The festival of Mahashivaratri is a festival dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is one of the major festivals of India. According to Hindu calendar, this festival is celebrated on Krishna Chaturdashi of Falgun month.

The festival of Mahashivaratri shows the importance of divine power in our lives and shows us the immense sacrifice like poisoning by Lord Shiva for the welfare of mankind and creation. This day reminds us that if we do good deeds and have reverence for God, then God will surely protect us.

Along with this, there is also a belief that Lord Shiva is very close to us on the day of Mahashivratri and on this day, people who do Pooja and night awakening (Jagran) get their special grace. The day of Mahashivaratri is also associated with fertility. This festival comes at a time when the trees are filled with flowers and after the cold season, the earth wakes up once again and becomes fertile once again.

This day is a good opportunity for us to get the blessings of Shiva, because Shiva is also called Mahadeva and God of Gods. Therefore, worshiping on Mahashivaratri has special significance.

In the year 2020, Mahashivratri festival will be celebrated on Friday 21 February.

Custom and Tradition of Maha Shivaratri

On this day, devotees of Lord Shiva wake up in the morning and bathe and praise Lord Shiva. On this day, many people go to the Shiva temples for darshan and special Poojas like Rudra Abhishek, Mahamrityunjaya Japa. Temples are very crowded on this day. Along with this, many Shiva devotees also go for a Ganges bath on this day. On this day, devotees visiting the temple offer water and cannabis, Datura and flowers etc. to Lord Shiva to get special blessings.

During the worship and fasting of Mahashivaratri, devotees should stay away from wheat, lentils and rice etc. Abhishek of Shivling should be done on this day, because the consecration of Shivling on this day gives freedom from all kinds of planetary problems and results in desired results.

Story of Lord Shiva's Agni Stambha

There are many mythological stories from the day of Mahashivratri. It is believed that once Brahma and Vishnu a dispute erupted as to who is the best among the two. In which Brahma Ji was claiming to be superior to himself because of being the creator of the universe and Lord Vishnu was revealing himself as the follower of the entire creation. Then a huge Shivling appeared there. It was decided by both the gods that he who first finds the end of this Shivling will be considered the best. Hence, both of them turned to find the ends of the Shivling in the opposite direction. Vishnu Ji returned due to lack of ends.

Brahma Ji also did not succeed in tracing the source of origin of Shivling but he came and told Vishnu that he had reached the end. In which he also described Ketki flower (screw pine) as a witness to this. Lord Shiva himself appeared there at the behest of Brahma Ji and being angry, he cut off one of the heads of Brahma Ji, and cursed the flower of Ketki that Ketki flowers would never be used in his worship. And because this incident happened on the 14th day of month of Falgun, Lord Shiva manifested himself as a Shivling. Therefore, this day is celebrated as Mahashivratri.

Story of Halahala Visha (Venom)

Similarly, another story is about drinking poison of Lord Shiva. According to which, when the ocean was being churned together by the gods and Asuras to obtain Amrit. Then many things appeared from the sea. One of them was the Halahala poison, this poison was so intense and deadly that all the gods and Asuras refused to even touch this poisonous pitcher. When this problem created panic in the whole world and all the creatures of the world were in trouble, all the gods reached to Lord Shiva and wished to protect the whole world from the poison. Then Lord Shankar, after drinking this terrible poison, took it in his throat. Due to which his throat turned blue and he was called Neelkanth. Since then, the same day is celebrated as the festival of Mahashivaratri.

Story of Shiva-Parvati Wedding

With this, according to the third most prevalent legend about Mahashivaratri, when Lord Shiva's previous wife Sati dies, Lord Shiva becomes very sad. After this, Sati is reborn as Parvati, the mother. So Lord Shiva does not even look at them.

After this she seeks the help of Kamadeva to convince them, so that the penance of Lord Shiva is disturbed and in this effort, Kamadeva also dies. With the passage of time, love for Goddess Parvati develops in the heart of Lord Shiva and he decides to marry her. The day of Amavasya of Falgun month has been fixed for this wedding. Therefore, the festival of Mahashivaratri is celebrated on this day.