महाशिवरात्रि व्रत कथा

The story of Maha Shivratri is told in many forms, and in each the hunter's name and the small details change. In the Shiva Purana's Koti Rudra Samhita he is called Gurudruha; in the telling most often heard in homes today he is Chitrabhanu, and some other tellings give him other names. But the heart of all of them is the same. Here we tell it in our own words, in the order most families know.

In a village at the edge of a forest there lived a hunter named Chitrabhanu. Hunting was his living, and it kept the fire burning in his home. Then came years when the forest gave little and the hunger in the house grew. He borrowed money from a moneylender in the village. The debt kept growing and there was nothing left to repay it with. One day the moneylender's patience ran out. He had Chitrabhanu seized and locked up in a room beside the village Shiva temple. That day was Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi: it was Shivratri.

All day Chitrabhanu stayed shut in that room, with nothing to eat and nothing to drink. Beyond the wall, devotees came to the temple all day. Bells rang, 'ॐ नमः शिवाय' was chanted, and in the evening someone read the story of Shivratri aloud. None of this meant anything to Chitrabhanu, but there was no way to shut his ears either. Hunger would not let him sleep, and the name of Shiva kept falling on his ears. In the evening the moneylender called for him. Chitrabhanu folded his hands and promised to pay the debt by the next day, and the moneylender let him go.

Hungry and thirsty, Chitrabhanu went straight to the forest. If only some large game came his way, he thought, there would be food at home and the debt would be paid. But the sun went down and he had caught nothing. Walking on, he came to the bank of a pond. At night, he reasoned, animals would come here to drink. On the bank stood a thick bel tree. With a gourd of water tied at his waist he climbed it and settled himself among the branches. He did not know that at the foot of that very tree, under years of fallen dry bel leaves and grass, lay a small hidden Shivling.

The first prahar of the night began. The branches in front were blocking his view, so Chitrabhanu broke off some bel leaves and let them drop. They fell straight on the Shivling, and with them a few drops of water spilled from his gourd. Just then a doe came to drink. She was carrying a fawn and moved heavily. Chitrabhanu drew his bow. Hearing him, the doe looked up and said in a trembling voice, 'I am about to become a mother. If you kill me now, two lives will end at once. Let me go. When my young one is born I will come back myself, and then you may kill me.' Chitrabhanu paused for a moment, then lowered his bow and let her go. As he lowered it, a few more leaves and drops of water fell on the Shivling below. So, without his knowing, the worship of the first prahar was done.

The second prahar came. This time another doe arrived, restless, as if looking for someone. Again Chitrabhanu took aim. The doe pleaded, 'I am searching for my mate. Let me meet him once, and I give you my word that I will come back here.' A bitterness rose in Chitrabhanu: two kills had slipped away. But the day's fast and the name of Shiva had softened something inside him. He let this doe go too. Again bel leaves dropped, again water fell, and the worship of the second prahar was done as well.

In the third prahar a doe came with her little fawns. This time I will not wait, Chitrabhanu thought. Seeing him, the doe said, 'Have mercy on me. These young ones cannot live alone yet. Let me leave them with their father, and then I will come back.' On any other night Chitrabhanu would have thought of his own hungry children and let the arrow fly. But that night, the moment he thought of his children, he understood the doe's pain. He let her go too. Midnight had passed, and hungry and wide awake, Chitrabhanu sat idly breaking off bel leaves and dropping them below.

In the fourth prahar, with dawn near, a strong stag came. Chitrabhanu made up his mind that this time he would not miss. The stag saw him and said calmly, 'If you have killed those three does and the fawns, then kill me too; what would I live for without them? And if you let them go, let me go as well for a little while. I will meet them and bring them all back with me.' Chitrabhanu told him everything that had happened that night, and let him go as well. In this prahar too bel leaves and water kept falling on the Shivling. A whole day's fast, a whole night's waking and the unknowing worship of all four prahars had by now made his heart clean.

When day broke, Chitrabhanu saw the stag coming with his whole family: the three does and the fawns, all coming to keep their word. They stood under the tree and said, 'We have come. Now do what you must.' Chitrabhanu's hands began to shake. He remembered how many promises he himself had made to the moneylender and broken, while these animals had not gone back on their word even in the face of death. Tears ran from his eyes. He threw down his bow and arrows and resolved in his heart never to kill a living creature again.

At that very moment Shiva appeared from the hidden Shivling. He said, 'You fasted all day, you heard my name, you stayed awake all night, in all four prahars you offered bel leaves and water on my linga, and in the end you gave life to those whose lives you could have taken. You did all this without knowing, yet it was my worship.' Shiva freed him from every bond, and the deer family, true to their word, also reached a blessed state. The popular telling says that when his body fell away, Shiva's ganas carried him to Shiva's own realm. In the Shiva Purana's telling Shiva gives him the name Guha and blesses him: he will live happily at Shringaverapura, and one day Shri Rama will come to his home and make him a friend. This is the Guha whom the Ramayana knows as the chief of the Nishadas.

The point of the story is not that the hunter was a great devotee. It is that whatever is done on this night as fasting, waking, offering bel and water, and compassion, Shiva accepts; and the real turn in the story is not the falling leaves but the mercy that wakes in the hunter's heart.

The second story belongs to the beginning of creation. Once a quarrel broke out between Brahma and Vishnu over which of the two was greater. Brahma said, I am the creator of the world; Vishnu said, I am its preserver. The argument grew, and their anger blazed so fiercely that the worlds began to shake.

Then, suddenly, between the two of them a vast pillar of fire appeared. No beginning of it could be seen, and no end. Both were astonished, and it was agreed that whoever found an end of this pillar would be held the greater. Brahma took the form of a swan and flew upward; Vishnu took the form of Varaha, the boar, and went down into the earth. For ages both went on, but they found no end to the pillar.

