Krishna paksha · Magha · amanta reckoning
Sat, 6 Mar
Maha Shivratri 2027 is on Saturday, 6 March. In New Delhi the Maha Shivratri muhurat is 12:07 AM to 12:56 AM.
2028: Wednesday, 23 February 2028
Maha Shivratri muhurat
12:07 AM – 12:56 AM
Also called Maha Shivaratri, Shivratri. Those are the same observance and the same date, so they share this page rather than competing with it from a second URL.
Ask Swarn
Is this muhurat good for my chart? Ask Swarn free
Saturday, 6 March 2027
Maha Shivratri is not a Gregorian date. It is Krishna paksha tithi 14 of Magha in the amanta reckoning, and the Gregorian day it lands on moves by up to a month between years because twelve lunations fall about eleven days short of a solar year.
Nishita in New Delhi falls at 12:32 AM on that day, and that is the instant the tithi has to be running at for the day to carry the observance. It is computed for this city rather than assumed, because it is what decides the date.
The two instants above are the astronomy and are not in dispute. The day is an interpretation of them: this observance is decided at nishita, so it belongs to the day whose nishita the tithi carries — not simply to the day the tithi begins.
Maha Shivratri, the great night of Shiva, is the Chaturdashi of the dark half of Phalguna in the North Indian calendar (Magha in the amanta calendar of the South and West): devotees fast, bathe the Shivling with water and milk, offer bel leaves, keep awake through the four prahars of the night and chant Om Namah Shivaya. In New Delhi it falls on Saturday, 6 March 2027; the Nishita kaal puja, the most sacred hour of the night, is 7 Mar, 12:07 AM to 12:56 AM, and the fast is broken the next morning, 7 Mar, 6:40 AM to 1:46 PM.
| Muhurat | Time in New Delhi | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Nishita Kaal Puja | 7 Mar, 12:07 AM to 12:56 AMNishita kaal on the Shivratri night. | The eighth muhurta of the night, around midnight: the hour tradition gives to Shiva's appearance as the endless pillar of light. It is the night's principal puja, when temples hold the great abhishek; a family that can worship only once in the night chooses this window. |
| First Prahar Puja | 6:24 PM to 9:28 PMThe first quarter of the night, sunset to the next sunrise. | The first quarter of the night, from sunset. The night's worship begins here with the sankalp, and in the sequence the Shiva Purana tradition describes, the Shivling is bathed with milk in this prahar. |
| Second Prahar Puja | 9:28 PM to 12:32 AM (7 Mar)The second quarter of the night, sunset to the next sunrise. | The second quarter of the night. The abhishek of this prahar is with curd, followed by water, sandal paste, bel leaves and the mantra. |
| Third Prahar Puja | 7 Mar, 12:32 AM to 3:36 AMThe third quarter of the night, sunset to the next sunrise. | The third quarter of the night, which begins in the middle of the Nishita hour. The abhishek of this prahar is with ghee, and the Rudrabhishek or the Mahamrityunjaya japa is often done now. |
| Fourth Prahar Puja | 7 Mar, 3:36 AM to 6:40 AMThe fourth quarter of the night, sunset to the next sunrise. | The last quarter of the night, ending at sunrise. The abhishek of this prahar is with honey; it closes the jagran, and the morning bath and puja follow. |
| Shivratri Parana (breaking the fast) | 7 Mar, 6:40 AM to 1:46 PMThe next morning, between sunrise and the end of Chaturdashi. | The next morning, between sunrise and the end of Chaturdashi: the window in which the fast is broken, after a bath and a short morning puja, with prasad and a simple meal. |
| Sunset (the night of worship begins) | 6:24 PMThe upper edge of the Sun leaving the horizon. | The four prahars are counted from sunset to the next sunrise in New Delhi, so the night's worship begins at sunset. |
| Pradosh Kaal | 6:24 PM to 8:51 PMFrom sunset for three night muhurtas (a fifth of the night). | The first part of the night after sunset, Shiva's own time of worship in every month. Those who cannot keep the whole night often do their main puja here and again at Nishita. |
The nishita window, 12:07 AM to 12:56 AM, falls on Sunday, 7 March 2027 by the clock, and the observance is still Saturday, 6 March 2027's. A Vedic day runs from one sunrise to the next, so the hours after midnight belong to the day that began that morning — not to the date a wall clock has already turned over to.
