Om Namashivaya Maha Shivarathri Maathaacha Parvathi Devi Pitha Devo Mageshwaraha I Bhandhavaanaam Shiva Bhaktacha Swadeso Bhuvanathrayam II Meaning: Lord Shiva and His consort, Goddess Parvati are the Father & Mother of the entire universe! Lord Shiva’s devotees are our friends & relatives! All the three worlds created by the Lord belong to us & we belong to them! Available at https://achalam.org, Contributor: Sri K Sriram, 2015 Introduction Mahashivaratri Festival or the ‘The Grand Night of Lord Shiva’ is celebrated in honour of Lord Shiva, one of the foremost deities of Hindu Trinity, namely, Lord Shiva, Maha Vishnu & Brahma. Shivaratri falls on the night of Charthurdasi Thithi [14th night – previous night to New Moon Day] in Krishna Paksha [the fortnight of the waning moon] in the Hindu month of Phalgun [Magha], which corresponds to the month of February - March in English Calendar. Celebrating the festival of Shivaratri devotees observe day and night fast and perform ritual worship of Shiva Lingam to appease Lord Shiva with extra-ordinary, seen-to-believed devotion and religious fervor. Legends of Mahashivarathri There are five major interesting legends associated with the festival of Maha Shivaratri that make it extremely auspicious and it is believed that it is on Mahashivarathri Day the following legends, rather, milestones in the Life-history of Lord Shiva took place: 1. Arunachala Lingorbhava – Manifestation of Lord Shiva as Linga in Arunachala [Tiruvannamalai, Tamil nadu]. 2. The wedding Day of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati 3. The auspicious night on which Ananda Thandava - the Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva [the dance of the primal creation, preservation and destruction] took place. 4. The Legend of Lubdhaka and story of Chitrabhanu. 5. Legend of Ganga. 1. Arunachala Lingothbhava Once Brahma, the God of Creation, was visiting the worlds he created one after one. In the process, he came to Bhooloka. There saw a person sleeping soundly. He was sure he never created him & hence was taken aback. He woke him up violently & the Inquiry began. The sleepy man replied that he was Mahavishnu who created him & so, there is nothing to get confused. Brahma immediately concluded Available at https://achalam.org, Contributor: Sri K Sriram, 2015 that the other person is lying & his sole aim is to gain ownership of worlds Brahma created. He started a big, violent fight to finish Mahavishnu. When two biggest of Gods were engaged in a fight to the finish, the entire universe suffered untold miseries. Horrified at the intensity of the battle, the other gods asked Shiva to intervene. Unable to be a silent witness to all this, Lord Shiva appeared as big Column of Fire with a great thunder, penetrating all the worlds from top to bottom. Both Brahma & Mahavishnu stopped their bitter fight when they heard the big thunder which drew their attention to the Column of Fire. Both were stunned at this new phenomenon which both accepted that they did not create & hence wanted to find out its nature. Brahma said he would go up & find the beginning whereas Mahavishnu undertook to go to the bottom to find the roots. It was agreed between them that whoever accomplishes the mission undertaken would be accepted as the winner of the battle they fought so ferociously. Incidentally, manifestation of Lord Shiva as Column of Fire took place on the full moon [Pournami] night [this is also the longest night in a year] in the Tamil month of Margazhi (Dec–January) on the Arudra Nakshatra Day. This Day is celebrated as Arudra Darshan Day and is one of the most important festivals in Hindu calendar. Available at https://achalam.org, Contributor: Sri K Sriram, 2015 Lord Brahma took the form of a swan and went upwards while Lord Vishnu assumed the form of Varaha - a boar and went into the earth towards nether land. Both searched for thousands of miles but neither could find either the top or the bottom of the Column of Fire. On his journey upward, Brahma came across Ketaki flower. Exhausted and bewildered with his search to find the uppermost limit of fiery column, Brahma made Ketaki assent to lie that he had seen the top of the column where the flower had previously resided. Accompanied by his accomplice, Brahma confronted Vishnu and asserted that he had indeed discovered the origin of the cosmic column. At this point, the central part of the pillar split open and Shiva revealed himself in his full glory. He plucked the head that told the lie out of the five heads that Brahma had. Overawed, both Brahma and Vishnu bowed before him accepted Lord Shiva’s supremacy. Brahma pleaded that he be spared with the remaining four heads which Lord Shiva, a little pacified now, granted. Thus Brahma became Chadurmukh. He is described as Chadurmukh in all the 18 puranas [never