Vishnu came back weary and admitted truthfully that he had not found its end. On his way up, Brahma met a ketaki flower (screwpine) that had been falling from above for who knows how long. Brahma persuaded it to bear witness that he had seen the top of the pillar. He came back and made that claim, and the ketaki agreed. Then Shiva appeared from the middle of the pillar. He honoured Vishnu for his truthfulness and rebuked Brahma for his lie. The tradition says that this is why Brahma is not worshipped in temples the way Shiva and Vishnu are, and why the ketaki, which gave false witness, was shut out of Shiva's worship for ever. That is why, even today, the ketaki flower is not offered on the Shivling.

Many in the tradition hold that this pillar of light appeared on the night of Shivratri. The Shivling is the sign of that endless light, which has no beginning and no end, and that is why on this night the linga is worshipped through the watches of the dark. The lesson is plain too: the one who owns the truth rises in honour, and the one who leans on a lie falls.

In popular belief Maha Shivratri is also the night of Shiva and Parvati's wedding. Parvati had done hard tapas for years to win Shiva, and his wedding procession was like no other: a bridegroom smeared with ash, riding Nandi, with his ganas, ghosts and creatures of every kind. In memory of this a Shiv baraat (Shiva's wedding procession) is taken out in many places, unmarried girls keep this vrat for a good life partner and married women for a happy marriage. Not every tradition ties the wedding to this night; some place it at another time of the year and hold this night mainly as the night of Lingodbhava. For one who keeps the vrat there is no conflict: worshipping Shiva on this night is worshipping Shiva and Shakti together.

Understanding the timings: the night, from sunset to the next sunrise, is divided into fifteen equal muhurtas. The eighth, around midnight, is called Nishita kaal; the most important puja of the night is done then, and the vrat falls on the day whose night has the Chaturdashi running at Nishita kaal. The night is also cut into four equal prahars (watches), with one puja in each. The box above gives all these times for New Delhi.

On Trayodashi, the day before, eat one simple meal. On the morning of Shivratri bathe, take water in your hand and make a sankalp (resolve) in your own words: that you will keep the fast and vigil today for Shiva's grace. Let the water fall to the ground, and during the day offer water on the Shivling at a temple or at home.

The fast: those who can keep it without water; the rest take phalahar, the fasting food. Grain, pulses, ordinary salt, onion and garlic are not eaten. The fast is not forced on anyone: the ill, pregnant women, the elderly and children may keep a light fast with fruit or only a symbolic one, and should not give up medicine or food a doctor has advised. Shiva looks at the feeling, not at the hunger.

The four prahar pujas: in each prahar bathe the Shivling (abhishek). In many homes the custom is milk in the first prahar, curd in the second, ghee in the third and honey in the fourth, with pure water after each; for those who do not have all this, water and milk are enough. Then offer bel patra, the leaf of the bel tree: three leaflets, unbroken, with the smooth side toward the linga. With it offer dhatura, aak or white flowers, sandal paste, bhasma (sacred ash) and unbroken rice, light a lamp and chant one mala of 'ॐ नमः शिवाय', a hundred and eight times. In one of the prahars read this katha or hear it with the family. If all four prahars are not possible, do at least one puja at night, at Nishita kaal if you can. The ketaki flower and tulsi are not offered on the Shivling, and many people do not put turmeric or kumkum on it either.

The vigil (jagaran): on this night, staying awake is the life of the vrat. Sing bhajans, keep 'ॐ नमः शिवाय' going, and if you wish recite the Shiv Chalisa, Rudrashtakam, Shiv Panchakshar Stotra, Lingashtakam or Bilvashtakam; all of them are in this library. Those who have received the Mahamrityunjaya mantra from a guru may chant it. Keeping vigil does not mean passing the night with the phone; it means keeping the mind on Shiva.

During periods: the traditional view is that in those days a woman does not touch the Shivling or the puja materials; she may keep the fast, hear the katha, join the aarti and chant 'ॐ नमः शिवाय' in her mind, while another member of the household does the abhishek. Many families and teachers today also hold that devotion knows no such bar, and that a woman may do the full puja at home. Follow your family's tradition and your own heart; Shiva looks at faith.

Paran: the fast is broken the next morning. In the box above, the paran window opens at sunrise and runs until the Chaturdashi ends, but never past three quarters of the day (counted from sunrise to sunset). Bathe, worship Shiva, give food or grain to someone in need, then take the prasad and break the fast with a simple sattvic meal.

The full list of puja materials and every step of each prahar's puja are given on our page 'Maha Shivratri Puja Vidhi'.

In the tradition the Maha Shivratri vrat is held to wear away sin, bring peace of mind, ease suffering and win Shiva's grace. Unmarried girls keep it for a good husband, couples for a happy marriage, and many practitioners for progress in their sadhana. This night of the dark Chaturdashi is the night when the moon has nearly vanished, and the tradition sees it as the night of Shiva's light over the darkness of the mind.

But remember the hunter's story: the fruit came not from counting leaves but from a change of heart. The fast trains the senses, the vigil overcomes sloth, japa steadies the mind and compassion humbles the ego. Do not take this as a promise of results; it is a practice of faith and self-discipline, and its first fruit is the same clean heart the hunter found at dawn.

At the end of each prahar's puja, and on the morning of paran, Shiva's aarti 'Om Jai Shiv Omkara' is sung; it is in this library. On our page its words follow the printed Gita Press Aarti Sangrah; the version sung in homes today differs from it in many places, and some homes sing a few extra verses. Both are sung with the same devotion. Do the aarti with camphor or a ghee lamp and ring the bell, then pass your hands over the flame and touch them to your eyes, ask forgiveness for any slip, and share the prasad with everyone.