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Maha Shivratri is a festival celebrated each and every year in the name of Lord Shiva.
It is also known as the Great Night of Lord Shiva.
Falling on the 14th day of the month of Falgun (according to the Hindu calendar, this Shivratri is considered to be the most holy and important for all devotees of Lord Shiva.
Devotees believe that continuous worship of Lord Shiva throughout the night will please him. As a result they feel they will be relieved of all past sins they might have committed, either intentional or unintentional.
Apart from this, the constant and sincere worship of Lord Shiva is also believed to strengthen the spiritual connection that the devotees share with their God.
There are many different legends that are associated with the origin of Maha Shivratri, with each containing a significance of its own. Here are some of the most prominent stories that are well-known of Maha Shivratri:
Neelkantha
The gods and demons (asuras) had come together to churn the milk-ocean as it was believed many great things can be acquired from it. They used a snake (Vasuki) as the rope to help them churn. However, Vasuki got exhausted at one point and had ended up producing a pot of poison. This poison was extremely dangerous that it was capable of wiping out all living things. Not knowing what to do, the gods approached Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva offered to sacrifice himself in order for the greater good and drank the poison. Goddess Parvati, however, quickly held onto Lord Shiva's throat to stop the poison from reaching his stomach. As a result, the poison remained at the throat and eventually turned his neck into a blue shade. From that day onwards he became known as Neelkantha (the blue-throated one)
Lord Shiva- Goddess Parvati
It is widely believed that it was on this Shivratri that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati got married.
Linga
In another story, there once was a fight between Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma in order to realize who was the strongest. They sought the help of Lord Shiva to help them determine this. Lord Shiva manifested into a fiery form of the ShivLinga, and he challenged both Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma to find out what the size of the ShivLinga was. Brahma took the form of a swan and traveled upward, while Lord Vishnu turned into a boar and traveled downwards. However, Lord Brahma tried to place a false claim that he had indeed found the uppermost limit of the Linga by using the help of a flower (Ketaki). When Lord Shiva finally revealed himself from within the ShivLinga, both Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma were astounded by his glory and accepted that Shiva was indeed superior to them. Lord Shiva was also angry with Lord Brahma for trying to make a false claim, and thus had cursed him saying that no one would worship him. The flower was also banned from worship.
All-Night Worship
Once a poor man, who was a devotee of Lord Shiva, went into the forest to gather wood. However he got lost and was forced to spend the night there. After the hearing the sounds of some animals, he quickly climbed up onto a tree. In order to keep himself awake the whole night, he kept chanting Lord Shiva's name. Each time he chanted the name, he would also pluck a leaf from the tree and drop it to the ground. In the morning, he realized that there was a ShivLinga situated at the bottom of the tree and that throughout the night he had dropped all the leaves onto it. As a reward for his devotion, Lord Shiva blessed him with divine bliss.
Pralaya
In another legend, there was a time when the world was facing destruction. Goddess Parvati wished to save all remaining souls and prayed that Lord Shiva saves them. Her prayer was granted. Given that she prayed all night in order to achieve this, it is believed she termed the day as Maha Shivratri.
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