Mahashivaratri Festival

Mahashivaratri (also known as Shivaratri) is a Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Shiva, one of the most important deities in Hinduism. Shiva is the ‘destroyer’ who renews the universe at the end of each cycle of existence. Mahashivaratri literally means the ‘great night of Shiva’. See the Calendar of Hindu Festivals for the date of Mahashivaratri this year.

The Great Night of Shiva

Mahashivaratri celebrates the cosmic dance, or tandav, of Lord Shiva. Although each new moon is dedicated to Lord Shiva, the new moon in the Hindu month of Magha (also known as the month of Masi in the Tamil calendar) is especially important, and Mahashivaratri is celebrated during the night before the new moon. According to tradition, night represents evil, ignorance, injustice, violence and calamity. Mahashivaratri, celebrated at night, symbolically honors Lord Shiva who saved the world from darkness and ignorance, preventing the world from entering complete darkness.

The Rituals of Mahashivaratri

Typically, devotees observe a fast and stay up all night at a place of worship during Mahashivaratri. Lord Shiva is offered bael leaves as well as special food made from fruits, coconuts and root vegetables during ritual worship. The priests perform puja, or religious worship, in accordance with the scriptures four times during the night of Mahashivaratri. In temples, Shiva Linga, a form of Lord Shiva, is ritually bathed with water, milk, honey, and sandalwood paste, and then decorated with flowers and garlands.

Those who observe the fast during Mahashivaratri break their fast only the next morning, and eat the food offerings, or prasadam,that was offered to Shiva. Mahashivaratri is an especially auspicious occasion for women to pray to Lord Shiva. Married women observe the fast and pray to Lord Shiva to bless their husbands with health and prosperity, while young girls pray that he may bless them with good husbands. Devotional songs in praise of the lord and holy chants are sung throughout the night.

The Legends Surrounding Mahashivaratri

There are several legends surrounding the Hindi festival of Mahashivaratri. The most important of these are the story of King Chitrabhanu and the legend of the churning of the ocean.

The Story Of King Chitrabhanu

In the Mahabharata epic, Bhishma, discoursing on Dharma whilst resting on the bed of arrows, refers to the observance of Mahashivaratri by King Chitrabhanu of the Iksvaku dynasty. King Chitrabhanu was observing a fast on the day of the Mahashivaratri with his wife when the sage Ashtavakra came to the king’s court. When the sage inquired as to the reason for the fast, King Chitrabhanu explained that he had the gift of remembering events from his previous birth, and related one such event to the sage.

The King was a hunter named Suswara in Varanasi in his previous birth, and made a living by killing and selling birds and animals. One day while hunting in the forests, Suswara shot a deer but could not return home as night fell on the forest. Seeking shelter, Suswara climbed a bael tree to pass the night. Tormented by hunger and thirst, Suswara was unable to sleep and keep awake through the night. He shed tears thinking about his wife and children who would starve until he returned home with his kill. Suswara engaged himself in plucking bael leaves and dropping them as a way to distract himself from hunger, thirst and thoughts of his family.

When he returned home the next day, he sold the deer and bought some food for his family. But before he could break his fast from the previous day, a beggar came to him and begged for food. Suswara served the beggar before eating himself.

Years later, at the moment of his death, Suswara saw two messengers of Lord Shiva who had been sent down to conduct his soul to the abode of Lord Shiva. It was then that Suswara learned of the great merit he had earned by his unconscious worship during the night of Shivaratri while sitting on the bael tree. The messengers told him that there had been a Shiva Lingam at the bottom of the tree, and the bael leaves had fallen on the Linga as well as his tears that washed it. Furthermore, Suswara had fasted all day and night. Suswara had lived in the abode of Lord Shiva and enjoyed divine bliss for ages before being reborn as King Chitrabhanu.

Churning of the Ocean

In one of the most important episodes of the Puranas, the devas and asuras (gods and demons) churned the great ocean of milk to produce the divine nectar of immortality, an episode known as the samudra manthan. During the churning, however, a poison came out of the ocean that was so toxic it would have wiped out the entire creation. When the devas prayed to Lord Shiva to protect them, Shiva, out of compassion for all living beings, drank the poison and held it in his throat by binding it with a snake. The throat became blue due to the poison, and thus Lord Shiva is also known as Neelakanthan, or the blue-throated one. Shivaratri is a celebration of this event by which Lord Shiva saved the world by consuming the poison himself.

Pralaya

In another story associated with Shivaratri, the whole world was once facing annihilation and the Goddess Parvati worshiped her husband Shiva to save it. She prayed that the jivas (living souls), suspended in space during the long period of pralaya (deluge) night, should have his blessings upon becoming active again but only if they worshiped him as she did then. Her prayer was granted. Parvati named the night for the worship of Lord Shiva by mortals Mahasivaratri, or the great night of Siva, since pralaya is brought about by him.

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Spiritual Significance of Mahashivaratri