Masa Sivarathri Vratam The monthly Shivaratri: the Chaturdasi of the dark fortnight, the night before every new moon, kept by the same rule as Maha Shivaratri in Magha but in a smaller way.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Masa Sivarathri
- தமிழ்
- மாத சிவராத்திரி
- తెలుగు
- మాస శివరాత్రి
- ಕನ್ನಡ
- ಮಾಸ ಶಿವರಾತ್ರಿ
- മലയാളം
- മാസ ശിവരാത്രി
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 monthly Shivaratri: the Chaturdasi of the dark fortnight, the night before every new moon, kept by the same rule as Maha Shivaratri in Magha but in a smaller way. The lingam is given an abhishekam at night and the Panchakshara is recited; those who keep the great night often keep all twelve.
- Deity
- Shiva
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
The hour
The rule in words
The Chaturdashi running at nishita, true midnight; the abhishekam is at night, in one watch rather than four.
The fast
One meal, taken at night after the abhishekam, without rice for many; some keep it as a full fast until the next sunrise.
Where the regions differ
Kept across the south and, as Masik Shivratri, across the north. The Magha one is the great one everywhere.
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.