Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
Read more Show less
A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Maharashtra calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 6 March 2027
- Wednesday, 23 February 2028
- Sunday, 11 February 2029
Where Mahashivratri falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 6 Mar
- 2028: 23 Feb, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 11 Feb, 12 days earlier
The dates, year by year
Maharashtra calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The great night of Shiva, the fourteenth of the dark fortnight before the Magha new moon. It is kept as the night Shiva danced the tandava, and as the night he appeared as the lingam of fire without top or bottom. The whole night is passed awake in four watches, with an abhishekam of milk, water, honey, curd and ghee at each, and the bilva leaf offered at every one.
- Deity
- Shiva, Parvati
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The Puranas tell of a hunter who, caught in the forest at nightfall, climbed a bilva tree to be safe from the animals and, to keep himself awake, dropped its leaves one by one all night onto a lingam he could not see below, with drops of water from his pot; he had fasted, watched and worshipped without knowing it, and was freed for it. The night is therefore held to reward even a vigil kept imperfectly, which is why whole families, children included, try to stay awake. The north also keeps it as the night of Shiva's wedding to Parvati, and Varanasi and Deoghar send out a baraat of Shiva as a bridegroom with his ghostly companions. Another telling has the gods keeping awake through this night after Shiva drank the halahala poison churned from the ocean and held it in his throat. Maharashtra keeps Mahashivratri as a day of upvas, eating only the fasting foods, and of queues at the jyotirlingas and the village Mahadev temples from before dawn.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Mahashivratri: how it is kept
Keep ready
- bilva leaves, three to a stalk and unbroken
- milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar
- Ganga water or clean water in a copper vessel
- vibhuti
- a rudraksha mala
- white flowers, dhatura and erukku flowers
- sandal paste
- a ghee lamp and camphor
- clay for a lingam, if the house has none
- fruit for the fast
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
Maharashtra fasts on sabudana khichdi, bhagar of varai with shengdana amti, ratale (sweet potato) and fruit, and breaks the fast the next morning.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 6 March 2027 at Chennai
The Chaturdashi running at nishita, true midnight, is the rule; when it does not reach midnight the day it runs at sunset is taken. The four jama pujas divide the night from sunset to sunrise.
The main rite. The Chaturdashi running at nishita, the midnight hour, is the night kept, and the four jama pujas divide it from sunset to sunrise; the Lingodbhava darshan in the Tamil temples falls in the third, around midnight. The fast is broken the next morning after sunrise, at the parana time the almanac gives.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:22 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Sunset | 18:18 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:18 to 20:42 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
| Nishita | 00:20 | true midnight, the midpoint of sunset and the next sunrise |
Sunrise 06:22, sunset 18:18, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Krishna Trayodasi from previous day 09:54 until 12:04 | then Krishna Chaturdasi until next day 13:47 |
| Nakshatra | Dhanishta until next day 06:42 | then Shatabhisha until 2 days later, 08:35 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:21 to 10:51 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:50 to 15:19 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 06:22 to 07:52 (1 h 30 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:56 to 12:44 (0 h 48 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 04:52 | moonset 16:44 |
For Saturday, 6 March 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A full fast, in the strict form without water, from the morning to the next sunrise, broken after the last watch. Many keep it as a phalahara fast on fruit, milk and sabudana.
What is avoided
Do not offer tulasi, ketaki flowers, turmeric or kumkum on the lingam, or a torn bilva leaf; turmeric and kumkum go to Parvati instead. Do not walk all the way round a lingam in the temple, but turn back at the channel that carries the abhishekam water away, and those keeping the vigil do not sleep until the night is out.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
One night kept by the whole country. The north calls it Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi and the south Magha Krishna Chaturdashi, which is the same night under two month names. Kashmir keeps Herath over several days, and the Lingayats of Karnataka keep it as the night of the ishtalinga. Nepal keeps it at Pashupatinath, where the sadhus come up from India for it and the bonfires are lit against the cold. Maharashtra keeps the night at Trimbakeshwar, Bhimashankar, Grishneshwar and Parli Vaijnath, four of the twelve jyotirlingas, with the bel and the cold water going on the lingam through the four watches.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps the four kala pujas in every Shiva temple, with the Lingodbhava darshan around midnight and the Natyanjali at Chidambaram, where dancers offer their art to Nataraja through the night; the great crowds are at Thiruvannamalai and Rameswaram.
- Kerala
- Kerala keeps it on the sandbank of the Periyar at Aluva, where lakhs keep the vigil and give bali tarpanam to their ancestors at dawn, and in the Shiva temples of every town.
- Telugu
- Andhra and Telangana keep the night at Srisailam, Srikalahasti and Vemulawada, and at Kotappakonda near Narasaraopet, where villages bring tall decorated prabhalu to the hill.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps it at Gokarna, Murudeshwara and Dharmasthala, where pilgrims walk from far off to keep the vigil, and the Lingayats keep it as the night of the ishtalinga worn on the body.
- North India
- The north keeps the Shiv baraat through Varanasi and the Shiv vivah at Deoghar, the nine days of Shiv Navratri at the Mahakal temple in Ujjain, the week-long Shivratri fair at Mandi in Himachal, and Herath among the Kashmiri Pandits.
- Maharashtra (the dates above)
- Maharashtra keeps the night at Trimbakeshwar, Bhimashankar, Grishneshwar, Parli Vaijnath and Aundha Nagnath, with the bel leaves and the cold water on the lingam through the watches, and the village Mahadev temples hold kirtans through the night.
- Bengal
- Bengal keeps Shibratri at Tarakeswar, where lakhs pour Ganga water on the lingam, and unmarried girls keep the fast and the four watches at home, asking for a husband like Shiva.
- Assam
- Assam keeps the mela at Umananda and Sukreswar in Guwahati and at the Sivadol of Sivasagar.
- Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka keeps it at Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar, at Koneswaram and at Munneswaram.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps it at Pashupatinath, where sadhus come from all over India and the bonfires burn through the night; it is also the day of the Nepal Army, and children stretch ropes across the lanes to collect coins for firewood.
- Tulu Nadu
- Tulu Nadu keeps the jagarane in the Tulu month of Maayi, at Kadri in Mangaluru, at Dharmasthala and at Kollur.
- Himachal · Uttarakhand
- Mandi in Himachal turns the night into a week long durbar of local gods: the devtas of the district, counted at well over two hundred, are carried into the town to call on Madho Rai at the Bhutnath temple, and Deo Kamrunag of the Karsog valley is received first and must arrive before the jaleb procession will start. It is the only Shivaratri on this calendar that is a gathering of local deities rather than a vigil.
- Kodagu
- Kodagu keeps the night at the Omkareshwara temple in Madikeri and at the Bhagandeshwara temple at Bhagamandala, where the Kaveri, the Kannike and the Sujyoti meet and where the Tula month of bathing is kept.
The dates above are the Maharashtra reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
महाशिवरात्रीच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छाMahashivratrichya hardik shubhechha
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Kammasandra, Karnataka
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Maha Sivaratri is its day.
- Jayankondam, Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Quiet even on Sivaratri
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Amavasai tarpanam and Maha Sivaratri are its days
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Maha Sivaratri and the Sadaya Vizha are its days
- Male Mahadeshwara Temple 313 kmMM Hills, Chamarajanagar, Karnataka
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Maha Sivaratri and the Ugadi fair are its days.
- Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Maha Sivaratri is its day.
39 more temples in this gazetteer are recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
Read more Show less
A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Mahashivratri's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
Read more Show less
A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.