The answer first: which night is Maha Shivaratri 2027

Maha Shivaratri (महाशिवरात्रि), the great night of Shiva, is a night festival. It is kept on the Krishna Chaturdashi, the fourteenth lunar day of the dark fortnight, at the end of the month of Magha. In 2027 that Chaturdashi begins at 12:04 pm Indian Standard Time on Saturday, 6 March and ends at 1:47 pm on Sunday, 7 March. Those two instants are the same moment everywhere on earth. Only the clock reading changes from city to city.

The night of the festival is the night whose middle hour the Chaturdashi holds. In India that is Saturday night: the Chaturdashi has been running since Saturday noon, so it holds all of Saturday night, and it has ended long before Sunday night. The vigil therefore begins at sunset on Saturday, 6 March and runs to sunrise on Sunday, 7 March. Most of the world keeps the same night, because on its clocks the Chaturdashi also begins during Saturday.

The western half of North America is the exception. There the same instant falls on Friday evening by the clock: 10:34 pm on Friday in Los Angeles and Vancouver, 11:34 pm in Denver and Phoenix. The Chaturdashi is already running when Friday night reaches its middle hour, so the festival night there is Friday, 5 March. The sections below show where the line falls and why, and the night’s hours for twenty-five cities.

• Saturday, 6 March 2027: Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Chennai, Kolkata, Kathmandu, Dubai, London, Durban, Port of Spain, New York, Toronto, Atlanta, Chicago, Singapore, Sydney and Auckland.
• Friday, 5 March 2027: Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver.
• Friday by our calendar, Saturday also defensible: Houston and Dallas.

The rule: the Chaturdashi at nishita

The month has two names. In the amanta count, which ends each month at the new moon and is used in Maharashtra, Gujarat and much of the south, this Chaturdashi belongs to Magha. In the purnimanta count, which ends each month at the full moon and is used in most of north India, the same dark fortnight belongs to Phalguna. So one calendar prints Magha Krishna Chaturdashi and another prints Phalguna Krishna Chaturdashi. They name the same night.

Shivaratri belongs to the night, and the tradition fixes it by nishita (निशीथ), the dead of night. Nishita is not 12:00 am by the clock. Our festival calendar divides the night, from your sunset to the next sunrise, into fifteen equal parts called muhurtas, and nishita is the eighth: the muhurta centred on the true middle of your night. In Delhi on Saturday, 6 March the night runs from 6:24 pm to 6:40 am, so each muhurta is about 49 minutes and nishita runs from 12:08 am to 12:57 am. It is the same window our Janmashtami guide uses for the other great midnight festival of the year.

A lunar day is called a tithi (तिथि): the time the moon takes to gain 12 degrees on the sun. Because a tithi runs about a day, the Chaturdashi can reach the nishita of one night, of two nights, or of neither. Our festival calendar applies one ladder to every night rite. A night counts when the Chaturdashi is present in its nishita at all, even for part of the window. When two nights both count, the first is taken. When neither counts, the day whose sunrise the Chaturdashi holds is taken, so the festival is never dropped. In 2027 the third step is never needed: every city below has at least one night that counts.

India and most of the world: Saturday, 6 March

In every Indian city the Chaturdashi begins at 12:04 pm on Saturday and ends at 1:47 pm on Sunday. It covers the whole of Saturday night’s nishita and touches no other night’s, so there is no doubt anywhere in India. The nishita times differ by city because sunset and sunrise differ: the window moves later as you go west and earlier as you go east.

The same is true for every city east of the Atlantic, and for the eastern side of the Americas. In London the Chaturdashi begins at 6:34 am on Saturday. In Dubai it begins at 10:34 am, in Singapore at 2:34 pm, in Sydney at 5:34 pm and in Auckland at 7:34 pm, all on Saturday, and all before that night’s nishita. In New York and Toronto it begins at 1:34 am on Saturday, and in Chicago at 12:34 am, after Friday night’s nishita has already closed. So in all of these cities Friday night holds no Chaturdashi at its middle, Saturday night holds it in full, and the date is Saturday.

