Maha Sivaratri is the night before the new moon of Magha, kept awake for Shiva. The day is a fast; the night is four rounds of worship, one in each watch, with the linga bathed in water, milk, curd, honey and ghee and covered in bilva leaves. In the Telugu states it is the largest pilgrimage night of the year, at Srisailam, Srikalahasti, Vemulawada and every village Shiva temple.
The story
Several stories meet on this night. It is the night Shiva first appeared as the Lingodbhava, a column of fire of which Brahma and Vishnu could find neither top nor bottom. It is the night of his marriage to Parvati. And it is the night he drank the poison that rose from the churning of the ocean and held it in his throat, which turned blue.
The Telugu country has a story of its own: Kannappa, the hunter of Srikalahasti, who knew no ritual and offered the linga water carried in his mouth and meat he had tasted first, and at the last his own eyes.
త్రిదళం త్రిగుణాకారం త్రినేత్రం చ త్రియాయుధమ్ । త్రిజన్మపాపసంహారం ఏకబిల్వం శివార్పణమ్
Three leaves, like the three qualities, the three eyes, the three weapons; destroying the wrongs of three births: one bilva leaf, offered to Shiva
The opening of the Bilvashtakam
How the night is kept
- The fastKept through the day, by many without water; fruit and milk for those who cannot.
- JagaramThe vigil. Temples stay open through the night, with abhishekam in each of its four watches.
- Bilva leavesThe three-lobed leaf of the maredu tree is the offering Shiva is said to prefer to any other.
- Lingodbhava kalamThe worship at midnight, the hour of the column of fire, is the most important of the four.
- Breaking the fastThe next morning, after a bath and a final worship.
Why this date
Maha Sivaratri is the fourteenth tithi (Chaturdasi) of the dark half of Magha. Because the worship belongs to midnight, the calendar gives the day on which Chaturdasi is in force in the middle of the night, not at sunrise.
Maha Sivaratri in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday | |
| 2027 | Saturday | |
| 2028 | Wednesday | |
| 2029 | Sunday | |
| 2030 | Saturday | |
| 2031 | Thursday |
More Telugu festivals
13 FebruaryRatha Saptamiరథ సప్తమి
22 MarchHoliహోళీ
7 AprilUgadiఉగాది
16 JanuaryKanumaకనుమ
15 JanuaryMakara Sankrantiమకర సంక్రాంతి
15 AprilSri Rama Navamiశ్రీరామ నవమి
Where to see Maha Sivaratri
In the Telugu states
- SrisailamAndhra PradeshEleven days of Brahmotsavams; on the night itself a long white cloth, the Pagalankarana, is wound from the temple tower to the Nandis as the wedding is performed.
- SrikalahastiAndhra PradeshKannappa's temple, where the linga stands for the element of air.
- VemulawadaTelanganaThe Raja Rajeshwara temple draws the largest Sivaratri gathering in Telangana.
- KotappakondaAndhra PradeshA hill shrine near Narasaraopet whose Sivaratri fair is known for its towering lit prabhalu.
Across India
- Kashi Vishwanath, VaranasiUttar PradeshShiva's own city, with a wedding procession through its lanes.
- Mahakaleshwar, UjjainMadhya PradeshA Jyotirlinga where the nine days before the night are kept as Shiva Navaratri.
- MandiHimachal PradeshA week-long fair to which some two hundred village deities are carried in palanquins.
- SomnathGujaratThe first of the twelve Jyotirlingas, on the shore of the Arabian Sea.