| Window | Time in New Delhi | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Abhijit Muhurat | 12:09 PM to 12:56 PM | Auspicious |
| Amrit Kaal | 7:16 PM to 9:02 PM | Most Auspicious |
| Brahma Muhurat | 5:02 AM to 5:52 AM | Auspicious |
These are the spans classical muhurta sets aside for beginnings. They are descriptions of a convention, not warnings: the observance is kept on its day regardless, and nothing here needs to be bought, corrected or remedied.
| Window | Time in New Delhi |
|---|---|
| Rahu Kaal | 9:36 AM to 11:04 AM |
| Yamaganda Kaal | 2:00 PM to 3:28 PM |
| Durmuhurta First | 6:41 AM to 7:28 AM |
| Durmuhurta Second | 7:28 AM to 8:14 AM |
| Varjyam | 8:44 AM to 10:29 AM |
Every time above is computed for New Delhi around Saturday, 6 March 2027, from the sunrise, sunset and the positions of the Sun and Moon for this city. The Vedic day runs sunrise to sunrise, so a window whose clock time falls after midnight still belongs to the evening before; a time on another date carries that date.
On Trayodashi, eat one simple sattvik meal by custom, and pick bel leaves for the night, since tradition avoids plucking them on Chaturdashi. Clean the puja corner.
Bathe early, wear clean clothes, and take the sankalp of the fast with water, rice and a bel leaf in the right hand: your name, gotra and place, and that you will keep the Maha Shivratri vrat and the night's worship. Visit a Shiva temple and offer water to the Shivling if you can.
Keep the fast as your health allows: nirjala (without water) only if you are fit for it; otherwise fruit, milk, water and phalahar such as sabudana or singhara, with rock salt. The old, the unwell, pregnant women and children may eat simply and still keep the night's worship.
Bathe again before sunset. Place the Shivling on a plate or a raised base so that its outlet (the jalahari) points north, and sit facing east or north. With no Shivling at home, shape a small parthiv Shivling of clean clay, or worship at a temple.
Sip water three times, sprinkle Ganga jal on yourself and the samagri, and offer a flower and water to Ganesh before beginning.
In each prahar bathe the Shivling with water, then with the prahar's offering, milk, curd, ghee and honey in turn from the first prahar to the fourth, then with pure water again. Use a brass, silver or steel vessel for milk; many families avoid copper for it.
After each abhishek, apply sandal paste and draw three lines of bhasma, offer whole rice, white flowers, aak flowers, dhatura and bel leaves of three leaflets with the smooth side towards the Shivling, saying Om Namah Shivaya with each.
Offer ber and seasonal fruit, a sweet made at home or thandai, and paan; show incense and a ghee lamp; let a lamp burn through the night.
At Nishita (7 Mar, 12:07 AM to 12:56 AM), do the night's fullest worship: the Rudrabhishek if you know it or have a priest, or 108 rounds of Om Namah Shivaya or the Mahamrityunjaya mantra, and the aarti.
Stay awake through the night as far as you can, with bhajans, the Shiv Chalisa, the Shiva Mahimna Stotra or the story of the hunter. If you must rest, do so after the Nishita puja and rise for the fourth prahar.
Circle the Shivling only halfway, from the left, and turn back at the outlet; tradition holds that the stream of the abhishek is never stepped over.
Do the last abhishek in the fourth prahar, then bathe at dawn, offer water to the Shivling and the Sun, and give food or clothes to someone in need.
Break the fast inside the parana window (7 Mar, 6:40 AM to 1:46 PM), after the morning puja, with prasad and then a simple sattvik meal.
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
Meaning: Om, salutation to Shiva, the auspicious one. The words namah shivaya are from the Shri Rudram of the Yajurveda; Om is added in worship.
When and how: With every offering of water and bel leaves, and 108 times or more in each prahar; it may be chanted by anyone, at any hour of the night.
ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात् ॥
Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva bandhanan mrityor mukshiya ma'mritat
Meaning: We worship the three-eyed one, fragrant, who increases nourishment; as the ripe cucumber is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality. A hymn of Vasishtha in the Rigveda's seventh book, repeated in the Yajurveda.
When and how: 108 times at Nishita or in the third prahar, as a prayer for the health and long life of the family.