For a city not listed here, ask Pandit Ji. It applies the nishita rule at your own city and gives the night and its window. The daily panchang, our almanac page for any date and place, gives your sunset and your next sunrise for 6 and 7 March.

• Delhi — nishita 12:08 am to 12:57 am (the night of Saturday, 6 March into Sunday, 7 March); sunset 6:24 pm, sunrise 6:40 am.
• Mumbai — 12:25 am to 1:14 am; sunset 6:46 pm, sunrise 6:53 am.
• Varanasi — 11:45 pm to 12:34 am; sunset 6:03 pm, sunrise 6:16 am.
• Chennai — 11:56 pm to 12:44 am; sunset 6:19 pm, sunrise 6:22 am.
• Kolkata — 11:23 pm to 12:12 am; sunset 5:42 pm, sunrise 5:53 am.
• Kathmandu — 11:50 pm to 12:39 am Nepal time; sunset 6:07 pm, sunrise 6:22 am.
• Dubai — 12:05 am to 12:54 am; sunset 6:23 pm, sunrise 6:36 am.
• London — 11:46 pm to 12:37 am GMT; sunset 5:49 pm, sunrise 6:33 am.
• Durban — 11:44 pm to 12:30 am; sunset 6:24 pm, sunrise 5:51 am.
• Singapore — 12:52 am to 1:40 am; sunset 7:19 pm, sunrise 7:13 am.
• Sydney — 12:44 am to 1:29 am, on daylight time (AEDT); sunset 7:26 pm, sunrise 6:47 am.
• Auckland — 1:10 am to 1:55 am, on daylight time (NZDT); sunset 7:54 pm, sunrise 7:11 am.
• Port of Spain — 11:53 pm to 12:41 am; sunset 6:17 pm, sunrise 6:18 am.
• New York — 11:42 pm to 12:32 am EST; sunset 5:53 pm, sunrise 6:21 am.
• Toronto — 12:03 am to 12:53 am EST; sunset 6:13 pm, sunrise 6:44 am.
• Atlanta — 12:24 am to 1:13 am EST; sunset 6:38 pm, sunrise 6:58 am.
• Chicago — 11:36 pm to 12:26 am CST; sunset 5:47 pm, sunrise 6:16 am.

North America splits: Friday in the West, two nights in Texas

The Chaturdashi begins at 06:34 Universal Time on Saturday. On a North American clock that is still Friday night west of the Eastern zone: 12:34 am Saturday in the Central zone, 11:34 pm Friday in the Mountain zone and 10:34 pm Friday in the Pacific zone. North America is still on standard time on these dates; daylight time begins on Sunday, 14 March 2027.

In Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver the Chaturdashi has begun before Friday night’s nishita opens, so Friday’s nishita is wholly Chaturdashi. Saturday night’s nishita also holds it, in full in Denver and Phoenix and in part on the Pacific coast, because the Chaturdashi ends at 12:17 am Sunday there. Both nights count, and the rule takes the first, so the festival night is Friday, 5 March. On the Pacific coast Friday is also the night the Chaturdashi fills, so even a calendar that asks for the whole window gives Friday there. If your temple prints Saturday, keep its night.

Houston and Dallas are the hard case. The Chaturdashi begins at 12:34 am on Saturday by their clock, in the middle of Friday night’s nishita. It holds 47 per cent of that window in Houston and 59 per cent in Dallas, and all of Saturday night’s. By the rule our calendar applies, Friday counts and is first, so our calendar keeps Friday. A calendar that wants the Chaturdashi to fill the window keeps Saturday. Both are honest readings of one rule. If your temple or your family priest names Saturday, keep Saturday.

Chicago is on the same clock as Houston, and yet it keeps Saturday. The reason is that nishita follows the sun, not the clock. Chicago lies far to the east of Houston inside the Central zone, so its Friday night is centred near 12:01 am by the clock, and its nishita closes at 12:27 am. The Chaturdashi begins seven minutes later, at 12:34 am, and so it misses Friday’s nishita. Houston’s night is centred about half an hour later, near 12:33 am, so the Chaturdashi arrives while its nishita is still open. Seven minutes is a small margin. If you live between Chicago and Houston, ask Pandit Ji for your own city.

