Tuesday, 1 March 2022
Māgha · dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturdaśī · Dhaniṣṭhā
☀About the day
- Lunar month
- Māgha
- Tithi at sunrise
- dark fortnight (kṛṣṇa) Caturdaśī · until 01:01 (next day)
- Nakṣatra
- Dhaniṣṭhā
- Sunrise · Sunset (Ujjain)
- 06:49 · 18:30
Mahā Śivarātri
✦Significance
The great night of Śiva. Every month has its Śivarātri on the fourteenth of the dark half; this one, in Māgha (Phālguna by the northern count), is the greatest — the night Śiva first appeared as the endless pillar of light, and the night of his marriage to Pārvatī. Fasting, vigil and worship through the four watches of the night are its three limbs.
📜The story from the scriptures
Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭirudra-saṃhitā 40; Vidyeśvara-saṃhitā 6–9
A hunter named Gurudruha, who had never done a good deed, found no food for his family one day — and so, unknowing, fasted. At nightfall he climbed a bilva tree beside a pool with a pot of water, waiting for game; beneath the tree, unseen, stood a Śiva-liṅga. In each watch of the night a deer came to drink; as he drew his bow, water spilled and bilva leaves fell upon the liṅga — and so, unknowing, he worshipped. Each deer pleaded to settle its young and promised to return; each time he relented, and his heart grew lighter. At dawn the whole family of deer returned together to keep their word, and the hunter, overcome, lowered his bow for good. Śiva appeared, named him Guha, and promised that Rāma himself would one day be his friend. The Vidyeśvara-saṃhitā tells of the other wonder of this night: the blazing, endless column that rose between Brahmā and Viṣṇu as they disputed, whose top and root neither could find.
🪔Regional traditions and folklore
The twelve Jyotirliṅgas and Kāśī, Paśupatinātha and Śrīśailam are thronged all night; Kashmir keeps Herath with walnuts soaked in water; Tamil Nadu’s dancers offer nāṭyāñjali at Cidambaram, where Śiva is the dancer; the runners of Kanyākumārī visit twelve shrines in the Śivālaya Oṭṭam; Mandi in Himachal holds a week-long fair of the hill gods. Married women pray for their husbands, the unmarried for a husband like Śiva.
🌙The vrata
A day’s fast — fruit and milk for those who need it — begun with a saṅkalpa at dawn; a night-long vigil; worship in each of the four praharas; and pāraṇa the next morning after sunrise, within the Caturdaśī where it lasts.
🔥Pūjā and havan
Abhiṣeka of the liṅga through the four watches — with milk in the first, curd in the second, ghee in the third and honey in the fourth — then water, bilva leaves of three leaflets, dhatūra, āka flowers, bhasma and sandal. The Śrī Rudram (Namakam and Camakam) is chanted, with Rudra-homa in temples; the pañcākṣarī is repeated through the night.
ॐMantras and japa 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
Meaning: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
Benefit: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ॥
oṃ tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam | urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya mā’mṛtāt ||
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
Benefit: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
📖Scriptural references 3
- Śiva Purāṇa, Koṭirudra-saṃhitā 38–40
- Śiva Purāṇa, Vidyeśvara-saṃhitā 6–9
- Liṅga Purāṇa 1.17–20