Mahashivratri celebration in Delhi: How people pay homage to Lord Shiva?

Mahashivratri, which translates to ‘the Great Night of Shiva’, is an annual festival celebrated by Hindus. This festival is celebrated to worship Lord Shiva. The most followed tradition in the Hindu religion during Maha Shivratri is the ‘Maha Abhishek’ which is a process of bathing the idol of Lord Shiva or the ‘Shiva Lingam’ with ‘Panchgavya’. The festival is celebrated in different parts of India with different rituals and traditions. However, in all parts of India, Mahashivratri is marked with a fast so as to worship Lord Shiva.

Maha Shivratri celebration in Delhi

Maha Shivratri in Delhi includes devotees fasting during the day and keeping a vigil during the night. The festival involves enchanting verses from sacred Hindu texts, offering fruits and flowers to the deity, ringing bells in the temple and offering prayers to the god and most importantly presenting leaves and milk to the Shiv lingam. Devotees visit the Delhi temples to pay homage to Lord Shiva.

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The 'Panchakshara' Mantra is recited by the devotees as it is believed that those who recite the mantra on this special day will be granted a blessing from Lord Shiva and their sins will be forgiven. It is also believed that this recitation will free one from the cycle of birth and death. Women offer prayers on this day to attain marital bliss and a perfect husband.

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On this auspicious day, the Shiv lingam is bathed in the 'Panchagavya' which is a combination of five different offerings. Other offerings made to Lord Shiva include five kinds of food which symbolize immortality, milk, clarified butter, curd, honey, and sugar. Some devotees are believed to offer Dhatura as well as Jati.

This combination of five kinds of food is also considered as the ‘Panchamrut’ which is consumed by the devotees after the puja. Interestingly, The Gopeshwar Mahadev in Delhi, India has huge celebrations on the occasion of Maha Shivratri. The devotees offer several different offerings to Lord Shiva including bilva leaves and milk. 

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Unlike Delhi, where the festival is celebrated in the traditional way, in the southern regions of India, the devotees of Lord Shiva form a serpentine queue outside the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar to offer prayers on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri. They also blow the conch at the start of the pooja. They also form big Shiva idols with small shiva idols to create a beautiful sculpture. 

Mahashivratri Vrat

Mainly, there are two main types of Mahashivratri fast, a regular vrat and a strict Mahashivratri vrat. After taking a bath with sesame seeds water, every devotee observes a full day fast and break the fast on the next day. They pledge for self-determination throughout the fasting period and seek the blessing of Lord Shiva to finish the fast without any interference.

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