Maha Shivaratri: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Maha Shivaratri, "the great night of Shiva", is kept on the fourteenth tithi of the dark half (Krishna Chaturdashi) in late winter, in the month that amanta calendars call Magha and purnimanta calendars call Phalguna. Every month has a Shivaratri on this tithi; this one is the great one of the year.

It is a night, not a day. Devotees fast, bathe the Shiva linga with water and milk, offer bilva leaves, chant "Om Namah Shivaya", and stay awake through the night in prayer, song and stories. Many temples hold a puja in each of the four watches of the night. The fast is broken the next day.

Shiva is worshipped across India and beyond, so the night has many faces: great crowds at the jyotirlinga temples, all-night music in the South, the Herath of Kashmiri Pandit families, and the gathering at Pashupatinath in Nepal.

Why it is kept

Families tell several stories of why this night belongs to Shiva. The texts tell the stories; which story is tied to this night differs from one telling to another.

The hunter and the bilva tree. The Shiva, Garuda and Skanda Puranas tell of a hunter who kept awake all night in the forest. In the Skanda's telling he sat in a bilva tree. Restless and hungry, he let bilva leaves fall, and water too, onto a Shiva linga hidden below. Without knowing it, he had fasted, kept vigil and worshipped Shiva on Shivaratri, and the story says that this simple, unknowing worship won him Shiva's grace. In the Shiva Purana's telling, where the hunter is named Gurudruha, a mother deer came by and asked him to spare her for her young, and in the end he let her go. Families tell the story to show that the worship of this night is open to everyone.

The pillar of light. The Linga Purana and the Shiva Purana tell how Brahma and Vishnu once argued over which of them was greater. Between them rose a pillar of fire with no beginning and no end. Brahma flew upward as a swan and Vishnu dug downward as a boar, and neither found its end. Then Shiva appeared from the pillar. The linga is honoured as a sign of that endless light, and many families link this night with it. In the Skanda Purana's telling the ketaki flower falsely spoke for Brahma and was declared unfit to be offered to Shiva, which families give as the reason ketaki is not offered to him.

The wedding of Shiva and Parvati. In much of North India the night is kept as the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, whose long austerity won Shiva as her husband. Tulsidas tells their wedding, with Shiva's wild procession of ghosts and spirits, in the Bal Kand of the Ramcharitmanas, and temples hold a Shiv baraat, a wedding procession, on this night.

Nilakantha. The Bhagavata Purana (book 8, chapter 7) tells that when the gods and asuras churned the ocean, a deadly poison rose first. To protect the worlds Shiva drank it from his palm, and Parvati, knowing his power, was glad; the poison turned his neck blue. Some tellings say the gods stayed awake that night in his honour.

The texts' own praise. The Puranas that teach the vow, among them the Garuda, the Skanda and the Padma, praise it highly and say that one who keeps it with faith reaches Shiva; that is the texts' own promise, told here as their claim.

The texts behind the story

• The Sivaratri vow in the Garuda (I.124), Skanda (I.1.33), Padma (VI.240) and Agni (193) Puranas: the hunter's unknowing vigil and worship with bilva leaves and water on a hidden linga (the Garuda and Skanda tellings), and the texts' praise of the vow. Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958). Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. The mother deer and the hunter's name Gurudruha are from the Shiva Purana's telling, as Wikipedia's article "Maha Shivaratri" gives it. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 225–233)
• Linga Purana i.17 (the pillar of fire without beginning or end; Brahma as a swan, Vishnu as a boar), with Muir's note that the Shiva Purana tells it too. J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. IV, 2nd edition (London: Trübner, 1873; title page, leaf n6). Muir died 1882: public domain. Summarised in our own words. (pp. 386–391 (leaves n405–n410); the pillar, p. 390 (leaf n409))
• Linga Purana ch. 16 (Shiva appears in the column of fire) and Skanda Purana, Kedara Khanda ch. 6 (the ketaki's false witness and the curse that it be unworthy to be offered to Shiva). Vans Kennedy, Researches into the Nature and Affinity of Ancient and Hindu Mythology (London: Longman, 1831; title page, leaf n7). Kennedy died 1846: public domain. Summarised in our own words. (pp. 271–273 (the ketaki, p. 273, leaf n351); pp. 301–302 (Shiva in the column, p. 302, leaf n390))
• A Prose English Translation of Srimadbhagavatam, Books VII–XII bound in one, edited and published by Manmatha Nath Dutt (Calcutta: Elysium Press, 1895–96) (Book VIII, chapter VII, p. 27 (leaf n314): Shiva drinks the poison from his palm, Bhavani is glad, and his neck turns blue)
• Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Bal Kand: the wedding of Shiva and Uma (Parvati). F. S. Growse (tr.), The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás, Book 1 (Allahabad: North-Western Provinces Government Press, 1877). Growse died 1893: public domain. Summarised, not quoted. (Book I, Dohas 100–110 in Growse's numbering, pp. 56–63 (leaves n82–n89); the ghosts and goblins of the procession, p. 57 (leaf n83))

When it is kept

Maha Shivaratri is the Krishna Chaturdashi of Magha in the amanta calendar (Phalguna in the purnimanta calendar) that is present at nishita, the Hindu midnight: the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of the night at your location, around local midnight. If Chaturdashi touches nishita on two nights, the second night is taken, unless only the first night holds all of nishita. If it touches nishita on neither night, the second is taken. This is the Dharmasindhu's rule, after Madhava and the Nirnayasindhu. When Chaturdashi touches nishita on both nights and the app gives the second, it also shows the first, which the Kaustubha keeps, after Hemadri.

