Mahashivratri is a hindu festival celebrated annually in the honour of lord shiva. shivratri is celebrated in every month of the lunisolar calendar in accordance with the hindu calendar but once a year in late winter. mahashivratri literally translates as the great knight of lord shiva and according to legends it is on this night that lord shiva performs his heavenly dance or tandem representing creation preservation and destruction.
As per many it is also the day when shiva and parvati got married thus the union of prakriti and purusha for the well-being of the world. Devi sadi was a daughter of the great king and the son of lord brahma prajapati daksh sathi being an incarnation of shakti was destined to unite with shiva for the welfare of the universe. However daksh did not want his daughter sati to marry shiva as he considered shiva to be a dirty ascetic unworthy of being a god or being married to his daughter from a noble family sathi however disobeyed her father and married shiva.
After her marriage she moved to her husband's abode the Kailas mountains. Once prajapati daksh organized a sacrificial ceremony also known as a yagna and invited all gods and devas to attend his grand yagna. Due to his hatred towards shiva he did not invite both shiva and his daughter sathi to the yagna. When sathi came to hear of the yagya being organized by her father through narada muni she longed to go home and attend it shiva tried to talk her out of the idea trying to explain that they had not been invited and it was obvious that the king did not want them there.
But sati ignored her husband's advice and went to the yagya by herself. Upon reaching she felt deeply saddened to see that no one except her mother prasuti was delighted to see her not even her father daksha.
she realized that she was now unwelcomed in her own house daksha was furious by her uninvited arrival and humiliated her and mocked shiva daksha began insulting shiva in front of all his guests and sathi could not bear any insults towards her husband wanting to break all ties with her father and uphold the honor of her husband.
Sathi self-immolated herself deeply hurt by the loss of his beloved wife shiva performed the destructive tandem dance. He created two ferocious creatures veerabhadra and bhadrakali who wrecked mayhem at the sacrificial place nearly all those present were felt overnight daksa was decapitated by veerabhadra.
After that night shiva who is considered the all-forgiving restored all those who were slain to life and granted them his blessings daksa was also restored back to his life and kingship. his severed head was substituted for that of a goat.
After the death of his first wife sati shiva withdrew himself from society and then grossed himself in deep meditation. Taking advantage of the situation the asura king tarakasur secured a boon from lord brahma that he could only be killed by the son of shiva believing himself effectively immortal tarakasa terrorized the beings of the universe and defeated the gods. Meanwhile parvati the reincarnation of sati was born to himawan the god of the himalayas and his wife mena. when parvati grew up sage nara told her that she was born to marry shiva but she would have to follow the path of penance to please shiva as he had withdrawn himself from the worldly affairs determined to marry shiva in her new birth as well parvati embarked upon an extremely difficult regime of penance and devotion.
For thousands of years she only ate fruits and flowers thereafter for hundreds of years she ate only fallen leaves. Eventually giving up on all food and living on air to survive due to thousands of years of severe penance her body became extremely weak and fragile.
The news of her penance spread all over the world in the end lord brahma appeared in front of parvati and told her that no one in the entire universe had observed or done tapasya or penance the way she didnot even shiva. He blessed her to soon be married to lord shiva and gave her the name brahmacharyani for her immense determination and penance mabramhacharani is also the second form of madurga celebrated on the second day of navratri.
On the other hand in desperate need of help from shiva to have his child who could bring an end to the demon tarakasur the god sent kambadev the god of love to disrupt shiva's meditation. Though shiva was awakened by kamadev's arrow kamade was burnt up by shiva's anger implored by the other gods to marry shiva agreed but decided to test parvati's devotion first.
Shiva disguised himself as a hermit and reached the place where parvati was engrossed in her penance upon being there he began criticizing shiva. He tried to influence parvati into giving up her tapasya for shiva who he said was an embodiment of inauspiciousness.
Who carries skulls in his hand and who lives in a crematorium parvati angry by the comments of the hermit asks him to leave her alone. Even upon many attempts at changing her mind. Parvati did not get affected her unwavering sense of devotion pleased lord shiva and he appeared in his original form and blessed her to be married to him.
On the day of the marriage shiva reaches king heemawan's palace in the most air-rising form along with the strangest marriage procession also known as bharat. His body was covered with snakes smeared in ashes and his hair was matted with unkempt locks his marriage procession consisted of ghosts ascetics sages agorys etc
Upon seeing the terrorizing form of lord shiva parvati's mother and other relatives were left in a state of shock most of them fainted out of fear and terror to avoid any embarrassment to her family or to her husband shiva.
Parvati transformed herself into a different form as well in this form she was golden possessed ten arms and was called chandragunta. In the form of chandragunta she prayed and persuaded shiva to take the form of a handsome prince and also turn his marriage procession nobler. so the people can see their gentler side and not be fearful of them shiva and parvati got married in their beautiful divine forms and the day of their marriage is celebrated as mahashivratri every year.