ॐ तत्पुरुषाय विद्महे महादेवाय धीमहि ।
तन्नो रुद्रः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om tatpurushaya vidmahe mahadevaya dhimahi
Tanno Rudrah prachodayat
Meaning: May we know the Supreme Person; may we meditate on Mahadeva. May Rudra inspire us. From the Mahanarayana Upanishad.
When and how: 11, 21 or 108 times after the abhishek of each prahar.
कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारं भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।
सदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥
Karpuragauram karunavataram samsarasaram bhujagendraharam
Sada vasantam hridayaravinde bhavam bhavanisahitam namami
Meaning: I bow to Shiva, white as camphor, compassion embodied, the essence of the world, who wears the king of serpents as a garland, who dwells for ever in the lotus of the heart, together with Bhavani.
When and how: Sung at the end of the aarti, when the lamp is offered; a traditional verse whose scriptural source is not known.
नागेन्द्रहाराय त्रिलोचनाय भस्माङ्गरागाय महेश्वराय ।
नित्याय शुद्धाय दिगम्बराय तस्मै नकाराय नमः शिवाय ॥
Nagendraharaya trilochanaya bhasmangaragaya Maheshvaraya
Nityaya shuddhaya digambaraya tasmai nakaraya namah Shivaya
Meaning: To him who wears the king of serpents as a garland, the three-eyed one, smeared with ash, the great lord, eternal, pure, clothed by the directions: to him who is the syllable na, salutation to Shiva.
When and how: The first of five verses traditionally ascribed to Adi Shankaracharya, one for each syllable of Na-ma-shi-va-ya. Recite the whole stotram once during the jagran.
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा, स्वामी जय शिव ओंकारा।
ब्रह्मा, विष्णु, सदाशिव, अर्द्धांगी धारा॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
एकानन चतुरानन पंचानन राजे।
हंसासन गरुड़ासन वृषवाहन साजे॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
दो भुज चार चतुर्भुज दसभुज अति सोहे।
त्रिगुण रूप निरखते त्रिभुवन जन मोहे॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
अक्षमाला वनमाला, मुण्डमाला धारी।
चंदन मृगमद सोहै, भाले शशिधारी॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
श्वेताम्बर पीताम्बर बाघम्बर अंगे।
सनकादिक गरुणादिक भूतादिक संगे॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
कर के मध्य कमंडल चक्र त्रिशूलधारी।
सुखकारी दुखहारी जगपालन कारी॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
ब्रह्मा विष्णु सदाशिव जानत अविवेका।
प्रणवाक्षर में शोभित ये तीनों एका॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
त्रिगुणस्वामी जी की आरति जो कोइ नर गावे।
कहत शिवानंद स्वामी सुख संपति पावे॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा॥
ॐ जय शिव ओंकारा, स्वामी जय शिव ओंकारा।
ब्रह्मा, विष्णु, सदाशिव, अर्द्धांगी धारा॥
Om jai Shiv Omkara, swami jai Shiv Omkara.
Brahma, Vishnu, Sadashiv, arddhangi dhara.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Ekanan chaturanan panchanan raje.
Hansasan Garudasan vrishvahan saje.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Do bhuj char chaturbhuj dasbhuj ati sohe.
Trigun roop nirakhte tribhuvan jan mohe.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Akshamala vanmala, mundmala dhari.
Chandan mrigmad sohai, bhale shashidhari.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Shvetambar pitambar baghambar ange.
Sanakadik Garunadik bhutadik sange.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Kar ke madhya kamandal chakra trishooldhari.
Sukhkari dukhhari jagpalan kari.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Brahma Vishnu Sadashiv janat aviveka.
Pranavakshar mein shobhit ye teenon eka.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Trigunswami ji ki aarti jo koi nar gave.
Kahat Shivanand Swami sukh sampati pave.
Om jai Shiv Omkara.
Om jai Shiv Omkara, swami jai Shiv Omkara.
Brahma, Vishnu, Sadashiv, arddhangi dhara.