The fast is broken the next day (parana). A watch (prahar) of the day is a quarter of the daytime. If Chaturdashi lasts beyond three watches of that day, Madhava's Kalamadhava, the Dharmasindhu and the Nirnayasindhu, three digests of festival rules, all give the morning, and the app shows the first fifth of the day. If Chaturdashi ends within three watches, the digests differ, so the app shows two windows, each with its name: while Chaturdashi lasts, from sunrise (the Nirnayasindhu), and after it ends, until sunset (Madhava). A note gives the Dharmasindhu's settlement: while Chaturdashi lasts, if enough of it is left for the morning rites and the meal and no Darsha shraddha (the Amavasya rite for the ancestors) falls that day; otherwise after it ends. If Chaturdashi has already ended by sunrise, the digests' rules on its end do not apply, and the app gives the morning as its own choice. The windows are for your city.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Maha Shivaratri 2027: Puja falls on Saturday, March 6, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Smarta: Krishna Chaturdashi at nishita; parana the next day
• Kaustubha, after Hemadri: the first of two nights that touch nishita (the app shows it too)
• Month name: Magha (amanta), Phalguna (purnimanta)
• Kashmiri Pandit: Herath, often kept on the Trayodashi, usually a day earlier
• Tamil: Maha Sivaratri, usually in the solar month Masi
• Monthly: Masik Shivaratri on every other Krishna Chaturdashi (engine id masik-shivaratri)

Why the day can differ

Nishita is the middle of your own night, so the date can differ between cities, and a city abroad can keep Shivaratri a day before or after India. The parana windows also depend on your sunrise and on when Chaturdashi ends. In some years the window while Chaturdashi lasts is short, so check it before you plan the morning; when the app shows two windows, follow the one your family or temple keeps.

Kashmiri Pandit families keep Herath by their own calendar, often on the thirteenth tithi, which is usually a day before the date shown here. Amanta and purnimanta calendars name the month differently but keep the same night. Temples abroad often hold their all-night programme on the computed night; when it falls on a weekday, some also hold events on the weekend.

How to keep it at home

1. Many devotees eat only one simple meal on the day before. In the morning, bathe, wear clean clothes and make a sankalpa, a short vow to keep the fast and the night's worship.
2. Visit a Shiva temple, or set up a home shrine with a small Shiva linga or a picture. Some families shape a linga of clay for the day (parthiva linga) and return it to water or soil afterwards.
3. Bathe the linga (abhisheka) with water, then milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar, and water again, chanting "Om Namah Shivaya". Apply sandalwood paste or sacred ash (vibhuti).
4. Offer bilva leaves with three leaflets, white flowers, dhatura and aak flowers, fruit such as ber (jujube), a lamp and incense. Tulsi and ketaki are traditionally not offered to Shiva.
5. Keep the night: many do a short puja in each of the four watches (prahars) of the night, or at least one at the midnight window. Between them, sing and read: the Shiv Chalisa, the Shiva Panchakshara Stotram, the Lingashtakam, the Bilvashtakam, the Shiva Tandava Stotram, the Rudrashtakam from the Ramcharitmanas, the Mahamrityunjaya mantra and the aarti "Om Jai Shiv Omkara".
6. Families with young children can keep the vigil in turns, and tell the night's stories. The next day, after a bath and a short prayer, break the fast within a parana window shown in the app; when it shows two, follow the one your family keeps.

Fasting

The strictest devotees keep a nirjala fast, with no food or water, until the parana the next day. Many take fruit, milk and water (phalahar), and many eat one meal of fasting food: sago, buckwheat, water chestnut flour, potatoes and fox nuts, with rock salt. Grains, lentils, onion and garlic are left out. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first; staying awake is also optional for them.

Food

Fasting dishes include sabudana khichdi and vada, kuttu puri or pakoras, singhara halwa, makhana kheer and fruit. Thandai, a cool milk drink with almonds, fennel and pepper, is shared in North India. After parana, families eat a simple meal; Kashmiri Pandit families share the walnuts soaked for Herath as prasad.

For children

Once, Brahma and Vishnu argued about who was greater. Suddenly a huge pillar of light rose up between them. It was so tall and so deep that nobody could see where it began or where it ended. Brahma flew up as a swan, and Vishnu dug down as a boar, but neither found the end. Then Shiva stepped out of the light and smiled: there was no need to argue. On Shivaratri families stay up late, light a lamp and remember that light which has no end.

Something to do together

Roll a sheet of paper into a tall tube and put a small torch inside to make your own pillar of light. Stay up a little later than usual, sit beside it and listen to one of the night's stories.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules maha-shivaratri (with its parana rule) and masik-shivaratri (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists.
• Herath in Kashmir: W. R. Lawrence, The Valley of Kashmír (London: Henry Frowde, 1895), ch. X, p. 266 (leaf n287; title page leaf n6): 'the Sheorátri, or Herat, which falls on the thirteenth day of the declining moon of Magh'. J. H. Knowles, A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings (Bombay, 1885), p. 81 (leaf n92), puts it on the fourteenth of the dark half of Phagun. Lawrence died 1940, Knowles 1943: summarised in our own words.
• F. S. Growse (tr.), The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás, Book 1 (Allahabad, 1877). Public domain.
• Wikipedia, "Maha Shivaratri" (the fourteenth lunar day of the dark half of Magha or Phalguna, by the two ways of counting the month).