• Denver — Friday, 5 March; nishita 11:46 pm to 12:36 am MST, all Chaturdashi (it began at 11:34 pm).
• Phoenix — Friday; 12:15 am to 1:04 am MST, all Chaturdashi.
• Los Angeles — Friday; 11:39 pm to 12:29 am PST, all Chaturdashi (it began at 10:34 pm).
• San Francisco — Friday; 11:56 pm to 12:46 am PST, all Chaturdashi.
• Seattle — Friday; 11:55 pm to 12:46 am PST, all Chaturdashi.
• Vancouver — Friday; 11:58 pm to 12:49 am PST, all Chaturdashi.
• Houston — Friday by our calendar, Saturday also defensible; Friday’s nishita 12:08 am to 12:57 am CST, Chaturdashi from 12:34 am (47 per cent). Saturday’s nishita, at the same hours, is all Chaturdashi.
• Dallas — the same choice; Friday’s nishita 12:14 am to 1:03 am CST, Chaturdashi from 12:34 am (59 per cent). Saturday’s nishita, 12:13 am to 1:03 am, is all Chaturdashi.

The four prahars of the vigil

The classical observance is a jagaran (जागरण), a vigil kept awake through the night. The night is divided into four prahars (प्रहर), or watches, and in temple practice the linga, the rounded stone form in which Shiva is worshipped, is given an abhishek, a ritual bath with water, milk, curd, honey and ghee, once in each prahar, with bilva leaves offered each time. The vigil gives the whole night to Shiva, and nishita, its middle hour, is the one moment the date rule checks.

A prahar is a quarter of your own night, from your sunset to your next sunrise, so its length changes with your place and season. In Delhi on 6 March the night is 12 hours 16 minutes long, so each prahar is about 3 hours 4 minutes. The times below divide your sunset to your next sunrise, as our calendar computes them, into four equal parts. Your temple’s printed timetable may differ by a few minutes.

In Los Angeles and Vancouver the Chaturdashi begins at 10:34 pm on Friday, in the second prahar. The first prahar of the Friday vigil there still belongs to the Trayodashi, the thirteenth lunar day. Families keep the whole vigil anyway, since the night is the festival, but it is useful to know which watch the Chaturdashi enters.

• Delhi, Saturday night — 6:24 pm, 9:28 pm, 12:32 am and 3:36 am; the vigil ends at sunrise, 6:40 am.
• Mumbai — 6:46 pm, 9:48 pm, 12:50 am and 3:51 am; sunrise 6:53 am.
• Kolkata — 5:42 pm, 8:45 pm, 11:48 pm and 2:50 am; sunrise 5:53 am.
• London, Saturday night — 5:49 pm, 9:00 pm, 12:11 am and 3:22 am; sunrise 6:33 am.
• New York, Saturday night — 5:53 pm, 9:00 pm, 12:07 am and 3:14 am; sunrise 6:21 am.
• Toronto, Saturday night — 6:13 pm, 9:20 pm, 12:28 am and 3:36 am; sunrise 6:44 am.
• Houston, Friday night — 6:24 pm, 9:28 pm, 12:33 am and 3:37 am; sunrise 6:42 am. If you keep Saturday, the Saturday night times are within a minute or two of these.
• Los Angeles, Friday night — 5:53 pm, 8:58 pm, 12:04 am and 3:10 am; sunrise 6:15 am.
• Singapore, Saturday night — 7:19 pm, 10:17 pm, 1:16 am and 4:14 am; sunrise 7:13 am.
• Sydney, Saturday night — 7:26 pm, 10:16 pm, 1:07 am and 3:57 am; sunrise 6:47 am.

Why 2027 falls nineteen days later than 2026

Maha Shivaratri 2026 was Sunday, 15 February. Maha Shivaratri 2027 is Saturday, 6 March in India, 384 days later, or about nineteen days later in the solar calendar. The reason is the extra month. A lunar year of twelve months is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so about once in three years the calendar adds a thirteenth month, an adhika masa, to bring the months back in line with the seasons.

