Festival · 2026
Maha Shivratri 2026 — Sunday, 15 February 2026
Maha Shivratri is the great night of Shiva, kept with a day of fasting and a night of vigil whose worship peaks around midnight.
In 2026
Sunday, 15 February 2026
- Tithi
- Krishna Chaturdashi (Krishna): 15 Feb, 5:05 PM – 16 Feb, 5:34 PM
- Lunar month
- Phalguna (purnimanta) / Magha (amanta)
- Sunrise / sunset
- 6:59 AM / 6:11 PM
| Puja muhurat | 16 Feb, 12:09 AM – 16 Feb, 1:00 AM |
|---|---|
| Nishita kaal | 16 Feb, 12:09 AM – 16 Feb, 1:00 AM |
Rule: Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi (Magha in the amanta reckoning) prevailing at nishita, the midnight muhurta.
In 2027
Saturday, 6 March 2027
- Tithi
- Krishna Chaturdashi (Krishna): 6 Mar, 12:03 PM – 7 Mar, 1:46 PM
- Lunar month
- Phalguna (purnimanta) / Magha (amanta)
- Sunrise / sunset
- 6:41 AM / 6:23 PM
| Puja muhurat | 7 Mar, 12:07 AM – 7 Mar, 12:56 AM |
|---|---|
| Nishita kaal | 7 Mar, 12:07 AM – 7 Mar, 12:56 AM |
Rule: Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi (Magha in the amanta reckoning) prevailing at nishita, the midnight muhurta.
Times follow New Delhi’s sunrise and sunset. In other cities the muhurat shifts by some minutes, and occasionally the day by one. Full festival calendar
What is Maha Shivratri?
Maha Shivratri, the great night of Shiva, is observed on the fourteenth day of the waning Moon in Phalguna, which the amanta calendar calls Magha. Every month has a Shivratri on this tithi, but this one is considered the most important of the year. Unlike most festivals, its heart is the night: devotees fast through the day and keep vigil through the dark hours in worship of Shiva.
Several stories are attached to this night. One tradition holds that it marks the wedding of Shiva and Parvati. Another says it is the night Shiva appeared as an endless pillar of light, the jyotirlinga, whose top and base neither Brahma nor Vishnu could find. A well-loved folk tale tells of a hunter who sat up a bel tree all night, unknowingly dropped leaves and water on a linga below, and received Shiva’s grace.
For many devotees the festival is about stillness rather than celebration: a night of fasting, chanting and staying awake, with attention turned inward. Temples, from the twelve jyotirlingas to village shrines, stay open through the night and receive streams of pilgrims. Yogic and ascetic traditions treat it as especially suited to meditation, and families mark it too, often with a simple fast and a visit to the local Shiva temple.
How it is observed
- Fasting through the day, either without food or with fruit and milk, and breaking the fast the next morning.
- Bathing the Shiva linga (abhishek) with water, milk, curd, honey, ghee and Ganga water.
- Offering bel leaves, dhatura, flowers and sandalwood paste.
- Chanting Om Namah Shivaya and reciting the Shiva Purana or the Rudrashtakam.
- Staying awake through the night (jagaran), with worship in each of the four prahars.
- Visiting a jyotirlinga or a nearby Shiva temple, many of which stay open all night.
How the date is fixed
Maha Shivratri is Chaturdashi, the fourteenth tithi, of the waning half of Phalguna in the purnimanta calendar; the amanta calendar calls the same fortnight Magha Krishna. The deciding moment is nishita kaal, the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas into which the night is divided, which falls around midnight. The day whose night has Chaturdashi running at nishita kaal is Maha Shivratri; if Chaturdashi covers nishita on two nights, the first is taken.
Where practice differs
North India, which follows the purnimanta calendar, calls the month Phalguna, while Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which use the amanta calendar, call the same fortnight Magha Krishna; the night itself is the same. Kashmiri Pandits observe it as Herath, often a day earlier, with rituals that stretch over several days. In Nepal, the Pashupatinath temple draws very large numbers of pilgrims and sadhus on this night.
Dates and times are computed by our own engine (sunrise, tithi and kalas for New Delhi, Lahiri ayanamsa). In another city, or in an almanac of another tradition, the day can differ by one — follow your family’s tradition.
Questions people ask
Why is Maha Shivratri observed at night?
Tradition holds that the key events of Shiva’s story, his appearance as a pillar of light and, by many accounts, his wedding to Parvati, took place at night. Worship peaks at nishita kaal, around midnight, which is also the moment our calendar uses to fix the date.
What is the difference between Shivratri and Maha Shivratri?
A Shivratri, often called Masik Shivratri, falls on the Krishna Chaturdashi of every month. Maha Shivratri is the one in Phalguna (Magha in the amanta calendar), regarded as the most important of the year.
Why do some calendars say Phalguna and others say Magha?
North India counts months ending at Purnima (purnimanta), while much of western and southern India counts them ending at Amavasya (amanta). The waning fortnight gets a different month name in each system, but the night of Maha Shivratri is the same.