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Saharasa Celebrates Bhai Dooj with Traditional Fervor
Sonbarsha (Saharasa), [Date – Insert Today’s Date]: The Sonbarsha area of Saharsa district celebrated Bhai Dooj with traditional enthusiasm on Thursday. The festival, a symbol of the unbreakable bond between brothers and sisters, saw sisters applying tilak to their brothers, praying for their long life, prosperity, and well-being.
Following the tilak ceremony, sisters broke their fasts with food offered by their brothers, who in turn presented gifts to their sisters. The spirit of the occasion was captured by a popular Maithili proverb: “Yumuna nautay Yam ke, hum nautay achhi bhai ke, jahina Ganga-Yamunaak paani badhay tau tau hamar bhai ke aurda badhay,” which translates to “As Yamuna invites Yam, I invite my brother; as the water of Ganga and Yamuna increases, so does my brother’s life.”
Bhai Dooj commemorates the legendary meeting between Yamraj, the god of death, and his sister Yamuna. According to mythology, Yamraj visited Yamuna on Kartik Shukla Pratipada. Yamuna welcomed him and applied a tilak on his forehead. Pleased with her love, Yamraj granted a boon that any brother and sister who bathe together in the Yamuna River on this day would be blessed with long life. The festival has been celebrated annually ever since.
The celebration showcased the deep-rooted cultural traditions and the enduring affection that marks the bond between brothers and sisters in the region.
First Piper 