degrees away from the Sun. Like every tithi, it comes twice a month, once in Shukla paksha and once in Krishna paksha.

In the bright half, Dwitiya is the evening on which most people first see the new Moon clearly. The crescent is thin and low in the west just after sunset, and the custom of looking for it, called Chandra Darshan, belongs to this tithi. In the dark half, the Moon is nearly full and rises late, so Dwitiya there is a night of little ceremony.

The tithi at a glance

Group and deity

Dwitiya is the first member of the Bhadra group, a set of three tithis made up of Dwitiya, Saptami and Dwadashi. Bhadra is usually translated as auspicious or beneficial, and the group is traditionally connected with steady, constructive work rather than celebration. Muhurat summaries often say Bhadra days suit things like building, health matters, and the sustained tasks of household life.

A common list names Brahma, the creator, as the deity of Dwitiya. A different list in another text may give another name, and it is fair to say that the deity assignments are a tradition of the almanac rather than a single fixed scripture. The idea behind this one is easy to see: the second step follows the spark of the first, and creation follows kindling.

Festivals on Shukla Dwitiya

The most widely observed festival of Dwitiya is Bhai Dooj, on Shukla Dwitiya of Kartika, two days after Diwali. Sisters apply a tilak to their brothers’ foreheads, offer sweets, and pray for their well-being, and brothers give gifts in return. Its customs are set out in Bhai Dooj Puja Vidhi, and the story told with it links the day to Yama and his sister Yamuna, which is why the day is also called Yama Dwitiya.

Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya is the day of the Rath Yatra at Puri in Odisha, when the chariots of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are drawn through the streets. The monthly Chandra Darshan on Shukla Dwitiya is kept by many families as a moment to look at the crescent and bow to the Moon.

In some regions the first sighting of the crescent after the new Moon has a calendar role as well. In several communities that follow a lunar month beginning, a first sighting sets the practical start of the month, though the printed panchang does not rely on sighting and counts by computation.

Festivals on Krishna Dwitiya

Krishna Dwitiya has no major national festival. Some families keep a light observance after the Purnima vratas of the night before, and in a few regional traditions it is a day associated with offerings to ancestors, though this is local custom and not a common rule.

In the purnimanta reckoning used across north India, the Krishna Dwitiya after a given full Moon is the second day of the new month. In the amanta reckoning used in Maharashtra, Gujarat south of the Narmada and most of the south, it belongs to the closing weeks of the month that is ending. The page on amanta and purnimanta shows how the same day gets two month names.

What muhurat practice says

Dwitiya is one of the more widely favoured tithis. Many almanacs list Shukla Dwitiya among the days suitable for marriage, for a housewarming, for starting construction, and for the naming and early life ceremonies of a child. It is not one of the Rikta or empty tithis, and it is not one of the tithis generally avoided for new work.

As with every tithi, the favour is conditional. The weekday, the nakshatra, the lagna and the way the Moon sits in the birth chart of the people involved all count, and a day that looks good on the calendar can still be set aside for a chart-specific reason. Krishna Dwitiya is usually considered less favourable than Shukla Dwitiya for new beginnings, because the Moon is waning, though the early dark-half days are usually still counted as acceptable.

If you are choosing a day for a ceremony, the muhurat section explains the factors and the samskaras guide lists the life ceremonies for which families look for a good day. A family astrologer should check the individual details.

A simple way to observe the day

There is no vrat tied to Dwitiya as a tithi, apart from the festival customs above. On Shukla Dwitiya a quiet practice is to step outside after sunset, find the thin crescent in the western sky if the weather allows, and offer a brief prayer with folded hands. The crescent is easy to miss, so look just after the light fades and low above the horizon.

On Bhai Dooj the observance is a family one: a lamp, a tilak of kumkum and rice, a sweet, and a few kind words. Keep it as simple or as elaborate as your family always has. Nothing here is a promise of results.

Reading the tithi in the calendar

Dwitiya is a tithi that sometimes disappears from the calendar or appears twice, because the Moon moves faster on some days of its orbit than on others. When the Moon is quick the tithi is short, and when it is slow the tithi is long. A Dwitiya that starts after one sunrise and is over before the next becomes a kshaya tithi, and no civil day is named Dwitiya.

For Bhai Dooj the rule is the afternoon: the tithi must be in force in the afternoon (Aparahna) of the day, not necessarily at sunrise. That is why the festival date can differ by a day from what you expect if you only look at the sunrise tithi.

To see whether Dwitiya is the tithi running today in your own city, open the daily panchang. Dwitiya follows Pratipada in the cycle and is followed by Tritiya; the whole set is described in the guide to the thirty tithis.

Related pages

• Bhai Dooj: the festival of Kartika Shukla Dwitiya.
• Bhai Dooj Puja Vidhi: the steps and the story.
• Muhurat: how favourable tithis are used when choosing a day.
• Amanta and purnimanta: why a Krishna Dwitiya can belong to two months.
• The sixteen samskaras: ceremonies for which families look for a good tithi.

Frequently asked questions