Text as it is commonly sung. The Gita Press Aarti Sangrah opens 'Jai Shiv Omkara, bhaj Shiv Omkara' with the refrain 'Om Har Har Mahadev', and prints 'tinon roop' for 'trigun roop', 'Tripurari Kansari karmala dhari' for 'chandan mrigmad sohai, bhale shashidhari', 'kar madhye sukamandalu chakra shooldhari' for 'kar ke madhya kamandal chakra trishooldhari' and 'bhanat Shivanand Swami manvanchhit pavai' for 'kahat Shivanand Swami sukh sampati pave'. Printed text
The Shiva Purana tells how Brahma and Vishnu once argued over which of them was greater. Between them a pillar of fire appeared, with no visible beginning or end. Vishnu took the form of a boar and dug down to find its foot; Brahma became a swan and flew up to find its top. Neither found an end. Vishnu returned and admitted it; Brahma claimed he had seen the top and brought a ketaki flower as his witness. Shiva then appeared from the pillar, honoured Vishnu's truthfulness and rebuked Brahma's lie, and the ketaki has never been offered to Shiva since. Tradition keeps this night as the night of that endless light, the Lingodbhava.
The katha read in every Shivratri vrat is the story of a hunter. Lost in the forest on the night of Chaturdashi, hungry and without prey, he climbed a bel tree to keep watch. All night, without knowing it, he dropped bel leaves, and drops of water from his pot, on a Shivling hidden below; he spared a doe and her family who begged to return home first and kept their word to come back. By morning he had fasted, kept awake and worshipped Shiva without meaning to, and his heart had changed. The story's lesson is that sincere worship, even unknowing, is never wasted.
Popular devotion also keeps Maha Shivratri as the night of Shiva's marriage to Parvati, whose long tapas won him; in many temples Shiva's wedding procession is celebrated, with music and dancing. Another telling remembers the night the gods kept awake while Shiva held the halahal poison of the churning of the ocean in his throat, which turned blue.
Every month has a Shivratri, the Chaturdashi of the dark fortnight; this one, near the end of winter, is the great one, Maha Shivratri. Its date is fixed by the night: the festival is kept on the Chaturdashi that holds Nishita, the middle of the night, which is why calendars sometimes differ by a day. The night is kept awake, in fasting and worship, as the darkest night of the month is turned into a night of light.
For householders it is a night of devotion and self-discipline; for yogis and sadhus, the most important night of the year for meditation. It is kept at the twelve Jyotirlingas and every Shiva temple, at the Kumbh and Magh Mela as the last great bathing day, and by unmarried girls who fast for a husband as devoted as Shiva.
Offer water and three-leaved bel leaves to the Shivling with Om Namah Shivaya. It is the simplest offering of the night, and the hunter's story says it is enough when it is sincere.
Chant the panchakshari mantra 108 times in each prahar. Families keep it as a way to stay awake and steady through the jagran.
Chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra at Nishita for the health and long life of the family. It is a traditional prayer, kept alongside, never instead of, medical care.
Light a ghee lamp before the Shivling at sunset and keep it burning till dawn, safely on a metal plate. It is believed to keep the night's worship unbroken.
Offer a little milk to the Shivling and give the rest to children or someone in need; many temples now collect milk for this, and tradition counts the gift as worship too.
Unmarried girls traditionally keep the Shivratri fast praying for a husband as devoted as Shiva, as Parvati did through her tapas. It is a prayer of hope, not a promise of any outcome.
Before your own parana, give food to someone who is hungry. Tradition holds that a fast completed with daan is complete.
Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.
| Year | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Friday, 8 March 2024 | past |
| 2025 | Wednesday, 26 February 2025 | past |
| 2026This year | Sunday, 15 February 2026 | past |
| 2027 | Saturday, 6 March 2027 | upcoming |
| 2028 | Wednesday, 23 February 2028 | upcoming |
Every row is computed for New Delhi from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.
There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.
So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.
Saturday, 6 March 2027. It is Chaturdashi of Krishna paksha in Magha, and that tithi runs from 6 Mar, 12:04 PM to 7 Mar, 1:46 PM.
In New Delhi, Maha Shivratri is on Saturday, 6 March 2027. It is kept on the night whose Nishita, the middle of the night, falls in Chaturdashi of the dark fortnight; Chaturdashi runs 12:04 PM to 1:46 PM (7 Mar). When Chaturdashi begins in one evening and ends the next, the rule picks the night that holds Nishita, and calendars that use another rule, or another city, can show the day before or after.
The most important puja of the night is in Nishita kaal, around midnight: in New Delhi it is 7 Mar, 12:07 AM to 12:56 AM. The night's worship runs from sunset through four prahars to sunrise; families who can worship only once choose Nishita, and those who can, worship in every prahar.
