Mahāśivarātri is Śiva's greatest night of the year, kept with a day-long fast, worship through the four quarters of the night and an all-night vigil. Its central legend, told in the Śiva and Liṅga Purāṇas, is the Liṅgodbhava: as Brahmā and Viṣṇu disputed which of them was greater, an endless column of fire rose between them, and neither Viṣṇu digging downward as the boar Varāha nor Brahmā flying upward as a swan could find its end. Brahmā falsely claimed to have seen the top and brought the ketakī flower as his witness, and Śiva, revealing himself from the column, cursed Brahmā to go without temple worship and barred the ketakī from his own pūjā. That is why bilva, not ketakī, is offered to the liṅga, and the night marks this first manifestation of the liṅga. How the day is fixed: Mahāśivarātri is the night of Kṛṣṇa Caturdaśī in amānta Māgha, which pūrṇimānta calendars call Phālguna. The deciding test is niśītha, the midnight hour: the night on which Caturdaśī covers niśītha is kept, and it is the night just before Amāvāsyā. Keep in mind: The Māgha and Phālguna names describe one and the same night. Because the test is made at local midnight, the date can differ by a day between cities, so follow the night your local pañcāṅga gives. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. The fast: Devotees fast through the day, some without even water and others on fruit and milk, according to their strength. The fast is broken only the next morning, after bathing and worshipping Śiva, and not at any point during the night. Worship in four quarters: From dusk to dawn the liṅga is worshipped in four prahara, each with a fresh abhiṣeka of milk, curd, honey, ghee and water in turn. Trifoliate bilva leaves are offered throughout, their three leaflets read as Śiva's three eyes or the three guṇas. The night vigil: The jāgaraṇa is held to be as central as the fast, and sleeping through the night is popularly said to forfeit much of the vrata's merit. The night passes in chanting Om Namaḥ Śivāya or the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra, in bhajans and in readings from the Śiva Purāṇa. Worth remembering: Mahāśivarātri is distinct from the monthly Śivarātri and from Pradoṣam. The legend of Śiva drinking the Halāhala poison at the churning of the ocean belongs to Pradoṣam's twilight worship, while this night's own origin is the Liṅgodbhava, and some regions also keep it as the night of Śiva and Pārvatī's wedding. Each region keeps the night in its own way. Pilgrims crowd Śrīśailam, Gokarṇa, Āluva Maṇappuram, Tārakeśvar, Girnār's Bhavnāth fair and the Jyotirliṅgas, while in many homes the story of the hunter who unknowingly dropped bilva leaves on a liṅga all night is told to the children. Which story is read, how strict the fast is and when it is broken all follow the custom of the house, so keep the night as the elders of your own family have kept it.
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