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
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 5 January 2027
- Monday, 24 January 2028
- Friday, 12 January 2029
Where Masik Shivratri falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 5 Jan
- 2028: 24 Jan, 19 days later
- 2029: 12 Jan, 12 days earlier
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The monthly Shivratri of the northern calendar, on the Chaturdashi of the dark fortnight. Unmarried girls keep it for a good husband and married women for the husband's long life; the lingam is bathed with water, milk and bel patra at night and the Shiva Chalisa is read.
- Deity
- Shiva, Parvati
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
Significance
Of the fifteen tithis, the fourteenth is Shiva's own, and the dark Chaturdashi carries a monthly echo of Maha Shivratri, which the north keeps as the wedding night of Shiva and Parvati; so the monthly night is kept for the couple, not for Shiva alone. Many begin it on Maha Shivratri and keep every month for a year, closing it with an udyapan, and families waiting on a match for a daughter often start her on it then. The day has two halves: a jal abhishek at the temple in the morning, when the lingam is crowded with lotas, and the nishita puja at home at night. The fast runs on into the next morning, so the vrat covers a whole night and day.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Masik Shivratri: how it is kept
Keep ready
- a copper lota and Gangajal
- raw milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar
- bel patra
- dhatura and aak flowers
- bhang leaves
- white sandal paste and akshat
- clay for a parthiv lingam
- a red chunri, bangles, sindoor and a bindi for Parvati
- the Shiv Chalisa
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
The phalahar of the day is fruit, milk, makhana, and sabudana khichdi or kuttu for those who need a meal. The bhog at night is kheer or a milk sweet, sometimes with thandai, and the fast is broken the next morning with the prasad and a sattvik meal.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 5 January 2027 at Chennai
The Chaturdashi running at nishita, true midnight, which is the hour of the puja.
The main rite. The Krishna Chaturdashi running at nishita, true midnight, fixes the night, and the main puja is at that hour; the jal abhishek at the temple is in the morning, and the fast ends after the bath at the next sunrise.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Nishita | 00:14 | true midnight, the midpoint of sunset and the next sunrise |
Sunrise 06:33, sunset 17:56, 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 18:16 until 20:40 | then Krishna Chaturdasi until next day 23:15 |
| Nakshatra | Jyeshtha until next day 03:07 | then Mula until 2 days later, 06:08 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:05 to 16:30 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:23 to 10:49 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:14 to 13:40 (1 h 25 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:51 to 12:37 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 04:23 | moonset 15:50 |
For Tuesday, 5 January 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
A fast from sunrise, broken the next morning after the nishita puja; fruit, milk and sabudana are taken by those who cannot keep it dry.
What is avoided
Tulsi, turmeric and sindoor are never put on the lingam, and water is not poured over it from a conch; the sindoor goes to Parvati. Those fasting take no grain, meat, onion or garlic until the morning.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
The same night as the southern Masa Sivarathri. Maha Shivaratri in Phalguna (purnimanta) is the one kept by everyone.
In other regions
- North India (the dates above)
- Across the north the monthly night is kept at home more than at the temple, though Kashi Vishwanath, Mahakal at Ujjain and Baidyanath at Deoghar all see a morning crowd with water; the one in Shravan, Sawan Shivratri, is the great one after Maha Shivratri, when the Kanwariyas pour the Ganga water they have carried.
The dates above are the North India 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.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Shiva and Parvati near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal, with the peacock shrine
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adipureeswarar and Vadivudai Amman with Thyagaraja
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Masilamaniswarar with Kodiyidai Nayaki
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adi Kamakshi and Kamakshi, standing on the pancha agni penance
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
Masik Shivratri'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.