Hundreds of thousands thronged Lord Shiva temples — both big and small — all over the country on Maha Shivratri on Friday. The prayers will formally end around dawn on Saturday.
Children dressed up as Lord Shiva in Bhopal on Saturday.
A scene outside Baba Dham temple in Devaghar in Maharashtra on Friday.
Shivratri celebrations were held across the country — from Kashmir Valley to the southern States — on Friday. Here's a scene at a temple in Chandigarh.
For the first time since hundreds of Pandit families migrated out of the Valley in the face of raging militancy in the 1990s, villagers, young and old, of Sumbal village in Bandipora, 30 km from Srinagar, converged on the Nand Kishore temple in the shade of mighty Chinars, early in the morning.
Shivratri was celebrated in the national capital with great fervour, with thousands thronging Shiva temples. Here, a man cleans a statue of Lord Shiva at a temple in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 112-foot bust of ‘Adi Yogi’ at Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore.
Moment of piety: Devotees taking a bath in the Sangam in Allahabad on Friday on the occasion of Maha Sivaratri.
Auspicious day: Devotees offering prayers to Lord Siva on the occasion of Mahasivaratri at Keesaragutta temple on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Friday.
Special day: Thousands of devotees and tourists gathered at the Elephanta Caves to worship Lord Shiva on the occasion of Mahashivratri, on Friday.
Rajya Sabha Member T. Subbarami Reddy performing abhishekam along with actors Suman, Jeevitha and Rajasekhar as part of the Maha Sivarathri, organised by the TSR Kalapeetham, at the RK Beach, in Visakhapatnam on Friday.