Shiva Ratri is one of the most auspicious Vratas for the devotees of lord shiva. The Hindu Puranas explain the grand significance of this Vrata.

Skandha Puranam describes about four Shivaratris. The first one is Nitya Shivaratri or daily Shivaratri which is observed every night. The second one is Masa Shivaratri which is observed in the Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi of every month (fourteenth Monday on the diminishing phase of moon). The third one is Magha Pratham Adi Shivaratri, which is observed for the first thirteen days starting from the Prathama Tithi in the month of Magha. The fourth one is the most important which is observed on the Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi of Magha month (mid February to mid March). The Lord is worshipped all throughout the night and this Vrata is observed in a widespread manner. It is called Mahashivaratri.

In the day of MahaShivaratri , the devotee wakes up early in the morning and meditates on auspicious Shiva Lingam, which is decorated with number of garlands. The Maha Shiva Lingam is the formless symbol of the holy god. The follower takes bath and stays clean. He/she worships lord Shiva in the all four jamas of night (four equal time interval of night). The Linga worshipping is explicitly mentioned for this Vratam as this time god wants to show his grace for the benefit of `Pashus` and appeared in a formless form, whose true outcome is Maha Shiva Lingam.

There are many legends entwined with the MahaShivaratri. Brahma and Vishnu fought between themselves to determine who was the greatest. To stop them Lord Shiva appeared between them as a pillar of fire. The gods were not able to find the starting and end of that pillar. When Brahma and Vishnu repented their mistake and prayed to Lord Shiva to forgive their sin then Lord Shiva appeared before them and blessed them in the night of Maha Shivaratri. After that follower of lord Shiva started observing the vrata of Shiva Ratri by performing Abhisheka and chanting other holy deeds.

During the Samudra Manthan by gods and demon a poison came up which was so toxic that it had the ability to wipe out the whole creation. So Vishnu advised the Gods to pray to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was pleased by the prayer and drank the poison to hold it in his neck. His throat became blue due to the poison and hence he was known as `Nilakantha`, who was the protector of the world. ShivaRatri is also observed to remember the story.

In another story, during Pralaya or deluge, the whole world was facing destruction. Parvati prayed to Lord Shiva to save the Jivas(the living souls), who were living in space as particles of gold dust in a lump of wax. Lord Shiva granted the prayer of Parvati and the Jivas became active again. Parvati named the night for worshipping Maheshvara or Shiva as the great night for the worship of Iswara or Maha Shiva. After the deluge stopped and creation was complete, Parvati asked Shiva which rituals pleased him most. Lord answered the fourteenth night of new moon in the month of Magha , was his most favorite day. Parvati spreaded the words among her friends and whole creation started observing the Shiva Ratri.

Another legend says that in a Shiva temple on a Maha ShivaRatri day the lamp kept on the alter was very dim. That time a mouse that was running after the prey touched the flame and due to heat it removed its head very quickly. In this process the mouse kindled the lamp brightly and the alter was well illuminated. Lord Shiva was very pleased with the mouse. He blessed him and made it Mahabali, the renowned Asura king.

The story of king Chitrabhanu is also very interesting. In the Shanti Parva of Mahabharata, Bhisma while lying on the bed of arrows gave reference to this story.The King Chitrabhanu of the Ikshvaku Dynasty, ruled over the whole of Jambudvipa, was observing fasting on the day of MahaShivaRatri with his wife. The sage Astravakra come to visit him and wanted to know the reason. The King explained that he has a gift to remember his previous birth. On his previous birth he was a hunter in Varanasi named Suswara who used to earn his living by killing and selling birds and animals. One day while roaming through the forest for his prey, he could not kill a single animal. He had let a deer to live after seeing the deer`s sad family. Overtaken by the darkness of night and unable to return home, the hunter climbed a tree nearby, which was a Bael tree. He could not sleep throughout the night as he was thinking about his fasting wife and children. He did not eat or drink anything and the water leaked drop by drop from his canteen. The hunter engaged himself in plucking the Bael leaves and dropping them onto the ground.

The next day when the hunter returned home he bought some food for his family. But the moment he was about to break his fast, a stranger came to him, begging for the food. He served the food first to the stranger and then took his own part. At the time of death the hunter saw two messengers of Lord Shiva, who took his soul to the abode of Shiva. The hunter came to know he was blessed as unknowingly he has worshipped Shiva. There was a Shiva Lingam under the Bael tree, which he climbed and he washed the Lingam with water from his canteen and dropped the Bael leaves. Unknowingly he was fasting all day and all night. Thus he got the divine bliss of Lord Shiva, living in his abode for a long time and was reborn as a King.