Somavaara Pradosham

Significance of Pradosham: Lord Shiva performed the sandhyanritya or evening dance, appearing between the horns of his vehicle, the Nandi (bull). On this occasion, it is said that Saraswati played Veena; Indra the flute, Vishnu the mridangam and Brahma kept tala or beat to Lakshmi’s singing –a truly divine ensemble. The time span between 4:30 and 6:00 in the evening of trayodashi both during the waxing and waning phases of the moon when he performed this divine tandava dance came to be sanctified as the PRADOSHAM.
As the name indicates, devotees who worship Lord Shiva during the Pradosham hours, get rid of all their "doshams" committed either knowingly or unknowingly or those committed in their previous birth.
It is also said that during pradosham, ALL the devas are present to witness the incident, and hence devotees thronging to the temple to get a darshan of Lord Shiva also get the blessings of whom we call the mupathimukodi devas.

Maasi Somavaara Pradosham:
Maasi pradosham (Pradosham during the month of Maasi is considered to be special as the month's name is said to be formed with the combination Ma+Si from U"ma" (Uma referred to as Goddess Parvati) and "Si"van. And Somavaram(Monday) is a special day for Lord Shiva every week.

I have been a witness to the Pradosham celebration at Kapaleeswarar temple right from my childhood. The sights and sounds of the extremely religious event with devotees thronging the temple and with chants of "Shambo Mahadeva" and "Hara Hara Shankara, Shiva Shiva Shankara" sends you to a totally different world.

Please try visiting a Shiva temple during pradosham to get a truly out of the world religious experience.