Masik Shivratri Vratam The monthly Shivratri of the northern calendar, on the Chaturdashi of the dark fortnight.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Masik Shivratri
- हिन्दी
- मासिक शिवरात्रि
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 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.
The hour
The rule in words
The Chaturdashi running at nishita, true midnight, which is the hour of the puja.
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.
Where the regions differ
The same night as the southern Masa Sivarathri. Maha Shivaratri in Phalguna (purnimanta) is the one kept by everyone.
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.