Maha Sivarathri Festival The great night of Shiva, the fourteenth of the dark fortnight before the Magha new moon.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Maha Sivarathri
- සිංහල
- මහ සිවරාත්රිය
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: 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
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
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.
The hour
The rule in words
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 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.
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. Sri Lanka keeps it as a public holiday, at Koneswaram above Trincomalee and at Munneswaram near Chilaw, two of the island's old Shiva temples.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
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. 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.