Panchamuhk] & hence, it is reasonable to assume that Lord Shiva’s manifestation as the big Column of Fire is the oldest happening in Indian mythology. Lord Shiva explained to Brahma and Vishnu that both of them were born out of him and that the three were then separated out into three different aspects of divinity i.e. Creation, Protection & Destruction. However, Lord Shiva was angry with Brahma for making a false claim. The Lord cursed Brahma that no one would ever pray to him. This legend explains as to why there is hardly any Brahma temple of significance in India. Lord Shiva also punished the Ketaki flower for testifying falsely and banned her from being used as an offering for any worship. He also said that Mahavishnu, being the personification of Truth & Purity, [as he was the first to admit plain-heartedly that he did not see the bottom & was about to accept Brahma’s supremacy over him] should be treated on par with him. He bestowed upon Mahhavishnu the ultimate in Spirituality, i.e. Sayujya Mukti. Available at https://achalam.org, Contributor: Sri K Sriram, 2015 He, further, declared that He & Lord Mahavishnu are, thereafter, one & same. All worships as per Agama Sastra, should be accorded to Mahavishnu in equal measure as being offered to Him. For this out of the way generosity, Lord Shiva was praised as Sankaranarayana, Harihara etc. Mahavishnu, realizing the magnitude of the favour he got and the power & might of Lord Shiva, started to worship Lord Shiva with 1000 flowers. At the end of it, one flower was missing. Unwilling to break the puja, Mahavishnu, plucked out one of his eyes & completed the Puja. Extremely pleased with this unusual act, Lord Shiva gave back the eye & more so, Sudarshan, the chakra, using which He killed Jalandarasura earlier. Thus Sudharsan became the primary weapon of Mahavishnu. Then Mahavishnu prayed to Lord Shiva that he should cool himself to a big mountain of Grace so that all could benefit. Acceding to this request, Lord Shiva became the Arunachala Hill that we all see today at Tiruvannamalai. Again Mahavishnu requested Lord Shiva to become a miniature Arunachala so that all humans could worship & pray. Since Arunachala was in Linga form, Lord Shiva assumed the form of Linga in a small size & in due course of time, a big temple arose around that Linga which is now known as Sri Arunachalewara Temple of Tiruvanamalai. Thus Mahavishnu gave Linga – worship to Saivism, he being the first worshipper at the temple. Not to be left behind, Brahma wanted another Linga for his exclusive worship, beseeching Lord Shiva not to drop him like a hot potato. Forgiving Brahma’s short- comings, Lord Shiva took a similar small-sized Linga form exactly on the opposite side to the present Arunachaleswara Temple around which another small temple had spring about. This temple is on the Giripradakshana Road in Adi Annaamalai village, about 8km from Tiruvannamalai town on Giripradakshana Road. It is better for all those who go all the way to Tiruvannamalai to proceed further to this temple also and derive the benefit of worshipping the Lord who was worshipped by Brahma. Thus it was on the 14th day in the dark fortnight of waning moon [Krishna Paksha] in the month of Phalguna [Margazhi] that Lord Shiva first manifested himself Available at https://achalam.org, Contributor: Sri K Sriram, 2015 in the form of a mighty Pillar of Fire & then as Arunachala Hill Linga and again as a small miniature Linga in the temple at Tiruvannamalai & Adi Annamalai. Hence this day is extremely auspicious and all 330 million Devas, Asuras, Rishis, Sages & people of different worlds like Kinnaras, Gandharvas etc worshipped Lord Shiva throughout that night that is now celebrated as Mahashivaratri. Thus began the tradition of worship on Mahashivarathri Day. It is obvious that the four legends that follow had happened on subsequent Mahashivarathri Days. 2. The wedding Day or the great convergence of of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati Once Lord Shiva and his wife Sati or Shakti were returning from sage Agastya’s ashram after listening to Ram Katha or story of Ram. On their way through a forest, Shiva saw Lord Rama searching for his wife Sita who had been kidnapped by Ravana, the King of Lanka. Lord Shiva bowed his head in reverence to Lord Rama. Sati was surprised by Lord Shiva’s behaviour and inquired why he was paying obeisance to a mere mortal. Shiva informed Sati that Rama was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Since Sati was not satisfied with the reply, Lord asked her to go and verify the truth for herself. Using her power to change forms, Sati took the form of Sita appeared before Rama. Lord Rama immediately recognized the true identity of the Goddess and asked, "Devi, why are you alone, where′s Shiva?" At this, Sati realized the truth about Lord Ram.