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Festival · Phalgun Krishna Chaturdashi

Maha Shivratri 2027

महाशिवरात्रि

Saturday 6 March 2027 · in 126 days

ShivaFestivalAll India

Maha Shivratri is the great night of Lord Shiva. Devotees fast through the day, stay awake through the night, and offer water, milk and bel leaves to the Shivling while chanting Om Namah Shivaya.

Nishita puja muhurat12:08 AM to 12:57 AM

The middle of the night, inside Chaturdashi. Chaturdashi runs from 12:04 PM on 6 Mar to 1:47 PM on 7 Mar.

Delhi · times in IST

Pujas for Maha Shivratri, in order

Shiva Puja

शिव पूजाThrough the night; nishita puja 12:08 AM to 12:57 AM

Shiva's great night, kept awake with worship until the nishita hour.

You will need
  • Shiva lingam or picture
  • Water or Gangajal
  • Raw milk
  • Bilva leaves
  • White flowers
  • Ghee diya
Steps
  1. Pour water, then milk, slowly over the lingam.
  2. Offer bilva leaves and white flowers.
  3. Chant the mantra 108 times.
  4. Sing the aarti.
Mantraॐ नमः शिवायom namah shivaya
Aarti: Om Jai Shiv Omkara

ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा, स्वामी जय शिव ओंकारा।
ब्रह्मा विष्णु सदाशिव, अर्द्धांगी धारा॥

एकानन चतुरानन पंचानन राजे।
हंसासन गरूड़ासन वृषवाहन साजे॥

दो भुज चार चतुर्भुज दसभुज अति सोहे।
त्रिगुण रूप निरखते त्रिभुवन जन मोहे॥

अक्षमाला वनमाला मुण्डमाला धारी।
त्रिपुरारी कंसारी कर माला धारी॥

श्वेताम्बर पीताम्बर बाघम्बर अंगे।
सनकादिक गरुणादिक भूतादिक संगे॥

कर के मध्य कमण्डलु चक्र त्रिशूलधारी।
सुखकारी दुखहारी जगपालन कारी॥

ब्रह्मा विष्णु सदाशिव जानत अविवेका।
प्रणवाक्षर में शोभित ये तीनों एका॥

The opening verses.

Add your own deity

Many families also worship their own deity on a festival day. Each one opens a full guide with steps, mantra and aarti.

Shiva Puja

शिव पूजाThrough the night; nishita puja 12:08 AM to 12:57 AM

Shiva's great night, kept awake with worship until the nishita hour.

You will need
  • Shiva lingam or picture
  • Water or Gangajal
  • Raw milk
  • Bilva leaves
  • White flowers
  • Ghee diya
Steps
  1. Pour water, then milk, slowly over the lingam.
  2. Offer bilva leaves and white flowers.
  3. Chant the mantra 108 times.
  4. Sing the aarti.
Mantraॐ नमः शिवायom namah shivaya
Aarti: Om Jai Shiv Omkara

ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा, स्वामी जय शिव ओंकारा।
ब्रह्मा विष्णु सदाशिव, अर्द्धांगी धारा॥

एकानन चतुरानन पंचानन राजे।
हंसासन गरूड़ासन वृषवाहन साजे॥

दो भुज चार चतुर्भुज दसभुज अति सोहे।
त्रिगुण रूप निरखते त्रिभुवन जन मोहे॥

अक्षमाला वनमाला मुण्डमाला धारी।
त्रिपुरारी कंसारी कर माला धारी॥

श्वेताम्बर पीताम्बर बाघम्बर अंगे।
सनकादिक गरुणादिक भूतादिक संगे॥

कर के मध्य कमण्डलु चक्र त्रिशूलधारी।
सुखकारी दुखहारी जगपालन कारी॥

ब्रह्मा विष्णु सदाशिव जानत अविवेका।
प्रणवाक्षर में शोभित ये तीनों एका॥

The opening verses.

Add your own deity

Many families also worship their own deity on a festival day. Each one opens a full guide with steps, mantra and aarti.

Other mantras for the day

  • ॐ हौं ॐ जूं सः भूर्भुवः... Mritunjaya mantra
  • ऐं क्लीं सौः aim kleem sauh
  • ॐ ह्रीं नमो भगवती माहेश्वरी अन्नपूर्णे... Annapurna mantra

Maha Shivratri 2027: date and timings

Date
Saturday 6 March 2027
Tithi
Phalgun Krishna Chaturdashi
Chaturdashi begins
12:04 PM, 6 March
Chaturdashi ends
1:47 PM, 7 March
Nishita puja muhurat
12:08 AM to 12:57 AM
Sunrise
6:41 AM
Sunset
6:23 PM

Times for New Delhi (IST). Use the city button above for your own city.

Other years

Maha Shivratri 2026: date and timings

Date
Sunday 15 February 2026
Tithi
Phalgun Krishna Chaturdashi
Chaturdashi begins
5:06 PM, 15 February
Chaturdashi ends
5:35 PM, 16 February
Nishita puja muhurat
12:09 AM to 1:01 AM
Sunrise
6:59 AM
Sunset
6:11 PM

How to observe

  1. Bathe early, visit a Shiva temple or set up a Shivling at home, and take the sankalp for the fast.
  2. Keep the fast in the way that suits your health: with water, fruit and milk, or a single simple meal.
  3. Offer water, milk and bel leaves to the Shivling, with white flowers and fruit.
  4. Worship in each of the four prahars of the night, or at least once at midnight.
  5. Stay awake with bhajans and Om Namah Shivaya, and open the fast the next morning.

For your chart

Add your birth details to see whether Maha Shivratri lines up with your birth nakshatra or tithi.

Coming up after Maha Shivratri

About Maha Shivratri

Maha Shivratri falls on the fourteenth day of the dark half of Phalguna in the purnimanta calendar followed across North India; in the amanta calendar of the South and West the same night is counted in Magha. Every month has a Shivratri, but this one is kept as the greatest. Several stories are told about it. Many believe it is the night Shiva and Parvati were married. Another tells of Shiva appearing as an endless pillar of light whose beginning and end neither Brahma nor Vishnu could find. For many devotees it is simply the night to sit close to Shiva.

The festival is kept all over India and Nepal. Great crowds gather at the Jyotirlinga temples, at Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi and Pashupatinath in Kathmandu, and at small village shrines alike. Kashmiri Pandits keep it as Herath, with customs of their own.

The day usually begins with a bath and a sankalp for the fast. Some keep a nirjala fast without water, many take fruit and milk, and others eat a single simple meal; each follows what suits their health and family custom. The heart of the festival is the night. It is divided into four prahars, and in each one the Shivling is bathed and worshipped: with water, milk, curd, honey, ghee and sugar, then adorned with sandal paste and offered bel leaves, dhatura, white flowers and fruit. Between pujas, people sing bhajans, chant Om Namah Shivaya and keep the jagaran, the vigil, until dawn. The fast is opened the next morning after a final puja.

A practical note: Shivratri is fixed by the Chaturdashi tithi that holds at midnight, the hour called nishita kaal, so the festival date and the sunrise tithi can differ. Families and temples follow their own tradition for the parana, the time to break the fast.

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