Masik Shivratri in May 2025

What is Masik Shivratri?

Masik Shivratri is the monthly night dedicated to Lord Shiva, kept on the Chaturdashi (14th tithi) of the Krishna (waning) paksha in every lunar month — roughly twelve to thirteen times a year. Devotees fast through the day and worship Shiva at night, the hour traditionally held to be his own. It is a recurring observance of devotion, distinct from the single annual Maha Shivratri, and by tradition is kept as a path toward inner light over the darkness of ignorance.

Nishita Kaal — the midnight worship

The heart of Masik Shivratri is worship at Nishita Kaal, the midnight window that falls around the eighth muhurta of the night. This is when Shiva is traditionally believed to be most receptive, and this page marks that nishita timing. Devotees offer the main puja and abhishek in this quarter, some keeping a night vigil around it. The exact minutes shift each month with sunset and sunrise, so the window is calculated fresh for each Masik Shivratri.

Masik Shivratri and Maha Shivratri

Maha Shivratri — the Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi in February or March — is the greatest of the twelve, revered as the great night of Shiva. The monthly Masik Shivratris are seen as a preparation for and continuation of that devotion through the year. Some devotees begin the monthly vrat from a Margashirsha Shivratri and carry it forward each month. Both share the same Chaturdashi tithi and the same focus on Shiva; Maha Shivratri simply stands as the culmination.

How to observe — the vrat vidhi

Devotees fast through the day and perform Shiva puja in the evening and night. The Shivling receives an abhishek with water, milk, honey and panchamrit, and is offered bilva (bel) leaves, dhatura, bhang and a ghee lamp. Many keep a jagran, a night vigil, chanting "Om Namah Shivaya" and the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra; the four-prahar puja across the night's four quarters belongs chiefly to Maha Shivratri. The fast is traditionally broken the next morning.

Significance and who keeps it

By tradition Masik Shivratri is linked with overcoming darkness and ignorance and with prayers for health, harmony and spiritual progress; unmarried women often keep it praying for a good husband. It is observed by Shaivites and many other Hindus across India, monthly rather than once a year. These are matters of faith and devotion, offered as tradition rather than as guaranteed outcomes — the vrat is kept as an act of discipline and remembrance of Shiva.

The Shivratri Katha

As the classic katha tells it, a poor hunter — named Lubdhaka in some tellings — was heavily in debt and went into the forest to hunt. When night fell, he climbed a bel (bilva) tree beside a pond to watch for deer, not knowing that a Shivling stood beneath it. Through the long night — which happened to be Shivratri — he stayed awake, and as he shifted his weight, bel leaves kept drifting down onto the Shivling. Without food or water, he had unknowingly kept the fast, held the night vigil, and offered bel leaves to Shiva. When does came to the pond, he could not bear to kill them as they pleaded for their little ones. Pleased by this unintentional worship and mercy, Shiva granted the hunter liberation. The katha teaches that even unknowing devotion on Shivratri — a night vigil and bel leaves offered in earnest — carries Shiva's grace.

Masik Shivratri Puja Samagri

Traditionally, the following items are gathered before beginning the Masik Shivratri worship:

• Bilva (bel) leaves
• Gangajal or clean water
• Raw milk
• Honey
• Curd
• Ghee
• Panchamrit
• Dhatura and bhang
• Sandalwood paste
• White flowers
• A ghee lamp
• Incense (dhoop)
• Fruits