Festival · Shiva
Maha Shivratri
The great night of Shiva. Devotees fast and keep watch through the night in prayer.
- Maha Shivratri 2027
- Saturday 6 March 2027
- New Delhi
For New Delhi, Saturday 6 March 2027
Krishna Chaturdashi tithi
- Begins
- 12:04 pm
- Ends
- 1:47 pm, 7 Mar
- Sunrise
- 6:41 am
- Sunset
- 6:24 pm
- Moonrise
- 6:00 am, 7 Mar
- Moonset
- 4:35 pm
Worked out for your city. Panchangs can differ by a minute or so.
Full panchang for this day →Puja times
For New Delhi, Saturday 6 March 2027
Nishita Kaal puja
12:08 am to 12:57 am, 7 Mar
- First prahar
- 6:24 pm to 9:28 pm
- Second prahar
- 9:28 pm to 12:32 am, 7 Mar
- Third prahar
- 12:32 am to 3:36 am, 7 Mar
- Fourth prahar
- 3:36 am to 6:40 am, 7 Mar
- Parana (breaking the fast)
- 6:40 am to 1:47 pm, 7 Mar
- Chaturdashi begins
- 12:04 pm
- Chaturdashi ends
- 1:47 pm, 7 Mar
Worked out for your city. Panchangs can differ by a minute or so.
How it is kept
Customs vary by region and family
- Fast through the day
- Bathe the linga with water or milk and offer bilva leaves
- Chant Om Namah Shivaya through the night
What it remembers
Maha Shivratri is the fourteenth night of the dark fortnight before the new moon of Phalguna, the darkest night of the month and the stillest of the year. Devotees fast, bathe the linga with water and milk through the four watches of the night, and keep awake until dawn chanting Om Namah Shivaya.
Keeping the night
Shivratri is kept at a temple or at home with a linga. The main puja is in Nishita Kaal, the muhurta around midnight; the devoted bathe the linga in each of the four prahars. Follow your own tradition where it differs.
- Fast through the day, on fruit, milk and water, or without food and water for the strict. Bathe in the evening before the puja.
- Set the linga on a tray or in a shallow dish so the offerings can drain, with a lamp and incense beside it.
- Bathe the linga, abhishek, with water, then milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar (panchamrit), then water again. The devoted do this in each prahar of the night.
- Dress it with bilva leaves, three-leaved and unbroken, with the smooth side down. Add white flowers, dhatura, bhang leaves if your family uses them, and apply ash or sandalwood in three lines.
- Light the lamp and chant Om Namah Shivaya, or the Rudrashtakam or Shiva Chalisa. The Maha Mrityunjaya mantra is also chanted through the night.
- Keep the jagran: stay awake through the night with bhajans and the stories of Shiva. The Nishita Kaal puja around midnight is the heart of the night.
- After sunrise, bathe, do a last puja and break the fast in the parana time, before Chaturdashi ends.
What you need
- A Shiva linga, or an image of Shiva, on a tray that drains
- Water, milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar for the abhishek
- Bilva leaves, white flowers and dhatura
- Vibhuti (ash) or sandalwood paste
- A lamp, incense, camphor, fruit and sweets
Across India
Varanasi and Ujjain
The great Shiva cities keep the night as Shiva’s wedding: the baraat through the streets of Kashi, and the bhasma aarti at Mahakaleshwar.
Tamil Nadu
At Arunachaleswarar in Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram and every village temple, abhishek through the night and a vigil until dawn.
Kashmir
Herath, the great festival of Kashmiri Pandits, kept for days before and after with walnuts soaked in water as the sacred offering.
Nepal
At Pashupatinath in Kathmandu, lakhs of pilgrims and sadhus gather for the night, with fires lit against the cold.
Karnataka and Andhra
Fasting and jagarane, the all-night vigil, with devotional songs; the linga at Srisailam, a jyotirlinga, draws great crowds.
Odisha
Jagara: the lamp (mahadipa) is raised on the temple tower at midnight, at Lingaraj in Bhubaneswar above all, and only then is the fast broken.
When it falls
Krishna Chaturdashi of Magha (Phalguna in North India). Kept on the day this tithi holds at midnight.
These are the usual rules. A few days can differ by a day in your tradition, so check with your temple.
Maha Shivratri in the coming years
New Delhi, India time
- 2027Saturday 6 March 2027
- 2028Wednesday 23 February 2028
Questions
When is Maha Shivratri in 2027?
Saturday 6 March 2027, in New Delhi. In a few places it can fall a day apart, so the date above is worked out for your city.
When does Maha Shivratri fall?
Krishna Chaturdashi of Magha (Phalguna in North India). Kept on the day this tithi holds at midnight.
How is Maha Shivratri kept?
Families fast through the day, bathe the linga with water or milk and offer bilva leaves and chant Om Namah Shivaya through the night. Customs vary by region and family.
Who is honoured on Maha Shivratri?
Shiva. The great night of Shiva. Devotees fast and keep watch through the night in prayer.
What is Nishita Kaal?
The muhurta around midnight, one fifteenth of the night centred on its middle point, when Shiva is said to have appeared as the linga. The main Shivratri puja is done then. The page shows it worked out for your city.
What are the four prahars?
The night from sunset to sunrise divided into four watches of about three hours each. Those who keep the full vrat bathe the linga once in each prahar, with a different offering: water, then curd, then ghee, then honey, in one common tradition.
When is the fast broken?
The next morning, after sunrise and before Chaturdashi ends; that window is the parana time shown on the page. If Chaturdashi ends before sunrise, the fast is broken soon after sunrise.
How is Maha Shivratri different from Masik Shivratri?
A Shivratri falls every month on the fourteenth night of the dark fortnight. The one in Phalguna (Magha in the purnimanta reckoning) is the great one, Maha Shivratri, kept by everyone; the monthly ones are a vrat for the devoted.