2026 had one: an adhika Jyeshtha in May and June. So between Shivaratri 2026 and Shivaratri 2027 there are thirteen lunar months, not twelve, and thirteen lunar months come to about 384 days. The same extra month sits between every spring festival of 2026 and its 2027 date, so they move later too. Holi moves from 4 March 2026 to 22 March 2027, and Ram Navami from 26 March 2026 to 15 April 2027.

The fast, the vigil and the next morning

Most households keep a fast through the day. Some keep it fully, without water (nirjala); most keep a fruit-and-milk fast. The fast is broken the next morning, after the night’s worship. For the exact hour of breaking the fast, the parana, families follow their own calendar or their priest. Our calendar does not compute a Shivaratri parana time, so this page does not print one.

At home, the tradition treats a single evening abhishek of the linga, with water poured slowly and the mantra Om Namah Shivaya, as a complete observance. Bilva (bel) leaves are the classical offering of the night. Households that cannot keep the whole night traditionally keep at least the first prahar, the evening watch. If you keep only one watch abroad, check which night is yours first: in New York that is Saturday evening. In Los Angeles and Vancouver the night is Friday, but the first watch ends before the Chaturdashi begins at 10:34 pm. A household there that keeps one watch can keep the nishita hour itself, 11:39 pm to 12:29 am in Los Angeles, which the Chaturdashi holds. Ask your priest which watch your family keeps.

The Puranas, the old story-books of the tradition, give the night several meanings. It is held to be the night Shiva married Parvati, and the night he appeared as a column of light with no beginning and no end, when Brahma and Vishnu could find neither its top nor its foot. The vrat katha, the story read aloud during the fast, tells of a hunter, caught by night in a bilva tree above a forgotten linga. He stayed awake all night, and the leaves he dropped fell on the linga; that unknowing vigil earned him Shiva’s grace. The point the stories share is the observance itself: stay awake, and keep the darkest night as the most watchful one.

Honest questions, honest answers

Is Maha Shivaratri 2027 on 6 March everywhere? No. It is Saturday, 6 March in India and in most of the world, and Friday, 5 March in the Mountain and Pacific zones of North America. Houston and Dallas can keep either night.

We live in Los Angeles and our Indian calendar says 6 March. Which is right? The Indian calendar is right for India. In Los Angeles the Chaturdashi begins at 10:34 pm on Friday and ends at 12:17 am on Sunday by your clock. Friday night’s nishita is wholly inside it, so Friday is your festival night. On Saturday night the Chaturdashi ends about 38 minutes into your nishita.

Is nishita the same as 12:00 am? No. It is the eighth of fifteen equal parts of your own night, so it is centred on the true middle of the night, which can fall half an hour or more from 12:00 am by the clock. In Mumbai it runs from 12:25 am to 1:14 am; in Kolkata, on the same clock, from 11:23 pm to 12:12 am.

Why do some calendars give a different time for the nishita puja? Calendars use slightly different sunrise and sunset conventions, and some print a fixed hour. The times on this page come from our festival calendar’s calculation at each city’s coordinates. A difference of a minute or two is normal; a different date is the thing to check.

Going deeper

For the observance in short, the fast and the offerings, see the Maha Shivaratri guide in our Festival Calendar 2026. The other great midnight festival is worked through, with the same nishita rule and its city splits, in our Janmashtami 2026 guide. For another festival whose 2027 date changes with your city, read our Makar Sankranti 2027 guide. For a night rite of the autumn, the Sharad Purnima guide shows the same rule at the full moon.

The three things to check for your own city are short. First, the night: find when the Chaturdashi begins on your clock, and whether it has begun by the middle of Friday night. Second, the hour: your nishita, the eighth muhurta of your own night. Third, the watches: your sunset and next sunrise, divided into four. Our Pandit Ji chat works out all three at your location. The daily panchang gives your sunset and sunrise for each date.