Mahāśivarātri, the great night of Śiva

The night before the new moon

Mahāśivarātri (महाशिवरात्रि) means "the great night of Śiva". It falls on the fourteenth lunar day (caturdaśī) of the waning fortnight (kṛṣṇa pakṣa), the night before the new moon. The Maharashtra tourism department places it in the month of Phālguna, "February-March"; in calendars that end the month at the new moon rather than at the full moon, the same night is counted in Māgha. The night is the same; only the month's name changes.

The date changes every year with the moon, and almanacs can differ by a day depending on where the fourteenth lunar day falls at night. Check a pañcāṅga for your city, or the official Indian announcements, each year.

What it celebrates

The Śiva Purāṇa tells how Brahmā and Viṣṇu quarrelled over which of them was supreme, and how Śiva appeared between them as an immense column of fire without beginning or end, the origin of the liṅga. Pleased with their worship, Śiva declares:

शिवरात्रिरिति ख्याता तिथिरेषा मम प्रिया ।

śivarātrir iti khyātā tithir eṣā mama priyā |

This lunar day, known as Śivarātri, is dear to me.

A little later he says that whoever keeps it "day and night, without food, with senses controlled" (1.9.12) and worships him that night receives at once the fruit of a whole year of worship.

Other stories are told about this night. The Maharashtra tourism department gathers three of them: Śiva drank the poison hālāhala churned up from the ocean to protect the world, and his throat turned blue, earning him the name Nīlakaṇṭha; Śiva married the goddess Pārvatī on this night; and he manifested as the liṅga.

Śiva, the first yogi

For a yogi, Mahāśivarātri is also a night of the lineage. The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā opens with a salutation to Śiva under his name of First Lord:

श्रीआदिनाथाय नमोऽस्तु तस्मै येनोपदिष्टा हठयोगविद्या ।

śrī-ādi-nāthāya namo 'stu tasmai yenopadiṣṭā haṭha-yoga-vidyā |

Salutation to the glorious First Lord, who taught the knowledge of haṭha yoga.

Ādinātha is a name of Śiva in the Nātha tradition from which haṭha yoga comes. The page Shiva, the Adiyogi tells how the tradition sees him as the first teacher, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika page presents the text.

How it is kept in India

On this day, All India Radio reported in 2026, the festival is "marked by fasting, special prayers and night-long worship at temples", and "thousands of devotees take holy dips at pilgrim sites". In Kathmandu the same day, devotees queued outside the Paśupatinātha temple "from as early as 3 am", in lines three to four kilometres long. Devotees offer bel patra (bilva leaves) to the liṅga, and bathe it with water and milk.

The mantra of the night is the five-syllable oṃ namaḥ śivāya: see Om namah shivaya, its meaning and source. Many also chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra.

In Haridwar and Rishikesh, the busiest Śiva season is the rainy month of Śrāvaṇa: on the first Monday of the month in 2025, All India Radio described long queues at the Śiva temples of both towns and crowds at Neelkanth Mahadev, while pilgrims (kāṃvaṛiyā) carried Ganga water from Haridwar. Wherever you go for Mahāśivarātri, arrive early, keep your belongings close, follow the instructions of the temple and the police, and respect the places where non-Hindus are not admitted. Our pages on Haridwar and Rishikesh give the practical side.

At home: a vigil you can keep

The night is traditionally divided into four watches (prahara). Here is a simple way to keep it, until midnight or, if you are rested and well, until dawn.

1. At sunset: clean your practice space, light a lamp, chant Om three times. Read the story of the column of light, or the first verse of the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, aloud.
2. First watch: twenty minutes of silent sitting.
3. Second watch: one round of 108 oṃ namaḥ śivāya on a mala, then bhrāmarī, the humming breath, seven times.
4. Around midnight: pour a little water on a stone or into a plant, as an offering; sit in silence. If you stop here, close with three Om and go to sleep.
5. Before dawn, if you continued: Om nine times and sitting until first light. In the morning, offer food to someone.

Our book The Yogi's Sacred Year gives Mahāśivarātri a full chapter, with the mantras of the night in Sanskrit and our translation, this vigil in four watches and a journal page, alongside eleven other festivals of the Indian year.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Mahashivratri being celebrated across the country with devotion and religious fervour, All India Radio News, 15 February 2026 checked October 18, 2026
2. Nepal: Lakhs of devotees queue outside Pashupatinath temple on Mahashivratri, All India Radio News, 15 February 2026 checked October 18, 2026
3. PM greets people on Maha Shivratri, Prime Minister's Office (India), 8 March 2024 checked October 18, 2026
4. PM greets people on Maha Shivratri, Prime Minister's Office (India), 18 February 2023 checked October 18, 2026
5. Uttarakhand: Devotees throng Shiva temples on first Shravan Monday, All India Radio News, 14 July 2025 checked October 18, 2026
6. Mahashivratri, Directorate of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra checked October 18, 2026
7. Śivapurāṇa, books 1 (Vidyeśvara Saṃhitā) and 7, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 18, 2026
8. Svātmārāma, Haṭhayogapradīpikā, Sanskrit text (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 18, 2026

Read next