In New Delhi: first prahar 6:24 PM to 9:28 PM, second 9:28 PM to 12:32 AM (7 Mar), third 7 Mar, 12:32 AM to 3:36 AM and fourth 7 Mar, 3:36 AM to 6:40 AM. In the sequence the Shiva Purana tradition describes, the Shivling is bathed with milk in the first, curd in the second, ghee in the third and honey in the fourth, each followed by water, sandal paste, bel leaves and Om Namah Shivaya.
Water can be offered from the morning of Shivratri, when temples open, through the day and the whole night; there is no single moment of jal. The most valued times are the four prahars of the night and above all Nishita (7 Mar, 12:07 AM to 12:56 AM). At home, offer water in the morning after the sankalp and again in each prahar you worship.
The fast is broken the next morning, after a bath and the morning puja, inside the parana window: in New Delhi it is 7 Mar, 6:40 AM to 1:46 PM, between sunrise and the end of Chaturdashi. Break it with prasad, then a simple sattvik meal.
The fast runs from the morning's sankalp to the next morning's parana. Some keep it nirjala, without water; most take fruit, milk, water and phalahar: sabudana, kuttu or singhara flour, potato, makhana and rock salt, but no grains, pulses or ordinary salt. The old, the unwell, pregnant women and children should eat simply and keep the worship instead.
Water, raw milk, curd, ghee, honey and Ganga jal for the abhishek; sandal paste, bhasma, whole rice, bel leaves, dhatura, aak and white flowers, ber and sweets. Turmeric, kumkum and sindoor are not offered on the Shivling, nor tulsi leaves, ketaki flowers or broken rice, and water is not poured from a conch.
Take the sankalp in the morning and fast. After sunset, place the Shivling with its outlet to the north, purify the samagri and remember Ganesh, then in each prahar bathe the Shivling with water and that prahar's offering, apply sandal and bhasma, offer bel leaves and flowers, chant Om Namah Shivaya and do the aarti. Keep the Nishita puja, stay awake, and break the fast at parana. The full vidhi above follows that order.
Two stories are told most. In the Shiva Purana, Shiva appeared as an endless pillar of fire to end a quarrel between Brahma and Vishnu, neither of whom could find its end; this night is kept as that Lingodbhava. In the vrat katha, a hunter on a bel tree unknowingly offered leaves and water to a Shivling all night, fasting and awake, and was blessed. Popular devotion also keeps it as Shiva and Parvati's wedding night.
It celebrates Shiva on the great Chaturdashi of the year: the night tradition gives to his appearance as the pillar of light, and that popular devotion keeps as his wedding to Parvati. Devotees fast, keep awake, bathe the Shivling and chant his name to turn the darkest night of the month into a night of worship.
A Shivratri, the masik Shivratri, falls every month on the Chaturdashi of the dark fortnight. Maha Shivratri is the one of Phalguna (Magha in the amanta calendar), the great Shivratri of the year, kept with a full fast, the four prahar puja and a night-long jagran.
No. The Sawan Shivratri is the monthly Shivratri of the month of Shravan, in July or August, much loved in North India, when kanwariyas carry Ganga water to the Shiva temples. Maha Shivratri comes in February or March, on the Chaturdashi of Phalguna's dark half. Both are Shivratris; only the Phalguna one is Maha Shivratri.
The ideal is jagran, keeping awake through the night in worship, and many also avoid sleeping in the day of the fast. Sleep is not a sin, though: if you cannot stay up, rest after the Nishita puja and rise for the fourth prahar and the morning puja. Health comes first.
There is no fixed colour. White, the colour of Shiva's ash and of purity, and green are the common choices, and saffron is worn by many; most families avoid black for the puja. Clean clothes after the bath matter more than the colour.
Om Namah Shivaya is the mantra of the night, chanted with every offering and 108 times in each prahar. The Mahamrityunjaya mantra is chanted at Nishita for the family's health, the Shiva Gayatri after each abhishek, and Karpuragauram with the aarti. All are in the mantra section with their meaning.
No remedy comes with a guarantee. Tradition has unmarried girls keep the Shivratri fast praying for a good husband, as Parvati did, and families pray for work, health and children on this night; these are prayers of hope and devotion. Keep them sincerely, and seek proper advice and care for the matter itself.
